Homesteading & Livestock
Practical skills for modern homesteading, sustainable agriculture, and self-sufficient urban or country living.
Raising Guinea Fowl: A Low-Maintenance Flock
By Gail DamerowCompared to chickens, guinea fowl are low-cost and low-maintenance, and do a standout job as chemical-free pest control.
Start a 1-Acre, Self-Sufficient Homestead
By John SeymourExpert advice on how to establish self-sufficient food production, including guidance on crop rotations, raising livestock and grazing management.
How to Raise Honeybees: A Beginner's Guide
By Pat StoneIf the draw of fresh honey has given you bees on the brain, you can learn how to raise honeybees that will provide you with excitement and sweetness for years to come.
Dairy Goat A to Z: Breeding, Kidding and Milking
By Anna TwittoA basic overview of breeding and milking goats.
Thousands of articles. Infinite inspiration. Browse all Homesteading and Livestock articles.
Essential Reading
A Plan for Food Self-Sufficiency
Planning a garden in advance can help you enjoy local, homegrown food year-round! Estimate how much to grow or buy and learn how to achieve food security with these guidelines.
Perform Your Own Home Property Survey
Perform your own home property survey: finding property markers saves you time, expense and trouble, including how to read a property description, preparing for the search, and surveying fieldwork.
Best Guard Dog for Your Homestead
Read guard dog training tips and advice on guard dog breeds best suited for your needs.
Build This Predator-Proof, Portable Chicken Coop
Our newest low-cost portable chicken coop plan makes raising backyard chickens easier for just about anyone.
Deep Litter Chicken Manure Management
Learn about the advantages and disadvantages of the deep litter system and how you can manage a small flock’s manure easily and efficiently.
Home Cheesemaking: From Hobby to Business
Artisan cheesemakers who aspire to make their passion a profession will face many challenges on the way to establishing a successful business. Find out what to consider before taking the leap.
How to Buy Farmland, Even If You Think You Can't
Dream of starting a farm? Here’s a guide to what questions to ask and where to find reliable answers, plus resources to help you obtain a farm loan.
Live on Less!
Try these 75 inspiring ideas and enjoy life more while spending and consuming less.
Living Well Without a Job and With (Almost) No Money
Get the good things in life without having to go to a boring, meaningless, frustrating job to get the money to buy them.
Start a 1-Acre, Self-Sufficient Homestead
Expert advice on how to establish self-sufficient food production, including guidance on crop rotations, raising livestock and grazing management.
A Better Rainwater-Harvesting System
Think beyond the rain barrel: This simpler, cheaper approach to rainwater harvesting will help you harvest much more water for your garden!
How to Build a Debt-Free Home
Lynn Underwood and his wife set out to build a debt-free home building from from paycheck to paycheck, the finished home resulted in no more worries about mortgages or mortgage companies ever again.
A Beginner's Guide to Raising Rabbits
A beginner's guide to raising rabbits, including a rabbit barn, pens, feeders and waterers, breeding stock, care and feeding, breeding, butchering, and meat sales.
Featured Video
Learn How to Use a Chainsaw Mill (ft. Wranglerstar)
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BARNYARD KIDS
Would you like to start your child on a journey of self-reliance and love of the outdoors?
A sustainable source of ideas to help your children learn the ins and outs of animal husbandry, Barnyard Kids encourages children to get outside, enjoy nature and reap the benefits of their hard work.
This fun and creative book by Dina Rudick will guide your family through fun opportunities, learning about keeping chickens, milking cows and rearing sheep.
It's time to get your little farmhands dirty. Help them grow to be self-sufficient, happy and healthy!
EVERYTHING I WANT TO DO IS ILLEGAL
The Salatin family farm, known as Polyface and located in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, is one of the nation's premier ecological farms and has been featured in countless print, radio and video media. Exemplifying local food systems and imbedded community-based agriculture, the farm caught the attention of Michael Pollan in his runaway New York Times best-seller The Omnivore's Dilemma (when Salatin refused to ship T-bone steaks to New York).
Behind the glitz, however, the farm struggles with a labyrinth of government regulations and cultural perceptions that terrorize the antidote to mad cows, avian influenza, and food fears. The solution is simple: allow freedom for traditional food growing and purchasing choices.
This book brings to life, with humor and verve, the everyday conflict between the entrenched industrial food system and the local artisanal neighbor-friendly farmer-entrepreneur.
Joel Salatin is also the author of: Pastured Poultry Profit$, Salad Bar Beef, You Can Farm, Family Friendly Farming, Holy Cows and Hog Heaven.