Cottage Food Laws Cottage food laws allow small-scale individuals to produce particular food items using their home kitchens without governmental oversight. Baking, cooking, canning, pickling, and producing other low-risk food items are a few options. Cottage food laws by design help give the small people a break. Affording small-time producers, the opportunity to try out […]

“Is anyone going to show up?” “Do we have enough insurance?” “Will we lose the farm?” At 9:01 p.m., the night before an opening, these and similar questions creep into my mind. These are the “What if’s” that can kill a beautiful dream. Of course at 9:01 a.m. the process repeats. –BUILD IT RIGHT, THEY […]

While making my home, I try to focus on green products and environmentally friendly actions that save energy and money, but also reduce waste. I have completed the research to help you decide what ideas to employ as you start on the journey to making your home, or being a homemaker. There are so many […]

When is it time to step up and become a legal tax collecting, tax paying, official business? This is a question I have been dealing with for about a year. I just recently began to take the steps of becoming a legal sole proprietorship. All the legal stuff can become very overwhelming! Therefore, I’m going […]

Guest post by Charlie Baulm Farming: Rich soil, bright sunshine, and … addiction recovery? Strange as it may sound at first, people are farming to help them recover from alcohol and drug abuse. When you learn “why,” their reasons make a lot of sense. Whether it be to build a sense of community as in […]

I truly commend all of those who are successful in the farmers market circuit. This is in no way a post discouraging people from participating in your community market. In fact, I love to visit our markets throughout the week.   But for us, participating in the weekly market became too much work and time. […]

My husband Zach and I recently made a tough decision. As you may have read in some of my other posts, we are opening a U-Pick Lavender farm. It was our hope that U-Pick would start this summer with a soft opening as the plants are still small. It takes 4 years for lavender to […]

Many of us trying to make a living homesteading started out making a living some other way. I obtained a Master’s of Social Work degree and worked for a family literacy agency after college. Our primary focus was to help parents who dropped out of high school to obtain their G.E.D. They could come to […]

Animal tractors are bottomless pens for housing livestock. They are designed to be moved easily. Whether you have an existing barn or coop for your animals or you are considering adding livestock to your homestead, animal tractors may be a good fit for you. Virtually all small livestock and poultry can be housed in an […]