There’s not usually a whole lot to forage for at the end of winter, but there is something delicious hiding in many of the trees around us: sap which can be turned into syrup! Guest writer Meredith Skyer is going to show us how to tap trees and make syrup in your backyard! Have you…
Homestead & DIY
Joel and I just bought our own little urban homestead and we are so excited to share our homesteading endeavors with you! This is where I will be talking about things like storing and preserving food, harvesting rainwater, natural building, living off grid, and alternative means of heating, cooling, and power for your home. I will also cover some survival topics, which are becoming more and more important in this day and age.
Homemade Deodorant Recipe with Lavender and Sage
When I first began delving into making herbal bath and beauty products myself many years ago, it all started with homemade herbal deodorant. It’s the perfect beginner recipe for DIY beauty products, mainly because it’s simple to make, but also because it’s good for your health. The best part is that this homemade deodorant recipe…
6 Easy Backyard Permaculture Projects for Beginners
Permaculture is a word that brings to mind beautiful and large swathes of property filled to the brim with fruit trees, perennial food forests, and natural water sources. While this is a dream that many of us have (myself included!), it can feel like a difficult reality on a small suburban lot. Surprisingly, it isn’t…
Kombucha Soap: Natural Face Bar Recipe
Most of us in the fermenting world know all about kombucha, whether we’ve made it ourselves or just purchase it at our local health food store. What I’ve only recently learned is that kombucha is also great for the skin and makes a wonderful soap! It’s also the perfect way to use up any extra…
Comfrey Tea: Homemade Natural Fertilizer
My husband Joel has been making this awesome homemade natural fertilizer for our garden using comfrey, and its been working amazingly well! It’s super easy, too, especially if you have comfrey growing in your garden already. Basically, it’s a simple comfrey tea, or infusion to be exact. Joel wrote this post for us today to…
DIY Herbal No Bug Balm (with Lemon Balm)
Summer is the time for bugs, and not always the good kind! There’s nothing worse than going on a relaxing camping trip near a beautiful river or lake, only to get eaten alive by mosquitoes the whole time. The only problem with commercial bug spray is that there is often toxic chemicals in them that…
How to Make Beeswax Food Wraps
Hello my friends! I have a great post for you today, something a little bit different. I recently had the chance to go through a really cool book all about beeswax and what you can make and do with it called The Beeswax Workshop by Chris Dalziel. You might know Chris from the blog Joybilee…
3 Ways to Extend Your Growing Season
Growing your own food is one of the most rewarding things that you can do, whether you have a large homestead on many acres or a small backyard lot. Either way, it is well worth the effort to have homegrown produce. It is helpful in many ways to be able to extend the season a…
DIY Herbal Gifts for Men
Finding the perfect gift for the man in your life can be difficult, whether it be your Dad, husband, boyfriend, friend, or brother. If you lean towards natural herbal or homemade DIY items, I have a great list here for you! These herbal gifts for men are perfect, and many of them you can make…
Homemade Rosemary Mint Shampoo Bars
I love making my own homemade herbal bath and beauty products. Making soap was the one thing that I didn’t do for a long time, admittedly because I scared of the whole process. But when I finally did it, I realized it wasn’t really that bad. You can read about it in my post How…
