Pressure Treated?! If you've ever looked into raised beds, you've likely looked for the materials to build them out of and, if wood, probably come across mixed advice when those discussions center around using pressure-treated (PT) wood. Out of the abundance of caution, we've always steered clear of pressure treated wood - that is until … Continue reading Raised beds with pressure treated lumber?!
DIY Projects
Building a Rainwater chicken waterer
We have built a LOT of chicken waterers in our years of chicken wrangling. They break, clog, or otherwise just become a pain to deal with. No matter the size, filling it is always irritating. With that experience in mind, we set out to build an easy, affordable and quick to put together rain water … Continue reading Building a Rainwater chicken waterer
Inexpensive plant edging
We were growing tired of trying to keep the grass encroaching on our blueberries, so we decided we needed to surround them with some sort of barrier. Unfortunately, most of the barriers sold at big box stores were over-priced and not the most fun to install. In our neck of the woods, barrels like the … Continue reading Inexpensive plant edging
A simple, strong materials rack for the workshop
I like to keep my materials up and outta the way, mostly because I am a procrastinator and don't get to things right away (I've been thinking about changing, but.... I haven't gotten to it yet). I wanted something simple and durable. So I just picked up a few 3/4" pipe flanges, a few sections … Continue reading A simple, strong materials rack for the workshop
The $2, 20-minute neck-breaking prevention for icy homesteads
Where we live in northern Pennsylvania, winter is some combination of snow, rain, muck and ice. We occasionally see some sunshine in there too! Mud and ice make for miserable homesteading conditions. Whether it's navigating steep and slick terrain to cut firewood, or taking care of livestock on icy mornings, opportunities abound for slipping and … Continue reading The $2, 20-minute neck-breaking prevention for icy homesteads
Making your own Kombucha
What is Kombucha? Kombucha is a fermented tea drink thought to have originated in eastern Europe or the far-east. It's very popular in natural-health and medicine circles and for good reason! Why would we want to drink it? Kombucha is full or all sorts of nutrients and helpful nutrition. It contains the range of B … Continue reading Making your own Kombucha
Why water-saving shower heads are a good investment
Many people might not think to look at their showers as being a source of potential energy and cost savings. That's unfortunate, because there's money to be saved in the shower along with natural resources too. Consider the following scenario: Here's the simple math for a family of four each taking a 7 minute with … Continue reading Why water-saving shower heads are a good investment
Kefir: The dairy “swiss army knife”
One if the things we're interested in doing is maintaining a good variety of healthy foods, but in a way that is affordable and sustainable. At this time, due to where we live, we cannot get a cow or goats for milk. Despite this, we still want to be able to produce simple dairy products … Continue reading Kefir: The dairy “swiss army knife”
Backyard Garden Chicken Coop
We get quite a few questions about our chicken coop from time-to-time, so we thought we'd put together a post with some pictures of our chickens in their home environment. Choosing the location We thought long and hard about where we wanted our chickens on our property, and in what kind of place we wanted … Continue reading Backyard Garden Chicken Coop
Finishing the Root Cellar
When we moved into our house years ago, we had no idea that we had a root cellar. From our point of view, we had a wet, nasty closet area off our foundation that needed to be cleaned up and made to stop leaking. Needless to say, as we came to understand the value of … Continue reading Finishing the Root Cellar
The Intrepid Homestead 