If you’re looking at installing a solar power system, you might be tempted by the vast number of solar power kits on the market. A solar power kit might seem like a super easy solution to your power problems. Just buy a kit, install it and BOOM you’ve got power!…right?? Well, not really. Just like…
37+ Low and Zero-Waste Gift Ideas For Every Budget
If you’re anything like me, you might be trying to live a more low-waste or even a zero-waste lifestyle. It’s important to you to reduce your plastic waste and lower your impact on the planet. And because of that, the thought of buying more useless plastic junk for the people you love just because it’s…
BOROUX Water Filter Review – Our Complete No BS Review
We’ve lived off-grid since the end of 2017, and since shortly after we moved in, we’ve been filtering our cistern water with a Big Berkey filter. We’ve loved our Berkey! It has provided us with safe, clean drinking water without all the plastic waste of buying bottles. But when Berkey replacement filters started becoming hard…
What Happened to Berkey? Water Filter Options for 2025 and Beyond
For years, Berkey Filters has been a trusted water filtration option for myself and for millions of families. However, recent circumstances have changed things. Is Berkey still an option? And if not, what alternatives are there for ensuring safe, clean drinking water in your home? Read on to find out. My family has been living…
Pros and Cons of Building With Cordwood Masonry
I once had a fat stack of Mother Earth News sitting in an ancient wooden magazine rack in my suburban living room. I’d pore over the endless photos of permaculture gardens, canning, and beehives. But the topic that most caught my eye was building with cordwood masonry. Cordwood masonry is a style of natural building…
30+ Ways to Start a Vegetable Garden for Cheap or Free
If you’re anything like me, you probably want to grow a food garden because it’s enjoyable. You love digging in the earth. You love watching seeds come to life and turn into something delicious. But gardening isn’t typically a free venture. It’s so easy to go to the garden center and spend a small fortune…
12 Essentials for Planning Your Perfect Homestead Garden
Planning is something I am usually known for. I’ve been known to go into overdrive planning everything from building our house to taking epic international trips on a budget. But gardening? For some reason, I haven’t applied myself quite as vigorously to that task as people usually assume I would. After all, I live in…
How to Homestead in the City or Suburbs: 8 Easy Ways to Start
When people talk about “homesteading” you typically imagine a farmhouse on a big plot of land. You may picture a large, productive vegetable garden that can grow all the food a family needs for a year. A huge pantry full of home-canned goods. You might imagine a huge flock of backyard chickens and a coop,…
Should I Build a House Right Now? (2025 Edition)
The events of the last several years have been unprecedented. Between supply chain issues, skyrocketing lumber prices, and volatility in a hot housing market, it can be overwhelming. “Should I build a house right now? Is it even worth pursuing?” If you’ve had a dream to eventually buy a plot of land and build a…
Living Off Grid Into Retirement: An Interview With Two Intrepid Empty-Nesters
Many people wonder whether pursuing an off-grid lifestyle is a good idea. Especially given many recent events, living off-grid has become a popular retirement dream. For some, it’s a way to slow down on their own remote slice of heaven and live a simpler life. For others, off-grid means a level of self-sufficiency and disaster…