Homestead Magik

This blog is long overdue as I’ve had many friends ask me how I make my own soap. I make my own soap for personal use, but I also love to give them as gifts to friends and family. You can always find a recipe for soap online, there are thousands. I have more than one recipe that I use but today I’m going to share with you my favorite one. Goats milk herbal soap. Now, when making my soaps from scratch I use lye, which I really don’t like handling and I’m told many others don’t as well. But  if you want to get technical, the FDA specifically says if it doesn’t contain lye it’s not actually soap because in order for the saponification process to happen, well, you need sodium hydroxide (lye). We’ll skip the semantics though for brevity sake. Lye is a harsh chemical that can cause severe burns to your body if you aren’t careful and I caution first time soap makers to do research before using it. Luckily, this is an easy recipe that does not require you to handle lye in its chemical stat...

I had a small compost in my backyard when I lived in the city. I had no idea what to do with it. I had a small garden and I was still figuring things out. That was almost 5 years ago. Fast forward to now, I have a huge compost pile and I build my own soil and you can too! Most of what I know about gardening I either learned from my father or through trial and error. This technique I use now I came up with myself but I’ve convinced my father to use it as well.                About compost: Soil is the backbone of your garden. You should be doing everything you can to improve it. A compost pile is really just a replication of a natural process that occurs almost everywhere. The ideal garden soil has a granular or a crumb-like structure. Sandy soils will have poor structure, while heavy clay will compact when wet and inhibit good plant growth. Compost can correct a soil that is either too sandy or too clayey by adding organic matter that enco...

I made this recipe the other day, I had set out to collect mulberries for jam but I decided to wait for the other berries to ripen to make some mixed berry jams and made this instead. I’m not a big fan of sugar or sweets, but pies and cobblers are my weakness and this one is delicious! Ingredients: 2 cups of mulberries 1/2 cup of milk 1 cup of sugar 1 1/3 cups of self rising flour 1/2 cup of butter 1 tablespoon of butter Place berries in a microwave safe bowl and add about a tablespoon of butter. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of sugar. Heat in microwave for 1 or 2 minutes, until butter is melted and berries are warm. In a medium casserole dish, melt 1/2 cup of butter. In a separate bowl, place 1/4 cup of sugar and your flour. Stir to combine. Add in milk. Stir. Pour batter mixture over melted butter. DO NOT STIR. (Butter will “float” on top of batter mixture) Add in berries. DO NOT STIR. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350• for 50-55 minutes. ...

This should have have been my first post on this blog. I’m constantly tweeting that you should be responsible and use common sense when reading things on the internet, but especially so when it comes to using plants. I figure I post that enough that I didn’t really need to post about it here but that is irresponsible of me. When I urge you to research the safety of any plant before using it that also means plants that I post about. When I am talking about plants on these blogs I usually say whether it’s toxic or not in the post and I research everything I post even if I’m 100% sure it’s safe. However, don’t take my word for it. Always, always, always do your own research. I am not a doctor. Obviously. There are some medical claims about medicinal plants that have not been thoroughly researched by professionals. If you have an ailment that needs medical attention please see an actual doctor. These plants are here to help minor injuries but they do not and should not replace prope...

I’ve been asked many times how I can take vacations and still properly run a homestead. Especially from those in the beginning process of starting their own homestead. I get it, it seems impossible to leave the house for more than a day when you have plants and animals depending on you. If you are anything like me, you trust people with your animals about as much as you do with your kids, which leaves only a handful of people. First things first, find a reliable house sitter/caretaker. This person obviously has to be someone trustworthy that you know will carefully follow your instructions. The point of a vacation is to relax and have fun, you can’t really do that if you’re constantly worried about what’s going on back home. This may be a difficult step for some, especially if you live far out in the country with no neighbors. If that’s the case I suggest getting acquainted with other homesteaders or farmers in your area. Which would be even more helpful to you because they almost c...

This beautiful plant above is comfrey. I was going to plant this in my herb garden because it has so many wonderful uses, but it just didn’t make the cut this year. Imagine my surprise when I found so much of it while foraging in my very own woods! I’ve also found wild grapes, mullein, nettles, sassafras, dock, and that’s not even a fraction of the medicinal/edible plants I’ve found. Luckily, I know what comfrey looks, smells, and feels like or I would have passed right over it. The most important thing while foraging is that you be able to positively identify the plants you are planning to use. If you can’t identify you can’t forage. I mean you could, but it might not end well. I started studying plants years ago when I first started gardening. Not necessarily to use them for food or medicine, but to know what I should or shouldn’t be letting take up space in my garden. So it mostly started with identifying common weeds in the garden. I read books and watched videos about c...

I first heard about kefir a few years ago from a friend who was boasting about the benefits of it. I waved it off as another quickly passing fad food and didn’t give it a second thought. Fast forward to last year when I started canning my own food and learning about fermentation. During my obsessive reading about food cultures and fermentation I came across an article about kefir. I remembered my friends verbal 5 star reviews and said “what the hell, let’s do it”... and thus began my kefir journey. Let’s first discuss the benefits. The beneficial yeast and friendly bacteria in the kefir culture consume most of the lactose (or milk sugar) so even if you are lactose intolerant kefir will be easy to digest. One cup of kefir contains 11 to 14 grams of complete protein. The bacteria in kefir known as probiotics improves digestion and may prevent the overgrowth of harmful bacteria in the gut. Kefir’s ample supply of phosphorus, the second most abundant mineral in our bodies, helps ...

The trick to successful homesteading is really utilizing the resources you have. Having dairy goats means milk for cheese, soap, and even butter! I will most likely share recipes for my goat cheese and soaps later, but this blog is all about the butter, baby! Since I started homesteading I’ve been cooking and baking a lot more than usual and making a lot of recipes from scratch which means I’ve been using a lot more butter too. There is nothing wrong with store bought butter, but just like most things, making your own is better! I also use this same recipe for raw cow milk. It’s illegal in many states but I live on the border of Pennsylvania where it is legal (my nearest neighbor is also a dairy farmer so it’s not hard to come by). The difference between the two is goat milk is naturally homogenized while cows milk isn’t so if you’re using raw cows milk you only have to let it sit for 12-24 hours before the cream separates. Other than that the recipe is the same. You will need: ...

Whenever I go to a Greek or Mediterranean restaurant I order dolmas, if available. I’ve been eating them for years! Here on the property we have both domestic and wild grapes growing! That means plenty of grape leaves for dolmas! I’ve already foraged a jar full of the leaves and picked a few herbs from the garden. If you have wild grapes growing near you I highly suggest making dolmas, they are delicious! So below is the recipe I’m using today, but you can tweak it and add or subtract any ingredients you’d like. Ingredients: About 16 oz of grape leaves (rinsed and stems removed) 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil 2 cups of diced white onion 1 1/2 cups of spring onions of scallions. Thinly sliced. 1 1/3 cup of finely chopped dill 1 2/3 cups finely chopped flat leaf parsley 1 cup finely chopped mint 1 3/4 cups of short grain rice, soaked in cold water and drained. Salt and ground pepper 2 tsp of lemon juice (plus a few wedges to serve) Plain Greek yogurt, to s...

When we bought this place and decided to become as self sustaining as possible, one of the first things I did was research how to make my own cleaning and household products. Having a septic tank, it’s really advised against to use bleach in the wash machine (or any place it could get into the septic). So I wanted to make my own detergent that is strong, but also safe for the septic. I did research and tried a few different concoctions and tweaked them a bit until I was satisfied.    Here is what you’ll need: * Borax * Arm and Hammer washing soda (NOT baking soda) * 5.5 oz. of Fels Naptha or Castile soap * Water * 5 gallon bucket * Essential oil (optional) First, grate (all) of the Fels Naptha or Castile soap with a cheese grater. Then add the shreds to a pot with 4 cups of hot water. Put the heat on medium-high. Stir until completely melted (about 10 minutes). Next, fill up your 5 gallon bucket about halfway with hot water. Then ad...

Hello! Welcome to my homestead blog! I’ve been wanting to do a homestead blog for some time now, but haven’t had the extra time to do a proper site. In the meantime, I threw together this quick little blog page to share homestead and garden information with you! I usually post on twitter about homesteading but sometimes the character limit is a pain and lets be honest, twitter isn’t the most organized way to share this kind of information. Basically this blog will cover all aspects of homesteading. Gardening, livestock, foraging, recipes, and from time to time information about homeschooling and herbal medicine. Most links will be shared to twitter so don’t hesitate to contact me there if you have a requested blog or would like to discuss any blog posts further. Enjoy!