Category: Self-Reliance
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An Herbal Remedy for Winter Crud featuring Mullein, Beebalm, and Echinacea
Here’s my recipe for an herbal remedy I use every year to combat what we’ve come to call “Winter Crud”. We also take it at the first sign of anything that feels like trouble coming on. This year’s formula uses mullein, echinacea, ginseng, and beebalm.
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Hiking up the Mountain
This morning I went hiking up the mountain to check on our water tank. It’s been very dry here for the whole summer, and the recent rains haven’t added anything to the creeks. The creeks are almost completely dry. Every few days I check the few watering holes left to make sure the horses have…
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Long Dirt Road: Why it Takes me an Hour to Drive 12 Miles
This is a post from a few years ago that I love, so I’m reposting it. We live down a long dirt road. This little facet of our lives is the main thing that makes or breaks most newcomers to rural life. It takes a long time to go anywhere, if you go slow enough…
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Art Inspiration Moments on a Non-Art-Making Day
Even in a day full of non-art related tasks, there can be moments of art inspiration.
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Musings from an Ozark nature artist
I’m at an ‘in between’ time at the moment. Between rain showers and rainy days, between things scheduled on my calendar. And since I just finished a painting, I’m between paintings, too. But this is a great time for an Ozark nature artist to get out and enjoy some nature.
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Plant Walk & Nature Journaling at Wild Ozark
There are other plant walks in Arkansas, but this one is probably a little different. The trails we’ll follow are deer trails and logging roads. The drive to get here is gorgeous. And the biodiversity here at Wild Ozark is incredible. Our 160 acres is far off of the beaten path six miles from pavement.…
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Ozark Winter Storm | Jan 24 2023
Progress on my painting of Kings River in winter came to a grinding halt a few days ago when we got our first Ozark winter storm of the season. We’ve had some freezes, and a little snow, but those little incidents don’t compare. In previous years, we’ve had worse storms when not only did the…
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Pivot to Online Art | Stocking the shelves | Art Prints for Sale
Artists everywhere are trying to develop a way to market online art. Here’s the update on my own effort to stock the Wild Ozark Art shelves.
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The Bear Issue with Our Spring-fed Water Line
So I’ve done a good job of making sure the water is dripping on the cold nights and so far so good with not letting the lines freeze. But this afternoon my water at the kitchen faucet surprised me with only a very thin stream. Not even enough to rinse out my coffee cup. After…
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Leave the Water On
You’d think by now I’d remember to do that when the first true cold snap arrives. But no, I always forget, just like I forgot last night.
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Lousewort, Bumblebee Food and Medicinal Herb
Lousewort (Pedicularis canadensis) is an interesting plant. It’s a medicinal herb said to be effective at muscular pain relief. The bumblebees love it! An interesting find In May of 2014, I noticed an interesting plant. Well, I’m *always* noticing interesting plants, so it wasn’t the first time to notice an interesting plant, but the first…
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Simple Survival Skills: The Multipurpose Pashmina Shawl #survivalhack #homesteading
A scarf by itself might not be enough to keep you from freezing to death in extreme temperatures. But a large scarf, known as a shawl, can serve multiple functions aside from keeping your neck warm like a scarf. It takes up little space in a glove compartment in your car. Keep one in your…
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Simple Survival Skills: Limited Water Washing
I forget, until I have to use them, how many simple survival skills I’ve used since moving to this remote and rural Ozarks life. Washing dishes with limited water is one of the most useful things to know. Simple Survival Skills This post will seem silly to some people, especially people who have washed dishes…
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Using a Spring for Water – Winter Issues
Using a spring for water requires more effort than relying on tap water. Sometimes, just because you turn on the faucet, that doesn’t mean the water will come out like it’s supposed to. Yesterday, while Rob worked on changing the O2 sensors on his truck, I burned some calories. It was only twenty degree as…
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New Tax Rule – Arkansas Sales Tax on Digital Products
This year there’s a new tax rule that will affect the people who buy digital goods from Wild Ozark. We have to pay retail sales tax on ebooks that I sell in our online shop as of January 1, 2018. Sales Tax on Digital Goods only for Arkansas Residents Just as with other sales…
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Elderberry Flowers Oil Infusion
Elderberry flowers have a light, sweet fragrance and all manners of pollinators love them. Which Elderberry Flowers? The variety I’m using for this is Sambucus canadensis, which is the native elderberry in our area. Black elderberry (S. nigra) is the european comparative variety. Don’t use red elderberry if it grows in your area because that one…
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2017 Farmers Market Schedule
I decided to just update the schedule on my “appearances page“. Please check there for the latest dates. The link to get there is https://www.wildozark.com/appearances-workshops-herb-walks-presentations/ Schedule of farmers markets & events 5/26/17 – Friday I’ll be in Jasper, for a change of venue. I’ll have a couple of older ginseng plants (2 yr and 3 yr plants), ginseng…
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Sunrise Sounds at Wild Ozark
In the mornings, we don’t hear highway noise of people rushing to get to work on time. Our sunrise sounds belong to nature. Sunrise Sounds Remodeling We’ve been particularly busy lately here. Rob’s remodeling the bathroom. We thought it might be a weekend project, just a new coat of paint and put up some trim.…
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Compost Sifter
Rocks are everywhere here at Wild Ozark. Even when I rake leaves or clean out the chicken house I get rocks mixed in. A compost sifter would help when I’m trying to separate rocks and weeds out of the pile. Compost Sifter Concept to Reality I had an idea in mind of what I wanted…
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Starting Seeds and Straightening Tines
Yesterday I decided it was time to get busy starting seeds for our garden. Hauled the seed vault out and began the painful process of picking which of the very many seeds I have saved that I want to start first. Starting Seeds Means Choosing WHICH Seeds The pile quickly grew too large. And so…
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How to Identify Plants in the Wild, How to Search and Find Clues
Earlier this year I surveyed my newsletter members for their top questions. Here’s one about how to identify plants found in the outdoors. Top Questions It’s more of a comment than a question, but I’m creating this post in response to it. Although I’ve paraphrased some, I believe the underlying question would be “how to identify…
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Keeping up the Juggling Act
A hilarious metaphor of my unsuccessful juggling act at the homestead and in my life as a writer trying to get things done.
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Get in Shape with Nature- Starting out the Day Hot & Sweaty
This morning I didn’t bring my camera so I wouldn’t be tempted to stop and take pictures. The point is to get sustained heart rate elevation. I didn’t almost step on any snakes or encounter any bears, so no excessive heart rate elevation occurred either.
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Installing a Culvert Retaining Wall was Today’s Homestead Project
Today I built a culvert retaining wall for the culvert on the shop driveway to keep it from washing out around the sides.
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No Water
This morning I turned on the faucet to put some water on my toothbrush. Nothing but a few drops came out. Then, nothing. No water. No Water My thoughts immediately led to the question in my mind, which was “Where did all the water go?” This isn’t the first time I’ve had nothing at the faucet first…