Busy day round-up

The garden in winter.

We all want to avoid Round Up weed killer, but there are other types of round-ups that are much more interesting! I've been horrendously busy this week with work and household stuff, so I am going to share a round-up of interesting "homesteading" style articles that I found this week on the web. I hope you find them as useful and interesting as I did!

The reality of farm life - The tale of the death of a baby chick.
Breathing life into your soil - Why cover crops in spring and fall are so important.
How to grind meat - Grinding your own meat lets you know exactly what you're eating.
The Victory Garden - Planting a Victory Garden can help you out as much as it did your grandmother!
Rabbits for Homesteading - Rabbits make a great small homestead meat choice.

Rabbits are actually something we're thinking of adding this summer to our little freehold. It depends on a few things, and the laying hens must come first, but having fresh rabbit meat available would be so nice. I do love making rabbit stew, and I make a mean stuffed rabbit, too!

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site! 
 
You may also be interested in:

Seedling trays
Bread again!
One Pan Chicken Wonder
Planning for Spring
Mara's Pasta - last chance to win!

Gratitude and some herbs

I have an easy gratitude share today - I got my copy of Putting Food By! Not only is it in pristine condition, it's the newer version than I used to own (the copy that got lost) or the version the library had. It has so much information packed into its pages, and you can look up information on canning, freezing, dehydrating and drying, curing and preserving. It's all updated in regards to current canning practices and equipment, too. I am so excited I can barely contain myself.

Now if only I could rid myself of the horrid crud that the children brought home from school, the world would be nigh on perfect. Instead, I'm sitting here snuffling and aching, with swollen glands. The coughing isn't too bad (knock on wood) but watching the kids tells me it's coming. Thank heavens for spouses who pick up things for you from the drugstore.

Since I'm not feeling up to doing a huge post, I want to direct your attention to a blog that I read religiously: Common Sense Homesteading. Laurie Neverman, the author of the blog, is indeed quite full of common sense (which I'm beginning to think is a super power...). For a while now, she's been posting up something called the Weekly Weeder, and Wildcrafting Wednesdays. I wanted to share some of her posts with you, and encourage you to check out her blog as well as mine. She puts a lot of really great information out there!

• Yesterday's Weekly Weeder: Heath Aster
• Food storage without electricity
• Easiest homemade cheese ever
• How to grow stevia and make homemade stevia extract

I hope you like her stuff as much as you like mine (though perhaps not MORE than you like mine). Her down to earth style of writing lends itself to easy reading. I've tried out several things I've learned on her site, and I expect you probably will, too.