I have been a huge Square Foot Gardening fan for many years but my wife recently turned me on to a new gardening method called “Straw Bale Gardening” she learned about online from sites like Pinterest and Garden Web. I was super resistant to trying it out as we have always had such great results with the Square Foot method and probably would have never got around to trying it out if it wasn’t for Bethany. I was traveling for work one week in early 2016 and when I came home Bethany had completely set up a straw bale garden in our backyard. This post documents the entire process with pictures and even a time lapse video. Continue reading Straw Bale Gardening
Category Archives: Wholesteading
DIY Farmhouse Art – Black Sheep Painting
It’s been two months since our last post but I finally had a few minutes to write this post so you can see one of the cool projects we’ve been working on. We have a wall in our front dining room that needed a little something so Bethany wanted to hang a DIY Farmhouse Art painting similar to the one Haven made for us that is currently positioned over the fireplace in the family room. This post shows how the picture was made and what it looks like mounted in our front room. Continue reading DIY Farmhouse Art – Black Sheep Painting
Snow! Homemade Wood Snow Sled
Last night a winter storm passed through our area and we received several inches of snow! We had fun playing outside and making snow angels but the snow was not sticky enough to make a snowman. We had planned to pick up a snow disc at Ace Hardware but when we stopped by they had already sold out. The forecast predicted 2-4 inches of snow to fall during the middle of the night so we went to bed looking forward to seeing in the morning how much snow stuck around. Continue reading Snow! Homemade Wood Snow Sled
Homemade Wood Shelf with Crates
We built this homemade wood shelf unit a couple months ago but held off on writing this post as we wanted to finish the crates that go with it first. The shelf was surprisingly simple to make and cost a fraction of what it would if you purchased something similar from a store. The unit is solid wood, nearly 9 feet tall, is anchored to the wall, and stained to match the decor of our house. This post contains the instructions and pictures to build both the homemade wood shelf and the crates. Continue reading Homemade Wood Shelf with Crates
Homemade Chicken Tractor: a mobile home for hens
If you are not familiar with the term “Chicken Tractor”, its basically just a portable chicken run so that chickens can be moved around to eat fresh grass, much like a tractor mowing a yard. We had originally planned to allow the chickens to free range in our backyard. That lasted for a couple weeks….right up until we lost 6 chickens to a family of Georgia Red Foxes. The chickens seemed so happy free-ranging so we hated to leave them locked up in the chicken coop and attached run with no access to fresh grass. That’s when we decided it was time to design and build a “Chicken Tractor”. Continue reading Homemade Chicken Tractor: a mobile home for hens
Homemade Chicken Coop
We have been planning to raise chickens for many years and finally decided this is the year to turn the plan into action. About 2 months ago Bethany picked up 20 chicks from Tractor Supply. We raised the chicks in two plastic bins (10 in each bin) with one heat lamp for each bin. Our plan was to build a homemade chicken coop the next weekend and move the chicks outside as soon as it was ready. I studied 100’s of pictures of coops on Google Images and noted the pros and cons of all the different styles/features. I then drafted a design for our coop using Google SketchUp. Here is a picture of the final version in SketchUp: Continue reading Homemade Chicken Coop
True Food Kitchen: Too Amazing Not to Share
Because I am a clean eating enthusiast and an unapologetic foodie, I am constantly on the prowl for spectacular cuisine that doesn’t break my clean eating boundaries. My goodness, did I find a treasure when I discovered True Food Kitchen in the Buckhead area of Atlanta! This place develops its menus on the research and recipes of nutritionist Andrew Weil, M.D. The goal is to nourish with anti-inflammatory meals that taste amazing at the same time. Like I have been telling my friends, clean eating does not have to be boring – and True Food Kitchen proves that! There’s something for every palate including Continue reading True Food Kitchen: Too Amazing Not to Share
Making Chicken Stock is Easier Than You Think
Have you ever tasted a soup with a depth of flavor that you just can’t explain? Did it have an indescribable richness that you would love to duplicate? Chances are the chef of that soup utilized a secret trick that has become less common ever since boxed and canned broths have become prevalent at the market. Most likely the cook has an important but old-fashioned weapon in his or her arsenal – chicken stock made from scratch. While the sound of this might initially seem too overwhelming or involved, I can assure you that making chicken stock is easier than you think. I dare you to try it just once and you likely won’t be buying boxed chicken broth again. It does take some planning ahead, but it is SO WORTH IT! Not only is homemade stock delicious, it is incredibly nutritious as well. Continue reading Making Chicken Stock is Easier Than You Think
Bathroom Vanities
We are all moved in and enjoying our new home but haven’t found much time for blogging the last few months. Our commitment was to blog the entire process so I decided to go ahead and knock out one more blog post this weekend. In this post are the pictures of the bathroom vanities and links to the instructions to build the vanities yourself. We saved an amazing amount of money by building some of our own vanities. If you like a farmhouse or rustic style then I highly recommend these homemade vanities as an alternative to expensive manufactured vanities. Continue reading Bathroom Vanities
Farmhouse Dining Room Table
I have been busy working down Bethany’s “honey-do” list since we moved into our new home. There were quite a few woodworking projects on the list, including building a long farmhouse dining room table for our large family. When I sat down to start drawing up the plans I asked her to provide me with pictures of tables similar to what she had in mind. Bethany only provided me with one example, a picture from Chip and Joanna Gaines’ website:
The table was made for a couple with 7 children (Allen and Gail Holt) on an episode titled “Fixer Upper: Yours, Mine, Ours, and a Home on the River”. It was built by Clint Harp with Harp Design Co. and met Bethany’s design guidelines of simple, rugged, and LARGE.