We fancy ourselves the only site on the web providing you with a collection of unique how to homestead videos to stream embed or download. No longer relegated to the rural sphere, homesteading can be done anywhere and we are here to show you how. We also love hearing from you so add to the homesteading conversation anytime.
Click on any of the images to the left to view an episode.
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Email now to get your one-of-a-kind StoneLake Farm Seed. StoneLake Farm is the official how-to homestead laboratory and this year we have a fine selection of poppy, wheat, sunflower, kale, dill and marigold seeds to share with the first folks who email us at hello@homestead.org.
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I am in love with your website and homestead! Upon exploring this site, I have found that you have the same interests as myself; I will be coming here again to learn some more about your way of life (something I dream of).
I like the idea of your website and I even like the style you have. The music in your videos is generally pretty likable too. However, you convey very little information in each section of this site. Like the one about pie. What do we learn about homesteading? “Go pick some berries!” What about the crust? What about the stuff you mix to get that sauce with the berries? What about if we don’t live in San Fransisco? It doesn’t seem like you care much about those details and it took you about two minutes to tell me that sometimes you can find free berries if you know where to look. The same goes for the Kombucha video too. It’s cute as shit, but both videos border on self-congratulatory masturbation. Don’t get me wrong, I ALMOST gave you a StumbleUpon thumbs up because I really like the idea of teaching people about the basics of life. I’m bothering to write this because I think you can do better. Even if you just post a few links at the bottom of each page to some resources like recipes or maps to find berries or a retailer that sells Kombucha mushrooms. Then you can keep the cute videos or whatever you want to do. That’s all I’m really asking for. Don’t call it a “how-to” site if you aren’t going to even start to flesh it out the tiniest bit. Please feel free to remove this comment after you’ve read it. I hate to bring the bad energy, but I feel like someone needed to say it.
Maybe I’m missing the point. I don’t know.
Hello Jeff,
Thanks for your comments. They are very much appreciated. Your advice regarding links is something we are already doing. Each video has at least one link to a site that provides you with plenty of information in text form that gives you the details you need to accomplish your homestead passion. Our videos are meant to inspire– to show how fun homesteading is, and that anyone can do it. The internet is a great tool for information, we provide a bit to get you going and link you to some sites we think are better at detail.
I love the new lay out but no more Fungus Among Us?
Ok now my family has homestead with there home’s so how can I ???
hello from the sonoma county homestead future project…if i could stop commuting long enough to feed my kombucha and kefir soda…keep the ‘coons outta the compost and the chickens laying, life would be more centered. for now, melinda, i like to live vicariously through your site. let me know when you are down south. and apologies for dropping off the radar during a trying summer. you are doing something fabulous.!
this website is a joyful contribution; of course there are ways to make it better, easier, more clear, whatever; life is a lot of work and it will never be perfect. the fact that it is up and people care enough to make comments is great. I loved this sentence from Jeff’s review in March: “It’s cute as shit, but both videos border on self-congratulatory masturbation.” Could be worse! Oh, as for berries, it really is a local thing, but in San Francisco, try the Presidio – especially the field at Fort Scott; in Marin, they are all over from Sausalito to Kentfield to Bolinas and Point Reyes. Be in touch with the seasons of where you live and you will find the food that grows wild. Myself, I’m astounded by the folks in the East Bay who are finding chanterelle mushrooms so easily… Carry on… C
just received a packet of your marigold seeds. indeed they are marigolds, but the latin name you have designated them by is wrong.
Tagetes is the genus for marigold.
Calendula officianlis is calendula!
I grew up on 5 acres in what “was” rural Minnesota. We had little money but we did have 5 gardens, (one was totally potatoes), and fruit trees. We bought a little meat and canned and preserved “everything” and even made out own Ketchup and Sourkrout. I am not a young person. I read the Briarpatch Books, Mother Earth News, Coevelolution Quarterly, and all of the rest. I know this will be blastpheme but…. wouldn’t the problems this earth is facing all be totally negated or at least hugely reduced if there were a huge reduction in human population as that is the cornerstone of the problems?? There are about 77 Million “more” people on the earth every 12 months, and the people killed by the Indonesion Tsunami were all replaced in just a bit over “24 Hours”. (i.e. One Day). How come no clergy, politition or scientist mentions this as a problem ??? The need for energy, food, potable water, treating pollution, etc, etc, cannot be filled of there is always more demand on a finite planet.
I think you’re on to something wonderful here. Hope to come back in a few months and learn how to make soy milk and spin yarn on a drop spindle. Lots of love to you all; thanks for your hard work and spirit.
I was looking for website products and found your site. I was totally captivated by your videos. This is an excellent place for people to learn how to preserve things. I have to honestly say that I have never heard of humanure before.
It looks like you have found a great niche and combined a simpler world with the high paced Internet world in an excellent way.
Denny,
I don’t think it’s blasphemy–I think you’re absolutely right. Though this may be off-topic, it is related to living more sensibly and practically, which is what homesteading is partly about.
There are many reasons why the problem of overpopulation is ignored or swept under the rug–just one reason is that more people=more consumers, and that is what big corporations want. The biblical mandate to “multiply” is long since inappropriate, but religion doesn’t seem to have caught up to reality. But we will eventually have to face up to this; if we don’t reduce population, nature will do it for us. The earth cannot really support even the number of people there are now.
I am in total agreement with Denny Blacksmith that the base of most ALL of our problems such as resources shortages, pollution, even garbage disposal, etc. etc. is because of overpopulation. WHY is this such a taboo, touchy subject? The fact that there are TOO many of us on this earth should be addressed first and foremost. All the other would fall into place thereafter. Somehow (no apologies) religious folk seem to think it’s their right to have 4, 5, 6 kids and somehow “someone” will take care of it. Well, that’s just irresponsible. Churches need to educate their followers about overpopulation, and how that is a major contributor to resource shortages, pollution, global warming, etc. In the “old days” when half of a couple’s children were not expected to make it to adulthood, having that many children to help work the family farm or business was logical. Now, with modern technology, longer lifespans and good medical care? It’s a liability for the earth and the rest of us. Join the 21st century people…
There is a sort of bond, a connection that we have lost in our modern, consumerist society – one between human and product. Whether it is fresh produce, clothing, furniture, food, etc. the joy and appreciation of the product is often lost. Yet, when we put effort into tending a garden, sewing something of our own design, building or repairing furniture, or baking our own bread there is a satisfaction that makes the product much more valuable and precious than it’s material worth. More than material worth there is time, effort, work, and care put into the product.
How can we try to change our consumerist habits without having an understanding of the whole value of the products we have become so obsessed with?
My little rant. Thank you for changing the world.
I planted your kale, marigold, and calendula seeds in greensboro, nc and they have taken off! looking really good. thank you! kazoo
how about some lessons in what to do with all that milk from the family milk cow?