Off Grid Home

Humanure (human manure) is defined as “human fecal material and urine recycled for agricultural purposes via thermophilic composting.” EWWW!!! Does that definition completely gross you out? Well, you are not alone! The word “recycled” is what gets to me. It brings to my mind images of Kevin Costner in “Water …

I’ve often said that living without running water is the hardest thing about living off grid. Reaching for the faucet and expecting water to flow out of it, is so ingrained in us that for many it seems impossible to imagine a life without that luxury. Yesterday water flowed into …

Long before we started homesteading, I wanted to build a smokehouse. I love the taste of smoked meat and often thought why not make this on my own rather than pay big bucks for someone else to do it? As a child, I would read books about the early American …

If you are new to our off grid adventure or you just have questions about why in the world we would choose to live this way, this article will answer many of your questions. It really gives our story in a nutshell. I wrote it for a brand new homesteading …

I feel like my house became a real farmhouse today. We live on a farm, so that seems like a pretty silly thing to say! We raise sheep for meat, have chickens for eggs and meat, and grow a garden capable of producing all the produce that we need. We …

We get so many questions from our faithful viewers and readers. Thank you so much for your interest! We love sharing what we are doing and learning with you. And it encourages us so much to know that we are an inspiration. We wish we had time to answer all …

Looking around our home and outside on our homestead, we have nine different ways of cooking. None of them require electricity! I recently counted them all when I was getting ready to write this article and I was surprised at the number. Wow! Most of them use wood (readily available …

We launched our An American Homestead website at the beginning of July 2014. Since then, we’ve been writing articles (and making lots of videos too) about our off grid homesteading adventures and sharing them with you. The response that we have had in that short time has been overwhelming! We …

Jaimie is full of surprises sometimes. One of those surprises is tucked away, hidden in the kitchen where she spends a lot of her time. I’m talking about her .22 caliber North American Arms mini-revolver. When we lived in the city, the small pistol was kept by the side door …

I’m excited that I finally got my laundry drying racks installed in my house.  It was just in time because the cold weather arrived this last weekend.  They will be put to a lot of use this winter.  I have experienced hanging clothes outside in freezing temperatures.  I know what …