About the Author

Marissa Ames

Editor of Goat Journal and Backyard Poultry magazines, Marissa Ames runs a small homestead in Fallon, Nevada, where she focuses on saving and propagating rare breeds of goats and garden vegetables. She and her husband, Russ, travel to Africa where they serve as agricultural advisors for the nonprofit I Am Zambia. She spends her free time eating lunch.
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Articles by Marissa Ames

Sprouting Seeds at Home for Winter Nutrition
December 29, 2022 · · Growing

Sprouting seeds at home has long been an easy and delicious way to gain nutrition when greens are scarce. You can do it for you or your chickens.

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How to Save Electricity at Home During the Holidays
December 7, 2022 · · Holiday, Self-Reliance

As beautiful as the holidays can be with lights and displays, it can also get pricey. Here’s some tips on how to save electricity through the holiday season.

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4 Healthy Sweet Potato Recipe
November 8, 2022 · · Canning & Kitchen, Recipes

Try these 4 delicious, healthy sweet potato recipes for your next get-together.

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How to Make Bath Bombs: An Easy DIY Gift
October 8, 2022 · · Soapmaking

If you’re just starting your soapmaking journey, learning how to make diy bath bombs is a good first step.

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Surviving a Weather-Related Power Outage
October 4, 2022 · · Self-Reliance

It’s all fun and games until it’s lights out. But a little preparation can help you survive a power cut or outage.

Losing power during summer is hot, sweaty, and miserable. You hold glasses of milk against your perspiring forehead then drink before the milk goes bad.

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Facts about Floods and Surviving Them
October 4, 2022 · · Self-Reliance

Tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes come on fast and strong. But floods can be just as devastating.

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How to Cook Venison and Elk: A Healthy Indulgence
September 21, 2022 · · Canning & Kitchen, Recipes

Toward the end of the year, deer and elk seasons open. Avid hunters trek into the wilderness in search of wild game.

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Finding the Best Pumpkins for Pies
September 21, 2022 · · Canning & Kitchen

What are the best pumpkins for pies? Well… it’s not even a pumpkin… depending on your definition of “pumpkin.”

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Putting Agritourism Ideas to Work on Family Farms
September 9, 2022 · · Homesteading, Horses-Donkeys

Farming is tough. But agritourism ideas help people pay bills and create the lives they want for their families.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Garlic
September 5, 2022 · · Growing

Growing garlic in your garden is one of the easiest things you can do! Many cultures developed their own varieties, such as southern Europe, eastern Europe, and Asia.

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Combining the Best Essential Oils for Soap Making
August 6, 2022 · · Soapmaking

If you make soap, you probably do it for one of two reasons. First, it allows artistic creativity while making something useful. And second, it allows control over all the ingredients.

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An Easier Way of Making Tomato Sauce From Scratch
August 5, 2022 · · Canning & Kitchen, Recipes

Add to Favorites You’ve mastered how to care for tomato plants. Now you want a tomato canning recipe, or just an easier way of making tomato sauce from scratch. Would …

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Selling Homemade Food: Laws and Considerations
August 5, 2022 · · Canning & Kitchen

Cottage food law is the legal permission or ban on selling homemade food. And it’s gotten a lot of attention lately. Within the past few years, states have either tightened or loosened their laws concerning who can sell their breads, pickles, and jellies; and the ways they can go about doing it.

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How to Sell Produce to Restaurants: 11 Tips for Modern Farmers
August 5, 2022 · · Growing

Add to Favorites Knowing how to sell produce to restaurants is another part of farming, says Wendy Baroli. “If you’re in the business of farming, you also have to be …

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Avoid Plant Sunburn and Summer Garden Disasters
July 1, 2022 · · Growing

Plant sunburn, floods, heat and hailstorms. Planning now protects your garden from disaster later.

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