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The off-grid homesteading
Blog
Welcome to our blog!
Lessons learned on the journey toward independence
In our blog is a wealth of knowledge that we've accumulated over many years of off-grid living, as well as the lessons we've learned through trial and error. Our experience in the School of Hard Knocks has taught us valuable lessons that we are excited to share with you. In addition to our own expertise, we've also hand-selected a group of guest contributors who are experts in their respective fields. Their contributions provide even more valuable insights into homesteading, off-grid living, and emergency preparedness. We hope you enjoy learning from their knowledge and experience as much as we have!
Blog Categories
Off-Grid Power
Electricity is the kingpin in modern homes. Without it, many essential systems can't function. Learn how to make your own power with solar, micro hydro, and other sources.
Growing Food
Learn to grow your own food with tips on starting a homestead garden, including vegetable gardens, fruit orchards, small fruits, composting, and more in this section.
Storing Food
Learn to preserve and store your own food with off grid kitchen tips, recipes, and info about canning, dehydrating, and other food preservation related topics in this section.
Water
Most water systems are completely dependent on the power company. Learn how to make yours as independent as possible so your family has a reliable source of water.
Safety
Prevention and preparation are key to ensuring safety, covering physical security, home fire protection, wildland fire preparedness, and more in this section.
Communication
Communications is an often overlooked part of preparedness and homesteading. Learn how to stay in touch while living in a remote location as well as during emergencies.
most recent posts
Cool Rooms - Alternative To Root Cellars
We often talk of root cellars as the traditional way of storing many types of produce in its natural, unprocessed state. Root Cellars* are an excellent method of food preservation. They can keep foods cold for weeks and months. But I don’t have a root cellar....
Pickles With a Twist!
It’s the lemon twist! Some vegetables such as cucumbers and onions and beets taste absolutely wonderful when they are pickled in lemon juice. These vegetables should be coming along nicely in your garden and hopefully you’re harvesting a lot of them right now. I...
Root Cellars—Cold Storage for Fruits & Veggies
This is the time of year every gardener or anyone who loves to eat fresh garden produce looks forward to! The tiny seeds you planted in the soil months ago are now large plants with home grown food ready to harvest and enjoy; fruit trees are loaded with ripening...
How to (easily) get rid of most garden weeds
What is the overwhelming plague that inevitably comes along with a wonderfully healthy growing garden?? You know the answer without a doubt—it’s those horrible, thick, fast-growing weeds! Now—would you like to know a secret to getting rid of most of those weeds? Six...
Making summer fruit jam—should pectin be an ingredient or not?
For years I did live canning and bread making demos as part of our seminar lineup at event centers and churches. And to demonstrate water bath canning I almost always prepared and made a fresh fruit jam. The Case For Pectin I discussed and recommended using a natural...
Cherry Delights: Dehydrating and Baking with Fresh Fruit for a Perfect Pie!
Our Montmorency cherry trees are loaded this year! Typically it seems we have a couple of bountiful years and then an off year. Last year was definitely an off-year. Now I’m thinking about what to do with all my bounty of fresh cherries coming up! My...