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Continue reading →: Homestead Update: The Great Indoor Jungle (Seed Starting & Repotting!)It’s that time of year again here in Maryland! If Rebecca had her way, our seed trays would be filled with soil by January 1st, but I always make her wait until mid-February so we don’t end up with massive, leggy plants before the last frost. We officially started our…
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Continue reading →: Homestead Update: Pruning the Orchard, Sandbox Propagation, and a Battery-Powered Game ChangerHere in Maryland, the late-winter weather loves to play games with us. This past weekend, we finally got a break from the snow and freezing temperatures, and the thermometer teased us with a glorious 60-degree day. If you have homesteading in your blood, you know exactly what that means: it’s…
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Continue reading →: Grow, Gather, Heal: The Herbal Wisdom of Bee BalmHappy Sunday, friends! As Rebecca and I sit sipping coffee and looking out at the thawing gardens this morning, I am absolutely thrilled to announce that the newest book in our series is officially available today: Grow, Gather, Heal: The Herbal Wisdom of Bee Balm! We have spent months deep-diving into…
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Continue reading →: Homemade Kombucha SCOBY Fruit LeatherI’ve been riding the kombucha train for almost a year now. One thing you know, if you make your own kombucha, is that you end up with lots of extra SCOBY. While SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) is actually NOT the name of the rubbery pancake-like disc that…
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Continue reading →: Winter Garden Prep: Winning the War on Weeds with Wood ChipsIt is a “balmy” 33 degrees out here in Maryland today. (Okay, I’m kidding—it’s freezing). But on the homestead, there is no such thing as an off-season, just a different kind of work season. Today, that work is all about reclaiming the raised bed garden. If you remember, last year…
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Continue reading →: The Great January Press: Straining Our Annual Tincture HaulJanuary on the homestead is a quiet time. The garden is asleep under a layer of frost (or mud, depending on the week here in Maryland!), and the frantic energy of the harvest season feels like a distant memory. But for the herbalist, winter isn’t just about rest—it’s about the apothecary.…
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Continue reading →: Our Vintage Radio Restoration ProjectNot every project we tackle here at the homestead is related to the gardens, the animals, or filling the apothecary jars. Every now and then, we get to do something just for fun. This is one of those projects. Life has its seasons, and unfortunately, Rebecca’s aunt recently reached that…
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Continue reading →: Mini Banana & Chocolate Chip MuffinsAlright, confession time. I want you to walk into your kitchen right now and take a look on the counter. Are there bananas there that are past their prime? If the answer is no, first, stop lying, and now I need you to look in your freezer and see how…
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Continue reading →: Beating the Freeze: A Simple Solution for Chicken Water in WinterEvery year, as winter settles in, we face the same struggle: keeping the chickens’ water from turning into a block of ice. This year has been particularly brutal, with daytime temperatures barely creeping above freezing and nighttime lows dipping into the teens for weeks on end. Our usual routine involves…
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Continue reading →: Crafting a Winter Wellness Staple: Our Homemade Chest Rub SalveWith the gardens put to bed and the last of the herbs dried and stored, a quiet calm settles over the homestead. This peaceful lull is the perfect time to turn our attention from harvesting to medicine-making. With winter on the horizon, we’re stocking our apothecary with remedies to see…
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RJ Homestead
We are Rebecca, and John, and this is our little spot on the internet. Our goal is to post about what we have going on around our little homestead and share the things we’ve learned over the years. We’re glad you are here!
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