My Gravity Fed Water System: How I Built It, Broke It, and Finally Got It Right
I’ll be honest first time I tried making a gravity fed water system, it leaked more than my old barn roof in spring. I thought, “How hard can it be?…
Raising Bantam Chickens: My Real Backyard Experience (The Good, The Messy & The Tiny Eggs)
Alright, you’re probably here ’cause you’re wondering if bantam chickens are worth it. Lemme just say this first: they totally are but not without a few surprises. I’ve been raising…
What Are the 12 Principles of Permaculture
This post answers your question what are the 12 principles of permaculture, and shows you how they work on real backyard, urban homestead setups. I’ll share my screw,ups and wins,…
My Honest Journey with Preserving Tomatoes (And the Mess I Made Along the Way)
You ever find yourself staring at a mountain of tomatoes, thinking, “What the heck am I supposed to do with all these?” That was me one summer, maybe eight or…
Backyard Animal Farm: The Good the Bad and the Kinda Gross
Let me tell ya starting a backyard animal farm ain’t always pretty. One time, I walked out in my slippers and stepped barefoot right into a warm, fresh chicken turd.…
What Are the Legal Challenges of Urban Homesteading?
Once I brought home chickens to my tiny city backyard. Well… not tiny enough for my neighbor who called animal control. That day I discovered legal challenges of urban homesteadin…
How to Preserve Food Without Refrigeration
You ever have one of those “oh crap” moments where everything goes sideways at once? Well, mine was back in 2016 when the power went out for four days. Middle…
My Backyard Zoo: What I’ve Learned Raising Small Animals in Urban Homesteads
I still remember the first time I brought home chickens in a cardboard box. My wife said, “Are you serious right now?” I was. Two hens and a dream. That…
My Start With Balcony Gardening And All the Dumb Things I Did
I’ll be real with you when I first tried a balcony garden, I had no idea what I was doing. I thought, How hard could it be? Dirt seeds, sun,…
The Art of Canning Preserving The Harvest in a Small Urban Backyard
When i first introduced chickens into my small urban backyard i didnt realize it would spark a deeper journey into sustainable living raising hens brought me closer to the rhythms…