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Shopping for an outdoorsy person can be hard. Being out in the forest or on a mountain doesn’t leave much room for scented candles or bath bombs. When you’re brainstorming presents for your eco-friendly friends, you have to think outside the box. Luckily, we havethree excellent gift ideas for nature-lovers that will make any forester smile.

Gear

Every camper, hiker, rock-climber, or forager will usually tell you the same thing when you ask them what they want: gear! You may think of the ever-expensive deluxe tent or the high-tech water filter, but these pricey options aren’t your only options. Carabiners, ropes, tent posts, and pickaxes often get lost or worn down, so people who spend a lot of time outdoors often have to buy these repeatedly. Even propane for a camping stove or MREs (“meals, ready to eat”) make excellent gifts for hardcore backpackers. Showing them that you know what they need to be safe and comfortable can be the perfect gift.

Eco-Conscious Snacks

Chances are, your outdoorsy friend cares about the environment. If their love language is food, sending them something that’s good for them and good for the Earth is a great idea. Stepping out of your comfort zone to bake rather than order something can add a little extra love. However, if you burn whatever you cook, there are other options. All-natural gift baskets are eco friendly, thoughtful, and customizable! Any long-lasting, easy-to-store food is anexcellent gift idea for nature-lovers.

Nature Guides

An atlas is an invaluable tool for roughing it; giving the recipient an atlas that’s specialized for the place they’re going to next can keep them safe. Some nature-lovers also enjoy seeing the rarities of the outdoors; for example, bird-watchers often love to make notes on what they’ve seen. Plus, the ability to identify different plants, fungi, and animals can be critical for outdoorsy people, especially with the trend of self-sustainability on the rise. Foragers need to know what’s growing around them.

Ultimately, you know your friend best. So consider what their passions are and why, and never be afraid to just ask what they want or need!

When you want to spend time with those closest to you in the summer, what location do you think of? Most imagine the backyard as a central hub spot for summer fun and socializing. However, after winter weather takes its toll, your yard may need a little TLC. If that’s the case for your outdoor area, follow these three tips for getting your backyard ready for summer!

Lawn Care

Use the changing weather as an opportunity to aerate and fertilize your lawn. Experts recommend that you aerate your lawn every two to three years during the springtime. This process will help your grass reach water, nutrients, and oxygen. In turn, you will have a more luscious lawn. Fertilization is an important part of the process. That said, it’s essential to find the right kind of fertilizer for the kind of grass and climate that surrounds you.

Landscaping

Prepare your landscaping to have a blooming, beautiful summer. Take a walk around your garden and prune your plants if needed. Take the time to water them with a bit more care than usual. They will be thrilled to have this kind of upkeep after the winter season. If possible, consider adding compost during spring as well. Compost will help your plants flourish and grow—and may even help ward off unwanted bugs or predators.

Entertainment

If you don’t have an area devoted to entertaining yet, now is the time to prepare your budget and yard. Consider adding a patio area for you and your friends or family to socialize on. If you already have one set up, pressure washing your patio and deck makes it looks brand new and welcoming again. This small step will go a long way to making your outdoor space summer ready. Additionally, decide what outdoor activities you’d like to have available to guests, whether a bean bag toss station or a life-size game of Jenga. Have peace of mind that you’ve created a beautiful space for your guests to enjoy when they come over this summer. Use these three tips for getting your backyard ready for summer. From your lawn care and landscaping to your entertainment, there are several ways you can invest in your backyard for the summertime!

After a long winter, warm weather makes us want to get out and do things. Home improvement projects are a favorite “to-do” in the spring, but it can be difficult to know where to start, especially if you don’t want to be wasteful. Here are three easy ways to create an eco-friendly home this spring that will create wonder and not waste.

Grow Something

Spring is the perfect time to start a garden or incorporate other kinds of plant growth into your home. While large gardens are ideal for maximum food growth, you may not have space for it. There are several great ways to increase your garden’s yield, even if it’s small, such as composting or stretching your growing season.

If you don’t have space for an outside garden, grow something inside. Leafy greens and root vegetables both grow well indoors, although some require more room than others. If your indoor growth space is limited, try herbs or “useless” plants. Plants that aren’t edible can still help clean your home’s air.

Eco-Friendly Building Materials

Taking on bigger home projects is a great way to take advantage of warmer spring weather. Sustainable building materials, such as high-density polyethylene sheets, are becoming more readily available, so your construction projects can keep your home eco-friendly.

Certain projects can even make use of materials you already have. Recycled windows make great greenhouses, which helps you reduce waste and provides an opportunity to get window treatments that will help regulate your home’s temperature. Additionally, you can make a chicken coop from almost any recycled material, from an old plastic playhouse to a rusted-out car.

Simple Swaps

Eco-friendliness comes down to the little things, too. In your kitchen, you can swap paper towels for reusable rags or use cloth totes for plastic bags. For your laundry, you can try dryer balls on wet days and line drying on clear days. Also, wash with cold water instead of hot—and only do so when the machine is full. The bathroom will benefit from a low-flow showerhead and homemade cleaning products in recycled containers. And the rest of your house will thank you for using LED lightbulbs, a smart thermostat, and power strips.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to make changes immediately. Use what you already have until it’s gone, even the less eco-friendly things. Throwing out half a box of dryer sheets because they’re not eco-friendly or letting your high-flow showerhead drip until you can afford a low-flow replacement doesn’t help the environment. Use or fix what you already have until you need a replacement, then choose an eco-friendly one.

As we welcome warm weather into our lives and use the new season to start home projects, remember to be as eco-friendly as possible. While these are three easy ways to create an eco-friendly home this spring, there are many more that will enhance your home and help the environment.

With rising inflation and rampant social unrest, many Americans are considering how to start living an off-grid lifestyle. For those who don’t know, an off-grid lifestyle means that your home doesn’t use public utilities such as the electric grid, gas lines, or running water. Instead, you will live off the land you own and typically grow your own food to sustain yourself.

Some of the reasons people might want to live off-grid include being self-reliant, increased privacy, and saving money. Regardless of your reasons, here are some helpful tips for beginning an off-grid lifestyle.

Pick the Best Location Possible

As with anything related to real estate, the most important thing is “location, location, location.” When you’re going off-grid, you want to make sure that the weather is tame, the soil is fertile, and you can handle any of the nearby wildlife.

If you live in an area that experiences droughts, you won’t be able to collect rain, so you will have to drive to a store to grab water. Although you can go off-grid anywhere, you may want to move to a more suitable area for this lifestyle.

Learn How To Grow Your Own Food

One of the main reasons people want to live off-grid is to quit their 9-to-5 jobs and live off the land. If this is the case for you, then you must learn how to grow your food so that you can support yourself.

As far as vegetables go, those will be the easiest crops to grow. But you should know about dwarf fruit trees as well because they can grow delicious fruit such as apples without taking up as much space in your garden. In addition, you might want to consider tending to livestock if you want to enjoy eggs, meat, and dairy. Otherwise, you might want to live near a body of water so you can go fishing once in a while.

Use Multiple Sources of Power

Going off-grid means that you will have to sacrifice some of the conveniences that come with an urban lifestyle. However, you can still use electricity in a limited capacity. You just have to get more creative with how you use it.

You will want to use multiple sources of power in your off-grid home, such as wind, solar, and hydropower, in case one of your power supplies fails. As a backup, you can use a generator that runs on gasoline, but you would need to drive to the store to replenish it after you use it. Nonetheless, solar power is generally a reliable power source, and issues related to reliability are one of the more common misconceptions about switching to solar energy.

Overall, switching to an off-grid lifestyle is a dream for many, but you must first learn how to do it properly. Now that you know a few tips for beginning an off-grid lifestyle, you can start living a life of wanderlust without a hitch.

The ability to consume homegrown food gives you a sense of pride. Therefore, if you’re looking to improve your egg game, it may be time to consider raising your own chickens. Here are the benefits of having a chicken coop in your backyard.

Fresh Eggs Are Nutritious & Delicious

You could begin getting your first eggs when your chickens turn four months old. The eggs may appear small at first, but the flavor will be exceptional. When it comes to taste, fresh eggs crush the ones you can purchase at the store, as the farm-to-store process can ruin the quality of the eggs. 

Fresh eggs are also often smoother and creamier in texture. These differences will be visible once you prepare a plate of scrambled eggs or fry the eggs in a skillet. Buying eggs from the store is always a gamble, considering you don’t know how long they’ve been sitting on the shelf. However, you’re fully aware of what to expect when you use your own chicken’s eggs. 

You’ll Get Premier Compost

Although discussing manure isn’t on the list of topics for making small talk, chicken droppings are valuable in various ways. An ordinary hen might generate nearly two cubic feet of waste annually. Compostable chicken dung may aid soil aeration and provide the ground with additional resources such as phosphate and potassium.

Even if you aren’t a gardener yourself, you can put these compost in containers for someone else to use. Of course, working with manure can lead to unfortunate byproducts such as ammonia, which is hazardous to your health. So make sure to clean your coop frequently, provide good ventilation, and use the right bedding.

It’s Humane

There’s no need to worry about inhumane practices when you raise your own chickens for their eggs. Unlike some poultry farms, which use methods for mass production, you can focus on providing a good quality of life for your hens. Some chickens know only a life of living in small cages with multiple other birds. Your chicken coop will act as a sanctuary compared to anything else.

You Can Earn Some Extra Cash

If you have enough hens, you may wind up with more eggs than you can consume. Some folks sell the leftover eggs and rake in supplementary income. This venture has many business hoops to jump through, so you’ll have to consider if the juice is worth the squeeze. 

The benefits of having a chicken coop in your backyardrange from providing a humane way to raise animals and creating fresh, valuable compost to aid any garden. The next time you ponder what your backyard needs, maybe a chicken coop should be on the agenda.