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Good website for homesteaders, today she offers an emergency evac plan. she lives in FL
The best to you all
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What is this?
Hello All, I have found that I am inundated with these plants; not sure if they need eradication or foraging... They have absolutely taken over any space that is not grassy. I found hundreds of them clumped inside a raised bed that hasn't been used in several years ( We just moved in about 2 months ago- house was empty…
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Homemade Dishsoap?
Has anyone here tried their hand at making dish soap and found a recipe that they love. I tried a couple of recipes over the last year and haven't been wowed with the product. Please share your recipes or tricks and tips! I saw the thread about laundry soap and started reading through that. I'm hoping you all have some…
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What Are Your Favorite Natural Cleaning Recipes?
The contents of my cleaning cabinet have dwindled to just vinegar, baking soda and essential oils over the years. When I wander into the aisle of cleaners at the grocery store, I'm reminded of the money and health saved. Patchouli has become what "clean" smells like in my home. But always enjoy new recipes and ideas for…
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Machinery maintenance
Something that my dad drilled into me in my younger days was to always look after your machinery, especially your tractor. Never assume that everything is ok and just hop aboard and go. Besides checking fuel, always check the radiator and the engine oil. Gauges on tractors can become unreliable with age, so check manually.…
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keeping up the homestead with Chronic illness
We had finally gotten our homestead up and running about 10 years ago. Each season, we would try to improve and make changes. My kids were active with us helping out with the barn chores. Then roughly 4 yrs ago my daughter, then son and I became ill (genetic) resulting in ongoing Dr. appointments and exhaustion for the…
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Is your area a great place to live or not? Why?
I want to know if you are in a good area. Are the people friendly, are there opportunities for work, for living a relaxed (or busy self sufficient) lifestyle? What is the land like? Ballpark price of land? Can you relax & enjoy your space? Is it safe? Can you add any other information pertinent to the initial question?…
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How do u easily turn a crappy front lawn into a ground cover in sunny location?
It's in zone 5. Do I use black plastic to kill existing lawn? For how long? Then what?
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Mosquito control
I was reading in one of my foraging/ID books and learned that the seeds of shepherds purse, when put in water, release a substance that binds the mouth parts together. It also releases a toxin that will kill the larvae. Does anyone know if this would still be safe for amphibians, fish & birds? It sounds like a simple way…
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Erosion control ideas
We are in the last stages of building a house. A permit requirement in our county says that we have to grow vegetation on every area that was disturbed. We have a very steep slope that I can’t get grass to grow on. It might be the heat- not sure. It gave me an idea that maybe I could grow my medicinal garden on this slope.…
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Geese - They are a Problem.....
Hey there, Does anyone have any suggestions for keeping geese out without having to use dangerous chemicals, even those that say it's just bad for the goose, but won't affect any other animal because I do struggle to believe that. Gross as it is, my dog tends to clean up after them (i.e. eat their waste) because she's…
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Chicken Hawk!
At around 6:30 this evening I was going to check on everyone and walk the dog. The rooster was raising quite a ruckus but he's always pretty loud. On closer inspection I didn't see any hens, all of a sudden a big brown bird flies out from under a shrub in the chicken fence. The dog takes off after the bird into the woods.…
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My earliest memory of herbal medicine, what is yours?
In the early 1960s, when I was a small child of 7 or 8 my Mom would go with the other ladies to play Bridge she would get a neighborhood teenager, named Gloria to come sit with us. When Gloria's grandmother was in town she would come along. Gloria's grandmother was Apache and she spent part of the year on the reservation…
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Is this Passion Flower?
I was walking the dog earlier and saw this beautiful flower. On closer inspection, there was fruit. After some Googling I think it's Passion Flower. Does anyone agree? If not do you know what it is?
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Helpful phone apps for identifying wild plants
I just moved here from Michigan to Virginia. While I was an avid plant watcher and pretty savvy on what grew in MI, being here in Va an two higher grow zones I am finding a bunch of plants that I have no idea what they are. I downloaded the phone app Plant Snap - and am very disappointed with it. It rarely identifies…
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Don't get caught out
Here on the east coast of Australia, we are experiencing an unusually warm end to our winter. It can give you the false hope that spring is here. You race out and purchase seedlings, say tomato, zucchini and cucumber and then 2 weeks down the track we return to our usual conditions and frosts can catch you out. So be…
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Where to buy sprouting seeds?
I've seen this question pop up in a few places, and I've been looking for a good place too, so I figured where better to ask the question than here! For those who are into sprouts, where do you get your seeds? Especially larger quantities of them? I have a couple 1# tins of wheat and barley that I got from Handy Pantry.…
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Homesteading! This one is for the people living it..
I know a lot of us have future goals of becoming legitimate homesteaders and are using this time to practice the skills we think might be needed when the time comes (homestead training wheels!) To those of you that have already achieved your goal of living on a homestead, what sort of new goals are you setting year to…
