Welcome back to Week 3 on how to build food security for your family in less than 30 days. In Week 3 of our Food Security Plan, I am going to teach you (click to jump!):

• What seeds you can plant right now in your first garden
• How to design and build your chicken coop
• How to brew your first batch of Kombucha
• How to identify five of the most common local edible weeds

If you just found this series, be sure to head back to Week 1 so you can learn how this Food Security series works and get started on the right foot!

I want you to remember that you are completely capable of starting something new (like chicken keeping). Sure, you're probably going to make some mistakes in the process as you learn but the payoff is worth it.  Doing these things with a loved one or your kids will bring you some fun and purpose during this uncertain time. Let’s dive into Week 3!

As a low-maintenance lady, I'm always on the lookout for ways to simplify my non-toxic and natural skincare routine. Now don't think that simplifying your skincare routine means sacrificing its effectiveness. Having a simple and straightforward process when caring for your skin also means having one that packs the most beautifying power. 

That's why today I want to turn the spotlight onto Becca Tetzlaff of the blog, Organically Becca. This amazing clean beauty maven has been documenting organic skincare for years and she's seen (and used!) it all. Becca is a godsend for us low-maintenance ladies who just want someone to tell us the most simple, organic, and effective way to care for our skin.

So without further ado - here are the top four natural products for a low maintenance skincare routine!

The Positively Green Podcast is pleased to bring back Roberta Donaldson of The Millennial Cat Mom to talk about all things holistic dog care and raw diet feeding for your pooch. In this episode, we learn about the scientific evidence behind feeding your dog a raw diet, the sustainability issues around the pet food industry, and what natural flea and tick remedies exist for your pup. 

Welcome back to Week 2 on how to build food security for your family in less than 30 days. In Week 2 of our Food Security Plan, I am going to teach you the straightforward step-by-step on (click to jump!):

• Where to put your vegetable garden
• How to build raised garden beds
• How to start seeds indoors
• How to plant fruit trees with perennials
• How to care for chicks during their first week of life
• How to locally source food for your family

To head back to Week 1 of this series to learn about food security, its inherent limitations, and how this four-part series works click here.

I want you to remember that you are completely capable of starting something new (like chicken keeping). Sure, you're probably going to make some mistakes in the process as you learn but the payoff is worth it!  Doing these things with a loved one or your kids will bring you some fun and purpose during this uncertain time. Let’s dive into Week 2!

As more and more of us are jumping into chicken keeping and raising chicks for the first time, I thought it would be helpful to have on an expert chicken tender to teach you why when you are shopping for chicks - you should skip the big stores and hatcheries and buy from a small farm instead.

Maeg Yosef runs Silver Fox Farm along with her wife, Sarah, in Greenfield MA. They are a very small poultry farm and humane hatchery who focus on selective chicken breeding for homesteaders, backyard chicken keepers, and small farms. Maeg is bursting with knowledge when it comes to starting your first flock so I can't wait for you to read on. Even I learned something new from this guest post! 

If you are here to learn how you can build food security for your family in less than 30 days, you are in the right place. When I started out with homesteading six years ago, I knew that food security was important to me. Never did I guess that our entire world would come to a standstill and leave the majority of our society scrambling to build food security for themselves and their families.

For decades, homesteading has been a way for families to increase their self sufficiency not just out of rejection of a failing industrialized food system, but out of our love for the land, our connection with animals, and our focus on growing nutritious and safe food.

This 30-day Food Security Plan will be broken up into four weeks. We will focus on Week 1 in this post. For the next four weeks, I will share with you the simple and straightforward things you can do to boost your family's food security during this uncertain time. So if you are in need of guidance and help navigating how to get started with your first veggie garden or your first flock of chickens - you are in the right place!

Are you one of those wine lovers who had to swear off red wine because the next-day headaches and grogginess are just not worth it? I am right there with you my friend. For the last seven years I've had to ride the struggle bus even when I indulge in just one glass of red wine. 

Then, the heavens parted and I discovered natural wine. No more headaches, no more grogginess, no more inflammation. I had all these questions! Why did natural wine make me feel so much better? What ingredients were giving me so many issues? So this week on the Positively Green Podcast, Becca and I thought we should have on natural wine expert, Allie Kruse of Nonfiction Wine to teach us all about the subject!

Grab a glass of (natural) wine and join us for a virtual happy hour! Allie and her husband own Nonfiction Wine, a local wine shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She drops some major knowledge about all things natural, organic, low-intervention wine. You are going to love it!

Getting started with organic vegetable gardening can feel overwhelming, but if you are looking for an excuse to get outside and be more active, then gardening is a step in the right direction. Whether you have 1/2 an acre or upwards of 20 acres, planting a garden to provide you with healthy delicious food surprisingly only takes a bit of planning with a pencil and paper plus some (much needed) time in the sun tending to it. In this post, I’m going to show you how I got myself organized to try my hand at organic gardening. ​Are you ready to plan your pants off?!

As more and more of us are working remotely and practicing social distancing as the coronavirus hits the US, we thought it would be helpful to share nine simple ways you can make your home a healthier and safer environment. We hope these tips bring you peace of mind and give you a sense of control during this scary time!

According to the EPA, the average American indoor environment is 2 to 5 times more polluted than the outdoor air. The EPA also stated that the worst air pollution in our nation is right inside our own homes and workplaces and that 50% of all illness is connected to the indoor air quality. Crazy! Thankfully there are many easy ways to help improve this, which we address in today’s episode:

• 9-ish simple tips for having a greener home environment
• Why it's so important to have good indoor air quality (especially in winter!)
• Typical chemicals and pollutants that lurk in our homes and their health effects
• Different types of air purifiers and filters
• Best houseplants for clean air
• Why you might want to ditch your beloved candles
• How cookware might be affecting your air quality
• Best practices for bringing new furniture into your home and how to be more conscious about it

Are you curious about the journey behind our DIY A-Frame chicken coop tractors? In this post I am going to share with you why we decided to design and build our own unique A-frame chicken tractor for our backyard hens. Lastly, I'll share with you how you can get your hands on our A-frame chicken coop tractor build plans so you can build one for your backyard or homestead!

My very first flock of backyard chickens clocked in at seven beautiful hens. After researching and reading as much as I could on how best to raise laying hens, I decided to let them free-range because pastured chickens are the happiest and healthiest. 

Why? Being able to forage for bugs and grubs allows them a diverse diet, lots of sunshine, and never ending entertainment. Keeping hens on grass also provides us the healthiest eggs possible thanks to their higher beta-carotene, choline, and omega-3 levels. It was win-win in my book. 

So after a few weeks of free-ranging my very first flock, imagine my dismay when I came out to check on my girls and found feathers and blood everywhere. My heart sank as I did a headcount and found two of my girls missing. A hawk had been through my flock and thus began the conundrum that most backyard chicken owners face. Do you let your hens free-range and take the risk of a predator attack or do you keep them cooped up and safe and limit their diet and their happiness?