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Outdoor Homesteading Ideas

Practical green and frugal homesteading projects can happen in the great outdoors as well as inside the house. Whether you have a balcony in a high rise apartment or acreage in the mountains, there are things you can do outside to lead a greener life than simply sitting and breathing - although that's a great thing to be doing! Getting out in the sun each day and connecting with the seasons is a way to slow down and appreciate the planet that we are trying to do the right thing by.
 


 

Bee's
We have a number of Australian native bee hives and while we are just starting to get honey out of them a few years into owning them, we think its important to have them so that there are populations of native bees out there pollinating the native plants that the Italian honey bee has never adapted to pollinate successfully,  even though it has invaded many of the native bees traditional niches.

Slitting a Tetragonula Hockingsii hive
Splitting a back yard hive of Trigona Hockingsii for the first time.
Splitting our native bee hive for the first time
Covering native bee's for the winter
Why aren't my bees going into the hive at night?
Transferring native bees into a new hive
Hive duplication or eduction - how its done
Splitting our FROTH design hive for the first time


Chickens
I have had chickens for years and am a big advocate for them, not only for the eggs that you can eat and the manure for the garden, but for their sheer entertainment value! Get heritage chickens not just for their beauty but for their robustness and longevity as well. Enjoy an array of colourful eggs and hours of hilarity as you get to know your girls!

Setting eggs under a broody hen - our experience
Baby chicks - our first four weeks
Clucker Tucker; Pasture in the pen.
Bromeliads stop chickens from digging up the garden
Moulting chickens - before and after photos
Chook porridge
Grass catcher nesting boxes for my chickens
Treating scaly mite in chickens
Which came first? The chicken or the egg?
Making an isolation pen for a chicken
Easy fuss free way to worm your chickens
Why we bought heritage chickens
Keeping hay or straw dry in the great outdoors
Feeding eggshells to chickens
Home made chicken feeder
Glorious chicken day
Stopping chickens from scratching up your garden
Compost or chicken bucket tip
Introducing baby chickens to the rest of the flock
Changing things around in the chicken pen
What happens when a chicken moults?
How to feed fish can juice to chickens
Things to try when you chickens aren't laying
How to force feed a sick chicken
What happens when a chicken moults?
Safe waters for baby chicks and big chooks


In the garden
My gardening adventures haven't been the abundant organic plenitude of my dreams, but I persevere on and off with varying results. I do believe that growing your own veges is the way of the future as food production falls further and further into the hands of the big corporations... I don't think they should decide what we put into our bodies.

Harvesting and processing coffee beans
Bromeliads stop chickens from digging up the garden
Clucker Tucker; Pasture in the pen.
Cooking pizza in the home BBQ
Covering native bee's for the winter
Supporting local farmers with CSA/ Food Connect fruit and vege boxes 
Stopping chickens from scratching up your garden
Helping hanging pots retain water in hot weather
Splitting our native bee hive for the first time
Saving seedlings from the hot summer sun
How to eat a single beetroot
Chemical free harlequin beetle control
Water crystals in hanging baskets. Will it work?
Stopping possums from coming inside
Fixing my watering can with a bit of TLC
Growing mushrooms at home
Hanging tomato plants - revamping some hanging baskets
Compost or chicken bucket tip
Growing micro greens at home
Growing edible ginger plants in Brisbane
Growing asparagus in Brisbane for beginners
Growing asparagus in Brisbane - Winter update
Cooking Pizza's in the back yard BBQ
Extreme composting - what cant you compost?


Pest control
If you are going to go to all the trouble of growing your own food, I can't see the advantage of covering it in chemicals before you eat it. A hole here, a nibble there aren't a big deal if you value fresh food that you know has been grown with love and hard work rather than propriety chemicals and genetic engineering!

Getting rid of ants in your home - naturally
Chemical free harlequin beetle control
Killing cockroaches with borax v boric acid
Borax v Boric Acid for killing cockroaches


Pets
A lot of us have pets and want the best for them along with the rest of the family. You feed your family good food and keep the house clean with a minimum of chemicals so it makes sense not to hand over the feeding of the furry members of your family to a faceless corporation who has money making rather than the health of your pet as their main objective...

Splitting our native bee hive for the first time
Make your own cheap, but good, dog food
Covering native bee's for the winter
Feeding your cat a frugal and healthy way


Wildlife
We share our world with the native animals that live in our backyard and they cross our path from time to time. Living with them can be trying, as well as terrific! Native animals can add to your world and the contact can often be a special treat. I'm not a fan of feeding wild animals and prefer to watch them in and around our place doing what they do and only helping out in an emergency situation.

Splitting our native bee hive for the first time
Covering native bee's for the winter
Stopping possums from coming inside
Chemical free harlequin beetle control
Scrub turkeys in your back yard
Green and Gold Nomia native bees




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