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12 Easy Ways to Survive the Heat Without Air Conditioning
Summer is in full force here at 7300 feet. And that means it’s hot. Almost 90°F in the shade hot. Now I realize, that if you live in a place where it regularly gets to 100°F or more that 90° is nothing. You’re probably asking, “So what? Just stay inside with the AC.” However, when you live at 7300 feet, especially in an older house, you don’t have AC. It used to be that we didn’t really need or want it except for a week or two in August each year. However, summers have been getting hotter, and we are seeing more and more days above 85° where we live.…
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5 Easy Ways to Care for Your Backyard Flock This Winter
When it comes to winter, and cold weather, your barnyard birds are much more hardy than you may realize. While our chickens prefer to stay in the coop on snowy days, the ducks and geese can usually be found running around or laying in the snow. They’ll only spend the day in the coop if I force them to, or if it’s too windy. When it comes to caring for your birds during winter, if you make sure to take care of a few things, you’ll find it isn’t any more work than during warmer months. (None of the links in this post are sponsored. The Product linked in this…
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Managing the Homestead While Working a Full Time Job
Running a homestead is hard work. There’s early mornings, long hours, and at times, back breaking labor. It’s a full time job. No one ever said this is an easy lifestyle, but it is a life full of beauty, wonder, and most of the time, peace. However, running a homestead doesn’t exactly pay the bills. Sure, many homesteaders out there (many on YouTube or in the blogosphere) are making a full time income on their homestead. I envy them. However, they will be the first to tell you making an income from this life take a lot of hard work. Someday I hope our homestead will be able to pay…
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Getting Ready for Ducklings – Setting up the Brooder
Pinnable picture showing food and water containers as well as bedding for the brooder.
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DIY Duck Brooder Water Solution
*This post is part 2 in a series on raising ducks and geese. For part 1 click here.* Ducks LOVE water. A LOT. They love water so much that they will make a gigantic mess with their water which will soak into their bedding and make your brooder stink to high heaven. There are a lot of different ways people have found to combat this issue, from creating something to sit the water on to brooding outdoors on the ground where it doesn’t matter so much. Our ducks and geese are part pets, part farm workers so we wanted a solution that would allow us to brood in the house…
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Our Decision to get Ducks (and Geese)
*This post is the first in series about raising ducks and geese. My husband and I first started talking about getting ducks years ago. If you haven’t noticed, ducks are adorable, and are reputed to make good pets. However, we were living in town and having even one or two ducks wasn’t an option for us at the time. Fast forward seven years to buying our homestead. Last year, when we put in the garden, I didn’t really know what to expect. Until then, I had been gardening in raised beds that had been filled with a garden soil/compost mixture from the local sand company. Things grew alright here for…
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Welcome to the Homestead
This blog has been a long time coming. I’ve toyed with the idea of starting a blog off and on for the past several years and now is the time. A little about our homestead. My wonderful husband and I bought our homestead back in 2018, and after a few months of paint, fixing things up, and making the place ours, we moved in in October. It’s hard to believe that we haven’t even been here two years; it seems like this is where we’ve always been. If you’ve ever had a house that felt like home the moment you stepped over the threshold, you’ll know what I mean. After…
