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DIY Primitive Floating Shelves

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Repeat after me: warmer weather is just around the corner. We’ve got something that will brighten up your space as well as your spirit during this cold spell and won’t leave your wallet empty. Lately, I’ve been finding myself staring at this small, blank wall in my living room and unsure of what to do with it. Do I add a large picture? No. What about some sort of metal art décor? I can’t seem to find any of those I like either. Then what? What other option could there possibly be if I’m being so picky about this?! Ah-hah! Floating shelves!




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Demographics of the American Camper Part 3-Camping With Teens

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camping with teens

Usually during the preteen years, a kid is like a sponge. They soak up everything you tell them at face value. You are their Ghandi and all wisdom flows thru your words.               Sometime around 12 or 13 “Why is the sky blue?” becomes “Why do I have to…?” anything. They have solved you and life and have no further use for adult mankind.
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Beautiful DIY Plank Wall On The Cheap

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Adding Texture to a Room: DIY Plank Wall

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Spring is right around the corner and I have quite the honey-do list ready for our backyard, which means we need to wrap up indoor projects quickly! I want to be able to work on outdoor things soon when the weather is consistently warm; but for now, I’m excited that we have been blessed with two wonderfully warm weekends here in the Midwest. I have spent them working on updating a shared wall within our main living space using plank panels and wanted to share just how easy this project really was as well as its cost effectiveness. Continue reading

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Demographics of The North American Camper Part 2-RVs

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Over 430,000 Recreational Vehicles, or RVs, from Class A Motorhomes to Popup Campers were manufactured last year, and 2016 marked the 7th consecutive year of industry growth, and a 16% increase since 2001.  While travel trailers/campers are normally towed and Motor Homes are as the name implies, self propelled, I’ll be merging them into one general category for this article.  So who are the 9+ million people who own an RV and what are their motivations for traveling via the “home on wheels”?  Continue reading

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The Demographics Of The North American Camper part 1

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What smell reminds you most of camping? Smoke? Bug spray? Smores? Flowers?campfire




Escape, adventure, wilderness, family, peace,fun are common words used to describe camping. It is about the shared experience, strengthening relationships and allowing oneself to decompress from the stresses of the world.

In part 1 of our series on  camping, we  delve into the minutia of the north American tent camper and the growing interest in paying to sleep on the ground in the middle of nowhere.Over 40 million people camped somewhere within the United States in 2013. and some interesting data has been compiled on the demographics of the who the why and the when and the where.
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The #1 Danger In National Parks-You

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“Fear the goat from the front, fear the horse from the rear, and man from all sides.”

Old Assyrian proverb.



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Their minivan parks along the curb of Laurel Falls, mom slides the door open and out spill the kids armed with juice boxes, apple slices, grandma and the dog. Dad hands mom a couple of bottles of water, some wet wipes to throw in her purse and opens his map of trails within the Smoky Mountains National Park. Flip flops, t shirts and shorts are the popular dress, with an occasional hiker geared in sturdy boots and a backpack.The sign near the entrance says no dogs allowed on the trails but as the day  unfolds that appears to be  just a suggestion.  Continue reading

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When Neighbors Collide- The City vs The Country

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Robert Frost said “Good fences make good neighbors.”good neighbors2

It was a gorgeous property that had recently sold. 10 acres of blooming redbuds and dogwoods, a small pond stocked with catfish and bass and a beautiful newer two story brick home waiting for the next owner. It was cradled by rolling hills and valleys with a scenic county road landscaped with farms and homesteads that created something akin to the opening scene of a movie. Continue reading

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GMOs In You and Your Livestock-The 21st Century Body Snatchers

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raw milkFrito-Lay, Oscar Meyer, Cargill, Kellog, Pepsi Cola, Purina and Tyson are some of the leading producers of the American daily diet.   For tens of millions, a bowl of Capn Crunch and a glass of Sunny Delite for breakfast, McDonalds for lunch and Totino’s Pizza for dinner is the norm. Yet the irony is that many people consider raw milk, farm raised unrefrigerated eggs and organic grown vegetables not approved or regulated by the FDA to be risky. We have become a society that balances a Big Mac and a large Coke with a Walmart salad. A Sara Lee Pie is the whiskey and  Slimfast an aspirin for the hangover.



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How To Survive Falling Thru Frozen Ice

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Video Courtesy Of TechInsider

Check Out “On Frozen Pond”

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DIY Furniture Upcycle Using Chalk Paint

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When it comes to home projects, crafts, exercise, you name it, I want results instantly. I have never had much patience and that has unfortunately made its way into my DIY activities. Something lying around my home that never caught my attention before suddenly needs change and it needs it now before I’ve even settled on a new design for it. While in the moment I may never think so, but I thank the Lord every day that Hobby Lobby and most hardware stores in my area are not open for business 24/7. My family also says thanks, as they prefer their full 8 hours of sleep during the night too.

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Raising Rabbits Colony or Cage

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Raising Rabbits- Colony or Cage





Once you decide you want to raise some rabbits on your homestead (congrats!) you will ultimately need to decide if you want to raise them in cages or in a colony. There are advantages and disadvantages to each method, neither is right or wrong. You just need to figure out what is right for you. You need to consider how easy or hard it will be to clean up after them, breed them, round them up as needed, and what is best for them “healthwise”.Raising Rabbits

Raising homestead rabbits in cages is exactly what it sounds like. You have multiple cages for your rabbits, each pretty much getting their own cage. A colony is one large pen or caged in area where all your rabbits (or most) live together as a group.

Rabbit Colony Benefits and Advantages
* Can be easier to clean – Instead of cleaning out individual cages you have one open area, usually on the ground which you can rake, mulch, etc.
* Feeding and watering is easier – Just try to set out some food and watering areas in a couple different places within the colony to avoid fighting but depending on the size of your herd this can be easier than filling bowls and water bottles in multiple cages.
* A colony is a better opportunity for rabbits to socialize and play.
* The setup cost is usually cheaper because you don’t have to buy so many cages, feeding bowls, watering bottles, etc.
Rabbit Colony Disadvantages
* Rabbits in colonies are not handled as much by human caregivers so they tend to be more like wild rabbits. They are often skittish and more apt to scratch and claw you up when you touch them.
* Rabbit fights can happen and this may lead to injuries that you must then care for.
* The ease and cost of one pen for a colony is diminished when you need other pens or supplemental cages for rabbits that need to be separated due to fighting or for grow out purposes.
* Rabbits in colonies are more susceptible to parasites and diseases because they are on the ground. Having all the rabbits together makes spreading those illnesses much more common.
* A colony typically requires more room than cages so if you are limited on space this may be a problem.
* A pen will usually need to be moved to access new greens and not oversaturate the area with waste.

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Wen Model 6550 Benchtop Thickness Planer Product Review

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Wen Model 6550 Benchtop Thickness Planer Product Review





See Also Our Wen 16″ Scroll Saw Review

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Florida’s Everglades National Park

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Courtesy of 58National Parks
Check Out “The Origin and Beauty Of Yosemite National Park”

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Quick & Simple Homemade Vanilla Extract

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Quick & Simple Homemade Vanilla Extract
Nothing brings our family closer than spending the morning or afternoon stirring up an old favorite recipe in the kitchen. We really value our time spent together, therefore, our oven/stovetop is quite busy! From pancakes and waffles to cakes and cookies, we do it all and nearly on a daily basis at times. As a mother with an old-fashioned outlook on life, I find it crucial that my toddler understands the fundamentals when it comes to the importance of each ingredient as well as the science behind cooking.
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When Your Spouse Doesn’t Like Deer Meat

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When Your Spouse Doesn’t Like Deer Meat






It’s that time of year again. Your husband has donned his camo, spent countless hours scouting, following trails and looking for “scrapes” and “rubs” on trees. He’s painstakingly searched for just the right tree to hang his stand, doused himself in every sort of synthetic deer excrement on the market, and loaded his shotgun with the best shells money can buy. All to accomplish what he’s waited all year to do. Yes, you guessed it, to bring home his prized buck or doe and fill the freezer with delicious, nutritious, and healthy venison! Continue reading

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Preventing Livestock Water Containers From Freezing

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Preventing Livestock Water Containers From Freezing





Tips For “Chicken Winter”

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Airstone Product Review

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Airstone Product Review



See Our Wen 3920 Scroll Saw Review


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Mt Lemmon, Tuscon, Arizona

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Mt Lemmon, just north of Tuscon, Arizona with a summit elevation of 9,159 feet (2,792 m),is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, United States.The summit of the mountain is approximately twenty degrees cooler than the base. Therefore, large amounts of snow falls during the winter months, making it a cool escape and popular tourist attraction for Tucson and Phoenix habitants.

The Catalina Highway, also called the Mount Lemmon Highway, as well as the Hitchcock Highway (after Frank Harris Hitchcock) runs up the Santa Catalina Mountains from the east side of Tucson up to Summerhaven, at the top of Mt. Lemmon. The beautiful, curving road is a favorite drive for tourists, for locals escaping summer’s heat and cyclists, and has been recently designated as the Sky Island Parkway, part of the US National Scenic Byway system. At the peak is the Mount Lemmon Observatory, which was formerly the site of a USAF radar base of the Air Defense Command, and the building that formerly housed a military emergency radar tracking station for landing the Space Shuttle at White Sands Missile Range. Although the United States military had a presence on the mountain for several decades all their facilities have been abandoned and were given to the United States Forest Service. The area and buildings that makes up the Mount Lemmon Station Observatory are leased from the Forest Service by the University of Arizona. The telescopes on the mountain are still used for astronomical research today by organizations such as the Catalina Sky Survey, and The Mount Lemmon Sky Center, The University of Arizona Astronomy Camp program, the University of Arizona, and the University of Minnesota. The educational resources at the top of the mountain make it a unique research and teaching destination.
Also Visit Multnomah Falls, Oregon

 

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DIY Kitchen Knife Rust Remover

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DIY Kitchen Knife Rust Remover 
rusty knife

At some point or another, it happens. The kitchen knives end up in the dishwasher, despite conflicting “yes, you can” or “no you can’t” arguments about whether or not they are dishwasher safe. We haven’t had the greatest luck with avoiding food/contamination poisoning this year and I am determined to keep it from striking down another family member. Any knife that is used to cut raw meat goes straight into the dishwasher like a quarantined specimen and we don’t even think twice about it. Of course, it doesn’t help matters that our water isn’t fantastic either. We get quite a bit of build-up on our appliances from hard water residue, even with a water softener in place (Although, our water source isn’t from a well so really I shouldn’t say much!). All of these factors ultimately lead to build-up and rust our kitchen knife set. We cook A LOT, and we cannot prep our food knowing that we aren’t living up to our own code of standards. As you can see in the picture, we get little spots every now and again that can be “spot treated” in no time. Continue reading