Reader’s Question : Replacing Paper Towels

Reader’s Question: I do not use any paper products regularly except toilet paper (which I am working up the initiative to quit). For years though I have purchased one roll of paper towel to keep only for draining fried foods on. It of course lasts and lasts. However…I am ready to kick the habit. What [...]

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Reader’s Question :: Seed Saving

Reader’s Question: What advice do you have for folks wanting to get started in saving their own seeds? Kathie’s Answer: I think its easy to start seed saving with beans and peas.  Let those pods dry on the vine, remove the dried seeds from the pods and put the seeds into a paper or cloth envelope.  [...]

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Reader’s Question :: Root Cellaring

Meghan’s Question: I’d like to here about different homesteaders approaches to root cellars orfresh preservation.  In ground or above ground?  Under the house with a way in from the house or a ways away from the house?  How did you “build” it? Dig it by hand? Backhoe? What did you do for a roof?  How do you store your [...]

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Reader’s Question : Single Mother Homestead

Judy’s Question: ”I would like to know if you have any ideas or pointers on how a single mother could get a start on getting a homestead. Right now I’m a full time student and have a least three more years left till I will be done with school. Any help or ideas would be a [...]

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Reader’s Question :: Drinking Water

Emily’s Question: I’d like to hear different folks’ approaches to clean drinking water. Filters? Hand pumps? Windmills? Rely on city water? Distillation? how are you pumping it, if applicable? Nita’s Answer: We use a hydraulic ram to pump spring water at our farm. A hydraulic ram uses water power for pumping and no electricity is [...]

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Reader’s Question :: Travel & Animal Care

Reader’s Question: I often wonder how many people who have big gardens and daily responsibilities with animals such as dairy cattle, chickens, and other livestock, ever arrange to travel elsewhere even for a day or two…?  Many of the responsibilities of self-sufficient lifestyles are so beyond the norm for folks who are not used to them…milking [...]

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Reader’s Question :: Food Preservation

Jody’s Question: I’m having a problem with getting over my squeemishness of food preservation.  I read a bit in the post about preserved lemons that really hit home with me:  the ’modern scaredycat-ness’ bit.  As I move more and more into canning and such, I find that I really don’t know anything about storage times as I have been relying on [...]

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Homesteading Question: Original Vision Vs. Present Reality?

Last year on my personal blog, I decided to put forth some questions I had, in order to see what sorts of responses I’d get from what we loosely term the homesteading community of bloggers.  There is a wealth of wisdom to be had of the firsthand sort. In much of the future planning Jack [...]

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Reader’s Question :: Shampoo Choices

Mornien’s Question: Do you have any suggestions for more traditional shampoos that can still be used with softened hard water? I use Pantene as that’s what my parents buy, but even with conditioner it still dries my hair out really bad. When I was at home for school, I sort of just avoided washing my [...]

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Reader’s Question: Gardening Challenges

Miranda’s Question: What is the biggest challenge to you as a gardener, weather, insects, time? Alan’s Answer: When I read this question the first thing that popped into my mind was time.  We garden on the border between Zone 4 and zone 5 in East Central Ohio. We have a market garden, specializing in salad greens, [...]

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