Welcome to The Homesteading RD's Blog!

Here you'll find my most most recent blog posts. Explore everything from companion planting and vertical gardening to raising meat birds and water glassing eggs. Don't miss my farm-to-table recipes!
Holding a fairy egg between 3 fingers in front of a wooden table
Raise Chickens

What is a Fairy Egg? Is Your Hen Healthy?

Finding a miniature egg in your hens’ nesting box can be quite surprising, but don’t panic! These are called fairy eggs, and they can happen for many different reasons. Most of the time, they are nothing to worry about and are just a fun surprise, but sometimes it can be a cause for concern (which

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A bottle of DIY essential tick repellent spray sitting on a half rotted log in the woods
DIY

Essential Oil Tick Repellent Recipe (Dog-Safe!)

Not only are ticks in that creepy-crawly category that gives most of us the heebie-jeebies, but they can be downright dangerous. Between Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Alpha-Gal (just to name a few), it’s a smart move to deter ticks from hitching a ride on you (or your dog) as much as possible.

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Grow Your Own Food

5 Best (and 3 Worst) Companion Plants for Tomatoes

Adding some companion plants for tomatoes is an excellent way to maximize the productivity and health of your tomato plants. Not only that, but picking the right plants could help deter pests and reduce the risk of disease, such as blight.  Alternatively, there are certain plants that aren’t friends with tomatoes and should be left in a

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Eight hens are staggered on a roosting bar outside in the snow
Raise Chickens

The 6 BEST Chickens for Cold Climates

If you live in a cold climate, choosing the right chicken breeds is important to ensure that your flock will not only survive but thrive through those long and brutal winters. Some breeds will happily trod through the snow and continue laying while others easily succumb to frostbite, stop laying entirely, and can even perish

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A mature zucchini plant with a marigold companion plant next to it
Grow Your Own Food

The Best (and Worst) Zucchini Companion Plants

Utilizing zucchini companion plants is an excellent way to maximize the productivity and health of your zucchini plant. Not only that, but picking the right plants could help deter pests like the awful squash vine borer! There’s nothing more frustrating than dealing with that pest. Argh! Alternatively, there are certain plants that aren’t friends with

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A pint mason jar filled with canned maple syrup is held in front of an outdoor evaporator
Preserve Your Harvest

Canning Maple Syrup for Long-Term Storage

One of the many things that I love about the homesteading world is that there’s more than one way to do just about anything – including canning maple syrup. You just have to play around with a few methods until you find what works best for YOU. I’m going to teach you MY way of

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