Sustainability and the Health Food Store: Do They Collide?

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Does the health food industry decide what’s good for us….or do we? Photo credit I made a trip to the health food store this week, something that I don’t do very often any more.  I needed some dandelion leaf, which I bought in bulk to boost my sagging iron levels. As I stood there waiting [...]

Friday Wrap-Up: “A Year On A Homestead” and new Website Launch

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There are times that when I’m writing a post, I just wish I could pick up the phone and conference call all of you. Photo credit You know when you have a million things to tell your friends? It seems like the words aren’t going to run fast enough. On Monday, “The Morristribe” will be [...]

Solar Bottle Lights

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This is a wonderful commentary of ingenuity within the human spirit. While I cannot speak to the safety of this invention, I couldn’t stop smiling as I watched it and really wanted to share it with you all. I plan to play around with this idea over the weekend and I’ll let you know if [...]

How to Can and Preserve Food Safely

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Home canning can be one of the most satisfying tasks the homesteader performs! I’ve been canning for quite a number of years now and I must say….it never gets old. Sure it’s a lot of work, but it is so heartwarming to gaze at a shelf lined with gorgeous produce, preserved for another time in [...]

Friday Wrap-Up: Chicks, Donkey Baths and FREE “Back to Eden” film

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There are few things cuter than baby chicks! After a busy week, we decided to have a little fun and take our week old Golden Comet chicks out to play in the grass.  We noticed that they were scratching around in the bin and figured they could use a little practice outside.   They were [...]

“Kids Against Hunger” – Doing a World of Good

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“Kids Against Hunger” brings emergency food relief and saves lives….every single day. There’s no question that people are dying of starvation, all around the world, every day, every hour, every minute. Statements like that used to make me feel helpless and hopeless.  What could I do?  Who could be trusted with my hard-earned money? Larry [...]

“Handmade Home” and Practical Sewing

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I found this sweet book at the library yesterday and I haven’t been able to put it down!   “Handmade Home” by Amanda Soule is my kind of craft book.  ”Handmade Home” is full of what I term as “practical sewing” projects. As a mother to 9 very active children, this really isn’t the season [...]

2011 Garden Observations = 2012 Garden Goals

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This weekend’s counter top, filled with a culmination of little decisions that I made months ago. Clockwise: Pears from our own trees, calendula oil that took 6 weeks in the sun to make, chocolate-mint to be dried for tea and canned applesauce made from gleaned apples. Successful homesteading doesn’t just happen, it takes planning, research [...]

What Can I Live Without? Re-Thinking Kitchen Counter Appliances

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Falling out of love with our modern day appliances may take some doing….but then again, maybe it’s not that hard at all! Ah, the kitchen counter “hogs”, also known as the small appliance.  These modern “conveniences” converged on the American homemakers in the 1950′s or so, convincing us that they could not only save precious [...]