Everyday Homesteading
Desperate to grow, cook, and preserve real food for your family in only 5-10 hours a week, but stuck as a new homesteader looking for practical, tried and true methods that work? You wanted those pantry shelves filled yesterday, but the more you try, the more it seems a distant pipe dream. Online content is filled with impractical, untried homesteading advice, which wastes your precious time and money. Everyday Homesteading steps in with practical, tested solutions, cutting through the chaos with clear plans tailored for busy beginners to reclaim your family’s health and independence through gardening, raising livestock, fresh seasonal cooking, herbal medicine and safe food preservation. Hosted by veteran homesteaders, Josh and Carolyn Thomas, who grow 70% of their family’s food while running two businesses and homeschooling their large family, they have mastered practical homesteading for busy modern families. They have taught hundreds of thousands of new homesteaders to thrive with real-life homesteading through their online platforms Homesteading Family and School of Traditional Skills. Tune in weekly to learn how to grow, cook, and preserve your family’s food, ditch health-destroying toxins, and save money monthly on groceries, all while building strong relationships and a sustainable legacy for your kids. Hit play now!
Episodes
What does a “Year of Rest” actually look like on a working homestead?
In this episode, we’re reflecting on our decision to slow down over the past year, what changed, what stayed the same, and what surprised us along the way. We share how cutting big projects brought more margin into our days, why rest doesn’t mean the work disappears, and how an unplanned cabin build for the next generation fit into our bigger vision.
This is an hon...
If you have ever found yourself saying, “This winter, we’ll finally rest,” you are not alone. Josh and I have joked about it for years, imagining a slower season that somehow never quite arrives on its own.
In this episode of Everyday Homesteading, I’m sharing what I’ve been learning about real rest. Not just getting more sleep, but the kind of deep, soul-level rest that brings clarity, peace, and renewed purpose. The kind of rest t...
Welcome back to Everyday Homesteading. Today I’m sitting down with two people I deeply respect and always enjoy talking with, Shawn and Beth Dougherty. If you have ever wondered whether a family milk cow actually fits into a busy modern homestead, or if you’ve been feeling that tug toward a simpler, more land-rooted way of feeding your family, this conversation is for you.
Shawn and Beth have spent more than twenty-five years raisin...
Mistakes happen on every homestead, and today we are sharing some of our biggest ones from the past year so you can learn right alongside us. Whether it is garden chaos, livestock mishaps, or ignoring that little voice of intuition, these lessons are part of growing wiser and more resilient on the homestead.
We are also chatting about winter prep, homeschool rhythms, fruit flies in the pantry, and a few behind–the–scenes s...
Learn how to make cheese the traditional way using natural raw milk cultures like clabber, kefir, and backsplash whey.
In this conversation with Robyn Jackson from Cheese From Scratch, we dig into how to create and maintain your own starter cultures, how to troubleshoot clabber that smells a little funky, and how to use these cultures to make everything from cream cheese to aged wheels.
This episode covers:
<...
In this episode of Everyday Homesteading, we open up about cultivating contentment in every season of our homestead life. It's easy to feel grateful when everything is going smoothly, but true contentment is often built in the hard moments.
Today, we talk about choosing gratitude, navigating overwhelm, balancing the desire to grow with the ability to rest, and finding joy in whatever season you are in.
✅ For...
If you’ve ever wondered how to rehydrate dehydrated food so it actually tastes good, this episode is for you! Join me with guest Darcy Baldwin from The Purposeful Pantry as we share our best tips for dehydrating and rehydrating food for everyday use, not just for emergencies.
You’ll learn:
✅ How to rehydrate vegetables, fruits, and meats for soups, casseroles, and skillet meals
✅ Why dehydrating is one of the easie...
We’re in that cozy shoulder season where the garden is winding down, the last jars are cooling on the counter, and the big question creeps in, did we do enough?
In this episode, we're talking about how our family prioritizes filling the pantry without burning out. We cover the calm power of buying staples in bulk, simple preservation that fits your real life, and the secret weapon that gets us through winter even without a root...
What would it really take to feed your family if the grocery stores closed tomorrow? In this episode of Everyday Homesteading, Josh talks with survival expert and herbalist Sam Coffman, author of Survival Gardening: Grow Your Own Emergency Food Supply, about how to build a garden that truly sustains life.
Learn how to choose calorie-dense crops, build living soil, and use every layer of your garden for maximum yield. Sam shares prac...
As the seasons change, our bodies need a little extra care to stay balanced and healthy. In this episode, I’m sharing how our family supports our immune systems with simple, time-tested rhythms instead of quick fixes.
From bone broth and fermented foods to elderberry syrup and herbal teas, these are the habits that keep us thriving through fall and winter.
You’ll learn how to build a natural wellness routine that fits into your dail...
If your garden struggled this year — plants wilting, pests taking over, and harvests falling short — don’t lose heart. The problem isn’t your green thumb… it’s your soil. 🌱
In this episode of Everyday Homesteading, we are going back to the basics and talking about the foundation of every healthy, productive garden: living soil.
We’ll walk you through the six essential elements your soil needs to thrive, from minerals and organic mat...
Why do so many homesteaders quit before they ever see their gardens thrive or their shelves fill with home-canned food?
In this episode of Everyday Homesteading, I sit down with my friend Melissa K. Norris to talk honestly about burnout, expectations that don’t match real life, and the simple habits that make homesteading sustainable.
We share personal stories, the mistakes we made, and the practical rhythms that helped us keep goi...
In this episode of Everyday Homesteading, we're taking the fear out of canning and putting confidence back in your kitchen. If you’ve ever thought, “I’ve tried so many tutorials and still don’t feel like I actually know what I’m doing,” or “I’m terrified I’ll waste good food or make my family sick,” this one is for you. I'm breaking canning safety down into simple, step-by-step principles so you can stock your shelves wit...
Let’s talk about starting homesteading when money is tight and time is even tighter. In this Everyday Homesteading episode, we show you how to begin right where you are, in the kitchen, and build skills that naturally grow into gardens, livestock, and a well-stocked pantry. No acreage required, no 40 extra hours a week, no influencer-level gear.
In this episode:
• Why every homestead should start in the kitchen
• Budget ho...
Five “weeds,” tons of medicine. In today’s Everyday Homesteading episode, Carolyn sits down with herbalist Dr. Patrick Jones to unpack practical, safe uses for five common wild herbs: mallow/marshmallow/hollyhock (roots), plantain (leaf), burdock (root), stinging nettle (leaf/seed/root), and mullein (leaf/flower/root).
What you’ll learn:
- Mallow family roots for soothing mucous membranes and calming “die lines” in stubborn wounds
- P...
We’ve got some BIG news to share with you! 🎉 After nearly seven years and more than 250 episodes, we’re wrapping up The Pantry Chat Podcast… but don’t worry, this isn’t the end. It’s the beginning of something new!
👉 Welcome to the Everyday Homesteading Podcast.
In this episode, we reflect on the heart behind the Pantry Chat, share what’s happening on the homestead right now, and reveal why we’re relaunching und...
In this episode of the Pantry Chat, I sit down with my friend Rory Groves from @thegrovestead to talk about his family’s journey from a tech career in the city to raising six kids on a homestead in Minnesota.
Rory’s story will resonate with anyone who’s ever felt the tug to get out of the rat race and build something lasting with their family. What started with a single tomato plant on a city balcony turned into a thrivi...
Do you ever wonder how to safely use herbal medicine at home? Whether it’s tinctures, teas, powders, or capsules, figuring out the right dose can feel a little overwhelming, especially if you’re just starting out.
In this week’s Pantry Chat, I’m joined by Dr. Patrick Jones from HomegrownHerbalist.net to break it all down in a simple, practical way.
We’re covering:
🌿 The pros and cons of different herbal prep...
Honey is so much more than a sweetener... It’s medicine. In this episode of the Pantry Chat, I sit down with beekeeper and herbalist Kaylee Richardson from The Honeystead to explore how combining bee products like honey, propolis, and beeswax with herbs can take your natural remedies to the next level.
We’ll cover:
🌿 Why bees are the “original herbalists”
🍯 How honey makes herbal medicine more effective (and bett...
It’s midsummer here on the homestead, and that means the harvest is rolling in, the to-do list is growing, and the kitchen floor is… sticky.
In this Pantry Chat, we're talking about:
🌱 What to plant now for a winter harvest (and why August is the perfect time)
🐛 How to deal with grasshopper invasions when you can’t keep chickens
🥬 The easiest way to grow lettuce without spending forever washing it
�...
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