The holiday season is here, a busy time in most homes and ours is no different. With the season comes the fun task of finding the perfect gift to give our little ones, to spark wonder and excitement in their eyes. Every year we try to have at least one handmade gift under the tree for our children, and most years it’s these open-ended materials … [Read more...]
Making Hay Without a Tractor
This is the first summer on our little homestead that we have been in need of hay for ourselves. In years previous we have only ever had poultry and rabbits, no real need for large amounts of hay. That changed this spring when we brought home our two weed eaters. The goats have been an amazing addition to our homestead, and we are looking … [Read more...]
Watercolours from the Garden
The boys love to paint, inside, outside.....anywhere. It's one of their favorite things to do during quiet times. While we were in the garden picking beets and getting stains all over our hands, I thought how fun it would be if we could make our own paint. Finding non-toxic edible paint for infants and toddlers can be expensive, and I want to … [Read more...]
How To Save Time In The Garden
On the homestead we are always looking for ways to streamline our daily chores. Time is a precious thing, and there never seems to be enough of it to get all that we want done in a day. During the scorching days of July and August one of our daily time consuming chores is watering the gardens. Unless we get a decent downpour of … [Read more...]
DIY Tree Blocks
These DIY blocks are a great addition to any playroom or classroom. After admiring the look and feel of natural tree blocks for years, but not wanting to pay the often high price for something I felt I could make myself, I finally decided to make a set for the boys last Christmas. This project took me an afternoon, easy and quick while providing … [Read more...]
Simple Hard Lotion Bars
As Christmas is fast approaching we are busy preparing gifts for our loved ones. This year we are making quite a few gifts to share with our children and family. One quick and easy gift we like to share around the holidays are hard lotion bars. These hard lotion bars can be made quickly in the kitchen with materials you probably already have on … [Read more...]
Saving Money on Chicken Feed
Along with sprouting grain for our chickens and ducks, Leighton quickly assembled this simple setup to grow our own feed in the chicken and duck pen. We are always looking for ways to reduce our feed bill, especially when organic feed is so pricey. With this simple feeding setup we are creating a 'salad' bar for our flock that they love. I had … [Read more...]
Hunting for Old Fence
This morning Lori and I went out to our parents place to look for some old fence, specifically barbed wire fencing. There are a lot of old fence lines on the property and the majority have barbed wire somewhere in them. I've had some requests for more dragonfly's and needed some more barbed wire to finish them. Want to make your own barbed … [Read more...]
Best DIY Poultry Watering System
This month Leighton has been working on the watering system in our chicken and duck run. We are trying to make our system more self-sufficient and wanted to include rain water as the main source of water for this setup. I am impressed with how it has turned out and how quickly the birds found it and started using it, it is the best … [Read more...]
DIY Barbed Wire Dragonfly
With all the rain we've been getting, I have been looking for projects to keep me busy and these rustic dragonfly's were both quick and easy to make. Total time to make these was an hour for the large dragonfly and 1/2 hour for the smaller one, perfect for an afternoon project while A sleeps. If you have access to fields that use … [Read more...]