A pilgrimage to resource efficiency 

The Homestead Kitchen

The Blogging Pilgrim

    Old world self-sufficiency in a new world … 

So much of our lives literally revolves around the kitchen. We eat all our meals together there, sharing the day’s challenges and successes. It served as the school room and the family room for playing games. Plans for the day and the future are discussed and solidified over food and drink. The bills get paid, records are kept and taxes figured there. Seeds are spread on the table while planning the garden and jars are sorted and filled there at harvest time. Quilts and clothes get cut and sewn on that table. Neighbors and friends are always welcome to share a cup of coffee and baked goods of the day. Wonderful memories reside in the kitchen while delightful new, little people come to add their chapters.

Tips for Keeping Your Garden Tomatoes Healthy Throughout the Growing Season

Tomatoes are a beloved staple of many home gardens, prized for their delicious flavor and versatility in the kitchen. However, successfully growing healthy tomatoes requires a bit of knowledge and care. From preventing common diseases to ensuring optimal growth conditions, let’s discuss some essential tips to keep our garden tomatoes thriving throughout the growing season.

Read More »

What to do with all this pumpkin.

The small pumpkin varieties do very well for us both in their maturity rate and in the quantity of fruit produced.  One of these cute little guys provides 4 -5 cups of pumpkin puree. Puree is great for a variety of recipes.

Read More »

It can get worse, so beware of the following scenario.

Your toaster. Mice love toasters. A handy appliance otherwise, when it comes to mice their singular drawback becomes evident due to the necessity of their design. There it innocuously sits, a couple or more slots in the top with a cavernous interior where the right-sized rodent species can freely enter and exit at will, and once in these cute little vermin feel not only safe, but since the bottom of the device is full of bread crumbs, they can feed to their hearts content in presumed safety. That is, until

Read More »

Emergency Canning Jars

You’ve just filled a dozen jars with your beautiful apricot preserves. You have still have a quart of the glowing gooey golden goodness but no jars to put it in. What do you do?

Read More »

The Homestead Kitchen

The right kitchen appliances are essential to your food preparation and preservation. To be truly prepared for the coming harvest and storing the food you have worked so hard to grow requires the proper canners. The most important piece of equipment for home food preservation is the Pressure Canner! To make the process of preparing the food efficient and more enjoyable, time saving tools are a blessing. Whether it’s manual or electric, the right tool for the job saves a tremendous amount of time and makes big jobs manageable. Quality

Read More »

Homestead ‘Self Reliant Living’

Homesteading is a term used for the ‘back to the land movement’, ‘self reliant living’, ‘self-sufficiency’, ‘back to basics’, or the ‘simple life’.This type of ‘Country Living’ includes rural residents, hobby farmers, suburban gardeners, as well as folks living in cities who are doing what they can to decrease their dependence on the system by gardening, home canning, using renewable energy or having long term food storage. Community gardens are growing in popularity in every major city in the U.S. More alternative energy systems are found in the suburbs than

Read More »

The right canning equipment for the home.

Home Canning Supplies and Equipment: Everything you need for every crop – at great prices. The equipment required for home canning is an important investment for the production gardener. The investment made today is paid off by multitudes over the years. Being equipped to handle all types of crops is essential to filling the pantry. Canners and pressure canners are absolutely required. But for speed and large quantities, your other home canning equipment can make all the difference in the world.Specialty tools make preparing fruits and vegetables much quicker and

Read More »

Old-style appliances for the modern kitchen.

Hand operated kitchen appliances are made for today with yesterday’s design. In the 1700’s, all household chores were done without electric appliances or tools. As a homesteader, it’s not that you don’t use electricity it’s that you don’t have to.  Our non electric appliances make food preparation for cooking or canning quick and efficient with minimal clean-up. If you have a generator as a backup for the grid, a fireplace as backup heat, a shovel as a backup for the snowblower, you need to give serious consideration to “backups” for

Read More »