Stories, Lessons & Practical Tips from the Homestead

Explore our blog for real-life insights and hard-earned lessons from our off-grid journey. From DIY projects to everyday challenges, each post is packed with hands-on advice and personal stories that bring homesteading to life.

Whether you’re just starting out or already deep into self-sufficiency, you’ll find helpful tips, relatable mishaps, and plenty of inspiration to fuel your own path toward independence.

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    June 20, 2017

    How Secure Is A Master Lock Padlock? If you’re using a padlock to secure anything of value, please reconsider. I’ve always considered a Master Lock padlock to be relatively secure but this…

  2. Featured image for “We Are Home From The Hospital!”
    June 15, 2017

    We Are Home From The Hospital!

    The Hospital? What? If you saw our last video (Poor Little Dude), you know that our middle child (we call him Dude) was hospitalized due to pneumonia which aggravated his asthma. The…

  3. Featured image for “Learn How to Make a Comfrey Poultice With a Blender”
    June 7, 2017

    Learn How to Make a Comfrey Poultice With a Blender

    What Is A Comfrey Poultice? Simply put, a comfrey poultice is moist ground up comfrey (usually leaves but sometimes root as well) applied to a wound and covered with a cloth. This natural…

  4. Featured image for “WATCH: Canton, TX Tornado Aftermath and Relief Effort!”
    May 13, 2017

    WATCH: Canton, TX Tornado Aftermath and Relief Effort!

    It Was a Really Bad Storm As many of you man know, on April 29, 2017, at least seven tornadoes ripped through East Texas leaving a wake of destruction in their paths. Several…

  5. Featured image for “How to Make Contact Paper Countertops on a Budget”
    April 20, 2017

    How to Make Contact Paper Countertops on a Budget

    Need Countertops on a Budget? When we were making decisions about what to do with kitchen countertops on our homestead, my mom told me about contact paper countertops. When she was a…

  6. Featured image for “Rice Knife Review – Growtech KNK-HTS1200”
    April 10, 2017

    Rice Knife Review – Growtech KNK-HTS1200

    I Love This Rice Knife! Jenn gave me a rice knife / grass sickle for Christmas this past year. I love this thing so much I wanted to let y’all know about…

  7. Featured image for “Building a Raised Garden Bed With Wood Sides From a Pine Tree”
    April 5, 2017

    Building a Raised Garden Bed With Wood Sides From a Pine Tree

    3 Part Video Series on Building a Raised Garden Bed Now that our house is mostly finished and we are living on the homestead, It’s time to put in a garden. We…

  8. Featured image for “We’ve Started a New Swale on the Homestead”
    March 15, 2017

    We’ve Started a New Swale on the Homestead

    Check out this video showing the beginnings of our second swale on the homestead…

  9. Featured image for “Help Installing Dryer Vent in Middle of House”
    March 13, 2017

    Help Installing Dryer Vent in Middle of House

    See how we installed a dryer vent in the middle of our house During our mobile home reno, figuring out how to install our dryer vent in the middle of our house…

  10. Featured image for “East Texas Homestead Family Vlog”
    March 5, 2017

    East Texas Homestead Family Vlog

    We Started a Family Vlog We’ve started vlogging over on our YouTube channel. Yes, I know. How could we let this happen? Well, here’s the thing, we’re not turning our channel into…