I knew nothing of the hobby until a friend and co-worker of mine introduced the idea. Of all places, I think the inspiration came from an episode of The Simpsons. Have you ever seen the one where Homer tries to make bathtub beer? Needless to say I wasn’t immediately sold on the idea but decided to give it a shot. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

At first it almost felt like we were wading into illegal territory. A run to a local brew shop just blocks from the Arizona State University campus made it seem even more lascivious. I undeniably enjoyed drinking alcohol so the prospect of creating it with my own two hands seemed pretty damn amazing. An hour or so later, the friendly brewer had helped us assemble a kit complete with everything we needed to brew our first batch of beer.

The process proved to be nothing short of great mystery and intrigue. Were we following the instructions right? Did we put the hops in at the right time? Did we aerate the wort enough? Was it the right temperature before we pitched the yeast? Was everything sanitized properly? We’d have to wait a long four weeks before getting it into bottles and then another couple weeks beyond that before we could relish our first taste of that liquid bread we’d toiled over what seemed like ages ago.

As it turns out, our first batch was a hit and then I guess you could say we had both been officially bitten by the brew bug. Like a religious ritual, every four to six weeks we gathered around a stainless steel brew pot and assembled the next beer of the month while sipping down a few cold ones from the previous batch. This tradition carried on for a handful of years until life took my brew buddy and me in two different directions. Since it was a 50/50 investment, we opted to split the brew setup down the middle. Half going with me and half going with my brew buddy made the split seem like an awkward breakup, deflating the sails of this once jovial pastime.

I packed my apartment with Homestead Hottie and made the long trek up the mountain to Flagstaff, Arizona where we planned to launch a new chapter of our lives together. Talina must have sensed my depression creeping in over the loss of my hobby because that Christmas she bought me everything I needed to complete the one half of the brew rig I painfully hauled up to the high country.

Flagstaff had a pretty exciting craft brew scene cooking along with a well-stocked homebrew shop, something I have now come to realize was pretty remarkable for a town of just 50,000 people (most of them crunchy in some sort of way). I brewed off and on and even found a new friend and co-worker that was also into homebrewing. Sometimes, having a brew buddy is just the perfect motivation to punching out some extra energy and getting a batch made. It also helps when several of your friends and coworkers really seem to enjoy chugging down the fruits of your labor. I was in a brewing groove for our 5 years in Flagstaff but when it came time to pack the brew rig up again, I was feeling defeated again.

Our nomadic lifestyle took Homestead Hottie and I to where we still are today: southwestern Indiana. The last three years has proved busy without a doubt and felt like we’ve been moving at warp speed ever since our vintage RV limped us on into town. A new job, the birth of our first child, a layoff, another new job and then the birth of our second child last August seemed to all happen in a flash. The powder keg of life just happens and then you get over it.

Needless to say I haven’t had much time to brew, let alone the toddler-free space to tuck a 5-gallon glass jug full of fermenting beer away for a few weeks. Thanks to the gift of another batch of brew ingredients from Talina, I’m finally jumping back on the brew horse again. I’m breaking myself in with an Irish Red Ale kit and am once again sweating the small stuff while I wait. Was my yeast alive when it pitched? Was the fermentation enough even though it seemed dead? Was the wort exposed to too much oxygen?

I just finished racking my Irish Red Ale over to the secondary fermenter and will bottle in another two weeks. Only then will I know for sure if I’m going to be able to fully get my brew mojo back and ferment some wicked ales. Time to sip a cold one and wait.

Since my layoff last year and the landing of my new job, we’ve done little to support the economy. Homestead Hottie and I have an ever expanding list of wants but have come to the realization that most of it doesn’t even matter. We let products absolutely wear themselves out before replacing them. Some might say we’re cheap. We like to think we’re smart and frugal, so something as unimportant as a doormat will often get forgotten about.

It was forgotten until last month when we had to breeze through our local Menards to pickup some hardware to repair our gate (something we did decide to spring for). Not only do we often “save big money” at Menards but we love their product rebate system on select items. While we were buying our hardware both Homestead Hottie and I groaned to each other that we wanted to replace the doormat. If we’re both in agreement then we know it’s time to pull the trigger and part with the cash.

Taking a gander at their doormat aisle resulted in a pleasant surprise for us new age, non-stinky hippies. Stocked from floor to top shelf were a dozen or so styles of doormats all made from recycled tires and made in the grand ‘ol U.S.A

The first thing we noticed about the door mats made by Multy Home was their look. It’s a classy door mat you can be proud of and nothing like that $1.99 faux grass plastic wonder. Second was the weight and tough construction of the rubber and coconut fiber mats. It feels and looks heavy duty enough to stand the heaving traffic of kids, pets, four season weather and anyone else who might come knocking at your door. While more expensive than the “cheap” door mats, we didn’t think the pricing was too out of line.

We opted for a cobblestone pattern on our recycled tire door mat and I’m anxious to see how well it holds up over the next several months. I’m hoping the old treads that used to propel a vehicle will hold up to a year or more worth of foot traffic treading across the threshold of my Half-Acre Homestead.

*NOTE: I did not receive any compensation for this product review. This is my opinion of a product we recently purchased.

Proof positive that raised bed gardening has its perks: I unearthed these gems this cold late December afternoon out in the garden here at the Half-Acre Homestead. These were planted in late spring and there are many more in line to mature behind them. For anybody who doubts you can grow your own food in the winter this should tell you otherwise!

Photo by Greg Bagley

Are you looking for a cheap, easy way to create several nesting boxes for your laying hens at once? I saw this fantastic setup over at McMurray Hatchery’s Homesteading Chores Ideas and Contraptions Contest that just ended a couple of weeks ago.

It’s basically a wooden rack that holds two stories of 5 gallon buckets that look to make excellent nesting boxes. The plus with Greg Bagley’s design is that the buckets are secured so they won’t move but are also easily removed for cleaning. Click the link above to see more photos and read Greg’s assembly instructions.

Our coop is way to small for this setup here at the Half-Acre Homestead but I hope to keep this idea in the noggin for future use. Do you have a unique nesting box setup? Leave a comment below and let us know!

The PooPooPaper card stock and envelope are crafted from a giant heap of steaming elephant poo, recycled without one whiff or clue to its origin and now resting between your fingers. Some co-workers were disgusted. I was delighted and now I’ll share the poopy greeting with you!

The envelope, giving only the slightest of hint as to the contents inside

The front...

The inside...

The reveal on the back...

A closeup of the logo

It’s exciting to see that the Home Depot has brought back one of my favorite programs for the fourth year in a row: their annual Eco-Options Christmas Light Trade-In Event. Bring in any old incandescent string of Christmas lights (working or not) and receive a $3 to $5 credit toward the purchase of a new, energy efficient light strand. You can get a credit for up to 5 strands and you have until the 13th of November to participate.

What is exciting about this year’s trade-in is that they are allowing the credit to be used on all three major collections of LED lights they’re carrying including the Martha Stewart brand. Last year I was disappointed to find my Home Depot stores cleaned out of the few options they actually allowed for trade so props to them for expanding the program this year.

Are you wondering why you should trade up to LED Christmas lights? Click here to read more. If you’d like to know more about what Home Depot does to those old light strands once you trade them in, they produced a quick video this year explaining the process. Now go get your energy efficiency on this Christmas!

We did and last night marked one of my favorite nights when it comes to the kitchen garden. It’s what I have affectionately dubbed the Hustle Harvest. This hurried effort is brought on once a year, every fall, when the forecast calls for the first frost of the season. When the call for frost is finally made by the National Weather Service, we bundle up and hustle through the garden harvesting every bit of tender produce that will be ruined by frost. Tomatoes, peppers, basil and other tender herbs that are still hanging on need to be picked.  Even all those green tomatoes will ripen over the next few weeks inside your home. You might even have delicious, bright red homegrown tomatoes to share at your Thanksgiving feast.

Last night was no exception. Talina and Everly had picked most of the tomato plants clean by the time I got home and had quite the wagon load waiting for me to haul in. I bundled up and with the fall nip descending as quickly as the sunset, hustled around picking a load of late season peppers and trimming down the basil plants. We ended up with abouts 30lbs. of green tomatoes that will ripen inside over the next couple of months, 2lbs. of bell and banana peppers and several bushels of fresh basil. The kitchen smells wonderful…that heady spicy scent of basil filling the air.

True, the Hustle Harvest means the end to another gardening season. This one was not quite so productive but it means the beginning to a new gardening year is just around the corner. The anticipation will last all winter.

Hustle Harvest 2011 netted about 30lbs. of green tomatoes, another large bushel of basil for drying and a handful of bell and banana peppers.