无论你是担心安全问题,还是想从邻居那里得到一点隐私,或者只是想用一种有趣而有创意的方式让你的门廊看起来更漂亮,一个漂亮的甲板栏杆对任何房子来说都是一个很好的补充。While you could hire a contractor to have one built for you, many homeowners and […]
28 DIY Chicken Feeders
Once you’ve designed your chicken coop and decided on chicken breeds, choosing a style of feeder for your birds seems trivial, but it’s not! It can make your daily routine more efficient, keep your birds on a healthy diet, and reduce the chances of disease. Alternatively, choosing the wrong feeder can lead to overeating, wasted […]
6 Reasons Why I Chose Clover as a Living Mulch
我在我的文章中提到过,我选择在栽培床的边缘添加新西兰白三叶2022世界杯四强亚盘赔率草,作为一个活的覆盖物。First off, I should explain what a living mulch is, and how it differs from a cover crop: “In agriculture, a living mulch is a […]
17 Awesome DIY Platform Bed Plans
Bed frames are expensive. It’s one of the unavoidable truths of becoming an adult and moving into your own home. But what if we told you there’s a way to circumnavigate costly bed frames by taking the DIY approach to building your own platform bed? While bed frames come with high price tags, there’s nothing […]
65+ Gardening Gifts
‘Tis the season of gift-giving. Since colder weather has many of us stuck inside instead of in the dirt, we figured this holiday season is the perfect time to find the best in gardening gifts including gear, decor, reading – and of course, don’t forget some of those extra homesteading specialties. We’ve compiled over 70 of […]
25 Functional and Elegant DIY Desk Ideas
Building a DIY desk not only allows you to custom make furniture that suits your unique needs, it is also an enjoyable and gratifying experience in and of itself. Not to mention, building your own desk from scratch can be more affordable than buying a new one. If you’re looking for ideas for your next […]
Greenhouse Plans
A greenhouse is one of the most well-known garden structures. Providing shielding from extreme sun, wind, and rain — greenhouses can significantly extend your growing season. These sunny buildings come in a variety of shapes and sizes too. Heated glass greenhouses can fight against snow and cold in severe climates. Plastic sheeting can help create […]
How To Support Local Farmers & Local Businesses During Social Distancing
Insteading is based here in Seattle, one of the earliest outbreak areas for COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and social distancing efforts. As the city has quickly retreated into our homes over the past few weeks, many local businesses have been hit hard, closing their doors temporarily or even permanently in some cases. These changes are happening across […]
Insteading Giveaway – December 2019
Regardless of whether you had a large harvest of food from the garden this year, or simply found a lot of cucumbers on sale at the grocery store, preserving food is an excellent way to provide yourself with a little more self-sufficiency in the winter months. While canning and dehydrating are common methods of food […]
This Shed’s Sliding Walls Unveil A Beautiful Garden Studio
You want a place to kick back and relax in your backyard, your teenager wants a space to hang out with their friends, and your kids want a place to explore their imagination. What if all those things could be accomplished with just one structure in your backyard? When his mother requested a space she […]
Wofati
There’s a charm to underground homes and so-called ‘hobbit homes’, but many former owners of such buildings have moved out due to problems with moisture and related conditions. But, earth might be the best insulator available, and it’s definitely the cheapest. Permaculturalist Paul Wheaton, owner of the forums at permies.com as well as richsoil.com, set […]
Announcing The New Insteading.com
Hey there, I have some big news to share! We just relaunched NiftyHomestead.com this week as Insteading.com. But, this is more than just a rename. Alongside the new name, Insteading is growing! All of the content you loved from Nifty Homestead will be merging with 5 more great sustainability publications over the rest of December, […]
Chicken Tractor Plans
When it comes to housing your flock of chickens, there are many options, but one of the most flexible is the chicken tractor. A chicken tractor is a portable coop that has many of the benefits of a stationary coop as well as a number of added benefits. Building the best structure for you and […]
Chicken Coop Plans
A well-built chicken coop is a worthwhile investment. Options range from simple and affordable to elaborate. With so many options available, and a world of creative possibilities to build yourself, it can seem daunting to decide what you want in a coop. Types Of Chicken Coops Here are a few chicken coop design options: Upcycled […]
Garden Planners
A vegetable garden can give you organic, fresh produce year-round. But, as vegetables vary greatly in size, spacing, harvest time and growing conditions, planning tools are an essential part of any garden strategy. Jump to a section: Paper Garden Planners | Garden Planning Software | Garden Planning Mobile Apps | Regional Garden Planning Resources Paper […]
Landscape Design Software
Landscape and garden design can be one of the most enjoyable aspects or property ownership, but it’s more complicated than you might think. Long-term landscaping requires knowledge of your microclimate, overall climate-friendly plants, sun, shade, wind, and even where you plan to walk around the property. You will want to be certain about where you […]
Planter Box Plans
Create a true gardenscape by moving your plants beyond the pot. Create your own planter boxes with these free online designs. I searched the internet to try and find a planter box to match just about any urban homestead and found some really great projects. Planter Box Plans for All Kinds of Homesteads Carpentry projects […]
DIY Soap Recipes
As an urban homesteading enthusiast, I definitely have the DIY bug. Gardening, landscaping, and chickens are all great for outdoor ideas, but in rainy Seattle it’s nice to find an indoor project too. I love all of the crazy scents available at our local farmers market (thai basil & lemongrass?!), that I chose this as […]
9 Expert Builders Share Their Measuring Tape Tricks
A dog is man’s best friend, a tape measure is a builder’s. So, many have taught their tape measures to do tricks. How To Tape Measure A Long Distance When You’re Working Alone “The Break Test” How To Extend Your Tape Measure When Your Hands Are Full Tape Measure As Calculator: How To Measure Double […]
Galvanized Water Trough Planters
We’ve been looking for a good option for raised planters that were taller than some of our raised garden beds made with wood. After plenty of scrounging around on the internet, we ended up deciding to use galvanized water troughs, also known as round end tanks, to fill these spaces in our yard. Check out […]
Bike Rack Art Installations
With an increase in urban cyclists, and limited public space, city officials and Universities are taking creative measures to provide bike facilities while beautifying open areas. One way this is being accomplished is by creating functional bike rack art that serves as bike parking as well as unique art installations. Many departments and Universities are taking […]
Beautiful Handmade Wooden Spoons
I’ve been crawling etsy for the past few days looking for a gift and have been amazed by the number of hard-carved wooden spoons that are on the site. Here’s photos of some of the most elaborate wood spoon carvings I’ve come across – click on the photo to see the original listing. These include woods like […]
81 Awesome Documentaries for Homesteaders
From honey bees to tiny houses to TEDTalks on Capitalism and Humanity’s Future, we’ve assembled a complete list of documentaries and shows on Netflix & Hulu that would interest our fellow homesteaders. Leave a comment below and let us know which ones are your favorite, and which programs we missed! Topics Food & Agriculture Documentaries […]
How to Make Your Own Concrete Tamper
Our Earthbag Building Workshop is about to kick off tomorrow, and I spent the day doing some last minute preparations with our instructor, Scott Howard of Earthen Hand Natural Building. A big portion of the earthbag construction process is tamping the dirt into bags to make sure they’re packed tightly, and then tamping them again […]
Concerns With Urban Animal Slaughter
Photo Credit by VeryGeeky. This article is a response to a Slate.com piece published by James McWilliams on June 6th, 2012. The article, titled “The Butcher Next Door: Why the rise of DIY urban animal slaughter is bad for people and animals,” tries to make the point that animal slaughter by untrained people in an […]
Seattle Solar Installation Q&A
Seattle Solar Electricity Q&A I sat down last week with Amy Beaudoin of West Seattle Natural Energy, a solar & wind energy installer based here in West Seattle. We talked about a bunch of questions that I had as well as questions submitted by readers on topics like: Things you can do to improve your […]
Best Fruit Trees for Seattle
At my permaculture design course last weekend the guest speaker was Douglas Bullock, of the well-known Bullock Brothers Permaculture Homestead on Orcas Island. Douglas was lecturing on the overall topic of soil, and specifically spoke about nitrogen-fixing plants, sheet mulching, microclimates, and last but not least, orchard design and his personal fruit tree recommendations for […]
How to Build a Raised Bed with Grass Sod Walls
Pictured Above: Here are our finished raised beds before planting. All together there are 7 beds, all roughly 5′ x 9′, totalling about 450 sq feet. It’s May, and I need to overhaul a large section of the yard to make way for this year’s vegetables. I have big plans in store for replacing the […]