How to sharpen mower blades

First you are going to need to remove the blades from your mower deck. Depending on the manufacturer and the model, the way that the blades are attached to the deck may vary.  It would be recommended that you reference your owner’s manual.

Once the blades are removed the next step is to choose a method of sharpening. One of the easiest and least expensive ways to sharpen your blades is with a flat file. In order to use a flat file, you are going to have to firmly secure your blade either with a vice or clamped to a workbench. Once the blade is secured in place you can begin to work on your blade by moving the file back and forth on the slanted portion of your blade. Work on the blade until the you have removed all the chips and dents in the cutting edge. You want the angle of the blade to be between 45 and 60 degrees for the best and most consistent cutting. 

You will notice that your tractors blades are only sharpened on one side. This type of edge is called a chisel edge or chisel grind and is the superior choice for applications where the blade will be cutting in the same direction at all times. The flat side of the blade runs parallel with the ground so that you get a uniform and clean cut. It is also the easiest to maintain as you only have one edge to sharpen and don’t have to mess with things like grind symmetry. However, the greatest advantage to us busy folk is that it’s really quick to sharpen. Just a minute or so per blade instead of thirty.  

Other Sharpening Methods.

Stone

Stones have been used to sharpen blades for centuries. From the time before the Egyptians stones have been used to hone and sharpen dull metal into razor-sharp tools. They are still a very effective option today and a preferred method for many people. 

Sharpening stones can be used in much the same way as a file. First, fasten the blade to a hard flat surface. With the blade firmly in place hold the stone down at a 45-degree angle to the blade and make a circular motion with the stone. Many sharpening stones come with two sides, a coarse side for faster material removal and a smoother side to hone the final product to a fine edge. Once you have worked out the minor dents and chips with the coarse side switch to the smoother side to finish off the blade.  

This method generally works best for blades that have been maintained and need minor sharpening. It will take a bit longer than some of the other methods however, it will yield a much better-finished product. 

Belt Sander

Belt sanders are a power tool (yay for that). So you won’t have to work as hard. This is a wonderful way to remove a lot of material very quickly. If you need to re-shape the edge of the blade or remove large dents and chips this is a fantastic option. Also, it is very easy to be consistent with a tool like this and put a nice looking edge on your blade. Some people make a jig to hold the blade at the exact angle to the belt sander. This cuts down on the time it takes the sharpen and makes the finished result look that much cleaner. 

Many hobby knife makers use this tool almost exclusively to create beautiful pieces of art. With a little practice and skill, this tool can do almost anything in the ways of shaping and sharpening metal. Out of all the powered tool options for sharpening this would be my number one choice.

Grinding Wheel

This would be one of my least favorite option to sharpening a mower blade. The difficulties with this method are that you don’t have as much control for doing finer work. Also, it is almost impossible to get a great chisel grind edge because you are dealing with a rounded instead of a flat sharpening surface. 

However, if you are not as much of a perfectionist and you just want to get a fresh edge on the mower blade fast and get back to cutting your grass then this is the tool for you. These things remove a lot of metal fast. They throw sparks too so be careful if you stand to close you will put a bunch of tiny holes in your shirt (voice of experience). Finally, these are a pretty common tool. You can find them everywhere. If you don’t have one there is a good chance your neighbor has one and will let you use it for the few minutes it will take to sharpen your blades. 

How do you know that your blades need sharpening?

There are a few ways that you can tell when your blades need to be sharpened. One of the easiest ways is to look at the consistency of the fresh cut on your yard. After you mow your yard take a good look. If your yard is patchy with taller grass in some areas then other or with lines and strips of taller grass you are going to want to sharpen your blades.

Another way to see if your blades need some honing is to examine a blade of grass. If the blade of grass is frayed or torn it means your blade is dull. You should see a nice clean cut across the grass if your blades are as sharp as they should be.

Depending on how often you mow your lawn and how big your lawn is you may wont to sharpen your blades more often. As a general rule of thumb, I sharpen my lawn tractor blades at the beginning of every season. For the average person that will be just fine. On the other hand, if you ground out, hit some gravel or hit a rock it never hurts to check the blades. 

How many times can you sharpen your blades?

There really are a lot of factors that play into this answer. If you do a good job with the general upkeep of your blades and don’t allow for them to get too dull in between sharpenings then you may have a set of blades that lasts for 10 years and 15 to 20 sharpenings. However, if you hit a lot of brush, debris, dirt, gravel, and stones you are going to need to work out the dents and dings in your blade. That means removing more of the material and shortening the life of your blades. Unfortunately, there are other things that can go wrong with your blades as well that will lower the life of your blades. So when is it best to just change out your blades than to grind and sharpen them?

When should you change your blades

Sometimes it just makes more sense to get yourself a brand new set of blades than to keep grinding away at your current ones and in some cases, it is the safe answer. Mower blades spin at around 3000 Rotations Per Minute and if the quality of the blades has degraded to a certain level it may be dangerous to continue to use the mower deck. In this case, it is best to just change out the blades. So what do you look for in bad or damaged blades?

Cracking and chipping

This is one of the easier things to see right away. Some smaller chips and dents can be ground or filed out of the blade with no problem. However, bigger chips (deeper than a quarter inch) will require you to take out too much material and my cause your blades to be off balance and out of tolerance. The other thing to look for is actual cracks in the blade. These can be extremely dangerous as they can break apart while in rotation and throw  razor-sharp shards of metal out from under your deck at 200 miles per hour. If you find even a hairline crack in one of your blades don’t even chance it, replace it immediately. 

Thinning

Another easy thing to look for is the thickness of your mower blades. The best place to look for this would be on the back side of the blade the curves or flairs up. If your blades are in good condition this part of the blades will have a nicely visible squared off edge and have about ⅛  to 1/16 of material thickness left. If this is part of the blade is rounded, thin and brittle then its time to change them out.

Warped or bent

Once you remove your blades for sharpening you can easily test them for warping by laying them on a flat surface and inspecting them. If the blades toggle back and forth or don’t lay down all the way flat you have a bad blade on your hands. This will cause uneven cutting as your blades will be cutting at different levels to one another while you mow. This can give a lined effect to your yard.

Unbalanced

This is one thing that is often overlooked. As your blades degrade they can become off balance. If your blade balance becomes uneven it will cause undue stress and wear on other components and gears. As a general rule of thumb, it is easier to replace the blades than any of the other parts that may wear out due to an uneven system. Having blades that are off balance may create more costly problems for you in the future. 

Instructions

1. Fill Bottle/container with Sugar substance of choice, Raw meat, vinegar & water
2. Stir/Shake
3. Cut corner of baggie
4. Put baggie over jar/container
5. Secure lid
6. Watch your flies disappear

Ingredients

1. A container of some kind

Choose one of the following

• Mason jar
• Pop bottle
• Juice container
• Etc.

2. Sugar substance

Choose one of the following

• 2 TBS Maple syrup
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 2 TBS Honey

3. Raw meat

Shrimp seems to work the best but any meat you have on hand will work.

4. Water

Fill the container the rest of the way up with water.

5. Vinegar

Apple cider, white Etc.

Notes

The cool thing about trapping flies is that you don’t need specific supplies. I wanted to make a point to show you that you can make a trap with 5 simple ingredients. There are different ways to construct it but they accomplish the same thing. This trap will take a couple days to start working. I was frustrated at first because it did not seem to be working. By day 3 it had caught most of the flies in my house. Below I will show you the way I have used it and how to put it together.

Constructing your fly trap

There are different ways to construct your fly trap but the way I do it is shown below.

What Flies will my trap catch?

This kind of fly trap will catch house flies, drain flies, gnats, fruit flies, cluster flies, deer flies, horse flies, & blow flies.

Why a homemade trap?

As I mentioned above I started making homemade fly traps because I was sick of always buying new ones, but there are a few more reasons that you might also want to make your own fly trap as well.

1. Money

So depending on the scale of your fly problem you will spend a lot of money on fly traps. You could spend $5-$10 on a single fly trap. And what if you need multiple traps in different areas? Plus you will also need to keep replacing them. With the homemade trap your supplies are pretty close to free.

2. Safety

As I said I have 4 young kids. I try my best to have everything as safe as possible around my house. I don’t clean with chemicals. I actually am able to kill 99% of the germs in my house with just water! (Check out my article if you wanna know how that is possible) and I do my best to keep chemicals and toxins out of my house as much as possible. So when I was looking into fly traps I was reading the labels and decided I did not want them in my house.They all had warning labels and said that you must wash really well if it touches you and told you how to flush it out of your body if you ingested it. I was just not willing to bring more unwanted chemicals into my house.

3. Convenience

Again, I have 4 kids! So I really don’t like running to the store all the time. So if I can make traps quick as home with supplies I already have I don’t have to think about running to the store to buy a trap!

How does this trap work?

If you are anything like me you want to not only know that this trap will work but you also want to know how it works.

• Flies are attracted to sugar

You already know that I hate flies. But this was crazy interesting to me. Flies sensitivity to sugar is 10 million times more than a humans. WHAT?! And I thought I liked sugar! So basically it does not matter where the flies are in your house they will eventually be drawn to the sugar.

• Flies have bad eye sight

Their great sense of smell must be there to make up for their eye sight. Just for comparison if a human as perfect vision we all know they have 20/20 vision. A flies vision is 20/1200. So once they get into the container they can’t see well enough to get out.

• They drown/get stuck

And even if they could see enough to get out, its pretty much a lost cause because they will either get stuck in the sticky sugar substance or drown in the liquid.

So long story short…

They smell the sugar, they can’t resist the sugar, and then they get stuck in it and die. Oh, you’re probably wondering what’s up with the raw meat huh? Well flies are also attracted to raw meat because they like to lay their eggs in it. The meat provides food for the larvae to grow. Nasty huh?

What do flies like to eat?

This question is pretty self explanatory. If you have a fly problem you most likely already know the answer to this. Flies are nasty! They love rotting meat, food that is going bad, human feces Etc. Pretty much anything rotting and disgusting they love.

What kind of fly bait works best?

As I mentioned the trap above will work for all flies. But…

• Sugar/meat works best for house flies
•  Vinegar/fruit works best for fruit flies.

How to keep flies away?

Okay now that you have killed all the flies in your house what about the millions more outside? (I hate to be the wet blanket but unfortunately there are lots more flies out there to deal with) is there ways to discourage the flies from hanging around your house? Well I’m glad you asked! I am going to share a whole list of things with you that flies hate! The coolest part about this list is that they are all natural AND not totally disgusting. Because lets me real who wants wants a nasty trap on their back patio when they are trying to entertain? Okay, I will stop blabbering and get on with the list.

5 natural ways to detour flies from your home

1. Plants

• Sweet Basil

I know this sounds strange since I just said that flies love sweet stuff. But the smell of sweet basil is not sweet and the flies hate it. This is a win-win! Herbs are great to plant close to the house so that when you are cooking you can walk out the door and grab some. Basil does great in pots. So maybe try planting some basil on your patio!

•  Lavender

So good! Well for you. Flies hate the smell of lavender. Lavender is so pretty and again has so many uses. Plant it near your house and reap the benefits of the pretty plant, the yummy smell and use it in the kitchen!

•  Rosemary

I feel like a bit of a broken record here but you get the idea! Plant, detour flies, use in the kitchen!

• Mint

Mint has something in it called mentha. Mentha has a very potent smell that the flies hate.

2. Essential oils

There are multiple different ways you can use essential oils to detour the flies.

•  Outdoor Spray

This spray is not the greatest smelling so I would use this outside. You could spray it on the outside of your doors or on patio railings etc. The smell is not awful I just don’t think you want to spray it on your body.

• 1 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoons oil
• 1 Tablespoon Dish Soap
• 10 drops of essential oil of your choice from list below

• A rub

Who else almost loses their mind when there is that one single fly that will not leave you alone? It just keeps buzzing and buzzing around your head? Apply this rub and that little sucker just might leave you alone! All you need is…

• carrier oil (coconut oil, olive oil etc.)
• Oil of choice from the list below

Rub it on and live in peace!

• Defuse

If you have a difuser, just put a mixture off 2-3 oils from the list below and diffuse away.

Essential oils that flies hate

• Basil Oil
• Citronella Oil
• Clove Oil
• Eucalyptus Oil
• Geranium Oil
• Lavender Oil
• Lemongrass Oil
• Peppermint Oil
• Tea Tree oil

3. Lemon & cloves

This idea would work great for a dinner party outside. Or even inside for that matter. The nice thing about this idea is that your fly repel-ant can actually look cute and smell good. All you do is cut a lemon in half and stuff whole cloves in it. Set your lemons in a cute dish and it can be part of your decor. You will want to set them out about 30 minutes before you want to use your space so that the bugs will pick up the scent and scatter. I Would start with a few cloves per lemon and work your way up. There is no need wasting cloves if a few will do the trick.

4. Water bag

As we talked about flies have terrible eyesight. They do however have 3,000 lenses per eye, so they can’t see well but they can detect movement and light. For this method you will simply fill a bag full of water and hang it from your outside doorway. The sun will reflect in all directions from the bag and will throw the flies out of whack. Obviously, this only works when it is light outside.

5. Citrus fruit peels

This method only works for house flies, not fruit flies. Fruit flies will be attracted to the fruit. With this method you will just save your fruit peels and wrap them in a cheese cloth. I would use this method only outside. Maybe on your deck or patio. And again, if you have a fruit fly problem this will not work for you.

My fly trap requirements

As I said I have a lot of flies around and in my house. This year has been particularly bad and I was sick and tired of them. Usually, I can use a fly swatter and I can get through fly season. But then I decided that there was no point in living with these nasty things longer then I needed to so I went to work researching and building fly traps. When I started out I had 4 things that my trap needed to do…

1. Catch all the flies
2. Not look or smell horrible
3. Make something with materials I already had on hand
4. Be natural and non toxic

I know those are pretty high standards but hey I was determined.

Conclusion

After the fly infestation at my house this year I knew I had to find a solution. After my research I found that flies love sugar and can’t say no. So with a few household supplies I was able to catch those buzzing little creatures. I also, was able to find a whole lot of things I can do to help keep the flies at bay in future years. It is so exciting to me when I find things that will not only help fix a problem but looks pretty and provides me food as well.

Keep your wood off the ground

Nothing will cause your wood to rot faster than leaving it on the ground. The moisture from the ground will absorb into your wood like a sponge and start to break down the fibers. Also, bugs will burrow into your wood and lay eggs and chew holes into the wood. If moisture is trapped inside these channels it will begin to rot from the inside out. Finally, the fungus will grow on the moist wood deteriorating and jeopardizing the wood.

Wind flow is good

Stacking the wood in a way that allows the pass-through of air is a must. Wind flow helps dry out your new wood much faster as well as discourages bugs and rodents from making piles of wood their home. Here are a few examples of how you can stack wood for good airflow. 

Keep the rain off your wood

I make sure that I can limit the amount of rain my wood sees by using a tarping method for my wood stacks. This method stills allows for the pass-through of air but helps cut down a good portion of the rain that makes contact with the wood.  Here is what I do. 

How long should you wait before you burn your wood?

As a general rule, you should allow your green wood (live wood that was cut down) to age one  “season” or for one year. That should be enough time for the moisture content to drop to a safe level. If you burn green wood indoors you increase the risk of creosote build up in your chimney. Also, when the moisture level is too high in your wood you will not be able to heat as efficiently as you should. The moisture will rob your wood from burning long and hot.

The best way to maintain well-seasoned wood is to keep your wood on a rotation. You should keep track of the amount of wood you burn for a given heating season and in the next year store up that amount in green wood. You may need to buy your wood for the first year as you allow your first store of wood to age or you can find standing dead trees and use those. After you have one heating seasons worth of wood put up and you will be butting up wood during the summer for not the coming but the following winter.

If you put the word out that you are always on the lookout for wood it is pretty easy to get what you need from year to year for free. Offer to help clear trees for friends or help remove large branches that fall in storms. You can ask people who remove trees for a living if you could help remove wood for them for just the wood as payment. You could even talk with landowners and see if they would let you take the standing dead trees that are on their property.

How do you know when the wood is dry enough to burn?

Look

You can learn a lot about the condition of your wood if you know what signs to look for. Some of the visual signs of dry wood are things like color. If the wood has faded in color to a dull tan this is a sign of low moisture. Also, look for cracks in the wood and separation of the bark. As the wood dries the bark will begin to peel off easily from the wood itself. These are all great signs that your wood is ready to burn.

Sound

Another clue to the condition of your wood is the way it sounds. If you take two pieces of your wood and hit them together you will hear one of two sounds. Either a nice, loud, hollow, almost musical crack. Or, a soft dull thud. The thud is a sign of high moisture and means the wood is not ready. The hollow crack means the wood is nice and dry.

Smell

The smell of fresh cut “Green” is unmistakable. As time passes the scent of the wood will be less strong. As the smell grows fainter the wood is evaporating more of its moisture. When the wood is ready to burn it will have only a very faint smell of its original scent. You should have to almost place your nose on the wood to smell anything at all.

Age

Most wood will be completely seasoned after two years from the time it was cut down. As long as you have followed the previous requirements for storing, your wood should be ready to burn. Remember, if you place your wood on a two-season rotation and make sure that your wood is off the ground, has good airflow, and stays dry you should have nice seasoned firewood every year.

What are the dangers of burning green wood?

Burning green wood or wood that had not had time to dry out properly can increase the danger of a house fire. When wood burns it sends gasses, smoke, carbon, and creosote into the chimney. The wetter the wood the more of these things the wood excretes. These particles can build up in your chimney over time and eventually if not cleaned out can catch on fire.

If you burn any kind of wood for heat it is important to have your chimney cleaned at least one time per year. You can hire out the work or if you not afraid of climbing onto your roof you can buy the brushes yourself. The brushes you use should be a little bit bigger than the diameter of your chimneys exhaust tube.

What is the best wood to burn?

All wood will burn but for efficiency’s sake, you should stick to the woods that burn longer and hotter. These are the denser hardwoods. A few examples of these would be Fruit trees like Cherry and Apple trees, as well as Ash (a really nice splitting wood) Hickory, Oak and Walnut

Now, there are advantages to having a mixture of woods in your stores. The pine woods have a high resin content and will light easy. Using these to get your fires started is a great option. Also getting your hands on some of these softer woods is much easier. A few of my favorites are Red pine, spruce and fir trees

A few other things to be aware of:

Bugs

All kinds of bugs live in wood. Many of these bugs lay their eggs in the wood and when you bring it into your home and warm up the wood, the eggs may hatch. It is a good idea to keep the wood you burn outside for as long as possible if you would like to minimize this potential problem.

Ash and dust (sensitive lungs)

During the winter months, we tend to keep our homes shut up nice and tight to keep all the heat in. Unfortunately, that doesn’t allow the ash and dust we create by burning wood to escape easily. This can cause respiratory irritation to some people. It is a good idea to ventilate when you can and use an air purifier if possible.

And if you think about it, it is most helpful learning for someone who is just a little farther ahead of you rather then someone who is a professional on the subject. If someone is to far ahead of you it can be intimidating and sometimes hard to learn because they are so much farther ahead. Does that make any sense? Anyway…

Just for a little background here is my story…

My Story

I grew up in the country and my mom had animals and a garden. I never really helped her much and really did not care for it at all, I was to cool for that, ya know what I mean? For the first few years of my marriage, I lived in the city. It was then that I realized I hated the city and could not wait to move back to the country. Not that I was ever one of those kids that had to get out of the country life but I just did not realize how much I missed it until I was gone. It sounds silly but I felt so suffocated in the city and got this feeling that I could not breathe. The country is so open and refreshing.

Anyway…

…finally, my little family and I moved back to the country and got our own house. It only has 2 acres, but we love it. We actually never planned to start a homestead it just kind of happened. My husband was into prepping and I personally did not want to prep and save a bunch of stuff that would just go bad. When I was little we had a scare called Y2K, my parents got all these buckets full of food and of course, nothing happened and we had all this food that we could not even eat through. So as I started thinking about it I decided that it made much more sense to become as self-sufficient as possible. I wanted to have animals and produce for us and that would continue to sustain us. That way we can take care of ourselves if something big happened and if nothing happens nothing is going to go to waste and we will still use all the things we grow and raise.

We started small…

and continue to add things to our homestead each year. My husband works outside of the home so we can’t get too big to fast because he is not around to do it full time. I have been amazed at what we have been able to do in such a short time and never dreamed we would be able to do so much on our own. I thought to homestead and become self-sufficient would be so hard and time-consuming. But I have been really surprised at what we have done for way less work then I thought. As far as finances, we have taken it slow and do what we can afford. The great thing is that if you do things yourself it is very affordable. If you are interested in learning more about the finances of a homestead check out my post here.

As I said I never thought I liked being in the garden or raising animals that much. I never cared about it growing up and actually hated the fact that my mom made me work on a farm. But the crazy thing is I have come to love all of it. I find it really relaxing to take care of my garden and be outside. Spring has just sprung for us here and I am so happy to be outside getting my garden going again. It is extremely rewarding to grow and raise my own food and I love that I can feed my family with such good healthy food. I feel that our culture had gotten away from hard work and the fulfillment of working for ourselves. I want to bring that back not only for myself but really for my kids.

My goal…

of homesteading is obviously becoming self-sufficient but also I want to raise kids that know how to take care of themselves, have a great work ethic and know where their food comes from. I want to raise kids that are not entitled and that can fend for themselves. But enough of my story I want to help YOU start a homestead from scratch. Below are my tips for you as you begin to convert your family to a better and healthier lifestyle. It is hard at times but I promise you will not regret it.

What is the definition of homesteaders?

Good question. A lot of people think of homesteading and think of people who got free land from the government or are old farmers living off-grid someplace. From the research, I have done modern homesteading is kinda more about becoming self-sufficient and taking care of the environment. You can really start homesteading anywhere you are. To me, the pressure is off and you are free to do what you want and are able to. 

When I think of modern homesteading I think of smaller scale gardens, preserving food, feeding our families well, and doing all that we can on our own. I do what I can but I don’t pressure myself to be 100% self-sufficient. I realize that there are still things I need to buy and that’s okay. Each year I am learning more and understanding how to take care of my family more and more on my own.

Modern homesteading is going to look different for everyone. I personally am taking it slow and adding a few things each year. My husband works full time and I have my kids who I homeschool. So we don’t have the time to go for it full force. But some of you may have more time and can add things in at a faster pace, and that is awesome!

How to start homesteading from scratch?

Budget

First of all, you need to think about what you want on your homestead and compare that with your family budget. If you can’t do everything the first year don’t worry. Take your time and add things in slowly. Look at your list and see what things you want or need to do first and go with that. For example, having a garden is very cheap and can make a huge impact.

You can preserve so many things for the next year from your garden and this will help your budget immensely. If you need help planning a garden for canning check out my post.

I am a budget person and love putting ours together. I blame that on my parents who both are accountants and love math. Don’t be overwhelmed by a budget it really is not that hard and we have so many great resources now thanks to the internet. If you need a little help in the budget area I got you covered. I explain it a little more in-depth here.

Check the laws

Depending on your area there might be laws pertaining to starting a homestead. I would look into them so that you are not surprised when you are in the middle of starting your homestead.

It’s a bummer when you start a project and run into problems down the road. Most likely if you are out in the country you should be fine. But you never want to assume. So it is always safe to just look into it.

Plan

Now that you know what you can afford to do that year you can begin to plan. If you decided to start with a garden then you can go ahead and plan out your garden on paper. Draw up where you want your plants and so forth. I like to just draw up a little blueprint for my garden. If you like to just wing it that’s fine too. I have totally done that before. I have just bought the seeds and planted them from there.

If you decided to start with animals start doing your research on what you will all need to do to get prepared for them. For example, with chickens, I would be preparing a couple months ahead of time. You will need a little more for them then you would a garden so I would start researching and seeing exactly what you will need.

Make Connections

I would strongly recommend that you make connections with local farmers and other homesteaders. They will be a great resource for you as you begin your journey. They will be able to answer questions and might even be able to help you with where and how to get the things you will need to begin.

My favorite thing to do is make connections with older farmers. They are a wealth of knowledge and so interesting to spend time with.

Don’t get overwhelmed

Do your best to not get stressed out. The point of the homestead is to simplify your life. If it is causing you to be stressed out, you are causing the opposite effect of what you were going for. That is part of the reason we started small. If I would have done everything the first year I would be losing my marbles. I am so thankful for how we did it. This way I can learn slowly and enjoy the process.

Google it

We have this great thing called the internet. I promise it will be your best friend. If you have any questions along the way I am sure you can find the answer online. If I can’t figure something out that is my go-to!

Listen

I have a tendency to do things my own way even when I am told differently. I would suggest that you don’t do that. Here is a good example… When it comes to raising chickens each chicken needs a certain amount of space. I thought that I could cram 65 chickens in a space that was only big enough for 25. How did that work? Well, I ended up with meat chickens that weighed 2 lbs…

…Yeah. Turns out people know what they’re talking about. When people have done something before and have been successful it turns out it is for your good to listen to them. Common sense huh?

Get Started

Once you have figured out what you are ready for……. DO IT! You won’t learn until you start doing. When the season comes around to get your animals, plant your garden Etc. If you keep putting it off you will just continue to put off your learning. You are going to make mistakes….and that is okay! That is how you learn. Stop making excuses and go for it. Like I said I don’t have much land but I am making the most out of what I have.

It is crazy what you can do on 2 acres of land. Just imagine how cool it would be if all of those who have just a few acres would use that land to feed their family.

Write things down

Try your best to keep track of what you are doing. Write down what you planted and what you want to plant again next year. Write down what things worked and what did not so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes twice. This is a downfall of mine and I need to get better at it, so I don’t keep repeating the same mistakes.

I used to be so organized. I need to get back to that. What you could do is get a binder and have a section for each thing you are doing. You can continue to add notes as you learn new things. Kind of make your own book. I am old fashioned and like seeing things on paper, but you can totally just keep it all in a folder on the computer as well.

Keep Learning

As I mentioned you will continue to learn each year as you make mistakes and as you do things the way you like. I personally love to learn from “doing”. But I would also recommend that you learn through books, videos, and other homesteaders. If you know anyone who has a farm or a homestead spend some time with them. Learn how they do things and if you could implement some of the same ideas. Use the internet to your advantage and search for anything you can’t figure out. The internet is such a great resource and it has never been easier for us to get answers. But books are not out of style. If you are working on a certain project I would suggest having the proper books as a reference point.

How to start a homestead with no money?

Well, it will be difficult to start a homestead for absolutely no money. But Below I have 3 ideas for things you can do for ALMOST nothing…

1. Canning

Let me warn you canning is addicting. Once you start you won’t stop. I LOVE IT! I used to only use the water method but in the last year have started pressure canning. Oh, my word it is awesome. You can preserve seriously anything. I have canned fruits, veggies, broth, meats, Jams, and my list keeps growing.

I used to freeze things but I have found that canning is so much better. First of all, you don’t have to thaw anything out. Plop it in the pot and you are good to go. Second You don’t have to use up the freezer space. Which is great because if you have a large family you are gonna need multiple freezers to store food for your family. Third, you can organize it better so that you know exactly what you have.

I’m sure most of you have heard of canning fruit and veggies that is a fairly normal practice. But I bet a majority of you saw the meat and got grossed out. And maybe even the broth. So let me expound on that a bit. Let me start by saying I am not making spam. I like good meat and there is no way I am eating that stuff. No, I am canning good quality meat. I have canned my husband’s venison, sausage, chicken, and beef.

When you are putting it through the canning process it is cooking the meat as you can. So basically you are making the meat for 8-10 meals all at once. It is a Godsend for a busy mom like myself. So just like you would plop your veggies in the pot to warm them up for dinner you are doing the same thing with the meat. A few things we have used the meat for would be

1. Tacos

2. Stroganoff

3. Fajitas

4. Swiss Steak

5. Soups/Stews

And it makes the meat so tender. Trust me once you start it you will want to can enough for every meal of the year! The other thing is broth. I have been making my own broth for a while now and will never go back. You will again save so much money and the health benefits are crazy good for you.

I know your probably thinking that making broth must be hard work. Well, would you believe me if I said all you have to do is throw leftover chicken bones in the crockpot and turn it on? I actually have a whole article written on it. Just giving a little more detail on the benefits of it and guiding you on using a pressure canner if you are nervous about that. If you want to check that out you can find that here.

Oh and Don’t let my crazy over excitement over meat and broth over shadow fruits and veggies. I am still totally in love with having all my tomato products ( pizza sauce, diced tomato, salsa etc.) green beans, Jams, Corn and such ready for the entire year. I love having a stocked pantry with all of my homegrown goods in it.

2. Gardening

Some might think that they have to have the perfect situation to garden. A big area of land, great soil Etc. Well, That is not the case! I was shocked that you really only need a small space to have a good sized garden. If you don’t have any room at all in your yard you can build raised beds and put them on your porch/deck. No matter what your situation is you can have a garden! If you need a little more details when it comes to gardening check out my article on how to plan a garden.

Another idea I wanted to mention is planting fruit…

We sometimes only think about veggies when it comes to gardening but you can plant fruit and in turn, save yourself a ton of money. strawberries and raspberries are probably the easiest things to start with. I mean once you plant them you don’t have to do a thing. You can try to keep the rows cleaned up but if not they will just keep multiplying and you will get more and more berries.

You can then make jams, jellies, pie filling, fruit syrups and freeze the berries for smoothies and shakes. Fruit can cost so much at the store and if you have space it is so worth doing on your own. You can also plant apple and pear trees and make lots of yummy applesauce. Or Pear/ applesauce, which is amazing by the way. Or your own homemade apple cider Etc. You can plant peach trees, blueberry plants and so on.  I am a huge fruit lover and could go broke buying it from the store!

3. Hunting and Fishing

This is something you can do if you have your own property but also if you don’t have land you can look into hunting on state land or maybe a friends land. When it comes to fishing look into the rivers around you and the laws. Most likely you can find areas to fish close to your house.

I personally don’t hunt or fish I leave that up to my husband but I love the benefits of it. I mean you can buy a license and potentially get 3 deer a year. If I remember correctly we have to pay about $80 for the license here in MI. But if you get 3 deer it comes to $26 a deer. If your deer weighs in at 75 Lbs you are looking at $.35 an lb. That is unheard of! You can’t get good organic meat like that in the store for less than $5 an lb.

The same goes for fishing. I won’t do the math for you but you can see from my venison example that when you do the work yourself you can save so much money. And from what I hear hunting and fishing is very relaxing. So I would encourage you to check it out.

Also…

One of the biggest ways to cut down on spending is to do absolutely anything you can yourself. Labor cost is crazy high and if you can get away with just buying the materials and doing the project yourself you will save lots. Some examples of doing things yourself would be…

• Building projects

Such as building your own animal cages, feeders, storage units Etc.

• Maintenance

Taking care of things such as oil changes and cleaning your machines on your own.

• Butchering

Butcher as many of your animals that you can on your own. For example, if you pay to have your chickens butchered it could cost you hundreds of dollars just for that one job. And doing it yourself is really not that hard. Check out my post about raising chickens for the quick run down.

• Yard work

Do as much of your work around the homestead yourself. I know this is common sense but I just thought I should mention it.

Common Sense Homesteading

I just wanted to take a minute and just talk about common sense homesteading. When you are beginning your homestead just remember to use common sense. It really is not that difficult and when you use common sense you can generally figure things out pretty quickly. Don’t overthink everything and just go for it. If you get stuck look online and most of the time you can find an answer.

As always I love to hear from you and would love to see the things you are trying on your homestead.

Happy Homesteading!

~Courtney

There are no “rules” or standards you have to live up to and you can do what you and your family have decided is right for you. I love the freedom that comes with homesteading and would hate it if I had to be held to someone else’s standard.

When I think of modern homesteading I think of smaller scale gardens, preserving food, feeding our families well, and doing all that we can on our own. I do what I can but I don’t pressure myself to be 100% self-sufficient. I realize that there are still things I need to buy and that’s okay. Each year I am learning more and understanding how to take care of my family more and more on my own. I have a lot of things in my life that are important to me and if I had to stress and pressure myself to become 100% self-sufficient I would not be able to do anything well. But if you have decided that you want to one day be 100% self-sufficient that is awesome! Everyone has a different situation.

My husband and I have decided that for us we just want to be able to take care of ourselves as much as we can…

We don’t want to live under the assumption that the government will always be there to provide for our needs and that someday we may have to do things on our own. If something happened we want to be sure that our family is taken care of and that we will be fed and clothed. We are not doomsday preppers by any means but just want to be prepared in case of an emergency.

Modern homesteading is going to look different for everyone. I personally am taking it slow and adding a few things each year. My husband works full time and I have my kids who I homeschool. So we don’t have the time to go for it full force. But some of you may have more time and can add things in at a faster pace, and that is awesome! But just know that you can begin your homesteading journey anywhere you are. You can even begin homesteading if you live in the city! You will just be starting much smaller and there is nothing wrong with that. If you feel too overwhelmed to start something why not start with learning?

Get some books, find some blogs or watch some videos on youtube. Start to expand your knowledge.

Now that we have an idea what modern homesteading is…

…..Let’s cover some of the common questions that are asked about modern homesteading.

Do have to get free land to be a modern homesteader?

NOPE!

Back in 1862, there was a deal made about getting free land and homesteading. But as I mentioned above that is not the case anymore and “modern homesteading is completely different. According to Wikipedia homesteading simply means…a lifestyle of self-sufficiency

That is going to look different for everyone. You will have the extreme homesteader who does everything themselves and is 100% self-sufficient and then you will have the beginner who is just starting out and learning the ropes. Everyone has to start someplace and the goal is to get as close to 100% self-sufficient as possible…but this takes time. Honestly, for me I don’t plan to ever become 100% self- sufficient but I plan to keep learning more and more each year and doing more and more for myself. You will have to decide what you can do and want to do for your family.

Do you have to have been raised on a farm?

No way! My family moved out to the country when I was about 12 and we got some animals. My mom always loved gardening and raising animals but I would not say that I was raised on a farm. Like my mom, I have come to love being outside and gardening and all that stuff. But I have taken it slow and added on to the knowledge I had as the years go by. It will obviously help if you have prior knowledge but it is not needed.

If you do not have any prior knowledge I would encourage you to get out into your community and find some local farmers who may have some wisdom to share. You can obviously learn from reading and videos but there is something invaluable about real life relationships.

Do you have to be a hippie?

Nope! My husband makes fun of me all the time for being a hippie but no you don’t have to be a hippie. I do love being “natural” though and continuing to get rid of as many chemicals out of my home as I possibly can…But I don’t think that is considered a hippie.

I kind of laugh when I hear this question because we tend to call anyone who does things naturally a “hippie”. But according to Wikipedia the definition to a hippie is…” a person of unconventional appearance, typically having long hair and wearing beads, associated with a subculture involving a rejection of conventional values and the taking of hallucinogenic drugs.” I don’t think that applies to homesteaders at all!

Do you have to be 100% self-sufficient?

No! We pretty much already went over this…but homesteading is really up to you as to how it will look. There are no rules or standards that you are being held to. So you don’t need to feel pressured or stressed to have your life look a certain way.

It will look different for everyone…

I know that I keep harping on this subject but with all the comparing and judging that goes on I just want you to know that you DO NOT HAVE TO be like the next homesteader. Your life is your own and you can decide how you want it to look. Sit down with your spouse and figure out what you guys want. Not what you think you should do. Homesteading is not worth it if it will just add stress onto your life. It is meant to simplify your life not add on a bunch of stress.

Now I am not saying that is will be easy because it will not be at all. But what I am saying is that there should be a balance. If it is causing you to much stress and your family cannot handle everything you are trying to do then I would recommend that you back down and not try to do it all at once. Start small and slowly add things to your life.

So now that we have that all cleared up let’s talk about some ways that you can get started as a modern day homesteader.

What do you have to work with?

Figure out what you have to work with. Do you live in the city? Do you have a few acres? Do you have hundreds of Acres? Believe it or not, you can be a homesteader with any of those situations.

I want to share with you a few ways to homestead with your current situation.

City living:

I know you probably think that if you live in the city there is no way you can homestead. But I beg to differ. Yes, I agree it will be harder but it is still totally possible. Here are some ways you can homestead while living in the city…

1.Learn

Take the time you have and educate yourself. Find some books about gardening. Find some homesteading channels on youtube. Do some research from other bloggers who have done what you want to do. Don’t waste your time! You will save yourself so many mistakes if you take the time to learn from others. Think of the things you want to do and look up those specific things. Remember to take notes as you go.

2. Brew kombucha

I am sure you have heard of kombucha by now and the amazing benefits it has for your gut health. But if you are like me you don’t wanna pay the price the store charges. Well, make your own. It is super easy (if you can make tea you can make kombucha!) and insanely cheap. If you have any questions or want to know more about kombucha make sure to check out my article here.

3. Ferment Foods

Similar to kombucha fermented foods are very important for gut health. But again the grocery stores charge an arm and a leg for fermented foods. So make your own. Even if you have to buy the veggies to ferment you are a step closer to doing things on your own. In my article, I answer questions about fermenting foods! Make sure to check it out.

4. Start a small garden

If you have a little area in your yard start a garden! Even if you don’t have much room you can begin to learn about gardening for when you do have the chance to have a bigger garden. What if you don’t have a yard? Start small container gardens by your house. This is actually quite handy when you can just open your door and pick your veggies. My friend has lots of veggies growing on her back deck!

This is just a few ideas to get you started. There are plenty more ideas. I just wanted to get your wheels turning on the fact that you can do things with a small space. Don’t let your minimized space stop you from beginning your homesteading journey.

5. Hunting

Even if you live in the city you can still find the property to hunt on. Maybe a friend has land that you can use or you can use state land. Whatever it is I would recommend looking into it. Good quality meats cost a fortune and if you can supply your own meat you will save yourself a ton of money. And You might find that you really enjoy being out in nature. Or in my case, your husband does the hunting.

A few acres:

I just want to show you that even if you only have a couple acres you can still do quite a bit. So obviously you can do anything from the list above so I will just share with you a few extra things that we do with our 2 acres.

1. Chickens (for eggs)

We built a coop and have 12 chickens that lay eggs. This really does not take much space at all and they give me exactly enough eggs for my family. I even have space for them to eat the grass so that their diet is healthier. And believe it or not, they are not that much work! You just feed and water them.

2. Chickens ( for meat)

The last couple years we have done meat birds and even though we do not have much space it has worked out fine. We move them to new pasture every day and it works out great. By pasture, I mean our yard. If you want to learn more about how we do that check it out here.

3. A large garden

We also have had a pretty large garden for the last few years and have had pretty good success. I have been able to can and put away lots of yummy food for the winter. I really enjoy having a garden and it is great for my kids to learn and help me along the way.

Hundreds of acres:

This one is pretty self-explanatory and You can do pretty much whatever you want but I will give you a few ideas in case you are overwhelmed and just don’t know where to start. Again, You can do any of the ideas mentioned above but here are a few more.

1. Animals to butcher

Start thinking about getting animals that can be butchered. Like I said if you want to buy grass fed or higher quality meat it is going to cost a fortune and you are relying on someone else right? So why not do it on your own? I would love to do a cow and a pig. We don’t have the room for that now but when I get more land that is on my “dream” list.

2. Rent your property

As you are just getting started…or anytime really a little extra cash is nice. If you have some fields that are not being used see if any local farmers would want to rent them out. You would be surprised at how much farmers will pay to rent a field. I am a pretty frugal person and like to find all the ways that I can utilize what I have. So if you have a field that you do not plan on using check into this as an option.

3. Solar power

This is honestly an area that I do not know much about…But I do know that the extreme homesteaders want to get to the place of being off the grid. So if that is something on your “dream list” Then, by all means, start doing your research and start to become self- sufficient in this area.

I know I keep mentioning your “dream list” and don’t worry I will explain what I mean in just a second.

Figure out your budget

Now that you know what you have to work with you will need to figure out what your finances look like. I know that it is the American way to spend what you don’t have but I personally don’t go into debt for anything but my house. So I would encourage you to do the same. I know it is tempting but if you get into debt for homesteading that kind of defeats the purpose. You are not really self-sufficient if you are in debt to someone else.

So how is that possible? well depending on the amount of money you have you might just have to start slow. I know that is not the answer you want to hear but that’s the way it is. And there are ways to make money on your homestead so that you can move at a little faster of a rate. I wrote an article on ways to make money on your homestead. If that is something that you are interested in check it out here.

I would suggest that you use a simple excel spreadsheet to make a budget. If you already have a family budget then you are ahead of the game. I would just look at your budget and see if there are ways you can cut back and put that money toward your homestead. Or maybe you decide that your homestead is an investment and you are willing to take a little money out of savings to get you started.

Whatever you decide is up to you but your finances will play a big role in your homestead and defiantly something you want to look at.

What are your dreams?

Okay, onto your “dream list”. We all have ideas in our head of what we want our homestead to look like someday. But now you can see that the land you have and the money will play a big role in what you can do right away for your homestead. But there is nothing wrong with having dreams and I would recommend that you keep those dreams. I mean you have to have something to shoot for right?

And it will be a huge help for you on those rough days. So why not make a dream list? List all of the things that you would like to do someday and have them someplace that you can see them.

Prioritize those dreams

Everyone has heard the quote “dreams only work if you do” and that is so true. We all have dreams but if we don’t do anything about them nothing will ever happen and they will just stay dreams. So since we don’t want that to happen let’s put a plan in place to make your dreams a reality.

Look at your “dream list”. Start putting them into the order of priority. What would you like to see happen first? What is most important to you? What would benefit your family most?

What can you do this year?

Now, look at your list again. What do you think you can do this year? This will take a little bit of time because you will have to look at the land that you have and see what is all possible. You will also need to look at your budget and see what your budget will allow for this year.

Now some people can’t think farther than a year…and that’s okay. If it is too overwhelming for you to think that far ahead than just skip the next step.

Make a longer-term plan

If you are like me and love to plan ahead this step is for you.

Make a 5 or even 10-year goal. What do you want your homestead to look like in 5 years? What do you think you can accomplish from your “dream list”? What will your budget allow?

Be Flexible

A big lesson I have learned is that I need to be flexible. Having dreams and goals is great but make sure that you are using them as a guide. There are so many variables with homesteading and so many things that you will not anticipate. So make sure you are not holding onto your list to tightly.

You will have to be willing to tweak and change things as you go. Some months will feel like you accomplished absolutely nothing and others you will get more done than you thought you would.

I know this is common sense but sometimes we all just need the reminder…

Start learning

Before you jump into homesteading I would suggest that you take some time to learn. I personally have a hard time with this because I am very impatient and always want to dive right into whatever I am doing. But I promise you will save yourself some frustration and a lot of mistakes if you take the time to learn.

I know I have mentioned it before but there are so many resources available. Just decide what you want to learn and type your question into youtube or google and go from there. There are so many people who have done the same thing and have already made the mistakes for you…I have learned so much from the resources I have found online. There are also plenty of books if you like to learn the “old fashioned” way as well.

And don’t forget to take notes. I can’t tell you how many times I have read something and can’t remember where I read it when I need the information. So do your best to take notes of the things you think you will use in the near future.

Final Thoughts

Why I love Modern homesteading…

I guess I don’t have anything to compare it to since I was not a homesteader back in the day, but I really love homesteading today. The resources I have online and the people that I know are invaluable to me. I love being able to become more and more self-sufficient and not having to rely on the government for everything in my life. Being able to teach my kids and the next generation skills that they might not otherwise have learned is such a joy. Being on this journey is so fun and I am so grateful for it.

My husband and I are doing everything we can to raise our kids to become self-sufficient people and we feel like homesteading is very helpful in this goal. We want our kids to know how to do things themselves and not always rely on others to do it for them. Along with homesteading we also homeschool which I feel helps immensely with this goal. If you have kids and homeschooling is something that you have an interest in make sure to check out my post here.

As you can see modern homesteading is very flexible and looks different for everyone. You don’t have to feel stress and think that you have to rise to a certain standard. You just do what you can do for your family and keep pushing forward. Everyone’s goals will be different and that is totally okay.

As always if you have any questions and would like to see an article about a certain topic please let me know in the comments. I love to hear from my fellow homesteaders.

Happy Homesteading!

~Courtney

I am actually getting to the point where I feel like things are evening out a bit and when I take the time in the winter to plan and prepare the summer goes so much better!

Today I am going to share with you 14 winter homesteading ideas….so let’s dive right in.

1. Canning

Now I know what you’re thinking what am I going to can in the middle of winter? I don’t have any fresh produce. Well, Believe it or not, you can throw things in the freezer during the summer and when winter comes and you have more time you are then able to can it.

Let me explain…So let’s say you had lots of strawberries but you were to busy when they were ripe to make jam. Or in my case, you just can’t think about getting your house that hot when you are so pregnant. Anyway, you can just throw them in the freezer and then when you have the time pull them out and make your jam.

Or maybe you did not have enough in one picking and needed to wait until you had enough for a full batch. Or you wanted to make mixed fruit Jam and needed to wait for the other berries to ripen….okay you get the idea.

What about meat? Did you get a deer during hunting season but it was to much work to think about butchering the whole thing and then canning it? Again, throw it in the freezer and pull it out when you have the time in the winter. Oh and if you are thinking spam think again! Canned meat is actually delish and ready for your meals because it is already cooked. I know it almost too good to be true!

What about chicken broth? DId you know you can make chicken broth in like no time at all? Check it out here.

This actually will make your year go quite a bit smoother if you can spread out the work a little bit and not have to do it all during those few warm months.

2. Pass on your knowledge

As a homesteader, I am sure that you have knowledge in areas that most people do not. Winter is a great time to teach others what you know. Trust me even if you don’t feel like it, you know more then you think. And believe it or not, teaching is fun. And it can be fairly easy. You can set up in person classes but with the technology that we have, you could also teach people things over YouTube. It is nuts how many people you can affect in this way. You can start a channel on YouTube in about 2 minutes and then just upload your videos. You could almost use it as a journal of your homesteading journey and others can watch and learn from you along the way.

I have actually done that and really enjoy sharing my journey with others…

It made me a little nervous putting myself out there at first and yes I look very silly in my first few videos but once you get in a groove it starts to get fun. And like I said it is cool to look back and see where you started and how far you have come.

If a video is not your thing you can also pass on your knowledge through writing. Which as you are reading I have done as well. I personally really love writing and have enjoyed this journey. Again, it is fun to see how I started and where I am now. You can start a blog like this one or just get a free blog if you just want to keep it more low key.

I know it seems like a lot but you would be surprised how easy it is. I would just encourage you to it yourself out there. You may think that you are just starting out and don’t have much to offer but the truth is you are much further than most other people and most of us want to learn from people that are just ahead of us and not way above us. We want to learn from people like us who are just going for it. Just share your journey the things that worked and the total flops. That is real life and what people really want to see.

3. Plan ahead

I am a natural born planner so this one comes easy for me. I love making lists and getting ahead on things. But even if this is not your thing I still would recommend doing it. When you plan ahead you can make your year go so much smoother. And you can save money.

• You can plan your garden. You can make a blueprint of exactly how you want it to look and what you will be planting. You can plan what you want in the garden and where to buy your seeds/plants. Trust me this will make your gardening season so much better.
• You can plan your animals for the year. You can decide what animals you will be getting that year, how many you are getting and when and where you will be getting them. You can do your research so that you can get the best price.
• Plan your finances. As you are planning everything that you want to do you will need to know what you can all afford. So I would advise you to sit down and figure out what your budget is for the year. If you are not used to budgeting it can seem hard and overwhelming. I have found that a simple app such as “mint” works great. You just plug in your expenses and it keeps track of your spending for you. Winter is a great time to sit down and figure this out. And I would highly recommend doing this before you rush into any big projects.

There are plenty of things that you can plan depending on your life and what you all do. This is just a few ideas to get you going.

4. Stock your pantry

Again, this might seem odd because your thinking that you already did when you preserved your food. And most likely you already have a decently stocked pantry but because I am an organized freak and slightly OCD I like to have my pantry in order for the year. And I for one am not at the place that I can stock my pantry 100% on my own so I have to buy certain things. I have written a post about how to stock your pantry. It tells you everything from building the pantry to shopping, organizing the pantry and putting it all away.

If stocking your pantry is something that interests you I would highly recommend you check out the post. It will make your life much simpler. And I am not being prideful when I say that but as I mentioned before I am just figuring things out and sharing them with you as I do them. So in this post, I am just sharing with you my process and how I did it. I also share my homestead pantry list and everything I like to have in my stocked pantry.

5. Get your house in order

I don’t know about you but my house tends to get turned upside down in the summer. I am so busy with all the work outside that the inside of my house gets very little attention. There is just not enough time in the day! Winter is a great time to hunker down and catch up on all that inside work. I try to get things organized and do some deep cleaning during the winter.

I also try to do any bigger inside projects that got pushed off during the summer. Maybe painting or smaller remodel projects Etc. I find that if I don’t do them in the winter it is just not gonna happen. Winter is a great time to start working away at that “to do” list that kept growing all summer and kept getting avoided.

Another thing I try to do in the winter is to get rid of things. With the holidays you seem to end up with so much more stuff and it is nice to rid your house of all the things you don’t need or use anymore. I go through our clothes bins and the toys and do my best to get rid of as much as possible.

Trust me you will not regret minimizing…

I recently went through the toys and got rid of a ton of them. I kind of felt bad at first and wondered if I would regret it. But I do not regret it at all! The toy room stays so much cleaner and honestly, my kids can play so much better without so many toys. Before there were so many that they could not even see what they have to play with. I am so glad that I did it!

Same with clothes. I have saved so many clothes and it is very overwhelming having bins and bins full of clothes. I have found that when I simplify it takes such a burden off.

We really don’t need as much we think we do and believe it or not when we get rid of it the stress starts to go away. It takes a lot less work to clean and organize when you have way less in your house messing everything up!

6. Getaway

Speaking of stress and burdens…

Consider using the winter as a time to get a little R&R. Homesteading can be a lot of work and everybody needs some time off. If you can’t afford a big vacation at least try to get a weekend away.

Just like any job in life we all need some time to relax and refocus. I can assure you that you will appreciate what you do so much more when you have some time to unwind. Not only that you will also feel ready and more motivated for a new year of homesteading. It always surprises me how much better I feel after some time off. You will not regret it!

7. Start plants inside

This is something I have personally not tried yet but would really love to one of these years. From what I have read and heard it is not that hard and it will really give you a head start on your garden.

I have found that when I plant my garden from seeds it takes much longer then if I buy the plants that have already been started. But when you do this it will cost more…

If you plant your seeds in the house you can save the money by still buying seeds, but your garden will be able to reap the benefit from having the plants already started.

The process is fairly simple. Basically, you buy the seeds plant them in small containers such as an old strawberry container and water them. If you want a little more detail on how to do it check out my post here.

8. Prepare food for the busy days

I always notice that cooking in the summer really stinks. Not only does it make the house hot when you use the oven but because of all the work that needs to be done outside you just really don’t feel like cooking when you come in from a long day.

The winter is a great time to do some extra cooking and put it away for the summer. Now if you have already canned some meat then you have some meals basically ready to go. But you can also make meals and freeze them.

I personally like to make my normal meals and just double them and then put the extra into the freezer. You can also make crockpot meals and put them in zip locks. This is great for those super hot summer days. You can just throw it in the crock-pot and that way you never even have to turn the oven on.

9. Keep learning

Never forget your own education. Even though we are adults we still need to be learning and educating ourselves. There is so much to learn about homesteading!

I personally am a hands-on learner. I prefer to learn by doing. But there is also a place for book learning. (or video) The winter is a great time to read about the things you hope to do on your homestead. Or watch videos.

As I mentioned lots of people blog or have a YouTube channel with so much valuable information. If you have something specific you want to learn type it into Google or YouTube and see what you can find.

If you love reading books that is awesome too! But with the internet, we have so much valuable information right at our fingertips…and the best part is its free!

It is so easy to waste our time in the winter because we feel like there is not as much to do. But if we spent just a fraction of our time in the winter learning we could be doing so much more with our summers!

10. Make homemade beauty products

I am not super into makeup so I have not played around with that a whole lot because It is not something I use or need. But I have friends that have made their own makeup and they love it. You can buy the ingredients in bulk and it will last forever and it is SO much healthier then what you can buy at the store.

I have on the other hand played around with making my own shampoos and body wash and those things. There are so many recipes out there and to be honest you just have to try them for yourself to see what works for your hair and body…

Because what works for me might not necessarily work for you! I will tell you that it is a process to figure out what works but again you can save yourself so much money by making your own. And it will not be filled with a bunch of chemicals.

And the goal of homesteading is to become self-sufficient. I understand that this is not 100% self-sufficient but if you have the ingredients in bulk you will be all set for years and years. And I don’t know about you but I think it is awesome when we can make as much as possible ourselves. Even if we have to buy some things to do it.

11. Make homemade cleaning products

If you read my post about norwex you will know that I hardly use any cleaning products anymore. If you have not had a chance to read it I would highly recommend that you do. As a busy homesteading mom I have very little extra time and norwex is seriously a lifesaver.

Anyway, whether or not you use norwex you will still need certain cleaning products. Making them yourself is so easy and saves a lot of money. I personally only need dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, and soap thanks to norwex but you can make anything that you might need!

Just like the beauty products you will have to play around with recipes and see what you like and what works for you. Most of the recipes are fairly similar and usually use vinegar. Which is great because it is so cheap.

The greatest thing about making your own cleaning supplies is that you can know for a fact that they are chemical free. Even though I feel like I am careful my kids get ahold of my cleaning supplies and are playing with them in seconds. It is very relieving to know that is they do happen to spray something it won’t hurt them. And even more then that I can let them help me clean and not have to worry about anything!

12. Brew kombucha

I know kombucha seems like a “faddy” thing but it has actually been around for a long time we are just finally seeing the benefits. Personally, I have seen it work wonders. My digestive system is awful and I need all the help I can get. Kombucha has really helped my digestive system work the way it should. I love when I can drink something that tastes amazing and is good for me…but the price tag is a bit daunting.

I could not believe how simple it was to make it! It is really as easy as making tea…well and waiting for 2 weeks. But really it is not that hard at all and the cool part being that you can do a continued brew so you always have some ready.

If this is something that interests you make sure to check out my post on all things kombucha and also other fermented foods.

13. Ferment foods

Speaking of fermented foods this is another great thing to do in the winter. Fermented foods are so great for your gut health and again when you buy them in the store they can be super pricey. But just like the kombucha, you can make them yourself super easily!

I have tried different things but my favorite would probably have to be the pickles I made this year. My cucumber plant went crazy and I fermented them all. All I did was cut up the cucumbers place them in a quart jar and add the following seasonings…

Dill Pickles

2 cloves of garlic

2 sprigs of fresh dill

1/2 tsp. coriander seeds

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 whole peppercorns

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

2 cups water

1 tablespoon sea salt

I also made them with hot peppers instead of the pepper flakes and that was amazing as well.

In the end, you can add an onion on the top to make sure the cucumbers stay submerged in the water. Then just leave them on the counter for about 4 days.

You can ferment so many things and like I said it is so awesome for your gut. And oh my word it is so easy compared to canning! Again, if you have any questions about fermenting check out my post here.

14. Make homemade gifts

Now I know what you’re probably thinking…who wants some lame homemade gifts. But I have come to realize that most people can buy themselves pretty much whatever they want and a homemade gift really stands outs nowadays.

And you can make some pretty cool stuff! They really won’t take that much time. I mean just look at the few things I have talked about already. You could make people homemade cleaning supplies or beauty products. You could cook for someone. To be honest as a mom that is the greatest gift ever. You could also offer to watch someone else’s kids so they can get a break.

There are so many cute ideas. Did you know that you can manage vanilla extract yourself? It is super easy. You just buy vanilla beans and vodka or rum put them in a jar and wait a few months. This makes such a great gift.

I mean I could go on and on with the not lame gift ideas but you get the idea! Don’t forget to let me know in the comments what you have done that worked out super well and the things that were total flops! I want to see it all!

Final thoughts

I hope this list has been helpful as you look forward to your winter and how you can be better prepared for your homesteading year. I find that I can keep myself just as busy in the winter months as I do in the summer.

Not that I always want to be super busy but like I mentioned it does help the summer run smoother when I have used my winter well and was able to get ahead and be prepared for my summer. Not saying I am perfect but I feel that each year I figure things out a little more and learn how to do things better then I did the year before.

Homesteading is a process and we are always learning and growing. It will not be something that we get overnight unfortunately but don’t give up you will have your rough days but I promise it will be worth it in the end.

As always I love to hear from you so please let me know what you are up to or things that you would like to hear from me next!

Happy Homesteading!

-Courtney

1. How about a garden? You can plant a garden pretty much anywhere and it is cheap to do. And believe it or not, it is really quite relaxing. I love going out to my garden and sitting outside in the peace and picking weeds. Don’t call me crazy until you try it for yourself!

Anyway, back to the point. Like I said you can plant a garden whether you have a lot of property or hardly any at all. If you currently live in the city but dream of a homestead…Stop dreaming! You can start your dream now. You will be surprised at how much you can do with just a tiny little area. And who wants to mow anyway? Turn your yard into food. All you need to do is grab some seeds and plant. Don’t worry you will learn as you go. If you do get stuck and have some questions check out some of my other posts on gardening.

2.Fresh Eggs anyone? What about trying egg-laying chickens? This you will need a little more room for but still not that much! You just need enough room for a coop and ideally a little run outside of the coop for the chickens to have some room to run. You can either build your own coop, buy a coop new or buy a coop used. Basically, you will buy your chicks from a local mill or farm store, raise them in the garage or barn for about a month or so and then they are ready for the coop.

I have had my chicken for a year now and am loving it. It is so great to be able to go outside and have my own farm fresh eggs. I have 2 acres of property but the chickens don’t use hardly any of that. So you could totally raise chickens on an acre or even less.

Again, if you have been putting off your homesteading goals because of lack of property STOP you can do this now! If you closer to the city just make sure you look into the laws for your area. Chickens will run in a little more money but it is totally worth it. Once you put in the initial money for the coop you are basically just paying for food. Which by the way I have figured out how to raise my chickens for basically nothing. Be watching for my post about how I do it!

3.Getting rid of chemicals. Yes, please! This one might seem strange as a homesteading idea but just hear me out. As I will allude to in the next section modern homesteading is about becoming self-sufficient. And also taking care of the environment. This idea is probably the best because you can do this no matter what. If you live in the country and have hundreds of acres on your homestead or you live in the city and just have a “dream” of homesteading, you can apply this idea.

Over the last few years, I have done my best to rid my home of chemicals. As I learn more and more about how harmful they are to me, my kids and the environment I can’t stand having them in my home. I have tried many different products and brands and have loved different ones for different reasons. There are so many great brands out there! But my latest favorite way of cleaning is just with water.

I know what your thinking. How in the world can you clean with just water? Well, let me tell you. There is this brand called Norwex. Their cloths are made with these tiny little microfibers that are 200th the size of a human hair. They are embedded with silver, the silver kills bacteria as soon as it touches bacteria. I know amazing. I have been using them for about 9 months and am in love. What’s crazy is that you can clean your ENTIRE house with just water.

For me, this is a lifesaver because even when I just had the “natural” cleaners my kids would still grab the bottles and either spray them on themselves or spray the bottle on random stuff. Even though it was “natural” I still was not sure exactly what they were getting on them. I am now in total peace of mind knowing I have no chemicals in my house.

I don’t personally sell norwex. Even though I should because I love it so much. But I have decided not to “sell” any certain brand because I want to share things I love with people without being bias on a product. But if you want to be able to clean your house with norwex I can hook you up! You can either grab it on Amazon. Or my friend sells it and this is her link. I know you will most likely get sticker shock but let me tell you it is worth it.

Think about how much you spend on cleaners…I was looking into it and apparently, an average family spends $600 a year! What?!?! Crazy I know. With Norwex you will put in the money up front and then you are done. My one cloth has lasted me 9 months and it is still going strong. I swear they embed it with magic fibers. Okay, I will stop because I know the whole point of this post was not about norwex. but when I get going I can’t stop. If you want to learn more you can read more on another post of mine here.

Oops, I got a little carried away with my “short” idealist. Well, hopefully, you hung on and for those of you who want a few more ideas and to know a little bit more about modern homesteading keep on reading, friend!

What is Modern homesteading?

Good question. A lot of people think of homesteading and think of people who got free land from the government or are old farmers living off-grid someplace. From the research, I have done modern homesteading is kinda more about becoming self-sufficient and taking care of the environment. You can really start homesteading anywhere you are. To me, the pressure is off and you are free to do what you want and are able to. 

When I think of modern homesteading I think of smaller scale gardens, preserving food, feeding our families well, and doing all that we can on our own. I do what I can but I don’t pressure myself to be 100% self-sufficient. I realize that there are still things I need to buy and that’s okay. Each year I am learning more and understanding how to take care of my family more and more on my own.

Modern homesteading is going to look different for everyone. I personally am taking it slow and adding a few things in each year. My husband works full time and I have my kids who I homeschool. So we don’t have the time to go for it full force. But some of you may have more time and can add things in at a faster pace, and that is awesome!

Why I love Modern homesteading…

I guess I don’t have anything to compare it to since I was not a homesteader back in the day, but I really love homesteading today. The resources I have online and the people that I know are invaluable to me. I love being able to become more and more self-sufficient and not having to rely on the government for everything in my life. Being able to teach my kids and the next generation skills that they might not otherwise have learned is such a joy. Being on this journey is so fun and I am so grateful for it.

Small ways you can get started…

Okay, So for those of you who want a longer more detailed lists here are 9 simple and affordable homesteading ideas for you…

9 Modern Homesteading Ideas

1. Raising Chickens

I mentioned this idea at the beginning of the article but I want to give a little more depth and touch on raising meat birds. When you think of raising chickens as egg layers you know you don’t need much room, right? I mean get a chicken coop and you are all set. But what about meat birds? If you want to raise them on pasture don’t you need a large area? WRONG! I raised 75 chickens on my 2 acres.

My husband built a chicken tractor. ( Which is basically a movable chicken cage that lets them eat the grass) and we kept them in there the whole 12 weeks and would just move them to fresh grass each day. Crazy huh? I thought for sure we would need way more room then we have. So why not raise some birds for meat? I was seriously blown away at how simple it was. I felt like the chicken were less work then my dog!

And the benefits are awesome. If you want to buy good organic chicken at the store you will be paying about $5 an lb. If you have a decent sized family and eat chicken a couple days a week you are looking at spending $2,340 a year on chicken! That is crazy! I did the math for raising them myself and it came to about $5 per chicken! And because you raised them yourself you know that they are raised exactly the way you want them to be. If you are interested in learning the in and outs of raising meat birds I have written an entire post about it. You can check it out here.

2. Gardening

Some might think that they have to have the perfect situation to garden. A big area of land, great soil Etc. Well, That is not the case! I was shocked that you really only need a small space to have a good sized garden. If you don’t have any room at all in your yard you can build raised beds and put them on your porch/deck. No matter what your situation is you can have a garden! If you need a little more details when it comes to gardening check out my article on how to plan a garden.

Another idea I wanted to mention is planting fruit. We sometimes only think about veggies when it comes to gardening but you can plant fruit and in turn, save yourself a ton of money. strawberries and raspberries are probably the easiest things to start with. I mean once you plant them you don’t have to do a thing. You can try to keep the rows cleaned up but if not they will just keep multiplying and you will get more and more berries.

You can then make jams, jellies, pie filling, fruit syrups and freeze the berries for smoothies and shakes. Fruit can cost so much at the store and if you have space it is so worth doing on your own. You can also plant apple and pear trees and make lots of yummy applesauce. Or Pear/ applesauce, which is amazing by the way. Or your own homemade apple cider Etc. You can plant peach trees, blueberry plants and so on.  I am a huge fruit lover and could go broke buying it from the store!

3. Canning

Let me warn you canning is addicting. Once you start you won’t stop. I LOVE IT! I used to only use the water method but in the last year have started pressure canning. Oh, my word it is awesome. You can preserve seriously anything. I have canned fruits, veggies, broth, meats, Jams, and my list keeps growing.

I used to freeze things but I have found that canning is so much better. First of all, you don’t have to thaw anything out. Plop it in the pot and you are good to go. Second You don’t have to use up the freezer space. Which is great because if you have a large family you are gonna need multiple freezers to store food for your family. Third, you can organize it better so that you know exactly what you have.

I’m sure most of you have heard of canning fruit and veggies that is a fairly normal practice. But I bet a majority of you saw the meat and got grossed out. And maybe even the broth. So let me expound on that a bit. Let me start by saying I am not making spam. I like good meat and there is no way I am eating that stuff. No, I am canning good quality meat. I have canned my husband’s venison, sausage, chicken, and beef.

When you are putting it through the canning process it is cooking the meat as you can. So basically you are making the meat for 8-10 meals all at once. It is a Godsend for a busy mom like myself. So just like you would plop your veggies in the pot to warm them up for dinner you are doing the same thing with the meat. A few things we have used the meat for would be

1. Tacos
2. Stroganoff
3. Fajitas
4. Swiss Steak
5. Soups/Stews

And it makes the meat so tender. Trust me once you start it you will want to can enough for every meal of the year! The other thing is broth. I have been making my own broth for a while now and will never go back. You will again save so much money and the health benefits are crazy good for you.

I know your probably thinking that making broth must be hard work. Well, would you believe me if I said all you have to do is throw leftover chicken bones in the crockpot and turn it on? I actually have a whole article written on it. Just giving a little more detail on the benefits of it and guiding you on using a pressure canner if you are nervous about that. If you want to check that out you can find that here.

Oh and Don’t let my crazy over excitement over meat and broth over shadow fruits and veggies. I am still totally in love with having all my tomato products ( pizza sauce, diced tomato, salsa etc.) green beans, Jams, Corn and such ready for the entire year. I love having a stocked pantry with all of my homegrown goods in it.

4. Dehydrating

While I am on the subject of preserving I wanted to tell you about dehydrating. I recently got a dehydrator and have had so much fun trying different foods in it. This is another great way you can save money on the homestead. One of our favorite things to make is our own homemade jerky. You can use venison or beef and it is amazing. Depending on if you buy jerky often you could potentially save yourself quite a bit of money. I mean you can pay $8 for a little bag of jerky.

Another thing we love to dehydrate is fruit. Oh, my word dried pineapple and bananas are so good. Not only that but they are a good healthy snack for you and the kids. And once again if you buy dried fruit you can spend $8-$10 a bag.

And surprisingly You can get a good dehydrator for under $50. You can also go all out and get a huge one with lots of trays. I personally have a big one that is a little pricier but our friends bought it for us. But if I was to buy it myself I might not have spent quite that much. I have an article talking a little more in-depth about dehydrating if that is something that is of interest to you. You can check that out here.

5. Hunting & Fishing

This is something you can do if you have your own property but also if you don’t have land you can look into hunting on state land or maybe a friends land. When it comes to fishing look into the rivers around you and the laws. Most likely you can find areas to fish close to your house.

I personally don’t hunt or fish I leave that up to my husband but I love the benefits of it. I mean you can buy a license and potentially get 3 deer a year. If I remember correctly we have to pay about $80 for the license here in MI. But if you get 3 deer it comes to $26 a deer. If your deer weighs in at 75 Lbs you are looking at $.35 an lb. That is unheard of! You can’t get good organic meat like that in the store for less than $5 an lb.

The same goes for fishing. I won’t do the math for you but you can see from my venison example that when you do the work yourself you can save so much money. And from what I hear hunting and fishing is very relaxing. So I would encourage you to check it out.

6. Essential Oil Blends

I am a big advocate of using essential oils for preventative health and for medical purposes. But they can get a bit pricey. I actually just learned something recently…It turns out that we don’t need near as much oil as most of us have been using. It seems that our body can’t even handle the amounts we have been using. So I have been making my own blends with a carrier oil.

I just take a bottle fill it up mostly with a carrier oil. (coconut, avocado Etc. a fatty oil is what you are looking for) and then add 10-12 drops for the entire bottle. I can’t believe how much money that saves. I mean before I would take the oil straight and use 3-4 drops per time. Now I just use my blender bottle and my oil goes so much further. You can either use the oil individually or you can add different oils together for different things…Here are a few I made up.

You can buy special bottles or just save your old essential oil bottles and refill those. I have written a little more in depth on the subject if you want to learn more you can read about it here.

7. Stocking your Pantry

This is something I have been working on for the last few years. And what is nice about it is you can work on this wherever you are. You don’t need anything special to have a stocked pantry. And it is so important to have. Did you know that is something happened the grocery stores would be out of food in 3 days? and most people don’t have enough food in their house to last more than a week. My husband and I try to keep our pantry stocked for the whole year.

But we make sure to fill it with the things that we use so that if nothing happens we will still eat the food like normal but then if an emergency does happen we are good to go. We have gone back and forth because my husband is more of a prepper and I am more practical. I did not want to spend a bunch of money on things that we would never use and would just go bad. So we have a stocked pantry of our normal everyday used foods.

When you think about stocking a pantry for a year it can get very overwhelming and the task can seem out of reach. trust me I know. So to simplify the job for you I have taken the time to break it down in to easy to do chunks. If you are wanting to stock your pantry for the year I suggest you check out that post.

8. Water Filtration

This is one area that slips most peoples minds. We kind of take water for granted and think that we will always just have access to clean water. I know I am getting a little prepper on you here but I do think having a good water filter is a good idea. Even if nothing ever happens you still need good clean water. And most tap water or well water is just gross. We have a Reverse osmosis system put into our sink which is great but I would also recommend having a system that is more portable.

If an emergency ever did happen and you have to leave your house or your water was turned off you could still use your system. If you want my recommendation you can see that here. (Link product page!)

9. Make Beauty Products

Okay, enough of the prepper talk lets focus on something a little less heavy. Health and beauty products. I personally don’t wear much makeup but if you do I would recommend looking into the products that you use. First of all, you are most likely spending a lot of money and if you are not buying good brands you are coating your body with chemicals. Did you know that the products you are using tough your bloodstream in 20 seconds?

That being said do you really want to be covering your entire body in chemicals? But on the other hand, do you want to spend hundreds of dollars on good clean beauty products? Most likely you are going to say no…

So I would encourage you to start doing your research. Start looking into ways you can make things yourself. I will share a few of the things I have changed but You will really have to start the journey for yourself and playing around with the things that work the best for you and your family.

My main concern is my kids. I hate covering them in chemicals. And they have been pretty easy to convert over. The best thing for kids it just getting kids castile soap. Oh, by the way, castile soap will become your best friend when making your own soaps and cleaning products.

For myself, I have not done much because like I said I don’t wear makeup so I did not have to do anything there. ( But if you do look into making your own. My friend has made her own makeup and loves it.) As far as a body wash I don’t use any because I use my Norwex cloth and water.

So really the only thing I needed to change was my shampoo and conditioner. That one is a little tricky because you have to work with your type of hair and figure out what works best for you. I am gonna be honest here and tell you that I still buy my shampoo and conditioner. I found a little company run by a family and their product is amazing. So until I can figure out a better recipe I will just support them. Oh and I guess the other thing would be lotion and if you know anything about health and beauty you probably know what I am going to say…coconut oil. Seriously though it works! Try it!

Becoming self-sufficient

My main goal in all of these areas is to get closer and closer to becoming self-sufficient. And I wish I could do the work for you, but this is YOUR homestead journey so you get to experiment and try things to see what works for you and your family. I hope that this list will inspire you and give you a few basic Ideas on ways to get started.

Final Thoughts

I hope that you are excited to try some things on this list and grow closer to becoming self-sufficient. Whatever you do don’t let it overwhelm you. Do what you can and add in a few things each year. Take it slow and just be consistent. You will be blown away at what you can accomplish if you just go at it slow and steady. I am learning just like you and am just sharing the things that I have tried. Some things work and something are a total flop. But that’s okay. That is part of the journey. You never know until you try right?

As always please leave me a comment with things I might have forgotten or some of your successes and failures. I love to connect with all of you.

Happy Homesteading!

~Courtney

My Story

So how do you start a homestead from scratch? Well, let me start by telling you a little bit of my story. I grew up in the country and my mom had animals and a garden. I never really helped her much and really did not care for it at all, I was to cool for that, ya know what I mean? For the first few years of my marriage, I lived in the city. It was then that I realized I hated the city and could not wait to move back to the country. Not that I was ever one of those kids that had to get out of the country life but I just did not realize how much I missed it until I was gone. It sounds silly but I felt so suffocated in the city and got this feeling that I could not breathe. The country is so open and refreshing.

Anyway…

…finally, my little family and I moved back to the country and got our own house. It only has 2 acres, but we love it. We actually never planned to start a homestead it just kind of happened. My husband was into prepping and I personally did not want to prep and save a bunch of stuff that would just go bad. When I was little we had a scare called Y2K, my parents got all these buckets full of food and of course, nothing happened and we had all this food that we could not even eat through. So as I started thinking about it I decided that it made much more sense to become as self-sufficient as possible. I wanted to have animals and produce for us and that would continue to sustain us. That way we can take care of ourselves if something big happened and if nothing happens nothing is going to go to waste and we will still use all the things we grow and raise.

We started small…

and continue to add things to our homestead each year. My husband works outside of the home so we can’t get too big to fast because he is not around to do it full time. I have been amazed at what we have been able to do in such a short time and never dreamed we would be able to do so much on our own. I thought to homestead and becoming self-sufficient would be so hard and time-consuming. But I have been really surprised at what we have done for way less work then I thought. As far as finances, we have taken it slow and do what we can afford. The great thing is that if you do things yourself it is very affordable. If you are interested in learning more about the finances of a homestead check out my post here.

As I said I never thought I liked being in the garden or raising animals that much. I never cared about it growing up and actually hated the fact that my mom made me work on a farm. But the crazy thing is I have come to love all of it. I find it really relaxing to take care of my garden and be outside. Spring has just sprung for us here and I am so happy to be outside getting my garden going again. It is extremely rewarding to grow and raise my own food and I love that I can feed my family with such good healthy food. I feel that our culture had gotten away from hard work and the fulfillment of working for ourselves. I want to bring that back not only for myself but really for my kids.

My goal…

of homesteading is obviously becoming self-sufficient but also I want to raise kids that know how to take care of themselves, have a great work ethic and know where their food comes from. I want to raise kids that are not entitled and that can fend for themselves. But enough of my story I want to help YOU start a homestead from scratch. Below are my tips for you as you begin to convert your family to a better and healthier lifestyle. It is hard at times but I promise you will not regret it.

Benefits

Before we dive in I want a share a few of the benefits of homesteading. These are the reasons I want to homestead. But feel free to start making a list for yourself. What makes you want a homestead? Why does homesteading have you excited? What is YOUR reason?

• Self-Sufficiency

As I said My husband & I want to be as self-sufficient as possible. We don’t want to fully rely on anyone else to fill our needs. Did you know that if something big happened and the trucks of food could not be delivered, the grocery stores would be empty in 3 days? 3 days!! And most people do not have any extra food. Now I don’t know that something big is going to happen but It is not a bad idea to be prepared and have your bases covered. I believe that it is my job to take care of my family an I want to be prepared for anything. Now don’t let this scare you or be a burden. Just do your best to be thinking about ways you can be more prepared.

If you want s few ways to have food stocked before your homestead gets going I would recommend getting some food in bulk. You can get beans, rice, oatmeal etc. But again get things that your family is actually going to eat. We get things in bulk and start eating it so that we can rotate through it.

• Health

This point is huge for me. We seriously have no clue what we are feeding our bodies most of the time. I have seen a few videos of how our food is made and processed and it is enough to make you sick for weeks. Even when we buy “natural” or “organic” foods we still don’t know exactly how they are grown and raised. The standards that our foods have to go through are pathetically low. So if you can do it yourself, it is so much better! When we do things ourselves we know what is happening each step of the way. We can choose if we want to use chemicals or not. We can choose what the animals are being fed Etc.

• Work Ethic

Having your own homestead is a great way to instill a good work ethic for yourself and your kids. I feel that our culture is lacking greatly in this area and I want my kids to know what it is like to have to work hard. Personally, I don’t want my kids always taking the easy way out. They need to know that if they want good things they will have to work hard for it. I want to get rid of the entitlement that our kids think they have. I will be the “mean mom” that makes them work hard and that’s okay! My mom was the “mean mom” an I appreciate her for that now that I am an adult.

• Learning

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I have learned from having my homestead. It is so good for us to grow and raise our own food and see what goes into the process. We become so much more appreciative when we see the hard work that goes into it. I don’t ever want to stop learning. Believe it or not, we can be our own teachers. We can decide we want to learn something and go for it.

I am against the college “scene” and people think that I am against learning. But that is not the case at all. I love learning and encourage everyone to continue it on their own. When it comes to the homestead I push myself to keep learning and trying new things. To find ways to make the food better or new ways to save money. No matter what it is I strive to not stay “comfortable”.

Starting your homestead

Now, like I said, I am a small homesteader. If you are looking to quit your job and go into homesteading full time you might want to take these steps a little more in depth. I am just sharing with you how I started and how I slowly am growing my homestead. These are things that were helpful to me as I got started. Like I said I just kinda jumped in and learned as I went but I wanted to do my best to help others as they got started on their journey.

Budget

First of all, you need to think about what you want on your homestead and compare that with your family budget. If you can’t do everything the first year don’t worry. Take your time and add things in slowly. Look at your list and see what things you want or need to do first and go with that. For example, having a garden is very cheap and can make a huge impact.

You can preserve so many things for the next year from your garden and this will help your budget immensely. If you need help planning a garden for canning check out my post.

I am a budget person and love putting ours together. I blame that on my parents who both are accountants and love math. Don’t be overwhelmed by a budget it really is not that hard and we have so many great resources now thanks to the internet. If you need a little help in the budget area I got you covered. I explain it a little more in-depth here.

Check the laws

Depending on your area there might be laws pertaining to starting a homestead. I would look into them so that you are not surprised when you are in the middle of starting your homestead.

It’s a bummer when you start a project and run into problems down the road. Most likely if you are out in the country you should be fine. But you never want to assume. So it is always safe to just look into it.

Plan

Now that you know what you can afford to do that year you can begin to plan. If you decided to start with a garden then you can go ahead and plan out your garden on paper. Draw up where you want your plants and so forth. I like to just draw up a little blueprint for my garden. If you like to just wing it that’s fine too. I have totally done that before. I have just bought the seeds and planted them from there.

If you decided to start with animals start doing your research on what you will all need to do to get prepared for them. For example, with chickens, I would be preparing a couple months ahead of time. You will need a little more for them then you would a garden so I would start researching and seeing exactly what you will need.

Make Connections

I would strongly recommend that you make connections with local farmers and other homesteaders. They will be a great resource for you as you begin your journey. They will be able to answer questions and might even be able to help you with where and how to get the things you will need to begin.

My favorite thing to do is make connections with older farmers. They are a wealth of knowledge and so interesting to spend time with.

Don’t get overwhelmed

Do your best to not get stressed out. The point of the homestead is to simplify your life. If it is causing you to be stressed out, you are causing the opposite effect of what you were going for. That is part of the reason we started small. If I would have done everything the first year I would be losing my marbles. I am so thankful for how we did it. This way I can learn slowly and enjoy the process.

Google it

We have this great thing called the internet. I promise it will be your best friend. If you have any questions along the way I am sure you can find the answer online. If I can’t figure something out that is my go-to!

Listen

I have a tendency to do things my own way even when I am told differently. I would suggest that you don’t do that. Here is a good example… When it comes to raising chickens each chicken needs a certain amount of space. I thought that I could cram 65 chickens in a space that was only big enough for 25. How did that work? Well, I ended up with meat chickens that weighed 2 lbs…

…Yeah. Turns out people know what they’re talking about. When people have done something before and have been successful it turns out it is for your good to listen to them. Common sense huh?

Get Started

Once you have figured out what you are ready for……. DO IT! You won’t learn until you start doing. When the season comes around to get your animals, plant your garden Etc. If you keep putting it off you will just continue to put off your learning. You are going to make mistakes….and that is okay! That is how you learn. Stop making excuses and go for it. Like I said I don’t have much land but I am making the most out of what I have.

It is crazy what you can do on 2 acres of land. Just imagine how cool it would be if all of those who have just a few acres would use that land to feed their family.

Write things down

Try your best to keep track of what you are doing. Write down what you planted and what you want to plant again next year. Write down what things worked and what did not so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes twice. This is a downfall of mine and I need to get better at it, so I don’t keep repeating the same mistakes.

I used to be so organized. I need to get back to that. What you could do is get a binder and have a section for each thing you are doing. You can continue to add notes as you learn new things. Kind of make your own book. I am old fashioned and like seeing things on paper, but you can totally just keep it all in a folder on the computer as well.

Keep Learning

As I mentioned you will continue to learn each year as you make mistakes and as you do things the way you like. I personally love to learn from “doing”. But I would also recommend that you learn through books, videos, and other homesteaders. If you know anyone who has a farm or a homestead spend some time with them. Learn how they do things and if you could implement some of the same ideas. Use the internet to your advantage and search for anything you can’t figure out. The internet is such a great resource and it has never been easier for us to get answers. But books are not out of style. If you are working on a certain project I would suggest having the proper books as a reference point.

If you have any other ideas that I forgot to mention please let me know in the comments.

Happy Homesteading!

~Courtney

Whether you have a homestead or are looking into having one learning how to save money should be at the top of your priority list. As homesteaders, we want to become as self-sufficient as possible so if we can learn to keep our expenses low and take care of things ourselves it will play a huge part in achieving that goal.

My dad is an accountant so I was raised with money and numbers. I really enjoy making spreadsheets and budgets. To me, it is fun to find areas where we can save and do things on our own. But I have learned that it is also okay to live a little and enjoy what you have as well….that being said let’s get right into it.

Doing things yourself

One of the biggest ways to save money is to do absolutely anything you can yourself. Labor cost is crazy high and if you can get away with just buying the materials and doing the project yourself you will save lots. Some examples of doing things yourself would be…

• Building projects

Such as building your own animal cages, feeders, storage units Etc.

• Maintenance

Taking care of things such as oil changes and cleaning your machines on your own.

• Butchering

Butcher as many of your animals that you can on your own. For example, if you pay to have your chickens butchered it could cost you hundreds of dollars just for that one job. And doing it yourself is really not that hard. Check out my post about raising chickens for the quick run down.

• Yard work

Do as much of your work around the homestead yourself. I’m sure most of you do this already anyway but I just wanted to throw it out there just in case.

Shop Smart

Thrift shopping is one way I have saved lots of money for me and my family. But the more I do it the more I realize that I end up with way more stuff that I need because it was such a fabulous deal. But I really love doing it and it is so fun to find the good stuff among all the junk. I have just had to learn to only get what I really think I am going to use.

If thrift shopping is not your thing or you have a problem buying everything at the store then do your best to shop smart. What do I mean by that? Well, do your best to find things that you will use and will last a long time. Even if it does cost a little more it will be worth it in the long run.

Oh, and You and your family do not need the biggest and the best of everything. You will feel so much better if you can simplify your life and get rid of any debt and start from scratch…

Don’t get in Debt (Or get out)

As I said in our culture we think we need the newest and best things available. But spoiler alert the newest thing will not make you happy. Things don’t do that! So if you can do your best to not get into debt over things you will not be “happy” with tomorrow.

I know this is a foreign idea to some people but it is possible to live mostly debt free. The only debt my husband and I have is in our house. ( we could not figure a way around that one) So take a look at what you currently have and find ways to get out of debt or make decisions to stay out of it.

Like I said we don’t need the biggest and the best of everything. Maybe get rid of that car payment and get an older vehicle. Look at your budget and find ways that you can cut back so that you can pay off your debt faster.

Budget

Creating a budget if you don’t already have one is very important. This will help keep you accountable for how you are spending your money. Like I said I have fun doing this stuff but now that I have a lot going on in my life I can’t spend forever on my budget. So I need a quick and easy way to keep track of everything.

I have tried different budget apps and the best one I have found so far is called mint. You hook it up with all of your bank accounts and your bank. When you buy something it will automatically put it into your budget. If you have any cash transactions you can just add those manually.

Another app I love is called Qaupital. If you need some help saving this app will be your best friend. You can set different goals and different “rules”. So let’s say you are saving for something big. Maybe a new vehicle. Your goal would obviously be the vehicle and then you can choose from different options for the “rule”. You can have it take a certain amount each paycheck, or round up to the nearest dollar when you buy something on your credit card, a certain % of your paycheck Etc. I have found that it is really helpful because money is being saved and I don’t even realize it.

If you follow this link you will receive $5 after you make your first deposit!

Meal Planning

We all know what traditional meal planning looks like…You make your menu ahead of time so that you can save money when you go to the grocery store because you know exactly what you need when you get there. But when I talk about meal planning on the homestead I mean planning much farther in advance. Now I know that sounds overwhelming but just let me explain…

As I am sure you already know you can save a lot of money when you do things yourself. Growing your own food, raising your own meat Etc. but you want to do your best to plan ahead of time so that you have the right amount of each food. Think about how much your family usually eats and go from there. For example, I know that my family eats green beans a couple times a week so I plan on having just over 100 jars of canned beans.

Also, be thinking outside the box a little bit. We know the normal fruits and veggies to grow and preserve, but what about the other stuff that you buy regularly? This last year I made all of my own tomato products. Salsa, pasta sauce, tomato paste Etc. It saves quite a bit of money. And they are so easy to grow.

So when I talk about meal planning I am just suggesting that you look ahead at the year and think about what your family eats the most of and planting and raising enough for the year. You will be amazed at how much this will save you. And you will be eating so much healthier.

Saying No

I mentioned how we do not need the biggest and the best of everything. And if you are in a place where you are a little tighter I would encourage you to “say no” to certain things. You will have to make some sacrifices for the homestead but I promise you it will be worth it.

It is also a great lesson to teach our kids. They need to learn that they don’t need everything exactly the second they want it.

Cleaning supplies

I was doing some research and I found that an average family spends $600 a year on cleaning supplies! I about had a heart attack. Cleaning supplies? Really? And not only that if you are buying the traditional cleaning supplies you are paying $600 to fill your home with chemicals. Gross!

I would recommend that you make your own. You can make so many things with very few good natural ingredients. I mean you can clean pretty much everything with vinegar. I also love Dr. Bronner’s soap. Again, you can use this for just about anything.

I also love norwex. It is amazing. I wrote a whole post about how you can save money by using their products so if that is something that sounds interesting to you make sure to check out my post!

Beauty Products

This one can kill your budget. I for one am not huge into beauty products but I know how much they can cost. There are so many great ways to make your own. Which is not only awesome for your budget but when you make them yourself they will not be filled with nasty chemicals.

As you can see I am an advocate of saving money but am trying to find a way to balance getting good deals but also good healthy products. Because sadly the saying “you get what you pay for” is so true. But when you make things yourself you can get things at a cheaper price and still have a good quality. Oh and just so you know coconut oil is the “vinegar” of beauty products. You can use it for just about anything and it is so so good for you.

This post would go on forever if I posted all the recipes for all the things you would need around the house so I would just suggest to look up specific recipes when you are ready to make one. That seems to work the best for me.

Gifts

This item seems like kind of an odd one to have in a homesteading blog but it applies to everyone’s life so I figured I would throw it on here. We have a very large family and there always seems to be graduation open houses, birthdays, Weddings Etc. Now I am not telling you to be stingy and not give gifts but if you think ahead you can come up with super fun and creative things that don’t cost as much.

Again, when you do it yourself you will save so much money! And personally, I like gifts that people make me because I feel like so much more thought went into it then if they just ran to the store and grabbed something quick. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking…

• Homemade beauty products

One year I made a basket with all homemade beauty products in it for my aunts birthday. I made homemade body wash, bath bombs, bubble bath etc.

• Food

Depending on who the gift is going to they might love some of your homegrown and preserved food. Some of my family is to busy to do things like that for myself and love getting my homegrown foods. You could also make it fun and make a themed basket. Maybe a Mexican basket? Throw in some of your canned salsa, canned taco meat, and some chips! Any busy mom would love it!

Another thing I have done is giving kombucha. It is so expensive in the store but cost almost nothing to make. I made a batch and put it in cute little bottles and gave it to my husbands boss as a thank you gift.

• Flowers

If you have a flower garden pick your own flowers to give as gifts. If you think ahead of time maybe plant a little garden just for giving away. Everybody loves fresh flowers. And you can enjoy them until you need to give them away!

• Time

The gift of time is sometimes the best gift you can give. I know as a mom the thing I need and want most is some quiet time. If you need a good gift idea for a fellow mom offer to give her the day off. She will love you forever!

These are just a few ideas of how you can save money when it comes to gifts. But I know there are probably lots more that I missed. If you have any awesome ideas please share them with me in the comments.

Insurance

Insurance is one of the things that can just about kill you! I am talking about health insurance, car insurance, house insurance…and any other insurance that you have. But don’t freak out there are ways to make that bill just a little bit lower.

Let’s start with the car and house insurance. The first thing is to make sure you shop around everybody is going to claim to give you the best deal but you won’t know that until you search it out for yourself. The other thing to look for is a multi-policy discount. For some reason when you have more things on one policy it is cheaper. So make sure to put all of your vehicles and your house on one policy.

Also, once you have insurance make sure you shop around every couple of years. You never know what might have changed and other companies might have a better rate.

Now, health insurance. I am actually excited to share with you how affordable it can be. With all the changes that have taken place over the last couple years insurance has become insanely unaffordable. I can’t even begin to tell you the stories I have heard of the prices people are having to pay. I started freaking out thinking that there was no way we could afford that. Then I found Christian Healthcare ministries…

It is a Christian sharing plan. It is super cool and I honestly am so glad to be a part of it. I know that my money is going to other Christians when they need it and I will have what I need if something comes up. If you want a learn more I plan to write more about it soon. Anyway, back to the affordable part. I am totally blown away by how much coverage I get a such a low price. My price will obviously be different from your depending on the plan you get but I would check it out. You can get an instant quote on their website.

If you sign up with this link my family and I will get a discount on our plan next month!

Saving on insurance has been such a relief to our budget and yet we are not sacrificing the quality of service that we have. I can’t recommend it enough!

Utilities

There are the obvious ways to save, such as using less electricity and getting the house set to a lower temperature so that your propane bill is lower..but there are a few ways to make an upfront investment that will really help in the long run.

The biggest way my family saved was a having a wood burning stove. We have the land so we just cut down all of our wood. When I was growing up one of my favorite memories was when we would sleep in the basement in front of the Woodstove together. We would turn off the heat in the upstairs and all sleep downstairs by the fire. It was awesome!

Vacation

Using the capital app I try to put money aside each month for fun little trips or a big vacation. This way when we go on vacation it does not feel so overwhelming when the time comes.

But again, if you can’t afford to do that just plan fun little things around your house. You can still make plenty of great family memories close to home. You just have to be intentional about planning fun things to do. If you again interested in planning a “staycation” check this blog! It has so many great ideas.

As always please let me know if you have any other great ways to save money on the homestead!

Happy Homesteading!

~Courtney

Before you jump into any business venture you want to take the time to research it and make sure that it is worth your time and financial investment. Hopefully, you can find things that don’t cost as much to get into and just require your time. I am not telling you this to scare you away…But I have had an idea and ran with it without doing the proper research. Just because I think it’s cool does not mean that everyone else does too.

Check Your Competition

This is important! Depending on what you choose a lot of other people might have had the same idea. Look into whether or not you will be able to sell your good or service or is the market is already saturated.

Plan It Out 

Take the time to look into the business you have decided on. Think about the work that will go into it and the time of year that you will be putting in the most time. Will You need to prepare things ahead of time? Should you be learning and reading things now, so when the season hits you are ready? Will you need any permits from your city? Are there any rules for your area you need to know about? Figure that all out now so that when the time hits you can get started with little to no hiccups.

Find places to sell

Think about where you will be able to sell. Do you live on the main rd? Can you put things in front of your house? If not think of other ways. Is there a local farmers market? Local Facebook groups? Or what about smaller local stores? Can you make a deal with a small store to let you sell your produce or product in their place of business? Don’t overlook this step. Because if you don’t have a place to sell your product it won’t matter how good your product is. No one will even know you exist! When it comes to any business you have to know how to market!

Consider trading 

Back in the day people did not have the need for grocery stores because they had each other. They would each grow things and trade! What a cool practice… why have we gotten away from this? I have no idea! I know this is not necessarily “making money” but it will help you to save so that you don’t have to make as much money. Talk to your neighbors or friends and see what you can trade with them when the time comes. My cousin and I do this all the time. I can certain foods and she trades me beef that they process. It’s great! Yes, I know I am old-fashioned. But I love living more simply when I can.

Unique ways to make cash on 2 Acres 

In this list, I have tried to come up with a list of ideas that are as cheap and the least time consuming as possible. I have also come up with things that can be done at different times of the year so that you can utilize your property as much as possible. I am also advocating you try multiple different things. Maybe not all at once…

But you know what they say “Don’t have all your eggs in one basket!” It is very nice to have income coming in from different places in case something falls through for one venture, you still have money coming in from other things.

1. Pumpkin Patch

As I mentioned above growing pumpkins is seasonal. So get everything done ahead of time so that you are ready for the fall. Pumpkin patches are super fun and what’s nice is that it is something you can do as a family. If you have kids have them help plant and take care of the patch throughout the season. Once it comes time for selling have them go and pick the pumpkins.

Growing up my friend and her family had a very large pumpkin patch and it was her and her brothers job to take care of it and sell them. The way they did it was to have the pumpkins on a wagon for sale in front of her house. They lived on a busy road though…So it worked well for them. If you don’t live on a busy road I would suggest taking them to the local farmers market.

2.Maple Syrup

This is a great option! If you don’t have maple trees pay attention to the houses around you. Maple syrup is so easy and there is so much money to be made. Friends of mine did it just as a hobby and are selling it for $50.00 a gallon. Again, this is another great project for the kids to help with. And if you are running a small operation you don’t need super fancy tools. Just grab a few of the basics from Amazon and you are good to go!

3.Chickens

You can either raise chickens as meat birds or for eggs. If you are already doing it for yourself it would not be a big deal to add in a few more. In our area, you can get up to $8.00 or more a pound for grass-fed organic chicken. That adds up quickly. I would suggest that you find buyers for your chickens before you make the investment. You can do this by word of mouth or local Facebook groups.

Eggs are another great source of income. In my area you can get between $3.00-$4.00 for a Dozen farm fresh eggs. Chicken should lay about 1 egg a day. I currently have 13 birds, so I am looking at about a dozen a day. It does not sound like much, but that is $3 a day which comes out to around $100 a month. Again, If you already have birds it is not a big deal to have a few extra. This is also great for your kids to help with.

4.Berries

We have 2 acres and when we moved in, I did not even realize we had wild berries. They all grow on the edge of our property. I plan to plant more, but this works for now. If you have an area that is a little more overgrown throw in some berry plants. You can obviously sell any produce that you grow. But berries are very low maintenance. You don’t even have to weed the patch if you don’t want to and you can get a lot more money for berries than other produce.

5.Bee Keeping

This one sounds so scary, but with a few tools you can get your bee business started. Honey is so yummy and so good for you. Local honey can help with allergies. Is that cool or what? This one will be for mom and dad to do…Or the teenage kids. Just like the maple syrup you can get started with a quick kit from Amazon.

6. Make Meals With Fresh Produce

Healthy eating is becoming popular now…(not sure why it ever became unpopular) But people don’t have the time or resources to make their own homemade meals. You could start a business where you make meals for other families. People pay big bucks for pre-made meals.

I mean the company hello Fresh gets $10 a serving for their service and with that you still have to make the meal! Lets say you made meals for a family of 4 and charged $10. You are looking at $40 bucks a day. Depending on your area you could get much more. AND you are already making dinner. So it is really not that much extra work. You could also offer a service like hello fresh and just provide the food and the family makes their own meals.

7. Selling Flowers

Do you love having a gorgeous flower garden? Awesome! Think ahead and talk to local wedding planners or decorates and see what their needs are. Make a deal with them and plant what they need. You get a beautiful garden that you can than get paid for. Win-win! Or like I mentioned take them to the local farmers market!

8. Online Business

Now I know that this does not really apply when talking about how to make money on your land. But there is so much potential to make money online and I just have to share it with you. As you are noticing I keep saying “If you are doing it anyway” and this applies here too. If you are already taking the time to learn about beekeeping or raising chickens then take pictures and make a blog. Or a youtube channel!

Might you as well be making money along the way right? Now there is WAY too much to tell you exactly how to do this on this post. But if this intrigues you I would suggest to start researching and looking into it. I promise it is not a get rich quick scheme. It really works and is such a great way to make money while living off of the homestead. And why not teach others as you go along?

There are so many unique ways to make cash on 2 acres. I would just encourage you to think outside of the box. Think about things that people might not have done before. Think of more specific niches that others might not have thought of. Thanks for the read and I hope that this will give you lots to think about when choosing your next business venture!

Happy Homesteading!

~Courtney