From City to Country

Adjusting to Rural Living – What’s Toughest?

Thumbnail image for Adjusting to Rural Living – What’s Toughest?

The minute you decide to move to the country, you know your life is going to change.  With big dreams of organic gardens and fresh, GMO-free eggs, your children exploring ponds and fields while you relax on the porch with a cup of tea after a long day of gardening, you’re excited about what’s to [...]

Read the full article →

What Not to Do – Vegetable Gardening Tips from Real Gardeners

First, there was the year the slugs ate everything.  And I mean everything. Then there was the one where it was rainy and cold right through til the end of July (not terribly inspiring for anything but greens).  And who could forget 2012, when I didn’t even plant a garden because something else always got [...]

Read the full article →

How to Choose the Best Seeds for Homesteading

Thumbnail image for How to Choose the Best Seeds for Homesteading

Cold, damp, dark.  It’s a typical February on the rainy west coast.  Not complaining – at least we’re not buried in snow, and the temperatures are relatively balmy compared to a big chunk of the continent.  It may not be a good time for soaking in the sun, but it is a great time to [...]

Read the full article →

What is ‘Modern Homesteading’, Anyway?

Thumbnail image for What is ‘Modern Homesteading’, Anyway?

A few weeks ago a particularly ornery guy called me a ‘poser’ on my Facebook page.  And then he went on and on an on in post after post about how I wasn’t really ‘homesteading’ and I should call my page something else. Sure Mr. Grumpy Pants.  OK. Thankfully, a bunch of awesome people came [...]

Read the full article →

Tough (and Valuable) Lessons from the Homestead

Thumbnail image for Tough (and Valuable) Lessons from the Homestead

The world didn’t end on December 21, 2012.  At least for most of us. One of our little roosters wasn’t so lucky. He was a beautiful boy – half Buff Orpington and half ISA Brown (which I guess means half Buff and ¼ Rhode Island Red/¼ Rhode Island White).  Lovely red feathers and a shiny [...]

Read the full article →

Gift Ideas for Modern Homesteaders, Self-Sufficiency Fans, Off-Grid Dwellers, and Preppers

Thumbnail image for Gift Ideas for Modern Homesteaders, Self-Sufficiency Fans, Off-Grid Dwellers, and Preppers

Looking for some practical, sure to be loved gift ideas for the modern homesteaders (or modern homesteader hopefuls), rural living fans, self-sufficiency fans, off-grid dwellers and preppers on your holiday list?  Or just looking for practical gifts for your friends and family that will help them get a little closer to a self-reliant lifestyle?  Here [...]

Read the full article →

Rural Winter Vehicle Emergency Kit Checklist

Thumbnail image for Rural Winter Vehicle Emergency Kit Checklist

You’re driving down a long country road on the way to your weekend retreat, or maybe you’re on your way back to your rural home from the winter market. It’s freezing out.  It’s snowing hard.  And you’re miles from your destination. Suddenly, an animal darts across the road right in front of you.  You instinctively [...]

Read the full article →

The Fear Factor: Modern Homesteading Style

Thumbnail image for The Fear Factor: Modern Homesteading Style

The fear started before we even moved in. Staying in our old cabin alone had been on my bucket list for years. Along with sleeping in a tent alone (which, I have to admit, I still haven’t done). The cabin we now live in had been in our family for about a decade before we [...]

Read the full article →

How to Avoid Theft from Your Rural Property – A Checklist

Thumbnail image for How to Avoid Theft from Your Rural Property – A Checklist

Our new neighbours, not yet even moved in, recently had most (if not all) of their winter fire wood supply stolen at some point in the night.  Our properties are far enough apart, and uphill from us with a creek and hill between, that we didn’t hear a thing. It was going to be their [...]

Read the full article →

Raising a Child in the Country – 5 Reasons Why it Might be Right for Your Family

Thumbnail image for Raising a Child in the Country – 5 Reasons Why it Might be Right for Your Family

“Come see what I built!” It was an invitation from my then almost-9-year-old son to visit the space he had built for himself to ‘get away from it all’.   He led me carefully through one of the many patches of undergrowth near our little cabin, thick with salmon berries just starting to bud with bright [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries