Natural Living
Discover our best ideas + advice on the world of natural living. Discover topics on natural beauty, natural home, and natural remedies.
Medicinal Plants and How to Use Them
Plants have been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years and are still used today because of their many health benefits! Herbs can be used for all sorts of things including helping to heal colds, aiding in pregnancy, soothing aches and pains, and filling your body with necessary vitamins and minerals. Whether you like…
DIY Aloe Vera Gel
I first had the idea to make my own aloe vera gel when a dear friend and mentor propogated her aloe vera plant for me. I must’ve been a bit sunburned at the time, although I can’t say I remember exactly what inspired her to make the new plant. She grabbed an old tin Folgers…
How to Make Beeswax Taper Candles
Lately, I’ve been enjoying using beeswax taper candles around my home to provide a cozy atmosphere and to make dinner time feel more special. I don’t know about you, but whenever I walk into a store and they have a display of beeswax candles, I just ohh and ahh about them, wishing I could buy…
DIY Dry Shampoo
If you’re like me, washing your hair everytime it’s dirty, just isn’t realistic. I first discovered dry shampoo in college. I was busy with studying, working, dating the love of my life, trying to network and plan for my future, and I definitely didn’t have the budget for bougie dry shampoo. So, like most of…
How to Make Natural Citrus Vinegar Cleaning Spray
A month ago, I was juicing a whole bag of lemons and was left with so many peels. I couldn’t stand the thought of throwing them all away, so I knew I had to come up with a solution. I decided my scrap lemon peels would be the perfect thing to use to make a…
Wellness Shot Recipe
Fighting off a cold? Trying to recover from a bout of sickness? This wellness shot recipe is your one-stop shop for boosting immunity and staying healthy. We first discovered this recipe during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were riding to the airport when our uber driver explained her tip for staying well– this…
Homemade Toothpaste Recipe
Does an affordable, all natural, zero waste toothpaste sound too good to be true? Think again! With just a few simple household ingredients, you can have this whitening, brightening, strengthening toothpaste in a matter of minutes. We’ve tried all of the toothpaste brands–even amongst the natural brands, it seems like the ingredients get so complicated,…
Homemade Lemon Elderberry Herbal Cough Drops
This late January has been rainy and cold and I couldn’t think of a better time to make a batch of these super easy natural cough drops. Cough drops first came out around the mid 1800’s and since then, they’ve grown into a very normal part of our sick day routines. Unfortunately, cough drops that…
Essential Oil Roller Recipes
There are so many benefits to incorporating essential oils into your routine. While diffusing essential oils is great for lifting your mood and freshening up your space, essential oil rollers are great for treating common ailments. They’re also great for aromatherapy! In this article we’ll cover the basics of how to use essential oils as…
How to Whiten Laundry Naturally
If you’re like me, having a visibly clean home is non-negotiable. When sheets start to look a bit dingy, I can hardly stand it. After some trial and error, I finally landed on this solution for how to whiten laundry naturally. My go-to whitening formula is natural and toxin-free and it totally gets the job…
Homemade Soap, The Melt and Pour Method
What better modern homesteading skill is there to learn than how to make soap? Although many of us are accustomed to liquid soap and even fragrant, foamy soap, bar soap that is all natural is not that difficult to make and smells beautiful. Plus, when you make homemade soap you can be sure to avoid…
Homemade Wooden Spoon and Cutting Board Conditioning Wax
If you live in a dry area, or you’ve left your wooden utensils to soak in water for too long, you may find that they have become sandpapery and dry. If you’re like me, you have a bunch of wooden spoons that you love, but sometimes neglect. They end up sitting on your counter looking…
Easy DIY Bath Bombs Recipe
Do you think of things like body scrub and bath bombs as an unnatural luxury? Think again! Learn how to make beautiful, all-natural bathbombs and enjoy a little more self care time. You’ll need a few ingredients you might not have on hand– like citric acid, but once you’ve got what you need, you’ll be…
14 Lost Homesteading Skills To Learn This Year
We live in a time where everything is super accessible. We no longer need to knit our own sweaters, or make our own laundry baskets. And while the accessibility we have is a gift, we have lost something beautiful while getting here. The number of skilled artisans is slowly dwindling as handmade goods have been…
Things To Do In The Winter: How To Thrive, Not Just Survive
“Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extra-ordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through.” Katherine May It’s winter time, and for many of us, especially those of…
How to Make a Homemade Wreath
If you’re inspired to learn the art of wreath-making, all you need are a few tools and some foraged greenery. Follow these five steps exactly and you’ll have a professional looking wreath in a couple of hours. The Wreath-Making Tradition If you’re like me, growing up, making wreaths was something the matriarchs did–my mother and…
10 Handmade Gifts to Make This Season
The Christmas season is here, and many of us are making lists of what we’re going to gift to our loved ones. Some difficulties many people run into, include budget and finding something special for that person who has everything. That’s where homemade gifts come in! They are cost effective and because they are handmade,…
How to Make Lip Balm
Learning to make homemade lip balm will save you countless dollars and is also a fun DIY project. This project is beginner-friendly–all you need are a few ingredients and a little patience. You’ll be stocking your friends and family up on natural lip balm in no time, just like our homemade soap recipe and our…
9 Ways to Urban Homestead
You may have noticed the explosion of homesteading. Maybe your friends are talking about buying a plot of land and farming together, or you may have seen a slew of sundress wearing women, filming harvest videos in their gardens. But maybe, like me you’re stuck in an apartment in the city or have very little…
11 Natural Products We Love!
These days, there’s a huge influx of natural products that have made their way onto the market. Some are legitimately wonderful products, while others boast a laundry list of eco-friendly benefits that they can’t really stand behind. This makes it a bit hard to weed out the green washers. Here, I’ve compiled a list of…
Homemade Elderberry Syrup Recipe
As cold weather draws near, I find myself hunkering down and preparing homemade remedies that will help me stay healthy and feeling my best throughout the winter. I spend time in the warmth of the summer, foraging herbs and berries to make into tinctures and tea for when the weather outside is too cold to…
How to Compost
Learning how to compost is a great way to get started on homesteading with no money, and even while living in the city. Composting can be an important practice if you want to live a sustainable lifestyle and produce minimal waste. Read on to learn how to compost, no matter where you live. Reduce, reuse,…
How to Forage and Use Rose Hips
Roses are a part of the family Rosaceae, which is a large family of plants that include roses, apples, pears and many more. The rose hip is the seed pod of a single rose. The red outer flesh protects a pocket of seeds and tastes slightly floral, sweet, and tart. The rose hip has been…
How to Start Homesteading with No Money
If you have a passion for homesteading, don’t hesitate to get started. Although homesteading has traditionally been a form of self-sufficient living on a plot of land, “modern homesteading” is a way to get started even if you’re broke. Modern homesteading is simply a way of partaking in the aspects of homesteading that are accessible…
Fire Cider Recipe: How to Make it at Home
Fire cider, a name coined by herbalist Rosemary Gladstar in the late 1970’s is a remedy that has been around for a very long time. Fire cider falls into the category of oxymels, which can be traced all the way back to ancient Greece! An oxymel is a tonic made up of vinegar and honey…
14 Tips for a Zero Waste Kitchen
Growing our own food and preparing it all from scratch feels like an impossibility nowadays. Buying pre-made foods wrapped in shiny plastic and filled with preservatives has become the new standard in our modern world. So, why try to build a zero waste kitchen? What is zero waste? The term “zero waste” comes from the idea…
How to Make Homemade Cleaning Spray
If you like to keep a clean kitchen, having a trustworthy general-purpose cleaning spray on hand is a must. That’s why we’re obsessed with this diy cleaning spray. I first discovered the simplicity of homemade cleaning spray working as a barista at a local coffeehouse. We kept a bottle on hand at all times—half vinegar, half…
DIY Reusable Coffee Filters
I started using a pourover coffee maker about a year ago and I absolutely love it. The one drawback is the amount of waste the coffee filters create and how quickly I run through them. I’ve found myself more than once without filters and really wanting a cup of coffee. Not to mention, the filters…
How to Make Homemade Conditioner
I’ll always remember the first time I used coconut milk conditioner on my hair. My mom made a rare splurge and bought luxury coconut milk shampoo and conditioner, and I was in love. It teleported me to a tropical oasis of shiny, frizz-free, nourished hair. Unsurprisingly, my fondness for coconut milk conditioner inspired this easy…
How to Take Care of your Clothes
This post contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission if you make a purchase after clicking on these links. Today, washing your clothes seems ultra simple. Throwing all your darks or whites into the wash, adding detergent, choosing the hottest cycle and starting it up is kind of how I roll. What…
How to Get Started Eating Seasonally
The movement to eat seasonally & locally is relatively new. It came about in the twentieth century due to the government subsidizing crops like corn and soy. For most of history up until that point, eating seasonally & locally was a given. Even though global food trading started as early as the iron age, it…
How to Make DIY Sea Salt Spray
For straight and flat hair individuals, like myself, going to the beach can make for a great hair day. I love letting my hair crunch up with salty ocean water to achieve the “natural” beach wave look. But in reality, this actually leaves my hair dry, tangled, and sad. I also live nowhere near the…
Easy DIY Sugar Scrub Recipe
Nothing makes for a relaxing shower time ritual like an exfoliating sugar scrub. Learn how to make one from a few simple ingredients in this easy sugar scrub recipe. (Psst! If you like this sugar scrub recipe, you’ll love learning how to make bath salts.) Growing up, body scrub products were a special luxury. They were…
How to Make Homemade Candles
Is there anything better than sitting down with a cup of tea or coffee in the morning and lighting your favorite candle? In our opinion, candles are absolutely essential. You can use them year round to brighten your mood and add the most beautiful scents to your space. We love fresh scented candles for the…
What’s a CSA? Tips for Eating Locally
I think we can all agree that eating locally sounds ideal, but for many it’s hard to know where to even begin. Not only is it hard to know how to get started, but eating locally consistently can sound very expensive and a bit out of reach. For a while, I thought the only way…
