Thriving Community News – Without the Noise
Current homesteading information from around the web without all the noise.
Determining the sex of a chick by the feathers doesn’t always work in the 2nd and 3rd generation. It is Year 2 of trying to determine the sex of my newly hatched chicks by their feather shape. Year 1 was a success, as you can read here. Now it is Year 2 (with 2 generations … Read more
Permaculture – Your Plants Will Tell You What They Want by Thriving…Or Not In my previous article, How I created a Food Forest, I documented what I did in 2021 to turn an 80’x30′ corner of my pasture into a permaculture orchard/food forest. The Original Design The original design included hand dug swales, and rows … Read more
How to tell a chick’s sex – is it a pullet (female) or a cockerel (male) We have a new batch of chicks, a cross between silver laced Wyandotte and Buff Orpington, with one Australorp cross. We also have one Brahma/Buff Orpington cross. I like the color patterns, with one of the more yellow chicks … Read more
Permaculture Orchard from Design to Delivery Chestnuts, apples, hazelnuts, asparagus, herbs like Wormwood and mint, comfrey, blackberries, Milpa garden beds, and annual beds. In Spring 2021, I extended my homestead/permaculture orchard by 80 feet. This was the initial design: Initial rough design. Bet you can’t read my handwriting! This was a section at the edge … Read more
Editor’s Note: As Perpend related in Ep. 14 of Thriving the Future Podcast, his Perfect Day looks like a fairly average day that many would not see as anything special. But it has space, it has room to think, to relax, to breathe, while still Getting Stuff Done. “The whole point is living a life … Read more
Turn a corner of your garden into Hassle-Free Permaculture Perennial Production Look at this picture. What do you see? A mess of plants and weeds? This is a permaculture apple guild, with multiple perennials, in the corner of my garden area. This has two apple trees on dwarf/semi-dwarf rootstock (an Arkansas Black, and a Golden … Read more
The Spring Tradition of Chick Day is Almost Here! It’s Chick Day. This is the time-honored Spring tradition every year where the tractor supply and the other farm stores have chicks for sale. But with the egg shortage and the demand for chickens, there’s likely to be shortages of chicks at the farm stores for Chick … Read more
Arkansas Black – a good storage apple for preppers and Thrivers. I almost cut this tree down. I am glad that I didn’t. I have a love-hate relationship with this tree. I planted several five years ago. They are always burdened by cedar apple rust and some years shed many of their leaves. I have … Read more
Shrubs and Switchels are good to drink plain or as a base for a mixed drink. Shrubs and switchels are old-timey drinks that were made with sugar and drinking vinegar (usually apple cider vinegar). They were another way to have something safe to drink when the water was questionable, so both were popular in early … Read more
Mint soda and root beer from herbs in your garden I show you how to make a mint soda and root beer from herbs grown in your garden. Plus an option to make your own wild yeast. Mint soda: Prep time: About 15 minutes total. Ingredients: These recipes were adapted from: The Wildcrafting Brewer: Creating … Read more
