homestead
How to Safely Use a Pressure Canner
Low-acid foods must be processed at a temperature that is hotter than boiling water. Compared to water bath canning or steam canning, which processes jars at 212ºF, a pressure canner processes at 240ºF, the necessary temperature for destroying food spoilage organisms in foods with a pH greater than 4.6. Such low-acid foods include poultry, seafood, meats, and most vegetables.
Read More
Choosing Dairy Cow Breeds for Your Farm
Dairy cow breeds are numerous. How do we know the right breed for our farm or family situation?
Read More
7 Pasture Pig Breeds for the Small Farm
Add to Favorites Raising pasture pig breeds is talked about frequently in farming discussions. Not too far back in agrarian history, pasture pig breeds were more common. Keeping a few …
Read More
Choosing the Best Farm Dogs for Your Farm
Size, temperament, and training ability are a few criteria that go into choosing one of the best farm dogs.
Read More
The Dos and Don’ts of Buying a Homestead
Add to Favorites It’s a dream held by many: buying a homestead and getting back to the land, raising children in a wholesome environment or retiring with a slower, simpler …
Read More
An Earthy Guide to the Best Composting Toilets
Add to Favorites By Patricia Baird Greene In order to find and follow your own path to the best composting toilet for your family and self-sustaining living situation, it may …
Read More
The Joy of Growing Horseradish (It’s Great With Almost Anything!)
Add to Favorites By Sue Robishaw – Cold-climate gardeners can boast few crops that prefer their freezing winter abode, but the sturdy horseradish not only prefers it that way, it requires …
Read More
Wood-Splitting Tools for Today’s Homestead
Add to Favorites Wood-splitting tools have enabled homesteaders to survive and thrive for centuries. Just like many of today’s tools we use on the homestead, there have been some marked …
Read More
How to Craft with Grapevines
Add to Favorites <p style=”color: #689155;”></p> By Cherie Dawn Haas – One of the beauties of homesteading is learning how to use everything that’s available to us in some way, …
Read More
How to Treat Foot Rot in Cattle, Goats, and Sheep
Add to Favorites Thrush and an overgrowth of yeast are often behind a case of foot rot in cattle and other livestock. Foot rot in cattle and all livestock needs …
Read More
Flystrike Treatment for Livestock and Poultry
Add to Favorites Animals and flies seem to go hand in hand on a farm. So what is flystrike? If you have livestock, you most likely battle the common stable …
Read More
How to Store Firewood: Try Low-Cost, High-Efficiency Racks
Add to Favorites By Ed McClearen, Fleetwood, North Carolina – One thing we have in abundance here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina is firewood. Last winter, we …
Read More
Wild Plant Identification: Foraging for Edible Weeds
Add to Favorites On a sleepy Sunday afternoon, on the grounds of an ex-horse stable, Nate Chetelat presents a wild plant identification tour for a local gardening group. The focus …
Read More
Dairy Farming Project Advice from Dairy Farm Owners
Add to Favorites What makes a farmer decide to begin a dairy farming project? For some, it is a strong history. The early mornings milking the herd, processing the milk …
Read More
Ballast: The Tractor Tire Fluids Rundown
Add to Favorites Since the day tractor manufacturers moved from steel wheel traction to tire on wheel configurations, farmers have added tractor tire fluids to their equipment to add traction …
Read More