Home and Gardening Ideas At home and Gardening ideas we believe inspiring readers about homesteading, self sufficiency

12 Diuretic Foods To Lower Blood Pressure And Lose Weight Water retention is no joke. Anybody who has had swollen ankles or fingers knows how uncomfortable it can be. An adult human body is about 50-60 percent water on average. While you should have lots of water in your blood and …

6 Common Reasons Why Your Hens Stop Laying Most people who keep a backyard flock do so for the delicious, farm-fresh eggs. It’s always concerning when the hens suddenly stop laying. In addition to the inconvenience when there suddenly aren’t eggs for breakfast, there’s the anxiety that perhaps something is …

Traditional Cherokee Medicinal Plants The Cherokee, a Native American Tribe located in the Southeastern United States, have a strong history of understanding, gathering, and preserving medicinal herbs. Part of their understanding of these plants includes the plants’ inherent power to offer both preventative and healing properties. One of the tenets …

8 Essential Oils that Repel Insects Summer is a delightful time of year. Sunshine, picnics, beach trips, and fresh summer peaches make it many people’s favorite season. The only big detractor? Bugs! All that warmth, sunshine, and humidity make summer insects’ favorite season too. Not that the words isn’t big …

How To Convert An Electric Water Heater To Run Off Solar Maybe you want to get off the grid, or maybe you just want to save on your power bill. Whatever your initial motivation is, once you know all the advantages, you can rest assured that converting your electric water …

7 Ways To Keep Snakes Out of Your Home and Garden Though they are usually harmless, snakes trigger a deep-rooted fear in most people unmatched by any other type of animal. Even other wild animals identify snakes as a special kind of threat; many species have developed warning calls reserved …

9 Home Remedies for Gout Gout is a kind of arthritis that can cause sudden stiffness, swelling, intense tenderness, and burning pain in a joint. The most common place for this pain to occur is the big toe. The area will continue to hurt and swell unless the gout is …

10 Pollinator Plants  – Bring Bees To Your Garden Spring is in the air and in the ground. The soil is warm enough for planting but before you rush out to buy hybrid flowers from the big box stores, think about what kinds of plants will most benefit your local …

How To Grow Tomatoes And Potatoes On The Same Plant  Tomato plants and potato plants are both members of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family and can be grafted together to form what is cleverly referred to as a “pomato” plant or “ketchup and fries.” The effect is cherry tomatoes growing …

10 Steps to Planting Your Square Foot Garden Maybe you are an avid gardener, looking to increase yield despite your limited gardening space. Or maybe you self-identify as gardening challenged and square foot gardening has piqued your interest because it sounds less overwhelming than traditional gardening. Either way, square foot …

Pallet Info: How To Tell If A Pallet Is Safe To Reuse Pallet projects are gaining in popularity as the DIY movement gains traction. Pallets constitute inexpensive, sometimes even free, lumber that, with some ingenuity, can be transformed into a table, shelves, bookcase or anything else you can think of. …

How Houses Functioned Before the Advent of Air Conditioning Greene County via flickr cc Earlier this summer, my next door was complaining to me about how costly his electric bill had gotten due to running his air conditioning system. I was shocked when we compared inside temperatures and bill amounts …