Last week the ground was covered in a blanket of white. This week, it’s 70+ degrees and my kids are “swimming” in the buffalo wallow. A tinge of green is appearing across the prairie that’s been brown for an eternity. It’s coming. I’m looking forward to sun, soil, and long evenings spent outside. Although… a part of me will miss the peaceful nights curled next to the fire with a good book. But I know that time will come again. To everything there is a season. I received many requests for my favorite book recommendations this winter and I intended to put together a list. But I didn’t… So ..read more

Writing a book is weird. It’s a multi-year project that takes everything you have. It transforms you, changes you, sometimes breaks you… but the people around you often don’t even know it’s happening. As some of you know, I spent the bulk of last year buried in book-writing. It’s been beautiful… and often brutal. But we’re in the home stretch. And I FINALLY have the green light to share more with you today about my upcoming new book! Questions I’ve Been Pondering Lately… It started as a question: What have we left behind in our race towards progress? I’ve felt it and I bet that you have ..read more

Last spring, I couldn’t get my tomato seedlings to grow. I tried everything. After using multiple different seeds and seed companies, trying different pots, changing the lighting, watering differently, and even replanting everything, I threw up my hands in despair.  Maybe I just wouldn’t be growing tomatoes for the year… But then I thought of the one variable that I hadn’t considered before: the potting soil. Later into the season, I made a YouTube video all about my seedling troubles and many of you shared similar experiences in the comment section. I also shared in that video the vario ..read more

There’s been a lot of talk about chickens and eggs lately. Recently, many homesteaders have been raising concerns over their chickens giving them less eggs and wondering if there is a connection between their egg shortages and potential nutrition issues with their commercial chicken feed. I have mentioned a few times on my blog (like here) and also on my newest podcast episode that I prefer taking a balanced approach to most issues in life. For me, this looks like constantly questioning the mainstream narrative but ALSO questioning information that comes from within the homesteading world. Be ..read more

Milk cows are truly the stars of our homestead. It’s no secret that I’m in love with our dairy cows. I spent many years going back and forth between dairy cows and dairy goats, but if you’ve listened to my podcast episode about how I’m pruning my life these days, you know that I’ve finally decided on focusing on our family milk cows for our dairy needs. In fact, I personally feel that dairy cows are some of the biggest assets to ANY modern homestead. Not only do dairy cows allow your family to have easy access to fresh dairy products, but having to use excess milk is actually an awesome bonus ..read more

Sometimes feeding people is a pain. Other times, though, filling bellies with good and wholesome food is my love language. It just depends on the day. I also find that meals can be harder to get creative with in the middle of winter. When there’s an abundance of garden produce in the summer, I’m so much more interested in crafting tasty and healthy meals. Having fresh food around is just naturally inspiring. While it’s harder to find fresh food during this time of year, one thing that can actually be easier to find in the middle of winter is fresh greens (including things like: romaine, spina ..read more

Homesteading doesn’t stop because the garden is full of snow or the hens have decided to go on an egg-laying hiatus during the winter. This time of year doesn’t mean that there aren’t any outdoor homesteading chores to do: the animals still need to be fed, ice needs to be chopped out of the livestock water tanks, and the snow needs to be shoveled. But the winter months seem to be a bit slower without the hustle and bustle of gardening and other homesteading tasks to tend to. I used to despise winter. I would feel bored and restless and stuck in the house for most of the day. However, over the ..read more

Have you decided to add chickens to your homestead or are you looking for ways to improve your current egg-laying system? We’ve been raising chickens (both meat chickens and laying hens) for over a decade now. I’ve been sharing tips on raising chickens throughout the years, and I’ve got tons of thorough info available for you all on my website, including: How to Build a Chicken Run Ultimate Guide to Broody Hens Fly Control Strategies for Your Chicken Coop How to Keep Wild Birds Out of Your Chicken Coop Thoughts on Using Supplemental Lighting in the Coop Homemade Chicken Feed Recipe How to Ma ..read more

Condiments are a great addition to snacks and meals for an added flavor boost, but sometimes the store-bought stuff isn’t always the best for you. Making your own condiments can seem daunting, but it isn’t usually that difficult. When making homemade condiments, you get to control what ingredients are being used, and this is another way you can be more self-sufficient. The homesteading lifestyle is about producing more than we consume and finding ways (even small ways like homemade condiments) to become less dependent on outside systems. I have had experience making my own condiments lik ..read more

Raising your own meat to provide food for your family is a truly rewarding experience… More and more people are questioning where their food is coming from (which is awesome) and trying to be more self-sufficient by providing what they can themselves. This has included growing gardens, cooking from scratch, raising animals, and butchering at home. We made the choice years ago to butcher our own meat animals whenever possible (we still get our grassfed beef butchered somewhere else since we don’t currently have space for that much beef at our homestead). We jumped in feet first (as I like to d ..read more