Technically we are not an animal-free homestead, we have always had some pets. It started with our daughter wanting a bunny. Over the years we have had several bunnies, a guinea pig, a hamster, and several cats. The real homesteading animals that we have raised were chickens before we gave up on ...
Simple Living
Gardening Without Pain
Just over a year ago gardening without pain was a dream for me. After an x-ray, I knew it was nothing acute but just a beginning of a painful road ahead. If what I felt was early osteoarthritis, I knew I did not want to go any farther with it. The joint stiffness hindered me to bend over, and the ...
Making Progress on One Thing a Day
You know the feeling when there are not enough hours in a day, you are always behind trying to keep up with personal, job and home chores. If you would need a single management tip that was to help you to accomplish more and feel great at the same time, here it is: Making progress on one thing a ...
Preparing and Storing Canning Jars
The canning season is a busy time of the year. Preparing and storing canning jars so that they are ready to be refilled helps a lot. Yes, it eliminates a few steps of work during the cunning season. This can be done all throughout the winter as jars get emptied out, or beforehand in spring. Just ...
Successful Gardening is not Depending on a Green Thumb
It is a common assumption that successful gardening is depending on a green thumb. Some people have the ability to grow a great garden, and some don't. People with a green thumb can grow almost anything in any climate. If you don't have a green thumb, you might be able to develop one if you study ...
Cookbooks to Start a Plant-Based Diet
We are sometimes being asked if it was hard for us to change to a plant-based diet. Our answer is no and it has two reasons. For one we are both people who do not mind to try something new and for two there are great cookbooks to start a plant-based diet. The list of plant-based cookbooks is ...
Freestyle Cooking
Freestyle cooking is an easy, fast, flexible and realistic way to prepare food. In a day and age of overload of recipes, it can easily get lost. Recipe makers (blessed be their effort), make us believe that it involves hard work and special skills to make a recipe, and unless you follow it to the T, ...
The No-Plan Meal Planning Method
The No-Plan Meal planning method emerged out of disability to plan meals. Well, sort of. There are several reasons why I think meal planning is overrated and not everyone's cup of tea. If you have been struggling or feeling guilty for being a ‘not so planned person’, keep reading. After we discover ...
How People Lived Simple Yesterday
Simple living, self sufficiency, off grid living and back to the basics is having a huge comeback these days. Homesteading and backyard farming has become popular again. In this post I share childhood memories of how my parents lived a simple, mostly self-sufficient, urban homesteading life. How was ...
Homestead Kitchen – Before and After Reveal
It is very exciting to reveal our homestead kitchen before and after. It was a great project and we are very pleased with the outcome. As you know, we went with an IKEA kitchen, and you can read here our 7 reasons why to choose an Ikea kitchen. It was a DIY project, from planning the kitchen to ...