Ultimate Fall Garden Cleanup Checklist for Small-Space Homesteaders
Get your small-space homestead garden ready for winter with this fall cleanup checklist. Learn how to prune, harvest, compost, and prep your beds for spring.
Homesteading & Gardening
Welcome to the Homesteading & Gardening section of Our Manor On Main—where simple living meets seasonal self-sufficiency. Whether you’re working with a backyard, a balcony, or your first raised bed, this is your go-to space for practical homesteading tips, beginner-friendly gardening advice, and old-fashioned skills for a more intentional life. From seed starting and composting to preserving your harvest and prepping for each season, you’ll find inspiration to grow, tend, and thrive—right where you are.
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A Simple Guide to Foraging and Using Fall Herbs in Your Kitchen
Discover how to forage and use fresh fall herbs like rosemary, thyme, and sage to add cozy, seasonal flavors to your kitchen. A simple, heartfelt guide for embracing autumn’s gifts.
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Sourdough Tools for Beginners: Essential Items You’ll Love
Baking sourdough at home is easier than you think. Learn the essential tools that will help your starter thrive, make shaping dough a breeze, and give you beautiful, bakery-style loaves you’ll love.
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Homemade Bone Broth for Soup and Gut Health
Cozy up with a warm cup of homemade bone broth. Made from leftover chicken bones or other animal bones, this nourishing broth is rich in collagen, gut-friendly, and perfect for soups, stews, or sipping on its own.
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Fall Harvest Recipe Guide: Cozy Recipes for Seasonal Produce
Discover cozy fall harvest recipes using seasonal produce. From pumpkins and squash to apples and root vegetables, find easy ideas for soups, salads, baked goods, and more.
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Chickens Molting in Late Summer: What’s Happening with My Feathered Girls?
Learn all about chickens molting in late summer—why your hens lose feathers, what to expect, and how to care for your flock during this natural transition.
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Why Your Chickens Stopped Laying Eggs — 7 Things to Check This Summer
Asking yourself “why are my chickens not laying eggs in late summer? Learn the 7 most common reasons for an egg production drop and how to fix it.
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How to Keep Chickens Cool in the Sweltering Summer Heat
Learn practical and natural ways to keep your backyard chickens cool during extreme summer heat. These tips are perfect for Midwest heatwaves and August temperatures.
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Easy Homemade Water Kefir: Delicious Fermented Probiotic Soda in 2 Days
Learn how to make easy homemade water kefir—a fizzy, probiotic-rich drink that’s dairy-free, vegan, and great for gut health. Perfect for beginners!
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How We Built A New Chicken Coop From Salvaged Materials
Spring is here and it is time for my girls to make the big move to Our Manor. This means that we needed to build another chicken coop for them to live in. This would be a temporary structure because we plan on building another coop later in our renovation project. Coops can be expensive and we are on a strict budget. In this post, I’ll show you how we built the new coop using salvaged materials.
