So you have been learning about homesteading – either urban or in the country – and you’re excited. You’re ready. You are just itching to get started, but wait. You live in an apartment and don’t have access to ground for growing. Or you live in a rental house and don’t want to (or can’t!) […]
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My Real-Life Preserving List: What I Can, What I Freeze, and What I Pass On
As we are about to get cooking for this year’s canning season pretty soon, I thought I’d talk about what I do and don’t preserve. As I get more and more into eating seasonally and as I get older, I find myself taking a really pragmatic view of canning season: I want to focus on […]
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5 Powerhouse Herbs that Might Be Growing as Weeds in Your Yard
Last year, I had a bunch of wasp’s nests in my yard. I kept getting bitten and stung. One time, I got stung in my eyebrow. The toxins almost immediately started flowing down into my eye, and it became completely swollen. It was incredibly painful. Everytime I got stung, I immediately ran to my garden […]
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How to Build and Fill Free or Super Cheap Raised Beds
I have tried all the different types of growing. In the ground, hugelkultur, raised beds – as long as it’s free or super cheap, I’ve tried it all. And I’ve found that different types of beds are better for different types of growing. For me, it makes sense to put annuals in a raised bed […]
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Book Review: Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver et al.
(This was originally an essay that I wrote for my Urban Farming class in Undergrad in Fall 2024. It’s been updated to make it relevant here! P.S. I got an A!) Sprinkled with essays, recipes, and short stories, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is the true story of a family who vowed to eat and live off […]
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Food Words Matter: Understanding the Language of Health, Justice, and Home Cooking
There are some pretty severe limitations with using any one word to define your eating style. From leaving out whole categories of nutritious foods, to judging others for their food choices, the definitions of food terms can be very harmful or just reductive. However, it’s also important to have a basic understanding of terms when […]
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Urban Homestead Tour – Spring 2025
Almost 14 years ago, I moved into this house with my little family. We’ve had lots of changes over the years and a major re-start 3 years ago, when I was able to buy the house from my ex-husband. I thought it was about time to show you all the work I’ve done!
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The Ten Commandments of Frugal Living
I am extremely frugal. Sometimes to a fault, I’ll admit that. I grew up on a farm where everything was used and reused until it was literally not able to be anymore. But then, someone might fix it up and give it even more life. I actually grew up next to a landfill and my […]
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The 8 Principles of Modern Homesteading
I think if you’re here, you probably have some sense that the system is messed up. .
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Draw a Scale Map of Your Property
I get all excited and nerdy about planning all the plants that I want for every part of my yard, so this is a really fun activity – and it’s usedfull too of course. The possibilities here are pretty endless. Create a scale map of your property and you can draw in all the plants […]
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