What’s the best way to water your garden? When your garden needs moisture, you can tell – the soil will look dry, your plants will look droopy and “thirsty,” and everything will be growing a bit slower. But how do you know if you have …
These cucumber beetle traps are inspired by directions provided by Susan Mulvihill in The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook. Read our review of that book here; we highly recommend it as a resource for all of your vegetable garden pest questions. Here, we share our experience …
As a gardener who loves to keep things simple, I used to wonder, “Do I really need to prune our tomato plants?” I mean, even a messy garden with weeds and overgrown plants still seems to produce. But the truth of the matter is that …
Water glassing is an age-old egg preservation method that allows you to preserve eggs for 12-18 months – much longer than you would keep them on the counter or in the refrigerator. The process for water glassing eggs is simple but relies on a few …
Homestead How-To was provided with a review copy of this book by Cool Springs Press. Vegetable garden pests are the worst. You spend all spring growing seedlings indoors, prep your beautiful garden beds, and plant your baby seedlings outdoors only to have them EATEN by …
Cast iron pans are literally one of my favorite homestead kitchen tools. They heat up well, don’t stick too much, can go from stovetop to oven, and last decades (if you take care of them). Learning how to clean and season cast iron pans is …
This method for making homemade dog jerky treats comes to us from guest author, Devon Dams O’Connor, a writer from upstate New York who is also an inspiring cook, gardener, and community-builder. I’m on a constant quest to make things for less than the cost …
Growing onions in your vegetable garden can sometimes be tricky. But with a few hints and a bit of practice, you can learn how to grow onions and successfully harvest and store almost a year’s worth of these flavorful bulbs! Onions can be grown from …
Making maple syrup is a labor of love, especially for a hobby sugaring operation with small equipment. Reverse osmosis is a process that can speed up syrup production by removing a significant amount of water from the sap before you put it in your evaporator. …
Cleaning maple sap buckets after you collect sap, or in preparation for this year’s collection, is essential for food safety. Clean sap buckets ensure that you are not introducing any pathogens or bacteria into the sap that you are collecting to make maple syrup. Cleaning …