Tag: land stewardship

Welcome to My Kansas Homestead (Now Get Off My Lawn)

On By The.Daily.ChristianIn Kansas, Kansas Homestead Lifestyle, Kansas PrepaarednessLeave a comment

Listen, I didn’t move out to the middle of nowhere to deal with HOA regulations, TikTok garden tours, or nosy neighbors with opinions about my chicken coop. I came out here to build a life—one rooted in dirt, sweat, and the kind of hard work that most people wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.

But you know what’s worse than a Kansas tornado ripping through your property in April? People with zero skills and shiny boots acting like homesteading is some Instagram aesthetic. This ain’t a curated lifestyle—it’s war, and the enemy is everything from drought to raccoons to tractor maintenance.

Now don’t get me wrong—I’m not mad at the land. I love this land. I wake up every morning with the prairie wind slapping me in the face like a cold coffee and I thank it for reminding me I’m alive. But if you’re thinking about starting a homestead here in Kansas, let me give you a cold, hard, mud-caked dose of reality—and maybe you’ll walk away a little wiser (and a little more respectful of people who actually live this life).

15 Skills Every Kansas Homesteader Needs (Or You’ll Fail Faster Than a Solar Panel in a Dust Storm):

  1. Seed Starting – Learn it. Master it. If you can’t sprout a tomato, go back to the city.
  2. Composting – Turn that kitchen slop into black gold. We don’t throw away nutrients out here.
  3. Animal Husbandry – Chickens, goats, pigs, and cows don’t raise themselves. If you don’t know what a broody hen is, you’re already behind.
  4. Canning & Food Preservation – If you don’t want your harvest rotting in a week, get friendly with a pressure canner.
  5. Basic Carpentry – Because hiring someone to fix your barn roof is for millionaires.
  6. Fence Building & Repair – Kansas winds will humble your fence real fast. Build it strong or build it twice.
  7. Rainwater Collection – When July hits and the sky forgets how to cry, you’ll wish you had barrels.
  8. First Aid – For animals and humans. Because the nearest vet or clinic might be 40 minutes away.
  9. Wildlife Identification – Know the difference between a coyote and your neighbor’s mangy dog.
  10. Butchering – If you’re not ready to process your meat, then don’t raise animals.
  11. Mechanical Repair – Tractors, chainsaws, and generators break down. Constantly. Learn to fix them or bleed money.
  12. Foraging – Kansas has wild edibles galore. If you don’t know what lamb’s quarters are, you should.
  13. Beekeeping – You want pollination? You want honey? Time to make friends with bees.
  14. Bread Making – Because there’s something deeply wrong about store-bought bread in a homemade kitchen.
  15. Firewood Splitting – Winters can be brutal. If you think electric heat is reliable, wait for your first ice storm blackout.

3 Homestead Hacks They Won’t Teach You on YouTube:

Hack #1: The “Solar-Shed Hybrid”
Build a small outbuilding that serves both as a tool shed and a solar battery house. Insulate it well, mount solar panels on top, and use it to store backup batteries, hand tools, seeds, and a deep freezer. Why waste space when everything can serve a dual purpose? Kansas gets a ton of sun—harness it.

Hack #2: The Chicken Coop Water Heater (No Electricity)
Use an old black-painted metal barrel filled with water and set it inside your chicken run—covered during summer, uncovered in winter. The sun heats it up during the day, and it radiates warmth at night, keeping your coop from freezing just enough. Kansas winters are no joke, and this passive heat source can mean the difference between frozen eggs and laying hens.

Hack #3: Firewood Seasoning Rack Made from Old Pallets
Kansas wind is hellish—but you can use it. Stack firewood on a base of pallets and build an angled windbreak using more pallets on the west side. The airflow will dry your wood faster than a kiln if you angle it right. Free pallets + Kansas wind = seasoned wood in half the time.

Now let’s talk about the romanticized crap people believe about homesteading.

People think living on a Kansas homestead means sipping sweet tea on a wraparound porch while chickens peck playfully at your feet. Let me tell you what those chickens actually do: they escape, crap on your porch, and eat your freshly planted lettuce the second you turn your back. But you know what? I still love the little monsters.

You think crops don’t fail? Kansas gets 100-degree heat in summer and freak snow in April. You’ll spend weeks babying your seedlings only for a late frost to punch you in the face like a drunk uncle at a family reunion.

You better learn to love failure, because it’s coming. Your first garden will be trash. Your first goat will outsmart you. And you’ll wonder—more than once—why the hell you didn’t just stay in town and pay $6 for organic lettuce like a sucker.

But then—then—something magical happens. You get better.

The kale grows. The hens lay like clockwork. Your compost pile smells like success. You find yourself butchering a chicken with precision, baking sourdough from your own starter, and fixing a busted well pump in 20 minutes with duct tape and willpower.

And that’s when you realize: this life isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to make you tough.

Homesteading in Kansas will either break you or build you into the kind of person who can dig a trench in a hailstorm while laughing maniacally and quoting Joel Salatin.

It teaches you everything school forgot—self-reliance, grit, adaptability, and how to deal with death, birth, and weather like a stoic philosopher with a side of rage.

So if you’re thinking of becoming a Kansas homesteader, here’s my advice: Don’t do it for likes. Don’t do it for the vibe. Do it because you want freedom—real freedom—the kind that comes with blistered hands, overflowing pantries, and the ability to look a winter storm in the eye and say, “Bring it.”

If that sounds like your kind of life, then welcome. Otherwise, keep your shiny boots on the porch and your opinions in the city.

We’ve got work to do.

Iowa Homestead Lifestyle: Where Grit Meets Gut and No One’s Got Time for BS

On By The.Daily.ChristianIn Iowa, Iowa Homestead Lifestyle, Iowa survival prepperLeave a comment

Listen here, city slickers and wannabe farmers: homesteading in Iowa ain’t no stroll through a cornfield in spring. It’s blood, sweat, and damn near everything in between — and if you don’t come prepared with grit and a backbone, you’re gonna fail. Fast. I’m sick of hearing how easy this all looks on those pretty YouTube channels or in some “simple living” blog. No. Just no.

Iowa’s rich soil might be a blessing, but don’t let that fool you. The weather here will whip your ass — freezing winters, scorching summers, and storms that’ll tear up your whole damn place if you ain’t ready. If you want to live this lifestyle right, you better learn the skills and hacks that make survival and success possible. So buckle up, because I’m about to lay down the truth on 15 essential homestead skills every Iowa homesteader needs, plus three DIY hacks to keep you rolling when the world’s trying to screw you over.

15 Essential Homestead Skills for Iowa Homesteaders

  1. Soil Testing & Amendment
    Don’t just plant and pray. If you want crops to grow in this dirt, you need to test the soil for pH and nutrients, then add lime, compost, or manure accordingly. Lazy gardeners get no harvest here.
  2. Crop Rotation & Companion Planting
    Iowa’s soil gets tired if you don’t rotate your crops year to year. Plus, planting the right combos like beans with corn keeps pests at bay without chemicals.
  3. Seed Saving
    Stop buying seeds every damn season. Learn to save and store your own seeds. It’s survival insurance and money saved — and you’ll be thanking yourself when that seed company jacks prices up.
  4. Chicken Raising
    If you think chickens just roam and lay eggs, think again. You’ve gotta know how to build secure coops, manage feed, fend off predators, and handle sickness. This ain’t a petting zoo.
  5. Butchering & Meat Processing
    If you raise animals, you better know how to process them yourself. No one’s coming to hold your hand or do it for you. It’s bloody work but necessary if you want real food freedom.
  6. Preserving Food
    Canning, drying, fermenting — if you’re not preserving your harvest, you’re wasting it. Iowa’s growing season’s short; you gotta eat well all winter.
  7. Firewood Gathering & Splitting
    Heating a homestead in Iowa’s winter ain’t cheap. Learn to cut, split, and stack firewood properly — or freeze your ass off.
  8. Basic Plumbing Repair
    I’ve seen too many folks call a plumber for every drip or clogged pipe. Learn to fix leaks and maintain your water system. It’ll save you money and headaches.
  9. Fence Building & Maintenance
    Whether you’re keeping critters in or pests out, a solid fence is a must. Know how to build and repair fences fast because Iowa’s wildlife will test your defenses daily.
  10. Tractor & Equipment Maintenance
    If you’re running a tractor, mower, or tiller, you better know how to keep it running. No mechanic on call for you when you’re 20 miles from town.
  11. Rainwater Harvesting
    Iowa gets its share of droughts despite all the rain. Catch and store water for irrigation and chores — it’s a lifesaver.
  12. Soap Making
    Yeah, soap. Making your own is cheaper, chemical-free, and a step toward true self-reliance. Plus, nothing beats homemade soap for hard-working hands.
  13. Basic Carpentry
    Fix your roof, build your coop, repair your porch — you need carpentry skills or you’ll be stuck waiting on contractors who’ll charge you an arm and a leg.
  14. Herbal Medicine & First Aid
    When the nearest clinic is miles away, knowing which herbs soothe a fever or stop bleeding is worth more than gold.
  15. Composting
    Iowa’s dirt can be good but it ain’t perfect. Building and maintaining a compost pile recycles waste and builds rich soil. No compost, no crops — simple as that.

3 DIY Homestead Hacks That’ll Save Your Ass on an Iowa Homestead

Hack #1: DIY Chicken Coop Predator Proofing
Raccoons, foxes, coyotes — they’re relentless here. Wrap the bottom of your coop with hardware cloth buried at least a foot underground in an L shape outwards. No digging under, no tearing through. Cheap, simple, and keeps your hens alive.

Hack #2: DIY Worm Compost Bin
Don’t buy expensive worm bins. Take an old plastic storage container, drill some holes for airflow and drainage, add bedding like shredded paper and kitchen scraps, then throw in worms. You get black gold compost for your garden without spending a dime.

Hack #3: Plastic Bottle Drip Irrigation
Iowa’s summer heat can fry your crops if you’re not watering right. Take empty plastic bottles, poke small holes in the cap, bury them neck-down near plant roots, and fill them with water. Slow, deep watering that saves time and water.

Why Iowa Homesteading Is Not for the Faint of Heart

Look, I don’t sugarcoat this shit. Iowa homesteading means getting your hands dirty and not complaining when the weather wrecks your garden, or the tractor breaks down, or your chickens go missing overnight. It’s not a weekend hobby — it’s a lifestyle that will chew you up if you’re half-assed.

But here’s the damn truth — when you learn these skills and get those hacks down, you gain a freedom that no city life can offer. You grow your own food, raise your own meat, build your own shelter, and survive off the land on your own terms. There’s nothing more satisfying.

A Day in the Life on an Iowa Homestead

You wake up before dawn, pull on your boots, and head outside. First task: check the chickens. That coop better be intact, eggs collected, feed topped off. Then it’s out to the garden, pulling weeds, inspecting for pests. Your compost pile needs turning today, so grab the pitchfork. You check the rain barrels; water’s running low — maybe time to move the irrigation system to that patch of corn.

Midday means fixing the fence that the deer crashed through last night. You patch holes, hammer new posts, and secure the wire tight. You’re exhausted but no time to rest. Next up is the soap batch you started last night — time to mold and set it. Then you haul firewood inside for the coming cold.

At sunset, you sit on your porch, the smell of fresh-turned earth and woodsmoke heavy in the air, knowing that every drop of sweat is a brick in the foundation of your independence. You may be tired, but dammit, you’re alive and you’re doing it your way.

Final Words for the Iowa Homesteader

If you’re thinking about homesteading here, know this: You’re signing up for hard work, stubborn lessons, and days when everything breaks at once. But with the right skills, the right attitude, and a few clever hacks, Iowa homesteading can be the most rewarding, grounding, and life-changing thing you ever do.

So get your hands dirty, learn every damn skill you can, and build your homestead like your life depends on it — because it does.

Illinois Homestead Lifestyle: Grit, Grind, and Get-It-Done

On By The.Daily.ChristianIn Illinois, Illinois Homestead Lifestyle, Illinois SurvivalistsLeave a comment

Listen here, city slickers and armchair farmers! If you think living on a homestead in Illinois is some quaint little hobby or a stroll through a farmer’s market, you’re dead wrong. Out here, we don’t just plant a few tomatoes and sip lemonade on the porch. No sir, we fight tooth and nail every damn day against pests, weather, and the sheer laziness that’s rotting this country’s soul.

If you want to call yourself a homesteader in Illinois, you better come prepared — with grit, know-how, and a work ethic that would make your grandpappy proud. This ain’t a weekend hobby, it’s a full-on lifestyle where every day you’re scrapping to keep your homestead running smooth.

15 Homestead Skills You’d Better Learn or Get Out

  1. Soil Testing and Amendments
    Before you plant a seed, you better know what’s in your dirt. Illinois soil can be stubborn—clay-heavy in spots, sandy in others. Get your hands dirty testing pH and nutrient levels, and don’t skimp on lime or compost to fix what’s busted. If your soil’s dead, your crops are dead too.
  2. Seed Saving
    Stop buying seeds every year like a sucker! Learn to save seeds from your best plants. This is how homesteaders build resilient, locally adapted crops that laugh in the face of Illinois weather.
  3. Composting
    You want fertile soil? Stop throwing away your scraps. Compost like your life depends on it — because on a homestead, it just might. Layer your greens and browns right, turn it regularly, and you’ll have black gold.
  4. Chicken Raising
    Nothing says “homestead” like clucking hens scratching in the dirt. But don’t expect them to just lay eggs and be cute. You gotta know how to build coops, manage health, feed them right, and collect eggs without breaking a sweat.
  5. Butchering Small Livestock
    If you raise animals, you better learn how to put them down and butcher them humanely. Ain’t nobody else gonna do it for you, and processed meat from the store? Forget it—too expensive and full of chemicals.
  6. Preserving Food
    Canning, fermenting, drying—know how to put up your harvest. Illinois weather gives you a limited growing season, so if you don’t preserve your bounty, you’ll be hungry come winter.
  7. Basic Carpentry
    A homestead isn’t just a patch of land — it’s a fortress. You’ll be building fences, coops, raised beds, and repairing barns. Get comfy with a hammer, saw, and measuring tape.
  8. Well Digging and Water Management
    Relying on city water? Ha! Out here, a working well or a reliable rain catchment system is worth its weight in gold. Learn how to dig, maintain, and pump water on demand.
  9. Gardening and Crop Rotation
    Planting row after row of the same crop will kill your soil and your morale. Rotate your crops, know what thrives in Illinois (corn, soybeans, pumpkins—don’t be lazy!), and prepare for pests.
  10. Trap and Hunt Small Game
    Sometimes the freezer’s empty and you gotta rely on the land. Know how to set traps, hunt rabbits, squirrels, and deer — legally and humanely.
  11. Welding and Metalwork
    Fixing old equipment or making custom tools? Welding skills are a homesteader’s secret weapon. Don’t wait for the mechanic—fix it yourself or it’s downtime and lost work.
  12. Herbal Medicine
    Pharmacies are miles away and expensive. Learn your local plants — yarrow, elderberry, echinacea — and how to use them for colds, wounds, and common ailments.
  13. Blacksmith Basics
    Don’t laugh — even a beginner blacksmith can make hooks, nails, and repair tools. It’s old school but solid gold for keeping your gear in shape.
  14. Solar Power Setup and Maintenance
    Electricity can go out for days in the boonies. Set up your own solar panels, batteries, and maintain the system so you’re not left in the dark.
  15. Trap Repair and Fence Building
    Keep your garden safe from critters. Knowing how to build and repair fences—both electric and traditional—is crucial to protect crops and livestock.

Now, For Some DIY Homestead Hacks to Save Your Sanity

Hack #1: Milk Jug Watering System
Got tomatoes wilting because you can’t water ’em every day? Grab a couple of empty milk jugs, poke a few tiny holes in the lid, and bury them near the roots. Fill ’em with water and the soil soaks it up slowly. Set it and forget it — no more daily watering sweat sessions.

Hack #2: Homemade Chicken Feeder from PVC Pipe
Tired of chicken feed spilling everywhere and attracting rats? Cut a length of PVC pipe, cap one end, drill small holes down the side just big enough for chickens to peck through, and fill it up. Keeps feed dry, cuts waste, and saves money on fancy feeders.

Hack #3: Rain Barrel with Mosquito Screen
Collecting rainwater is a must in Illinois, but standing water = mosquitoes. Modify a large trash can or barrel by installing a tight mesh screen under the lid to keep bugs out. Attach a spigot at the bottom for easy watering. Cheap, effective, and you’ll thank yourself when you’re not swatting bugs.

Why Illinois Homesteading Ain’t for the Faint of Heart

Let me paint a picture for you: Illinois is no tropical paradise. Winters can freeze your guts out, summers bring a relentless swarm of insects, and don’t get me started on the unpredictability of rain. One minute you’re knee-deep mud, the next your crops are baking in the sun like cheap jerky.

The state’s soil, while rich in some areas, can be a pain to manage without knowing your amendments and soil biology. You can’t just throw some seeds in the ground and pray. You gotta understand your land intimately — every rock, bug, and dirt patch.

And neighbors? You’ll find some good ones, but many just don’t get it. They’ll call you crazy for turning off the grid or for raising pigs instead of lawn flamingos. But that’s just noise. The real work is done at dawn, hands in the soil, face to the wind, stubborn as a mule.

What I’ve Learned the Hard Way

You can’t half-ass homesteading. If you’re starting out, prepare to make mistakes — fence lines knocked down by storms, plants eaten by rabbits, a batch of sour canned tomatoes because you didn’t follow the recipe. Get over it. Dust off your boots and get back at it.

Illinois homesteading is about self-reliance in a state that’s part prairie, part forest, part farmland, and all struggle. But when you finally taste your own corn on the cob, or crack open a jar of your home-canned green beans after a long winter, there’s no sweeter victory.

Don’t Let the Modern World Fool You

Electric bills, grocery store aisles full of plastic, and government handouts can’t feed you in a crisis. Homesteading in Illinois is a battle against dependence. It’s knowing your land and using it smartly. It’s raising animals with respect and not whining when the weather’s brutal.

It’s about skills that our ancestors used to survive—and that we better relearn fast or lose forever. There’s no room for laziness or excuses on this land.

Final Words from a Gritty Illinois Homesteader

If you think homesteading is easy, go back to your cushy city job. If you want real freedom, real food, and real satisfaction, roll up your sleeves. Learn every skill you can, sweat under the sun, and fight through the mud.

Illinois homesteading is hard, but it’s honest work. And nothing tastes better than food you grew with your own damn hands, on soil you nurtured, under skies you can swear at when the weather turns foul.

Get out there, learn these skills, use those hacks, and build your homestead like your life depends on it—because it just might.

Indiana Homestead Lifestyle

On By The.Daily.ChristianIn Indiana, Indiana Homestead Lifestyle, Indiana Survival PreppersLeave a comment

Listen here, city slickers and weekend hobby farmers! If you think homesteading in Indiana is some kind of quaint, idyllic pastoral fantasy, you’ve got another thing coming. This life isn’t about Instagram-worthy gardens or lazy afternoons watching bees buzz around your heirloom tomatoes. It’s dirt-under-your-nails, sweat-dripping, problem-solving-from-scratch living. And if you aren’t ready to tackle the daily grind, stay off the land!

Indiana’s got its challenges — from unpredictable weather that can fry your crops one day and drown them the next, to pests that seem to take personal offense at your hard work. But the folks who make it work? They’re tough, resourceful, and stubborn as the Hoosier soil they till. And let me tell you, mastering this lifestyle takes a hell of a lot more than planting some seeds and hoping for the best.

So if you want the real deal, here’s what you better get good at — or pack up and go back to your fancy apartment.

15 Homestead Skills Every Indiana Homesteader Should Master

  1. Soil Testing and Amending: Indiana’s soil varies, and it ain’t always naturally fertile. Knowing how to test your soil pH and nutrient levels, then adjusting with lime, compost, or manure is crucial. No one’s got time for dead crops because of poor soil.
  2. Seed Saving: You want to keep your garden sustainable? Learn to save seeds from your best plants. This isn’t just about saving money; it’s about building a seed bank tailored to Indiana’s climate and pest pressures.
  3. Composting: Don’t just toss your kitchen scraps in the trash. Composting turns waste into black gold. You better get the balance right — brown to green ratio, aeration, moisture — or you’ll end up with a stinky pile of failure.
  4. Rainwater Harvesting: Indiana has decent rainfall, but it can be unreliable. Setting up barrels or cisterns to capture rainwater saves money and supports your garden during dry spells.
  5. Animal Husbandry: Raising chickens, goats, or even pigs isn’t a cute hobby. It’s hard work, dealing with feed, shelter, health, and predators. Know how to handle livestock or prepare to lose your investment to foxes or raccoons.
  6. Fence Building and Maintenance: Nothing ruins a homestead faster than a broken fence. Whether it’s keeping your livestock in or deer out, you need solid, reliable fencing skills.
  7. Preserving Food: Freezing, canning, drying — learn them all. Indiana has a short growing season, so preserving your bounty to last through winter is a must. Forget it, and you’re wasting months of hard work.
  8. Basic Carpentry: Building a chicken coop, garden beds, or fixing a broken barn door demands carpentry skills. You don’t need to be a pro, but you better not call a handyman every time a nail pops out.
  9. Pest Management: Those bugs, rodents, and critters aren’t going to leave you alone. Organic pest control, traps, barriers — learn them or watch your crops vanish.
  10. Herbal Medicine: When you’re miles from a doctor or pharmacy, knowing how to use herbs like echinacea, peppermint, or calendula can be a lifesaver.
  11. Firewood Splitting and Stacking: Heating your home with wood in Indiana winters isn’t optional if you want to save on fuel. Splitting and properly stacking firewood is exhausting but essential.
  12. Basic Plumbing Repairs: From leaky faucets to frozen pipes, plumbing issues pop up and you better know how to fix them fast to avoid bigger disasters.
  13. Butchering and Meat Processing: Raising animals means eventually turning them into food. If you can’t butcher and process meat yourself, you’re either shelling out big bucks or relying on others who might not care as much as you do.
  14. Crop Rotation and Companion Planting: Avoiding soil depletion and pests means understanding what plants do well next to each other and rotating crops yearly.
  15. Tool Maintenance: You don’t toss out a $300 tiller because the chain slipped. Knowing how to maintain and repair your tools keeps the homestead running and your blood pressure down.

Now, some no-BS DIY homestead hacks for surviving and thriving in Indiana:

Hack 1: DIY Cold Frame from Recycled Windows

Indiana’s spring and fall can get nippy, shortening your growing season. Instead of dropping cash on fancy greenhouses, grab some old windows from salvage yards or friends renovating their homes. Nail or screw together a wooden frame and hinge the windows on top. This cold frame traps heat and lets you start seedlings weeks earlier or protect late crops from frost. Cheap, effective, and a real game-changer.

Hack 2: Cornstarch and Vinegar Weed Killer

Herbicides? Forget about it. You want a safe, homemade weed killer that doesn’t poison your soil? Mix 1 cup of white vinegar, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, and a few drops of dish soap in a spray bottle. Cornstarch helps the vinegar stick to weeds instead of running off. Spray on a hot, sunny day and watch those dandelions and crabgrass shrivel. Just be careful not to spray your veggies — it kills everything green.

Hack 3: Rain Barrel Overflow Diverter Using an Old Bucket

If you collect rainwater, you know the barrel overflows during heavy rains, wasting precious water and sometimes flooding your foundation. Attach a cheap plastic bucket to the overflow spout with some silicone sealant and a drilled hole near the bottom. When the barrel fills, the overflow drains into the bucket, which you can then pour on your garden or lawn. It’s a simple fix that saves water and prevents erosion around your homestead.

So there it is — the cold, hard truth about the Indiana homestead lifestyle. This isn’t for the faint-hearted or the lazy. It’s a constant battle against the elements, pests, and time. But for those who stick with it, there’s nothing quite like it — the pride of growing your own food, raising animals with care, and living off the grid a little bit.

If you want to start homesteading here, don’t expect it to be easy. Learn those skills, sweat through those projects, and get your hands filthy. Because when you do, you’re not just surviving — you’re living.

And if that makes me sound angry? Good. Because homesteading is hard, and it deserves a little righteous fury.

Idaho Homestead Lifestyle: Back to the Dirt and Done with the Nonsense

On By The.Daily.ChristianIn Idaho, Idaho Homestead Lifestyle, Idaho preppersLeave a comment

Let me tell you something right now: the world’s gone soft. Somewhere along the way, folks traded hand tools for smartphones, wild food for drive-thrus, and grit for convenience. But not out here—not in Idaho. Out here, we homestead. Out here, we take care of ourselves. And if that makes me a grumpy old dirt farmer with a pile of firewood and a root cellar full of potatoes, so be it.

I’m not here to sugarcoat anything. Homesteading in Idaho is work. It’s early mornings, cold fingers, aching backs, and long days. But it’s also freedom, independence, and one hell of a satisfying way to live. You don’t ask for handouts—you build. You mend. You butcher. You sew. You raise kids who know the difference between a rooster and a hen and don’t panic if the Wi-Fi drops out.

If you’re thinking of joining us out here, good. The more the merrier—but only if you’re ready to earn your place. This ain’t a vacation. It’s a lifestyle. Let me walk you through what that really means, Idaho-style.

15 Homestead Skills You Damn Well Better Learn

1. Animal Husbandry
If you can’t tell when your goat is about to give birth or why your chickens stopped laying, you’re in trouble. Learn to care for animals like they’re your lifeline—because they are.

2. Canning and Food Preservation
Store shelves aren’t reliable. Your pantry and root cellar? That’s your grocery store now. Pressure canner. Water bath. Fermenting. Master them.

3. Gardening for Survival
Not some Instagram “raised bed” crap with ornamental kale. I’m talking rows of potatoes, corn, beans—enough to feed your family through a brutal Idaho winter.

4. Seed Saving
If you’re still buying seeds every year, you’re not serious. Save your own, select for what thrives, and you’ll never be at the mercy of the seed catalogs again.

5. Hunting and Processing Game
Elk, deer, grouse. Idaho’s full of protein on the hoof. Learn to shoot, track, dress, and preserve meat without wasting a scrap.

6. Firewood Harvesting
We don’t turn on the heat—we chop it. Learn what burns hot, how to season it, and how to split it without throwing out your back.

7. Carpentry and Construction
You’ll need fences, coops, sheds, and maybe a house. Get handy with a hammer or go broke hiring someone else.

8. First Aid and Herbal Remedies
You think there’s a doctor nearby? Think again. You need to handle injuries, infections, and illness with what you’ve got on hand.

9. Cooking from Scratch
Boxed meals don’t cut it out here. Learn to bake bread, butcher a chicken, and make stock like your grandma did.

10. Welding and Metal Work
When your trailer hitch snaps or your plow blade needs reinforcing, you’ll wish you had a welder and knew how to use it.

11. Water Management
Rain catchment, well maintenance, gravity-fed irrigation. Water is life, and you better know where yours is coming from.

12. Solar and Off-Grid Energy
If you’re lucky enough to be off-grid, solar’s your friend. Know how to wire, monitor, and maintain your system—or you’ll be lighting candles all winter.

13. Soap Making
Forget store-bought junk. Make your own lye soap with goat milk, and get clean the honest way.

14. Foraging and Wildcrafting
Morels, huckleberries, yarrow, pine nuts—the land provides, but only if you recognize what you’re looking at.

15. Bartering and Community Trade
You won’t have everything you need. That’s where neighbors come in. Trade eggs for honey, jerky for firewood. Build trust. Build local strength.

3 DIY Homestead Hacks That Save Time and Sanity

Hack #1: Five-Gallon Bucket Chicken Waterer
Tired of refilling water every morning? Drill a few holes near the base of a 5-gallon bucket, set it in a tray (like a repurposed oil pan), and flip it. Chickens drink clean, and you only refill every few days. Simple. Cheap. Effective.

Hack #2: Pallet Compost Bin
Why pay a dime for a fancy compost tumbler when pallets are free all over Idaho? Nail four together into a square, add hinges for a front gate, and you’ve got a three-bin compost system for nothing. Let nature break it down while you drink coffee and admire your pile.

Hack #3: Gravity-Fed Rainwater System
Mount a few barrels under your gutter system, raise them on cinderblocks, and run hoses or PVC pipe downhill to your garden. Now your plants drink Idaho rain, and you don’t lug watering cans all summer. Bonus: No water bill.

The Harsh Truth

Idaho homesteading is not a lifestyle for the faint-hearted. The winters will test you. The isolation will challenge your marriage. You’ll lose crops to hail, predators to coyotes, and sometimes your damn mind. But every morning you walk outside and see your land—your chickens scratching, your tomatoes ripening, your kids hauling water like pioneers—you’ll remember why you started.

And let me say this: if you’re running from the city hoping to “unplug” with a latte in hand, do us a favor and stay home. Homesteading is not a trend. It’s not a weekend project. It’s not something you watch on YouTube and master in 30 days. It’s blood, sweat, tears, manure, and joy all mixed together under the big Idaho sky.

You will fail. You will cry. You will want to quit.

But if you stick with it, if you lean into the hard days and count your blessings when the pantry is full and the kids are healthy—you’ll never want to go back.

Final Words From a Grizzled Soul

The Idaho homestead lifestyle is the real deal. It’s the antidote to modern madness. It teaches you to rely on yourself and respect the land. It’s dirty. It’s beautiful. It’s real. So pick up that shovel, load that wood stove, kiss your kids, and go milk the damn goat. You’ve got a full day ahead of you—and that’s just how we like it out here.

And if anyone tells you it’s “too hard,” just smile and hand them a jar of your homemade pickles.

Because we don’t need easy.

We need real.

California Homestead Lifestyle: The Real Grit of Living Off the Land

On By The.Daily.ChristianIn California, California Homestead Lifestyle, California Off Grid, California PreppersLeave a comment

You think California’s just about sun-drenched beaches, Hollywood glam, and avocado toast? Think again. Try telling that to someone who’s been scraping and clawing for every scrap of dirt they can turn into a living, breathing homestead in this damn state.

The California Homestead Lifestyle isn’t some weekend hobby or Instagram photo op. It’s a relentless, bloody commitment to independence, grit, and self-reliance. It’s about waking up every day knowing you’ve got to beat back the drought, the wildfires, the invasive regulations, and the overpriced land that’ll bleed you dry if you let it.

Here’s the cold, angry truth: if you want to homestead in California, you better come prepared with some serious skills and hacks—because out here, nature doesn’t give a damn about your fancy dreams. You either adapt or you fail.

15 Must-Have Homestead Skills for California Living

  1. Water Management
    This isn’t just important, it’s life or death. California’s droughts aren’t some rare event—they’re a brutal, recurring enemy. Learn how to capture rainwater legally, build cisterns, and recycle gray water. Every drop counts, so know your drip irrigation, mulching, and soil moisture retention techniques.
  2. Fire Prevention & Control
    Wildfires ravage California yearly. Knowing how to create defensible space around your homestead, clear brush, and have a fire plan can save your life and your home.
  3. Soil Building & Composting
    The Golden State’s soil isn’t uniformly fertile. You need to build it up with organic matter, compost properly, and use cover crops to keep your land productive.
  4. Permaculture Design
    Designing your homestead with the land’s natural flow in mind saves work and creates resilience—critical for surviving California’s erratic climate.
  5. Seed Saving & Plant Propagation
    Don’t trust the grocery store or seed companies. Save seeds from plants that thrive in your microclimate and propagate through cuttings or grafting.
  6. Animal Husbandry
    Whether chickens, goats, or bees, raising animals for eggs, milk, honey, or pest control is a cornerstone of a thriving homestead.
  7. Butchering & Meat Preservation
    This one’s not for the faint of heart, but knowing how to process and preserve meat means you aren’t dependent on the butcher or supermarket.
  8. Canning & Food Preservation
    You better master canning, dehydrating, and fermenting, because the summer bounty isn’t going to last all year.
  9. Tool Maintenance & Blacksmithing Basics
    If your tools break, you can’t wait for Amazon. Sharpen blades, fix equipment, and maybe even do some basic metalwork.
  10. Alternative Energy Setup
    Solar panels, battery storage, and maybe even a wind turbine can keep your homestead powered without relying on the grid, which gets sketchy during fires or blackouts.
  11. Natural Building & Repairs
    Knowing how to fix a fence, patch a roof, or build with local materials (adobe, cob, reclaimed wood) saves you a fortune and keeps you independent.
  12. Herbal Medicine & First Aid
    Access to doctors isn’t always a given in remote areas. Learn to identify and use medicinal plants, and basic first aid.
  13. Wildcrafting & Foraging
    California is rich in wild edibles—acorns, mushrooms, herbs. Know what’s safe and how to harvest without destroying the ecosystem.
  14. Hunting & Fishing
    For many homesteaders, this supplements their diet with fresh protein. Learn local regulations and sustainable practices.
  15. Community Networking & Bartering
    No homestead is an island. Build relationships with neighbors for skill swaps, trade, and mutual aid when the chips are down.

The Raw Reality of California Homesteading

You want a slice of this California dream? Here’s the kicker: the state’s got more red tape than a Christmas tree lot. Permits for wells, restrictions on rainwater catchment, zoning laws that try to squeeze you into a suburban box, and the constant threat of eviction or fines for “non-compliance.” It’s enough to make a seasoned homesteader spit nails.

You need to be savvy, legal, and stubborn as hell. You have to know how to work within the system while pushing back hard when the system tries to throttle your way of life. A homestead here isn’t a fairy tale; it’s a battlefront, and you’re the last line of defense.

3 DIY Homestead Hacks to Survive & Thrive in California

1. DIY Solar Water Heater from Old Tires and Black Paint

Forget expensive solar water heaters. Take some discarded car tires, slice them open flat, and paint them flat black. Arrange these on a south-facing wall or roof where they get full sun. Run a loop of black tubing through the tires and hook it up to your water tank. The tires absorb heat, warming your water cheaply and sustainably—perfect for chilly desert nights or foggy coastal mornings.

2. Swale Trenches for Water Harvesting

In drought-ridden California, every drop counts. Dig swale trenches along your contour lines—shallow ditches that catch and hold rainwater, allowing it to slowly seep into the soil instead of running off. This traps moisture and revitalizes the land around your crops. You don’t need fancy equipment, just a shovel, some patience, and knowledge of your land’s slope.

3. DIY Rocket Stove from Salvaged Bricks and Tin Cans

Cooking fuel is expensive and scarce in some areas. Build a rocket stove from reclaimed bricks and tin cans for an efficient, smokeless cooking option. It uses tiny amounts of wood and burns hot—great for canning or cooking without relying on electricity or propane.

What the Hell Are You Waiting For?

If you think you’re going to just “set up a homestead” in California like planting a few tomato plants and calling it a day, you’re dead wrong. This lifestyle demands everything you’ve got—blood, sweat, and yes, sometimes tears. But when you succeed, there’s nothing like eating food you grew yourself, knowing you’re off the grid and free.

So pick up those skills, learn the hacks, get your hands dirty, and fight for your slice of the homestead dream. Because out here, freedom isn’t handed to you. You take it.

Connecticut Homestead Lifestyle: A Gritty Guide for Those Who Won’t Be Bullied by the System

On By The.Daily.ChristianIn Connecticut, Connecticut Homestead Lifestyle, Connecticut Survival PreppersLeave a comment

I’m not here to sugarcoat this fancy Connecticut homestead lifestyle crap you’ve been daydreaming about while scrolling through Instagram on your smartphone. Living off the land here isn’t a picnic. It’s a battle. The weather’s a whiny mess — sometimes hotter than hell in July, then freezing your butt off by October. The soil can be rocky and stubborn, and you’re still breathing the same old New England air thick with traffic fumes when you’re not stomping around your yard. But you want to homestead, right? Fine. Then you better be ready to get your hands dirty, sweat, and maybe curse a little.

I’m gonna lay down 15 essential skills that every serious Connecticut homesteader should master — skills you won’t learn in any trendy YouTube video filled with sunshine and smiles. And I’ll toss in 3 practical DIY hacks that’ll save you a fortune and keep you from losing your mind.

15 Gritty Homestead Skills for Connecticut

  1. Soil Testing & Improvement
    If you don’t know what the hell is in your soil, you’re digging a grave for your garden. Connecticut soil can be acidic and low in nutrients. Learn to test your soil’s pH and amend it with lime or organic matter. No miracle crops will grow if your soil sucks.
  2. Composting Like a Beast
    Throwing away kitchen scraps? Are you nuts? Composting turns garbage into gold. Learn to manage your compost so it doesn’t stink or attract every critter within a five-mile radius.
  3. Season Extension Techniques
    Frost comes early here, so you better master cold frames, cloches, and row covers to keep your plants from biting the dust come October.
  4. Wood Splitting & Stacking
    Heating with wood is a rite of passage. Learn to split, dry, and stack firewood properly. If your wood’s wet or stacked wrong, you’re freezing your tail off come winter.
  5. Canning & Preserving
    Fresh tomatoes and berries last about five seconds in Connecticut. Master water bath and pressure canning to preserve your harvest for winter or when the grocery store’s prices make you weep.
  6. Basic Plumbing Repairs
    Leaks and frozen pipes are the homesteader’s nightmares. Learn to fix your own plumbing so you don’t call some overpriced plumber for every drip.
  7. Bee Keeping
    Honey isn’t just sweet; it’s a homestead goldmine and a lifesaver in winter. Connecticut’s native bees aren’t that easy to wrangle, but it’s worth the battle.
  8. Chickens & Poultry Raising
    Eggs straight from your yard? Nothing beats it. Learn about coop building, feeding, predator-proofing, and disease management.
  9. Basic Veterinary Skills for Small Livestock
    You’re your own vet out here. Know how to spot common illnesses in chickens, goats, or rabbits and handle basic treatment before it turns ugly.
  10. Herb Gardening & Medicinal Plants
    The land offers more than food. Learn to grow and harvest herbs like echinacea, calendula, and yarrow for teas, salves, and wound care.
  11. Root Cellaring
    Don’t just store your veggies willy-nilly. Master cold, dark, humid root cellars to keep potatoes, carrots, and apples edible for months.
  12. Basic Carpentry
    Whether it’s fixing a fence or building a chicken coop, carpentry skills will save you from spending a fortune on contractors.
  13. Trapping & Pest Control
    Those varmints will eat your crops, your chickens, and your sanity. Learn humane trapping and deterrents to protect your homestead.
  14. Water Management & Rainwater Harvesting
    Water is life. Master gutter systems, barrels, and filtration to keep a steady supply without relying on the grid.
  15. Seasonal Foraging
    Connecticut’s woods and fields are loaded with edible wild plants — fiddlehead ferns, ramps, wild berries — but you better know your plants or you’ll be in trouble.

3 DIY Homestead Hacks That’ll Make Your Life Easier and Keep Your Wallet Fat

Hack #1: DIY Cold Frame From Old Windows
Don’t buy expensive greenhouses or fancy setups. Scavenge old windows from construction dumpsters or Craigslist, stack them on a low wooden frame over your garden beds, and voilà — a cheap cold frame that traps heat and extends your growing season. Bonus: It’s easy to open for ventilation and sunlight.

Hack #2: Build a Chicken Tractor With Scrap Wood and Hardware Cloth
Predators are everywhere, and fixed coops can be a pain to clean or move. Build a lightweight chicken tractor — basically a movable coop without a floor — so your hens get fresh grass and bugs daily. Use scrap wood and chicken wire/hardware cloth to keep the raccoons and foxes at bay. Move it every day or two, and your garden soil thanks you.

Hack #3: Reuse Plastic Bottles to Create Mini Greenhouses
Cut the bottoms off large plastic bottles and use them as mini cloches over seedlings in your garden. It traps heat and moisture, helping seeds germinate faster in Connecticut’s fickle spring weather. When the plants outgrow them, recycle the bottles again or stash for next year.

Why I’m Furious About Connecticut Homesteading Culture

Now let me get real about why I’m pissed. Too many people romanticize this homestead lifestyle like it’s some quaint hobby or a weekend escape from city life. Connecticut’s homesteading isn’t an Instagram filter with fresh eggs and rustic sunsets. It’s backbreaking labor, sleepless nights watching for predators, hours of pruning under unforgiving sun or rain, and a never-ending war against nature’s bullshit.

You’re not just growing food — you’re building resilience. You’re fighting a system that wants you dependent on expensive food, toxic chemicals, and corporate farms. You’re proving you can do better with less. But to do that, you need skills. You need grit. You need to get off your ass and learn these 15 essential homestead skills or be prepared to fail.

You can’t just buy heirloom seeds and hope for the best. You can’t trust that your cute little coop will keep out every predator. You can’t rely on the grid or Amazon deliveries when the power goes out or the truck drivers go on strike.

The Hard Truth About Connecticut Weather

This place will humble you. Winters in Connecticut aren’t the worst, but they’re cold enough to kill your plants if you don’t plan ahead. Spring is unpredictable — one day 60 degrees and sunny, next day snow and frost. Summer will roast your garden or drown it in humidity and bugs. Fall’s short, and then winter’s here again, mocking your efforts.

Your homestead needs to be flexible. Your skills need to be sharp. Your resolve needs to be ironclad.

What It Really Means To Live the Connecticut Homestead Lifestyle

It means waking up before dawn to feed chickens and check your garden for pests. It means hauling firewood in freezing rain because your furnace needs a boost. It means learning to preserve every ounce of your harvest, because food waste is a sin when you’ve worked that hard.

It means scouring the woods for wild edibles, even if your back aches and the bugs swarm like crazy. It means fixing broken fences with whatever you have on hand, because if the coyotes get in, you lose everything.

It means learning to be self-reliant but not too proud to ask for help from your homestead neighbors when the well runs dry or a sickness hits your animals.

So yeah, if you want the Connecticut homestead lifestyle, put down your phone and get to work. Learn these 15 skills, try out the 3 hacks, and prepare to fight every day for your little patch of earth. Because the only thing sweeter than fresh eggs or ripe tomatoes from your own garden is the satisfaction of knowing you did it all yourself — no handouts, no gimmicks, just hard, honest work.

Now go sweat, curse, and get your hands dirty. Your homestead won’t wait for you to be ready.

Colorado Homestead Lifestyle: No Bull, Just Grit and Grind

On By The.Daily.ChristianIn Colorado, Colorado Homestead Lifestyle, Colorado SurvivalistsLeave a comment

I’ve been through the bitter winters, the scorching summers, and the endless droughts. I’ve wrestled coyotes, battled blizzards, and hauled water uphill like a mule. And I’m still standing. So listen good: If you want to survive — hell, thrive — on a Colorado homestead, you better learn these skills and be ready to put in the work. No whining, no excuses.

15 Must-Have Homestead Skills for Colorado

  1. Water Management and Conservation
    You don’t get rain every day on these high plains. Learn how to capture, store, and ration water. Rain barrels, cisterns, irrigation channels—master this or kiss your crops goodbye.
  2. Well Drilling and Pump Maintenance
    If you don’t have a reliable well, you’re just waiting for death by dehydration. Know your pump, your plumbing, and how to fix leaks before they turn into a catastrophe.
  3. Fence Building and Repair
    Coyotes, deer, and the occasional neighbor’s ATV will test your fences daily. Build ’em tough with strong posts and barbed wire. Fix ’em fast or you’ll be feeding the wildlife.
  4. Livestock Handling
    Whether it’s chickens, goats, cattle, or pigs, you’ve got to know how to herd, feed, and care for them. Sick or injured livestock means less food on the table.
  5. Gardening in Rocky, Arid Soil
    Colorado soil isn’t some lush earth— it’s rocky, alkaline, and dry. Amend your soil, know your native plants, and plant in raised beds or containers if necessary.
  6. Composting and Soil Building
    Build soil fertility with compost, manure, and mulch. If your dirt’s dead, your garden dies. This skill will keep your land productive through every season.
  7. Food Preservation (Canning, Drying, Freezing)
    You can’t always count on fresh produce. Learn to can, dry, or freeze your harvest. Don’t let a single tomato or ear of corn go to waste.
  8. Woodworking and Basic Carpentry
    When your barn door falls off or your coop collapses under snow, you better know how to fix it with what you have. Nailing boards together isn’t rocket science.
  9. Basic Electrical and Solar Setup
    Power outages aren’t a rare inconvenience—they’re a fact of life. Know how to run basic electrical lines and keep your solar panels humming.
  10. Animal Butchering and Processing
    If you raise animals, you better know how to butcher and process meat. No fancy abattoirs out here—just you, your knives, and a whole lot of grit.
  11. First Aid and Herbal Medicine
    Ambulances don’t race out to the middle of nowhere. Know first aid, wound care, and how to use local herbs for common ailments.
  12. Firearms and Pest Control
    Predators and pests will threaten your livestock and crops. Know how to defend your homestead legally and safely.
  13. Seasonal Planning and Crop Rotation
    Colorado’s short growing season demands planning. Know when to plant, what to rotate, and how to extend your harvest with cold frames or greenhouses.
  14. Trapping and Hunting
    Sometimes the freezer needs filling and the garden isn’t enough. Know how to trap small game and hunt legally to supplement your food stores.
  15. Heavy Equipment Operation and Maintenance
    If you want to move dirt, clear land, or fix machinery, learn how to operate a tractor or an ATV. When it breaks down, fix it yourself or you’re stranded.

3 DIY Homestead Hacks That’ll Save Your Skin on a Colorado Homestead

1. Solar Water Heater From Old Car Radiators
Don’t pay for fancy gear—use old car radiators painted black, hooked to your water storage. Set them in a south-facing window or roof rack to heat water with sunlight. Cheap, effective, and tough enough to handle our Colorado sun and wind.

2. Plastic Bottle Greenhouse Wall
When the cold hits hard, you need protection. Collect empty plastic bottles, cut the bottoms off, and stack them as insulated walls inside your greenhouse. It traps heat and saves your seedlings from freezing nights without costing a dime.

3. Tire Raised Beds for Rocky Soil
Forget digging into stubborn clay and rocks. Stack old tires to create raised garden beds filled with imported soil and compost. They retain heat, drain well, and keep critters out of your plants. Plus, it’s recycling done right.

Why This Life Isn’t for Everyone

Some city slickers come out here thinking it’s all fresh air and fun. Ha! Try hauling fifty pounds of feed uphill in a blizzard. Try waking up at 4 a.m. to milk a stubborn goat in sub-zero temps. Try fixing a leaky roof with frozen fingers and no hardware store for miles. This life demands you be tougher than the elements, smarter than your mistakes, and hungrier than your hunger pains.

You’ll have neighbors who vanish every winter and friends who back out when the going gets rough. But those of us who stay? We build something real. Something that lasts. We wrangle the land into submission, one fence post and one seedling at a time.

The Colorado Challenge

Colorado isn’t just one place—it’s mountains, plains, deserts, and everything in between. Homesteading here means adapting. Up in the mountains, you fight altitude, snow, and short growing seasons. Out on the plains, you battle wind, drought, and soil that doesn’t want to grow a damn thing.

And don’t get me started on the wildlife. Between bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and an endless parade of rabbits, squirrels, and rodents, you’ll either get smart or you’ll lose your garden, your chickens, or worse.

Get Ready to Work

If you want a “lifestyle” that means sipping coffee while your crops grow themselves, move to the suburbs. But if you want a life where every sunrise means grit, grind, and earning your keep—welcome to the Colorado homestead.

Learn the skills, build the muscle, and carry the scars with pride. Because this land doesn’t owe you a damn thing. It only rewards those who earn it.