by Texas Homesteader ~

RancherMan & I are tackling our summertime chores during these dog-days of summer.  One of those summertime chores is to mow pastures after the cattle eaten it down & have rotated to a fresh pasture. WHEW!  It’s hot out there, y’all!  We’re very careful about our sun exposure since much of our tasks are done outside (You can read my Sun Protection Post Here).

But y’all know my heart has an environmental bend. And fueling our tractors has always hurt my crunchy-green heart. You see, since the fuel openings on our tractors are at the top of the hood, filling them with fuel always involved spilling fuel.  Always.  I don’t blame RancherMan for this of course.  He had to first hoist a heavy 5-gallon fuel can to the top of our tractor’s hood.  Then he had to tip the can trying to get the spout into the opening before fuel began to pour.  He did all he could to make sure it all went into the tractor’s fuel tank but…

Then we stumbled upon a No-Spill Fuel Can!  That fuel can is probably hands-down my favorite environmentally-friendly item on our ranch.  I’ve heard others say they use it for their riding lawn mowers too.  So if you too hate to try to fill equipment with fuel without spilling, check out today’s Throwback Thursday post, y’all!

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by Texas Homesteader ~

Y’all remember I planted mint in the flower bed in front of my house?  I loved it, but I was SO afraid it would get out of control. So I asked my dear Facebook Followers for their advice and I was properly scared by their responses.  WHEW! I needed to do something to make it play nice in the landscape. So I decided to dig up the mint & amend the planting area in a way to keep it within its bounds.  Yes.  Mint.  In its bounds!  And to celebrate Throwback Thursday I’ll fall back into the archives & bring it to the surface for ya. If you (like me) are afraid of mint-gone wild, check it out.

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by Texas Homesteader ~

Spring is in full swing y’all and what a glorious time it is!  Everything’s green and lush.  Blooms of every shape, color and scent abound. Our beehives have been split and expanded.  We’ll be adding honey super boxes soon!  And it’s time for us to finally get our chickens for the year – Fresh eggs, anyone?  YES!  Oh, and the garden?  The garden is giving me much joy as I see all the nutritious potential for the season.  I’m spending lots of time in the garden these days but it’s all enjoyable with very little weeding since we put a wide walkway perimeter around my planting area.  That perimeter was covered with repurposed paper feed sacks and topped with thick wood chip mulch.  Grass hasn’t been able to infiltrate my garden area.  YEA!

“But wait a minute Tammy – isn’t that expensive??” you might exclaim?  Oh no, it was very inexpensive.  How inexpensive?  Howzabout FREE!  Did the wood-chip fairy visit?  Nope, but just as good.  And there was no mountain of plastic bags to dispose of like there would have been if we had purchased mulch.  But don’t fret, you might be able to get your wood mulch free too.  Today I’ll Fall-Back into the archives & bring this post to the surface for ya – check this out, y’all!

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by Texas Homesteader ~

I have to get my hands in the soil, y’all.  I don’t know what it is, just a part of me.  I don’t necessarily enjoy garden planning or bed preparations.  I don’t relish in the toils of actually planting.  I certainly don’t like hands-and-knees weeding.  And standing out there watering on a hot Texas summer day?  Ugh.  But gardening is something that I must do every year nonetheless.  It’s not an option.  It’s just embedded deep into my soul.

There’s something special about growing your own food.  You realize the toils that went into that tomato.  And you can delight at the special taste of it because it was picked at the peak of freshness & served with supper 10 minutes later, #amiright? I’ve been preparing the garden for weeks. And I’ve planted the indoor greenhouse with my heirloom seeds and now, now at last!  It’s time to plant!

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by Texas Homesteader ~

TGIF y’all, spring is finally on its way!  RancherMan & I love all the green popping up in the pastures & I’ve shared some gorgeous pictures of the wild plum trees blooming.  Plus our bees are emerging from winter stronger than ever.  Heck we’ve even completed our very first Walk-Away Hive Split!  I can’t wait for that first honey harvest in July.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, ya know?  To celebrate I’ll share a Throwback Thursday post with ya.  That’s where I fall back into the archives and bring back to the surface a post that’s proved very popular with our readers.  Today’s share is one of RancherMan’s faves – homemade  bread.  But not just any homemade bread.  I’ve amended my recipe to include oat flour from oatmeal I’d ground into flour.  OMGosh y’all.   So.  Good!  Check it out!

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by Texas Homesteader ~

The end of the year is getting closer & closer, y’all!  Continuing our series of the “Best-Of” titles, today I’m sharing with you the most popular posts of 2015.  These posts were the most clicked articles on our little ole blog by our awesome followers.

In 2015 our readers were really interested in a fluffy KitchenAid Sandwich Bread, making their own Cream-of-WHATEVER Soup, following our 30-day No-Spend Challenge for groceries and easy ways to Ditch the Plastic in your Refrigerator, as well as many other DIY, MIY self-sufficiency posts.  I’ve laid ’em all out for easy reading for ya – check it out!

(psssst:  Be sure to tune in next week for the final tally of our absolute top 10 Homesteading posts of 2016!)

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