by Texas Homesteader ~
A frozen watermelon daiquiri is cold, sweet refreshment on a hot summer’s day. You can leave out the rum for a watermelon smoothie that the whole family can enjoy!
by Texas Homesteader ~
Usually by August the vegetable garden is burned up & gone. I’m typically all too happy to let it go instead of fighting and still losing the fight. But although it’s been hot & dry here in NE Texas, between me breaking my “no potable water on the ground” rule because of the cistern mishap this year (our hose split & emptied all the irrigation rainwater from our 18′ deep cistern), plus the fact that there have been just enough sporadic short showers to keep everything limping by, I’m still harvesting heavily every day.
by Texas Homesteader ~
Summer is hot & humid in our part of NE Texas & I’m doing all I can to keep my plants watered. A cistern mishap involving a split hose drained all the rainwater from my 18′ deep cistern. WOW! So I’m trying to conserve water as much as possible.
I came across a large-mouth bottle with a built-in grip on the handle and a metal-center lid. Then the thought occurred to me – maybe I can use this to keep my container garden of spinach watered.
You remember my battle cry, “Use WhatCha Got!”. Check out this homestead hack.
by Texas Homesteader ~
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WHEW – the temps have really heated UP here in NE Texas! As it typically does during our summer months, the forecast has lots of 3-digit temps promised and no rain for weeks on end. I’m doing what I can to keep everything watered, I’m using a *terra cotta stake using a repurposed water bottle to keep the porch planters watered, my rain barrel is so far keeping the back yard trees watered, but a mishap involving my cistern hose splitting and draining the entire rainwater content of our 18-ft underground cistern means I may have to amend my strict ‘no potable water on the ground’ rule. So far other than the whole rainwater thing, the garden’s growing GREAT – come check it out!
by Texas Homesteader ~
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I tested a plant watering system that uses a porous terracotta stake & a repurposed water bottle or empty glass wine bottle to hold the water.
Well color me intrigued! But how did it work? 
by Texas Homesteader ~
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There are a few sensitive areas on our Homestead where I refuse to spray toxic chemicals. Such places as the fence line around our vegetable garden, the chicken yard fence and around our beehives in the apiary.
But I still need a grass killer spray for those areas. Will I buckle and use grass killer spray?
Well, maybe I’ll just spray grass killer around the perimeter of the garden when needed. Whaaaa….???!!! Grass killer sprayed around our food??!! Are you CRAZY?? Read on, dear friends…
by Texas Homesteader ~
I needed a heat-free way to peel fresh garden tomatoes. I already knew that the standard way to peel a fresh garden tomato is to dip it in boiling for a few seconds until the skin splits, then plunge into an ice bath before peeling.
But a typical summer here in NE Texas involves much heat & humidity and I don’t want to add any of that to our home. What’s a southern gardener to do?
by Texas Homesteader
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This time of year many gardeners that are absolutely sick of zucchini. They’ve already eaten as much steamed zucchini side dishes and made it into every casserole they can think of. They’ve passed much of their zucchini overload on to friends, family and even complete strangers (why can I never run into these gardeners??! LOL)
I’ve heard about using zucchini for low-carb noodles and I was intrigued. Although RancherMan & I don’t specifically strive to eat low-carb, I do try alternatives when I can find a tasty one and we both love zucchini anyway so… Check it out!
