by Texas Homesteader ~
So many people just seem to be too busy to keep a tidy house anymore. But can we all learn to clean like grandma did?
I’m nowhere the housekeeper grandma was, but here are a few things we do here on our Homestead that grandma would surely approve of…
by Texas Homesteader ~
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Emergency preparedness for any situation is a good thing in my book. I especially plan about how to keep our homestead going when we lose electricity.
Times such as hurricane season when I see on the news all the devastation suffered by those in the storm’s path, it brings preparedness once again to the front of my thoughts. You too?
by Texas Homesteader ~
When RancherMan & I bought this piece of NE Texas paradise we were enamored with the rich history of the property. Apparently over the decades it’s been home to several homesteads, I’m assuming one of the first was in the 1880’s when our barn was built! The most recent home was located at the front of our property but it burned down in the late 1950’s. We’ve discovered whispers of their past lives that they left behind – so amazing!
There were two deep cement cisterns located where we think were either side of the house. One had to be covered up when we moved here, but we preserved the deeper one to use as our Outdoor Irrigation for my veggie garden.
At the time we were living in the big city. Someone had a small cedar fence that they pulled down – it was almost brand new. That would be PERFECT to frame in our little cistern! So we brought it here and constructed a cute little wishing well with that discarded fencing & some leftover metal roofing. It looked cute & kept the cattle out of trouble when they were around the cistern.
by Texas Homesteader~
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Saving money on electricity is more than just turning off unused lights. Saving real money – cold, hard CASH – on your electric bill is easy. If you know where to look…
by Texas Homesteader ~
RancherMan & I both live and work right here on our Homestead. While this lifestyle is blissful & absolutely amazing for us, it also means there’s no regularly-scheduled corporate paycheck for either of us.
by Texas Homesteader
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This year I planted heirloom sugar pumpkins in my garden. And when it was time to harvest them I knew I’d first be able to enjoy them for a bit as decoration. I love the way those little pumpkins looked propped on our antique cast-iron Franklin stove.
But several days later I was in the kitchen enjoying the last of my favorite pumpkin granola. I knew that since I planted those delicious pumpkins for use in my granola it was time to cook those babies down into pumpkin puree.
by Texas Homesteader
We have two tractors, a 55 hp Mahindra for the big jobs and an older and smaller 32 hp Ford 1910 tractor for mowing, disking, etc. RancherMan usually hops on the newer big-boy tractor with the higher horsepower and front-end loader to do the rough stuff. And I happily allow him those tasks.
Recently our Mahindra dealt us an unpleasant blow by having a deteriorating gas tank, rendering it USELESS. So much for the reliability of a fancy-schmancy tractor that’s only 5 yrs –OLD!
So RancherMan went to work playing tractor mechanic for the Mahindra. But it was the ever-faithful Ole Blue Ford tractor that pulled the load on the Homestead.
by Texas Homesteader~
Recently I decided I wanted to plant a pear tree since back in ‘the day’ all homesteads in this area had pear trees. They were very easy to grow & could produce lots of fruit for the household. I decided not to plant it in my yard – both for my poor backyard soil issue as well as fallen fruit messes.
Instead I planted it a short distance from our yard. But this area is accessible to the cows. You know how cattle are – they love to rub on trees. This little sapling didn’t stand a chance if left unprotected.
I needed a way to keep the cows away from it long enough to give it a fighting chance. But I like to repurpose what we’ve already got to serve a need whenever possible.
So I put on my thinking cap & started looking around the homestead for supplies.
