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Our Life. Our Story.
Welcome to the Wilderstead! Here, we share practical tips, inspiration, and insights on living self-sufficiently in the wild. From growing your own food and raising livestock to foraging, preserving, and off-grid living, our goal is to empower you to embrace a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle. Whether you're just starting your homesteading journey or looking to deepen your connection with nature, Wilderstead offers resources and inspiration to help you thrive in the wilderness. Join our community and start your adventure today!
Our Greenhouse In March – Harvesting Vegetables In Winter In Zone 3
Our Small Four Season Winter Greenhouse It’s the beginning of March! Spring is now less than 20 days away. Lets have a look inside the...
Stay Connected During Power Outages with Bluetti EB3A
We often find ourselves far away from a source of power, so we decided to get a portable power station, and we were excited when...
We Plant These 4 Seeds in February To Maximize Our Veggie Yields!
Home Grown Asparagus From Seed In Northern Ontario, our secret to successfully growing pounds and pounds of vegetable crops despite our...
YEARS In The MAKING And A HUGE Winter Greenhouse Upgrade
Taking some time to answer your winter greenhouse questions. We’ve been experimenting with growing food over the winter in a greenhouse...
Our Greenhouse In January – We’re Still Harvesting Food In Our Winter Hot House
It’s January. It’s -20 outside. We’re not in the far north, but we’re definitely north enough that winter growing takes a little effort....
Our Smoked Candied Salmon Recipe – Garlic Maple Glazed Trout & Salmon
Two things that we really love about this area: Maple Syrup and fresh fish from Lake Superior. Sometimes the two come together. This is...
Cowboy Candy | Candied Jalapenos To Warm The Soul
There is a special place in our hearts here at the Wilderstead for Cowboy Candy. This stuff is very addictive, which has lead to its...
POTATO TOWERS 2020 – Comparing Buckets vs Rows vs Towers – Small Space Backyard Potato P
We eat a ton of potatoes. Probably more than most folks do. We make poutine at least once or twice a week, so it’s safe to say that we go...
A New Goat Pen & A New Goat On The Wilderstead | Pulling Welded Wire Goat Fence With An ATV
We are expanding our herd of goats this summer! Woohoo! So that means we need to get an entire new goat enclosure and area set up. We’ve...
Spring Chickens On The WIlderstead! Our first Chicks Hatched On The Homestead
New life on the Wilderstead this morning! Mother Clucker and Gertrude have been patiently sharing a nesting box sitting on eggs. We don’t...
Two Simple SOLAR Powered IRRIGATION Systems We Use For Our Off Grid Greenhouse & Gardens
As we slowly make our transition to an off grid property, we continue to experiment with various alternative sources for power. These are...
The CHALLENGES of GARDENING on the CANADIAN SHIELD – Planting An Apple Orchard in Northern Ont
To say we have a lot of rocks here on the Wilderstead is an understatement. It makes gardening in northern Ontario on the Canadian Shield...
Catching & Pressure Canning Fresh Wild Rainbow Trout/Steelhead From Lake Superior
Our Recipe For Pressure Canning Fresh Wild Salmon Spring time. One thing that we love to do here is go fishing for lake Superior rainbow...
Building A DIY Greenhouse – A High Tunnel Hoop House To Extend Growing Season In Northern Onta
We have a short growing season here. June through September – in a good year. After building our first greenhouse for spring seedlings...
How To Make Maple Syrup At Home In Your Own Backyard Step By Step
Learn everything you need to know from tapping your trees to filtering and bottling your own maple syrup right here! Everyone loves it...
Trees Are Tapped – The Sap Be Flowin | 2020 Maple Syrup Season Has Begun | Our Dog Directed Th
It’s officially maple season! I had no idea our dog Caddis would be so talented with a camera. We strapped a GoPro to her while we were...
Snowshoeing The Sugar Bush | 2020 Maple Syrup Season Kickoff In Algoma, Northern Ontario
Here we are once again, getting ready for the 2020 maple syrup season in the Algoma region of Northern Ontario! Our file cabinet sap...
Insulating the North Wall of the Off Grid Winter Greenhouse | And Digging Out Our Weather Station
We had an amazingly warm weekend here on the Wilderstead! We took the time to get the north wall of our off grid solar powered greenhouse...
Reclaimed Building Materials Haul | An Awesome Score Of Free Stuff & A Visit To Sault Ste Mari
We lucked out BIG TIME!! A friendly neighbour of ours who watches our channel and follows us across our social medias got in touch a...
DIY Pallet Shelves In The Off Grid Winter Garden Greenhouse & Don’t Make This Mistake
Sometimes you make mistakes. They can be big mistakes, small mistakes, or just mistakes that leave you scratching your head saying why? I...
6 Month Update On Our DIY Dew Worm Bait Farm | Raising Canadian Nightcrawlers At Home
A six month update on building and setting up a homemade Canadian Nightcrawler worm farm. Dew worms, or nightcrawlers are one of the most...
Solar Power In Our Greenhouse | An Off Grid Winter Garden Greenhouse in Canada For Year Round Food
This is a huge step for step us towards our self sufficient goals. A four season, year round greenhouse heated with wood and using solar...
How We Built Our Northern Chicken Coop & Using The Deep Litter Compost Method
A quick look at how we built our northern chicken coop and using the deep litter composting method in the coop to help generate a little...
Our Wood Heated Greenhouse | Heating An Off Grid Winter Garden Greenhouse in Canada year round food
This is a huge step for step us towards our self sufficient goals. A four season, year round greenhouse heated with wood. It’s a tough...
DIY Smoker | Our Woodstove Meat Smoker | How To Make A Homemade Offset Smoker For Hot & Cold Sm
This DIY smoker was a bit of a head scratcher at first. This is our repurposed homemade offset smoker. We built this meat smoker from a...
FORAGE AND FEAST | Coho Salmon | Yellowfoot & Golden Chanterelle | Puffballs | Lake Superior Fi
A tasty wild meal prepared from fresh lake Superior Coho salmon, Yellowfoot Chanterelles (winter chanterelles), Golden Chanterelles and...
Fall Mushroom Foraging | YELLOWFOOT Chanterelles & Puffballs | Wild Mushrooms of Northern Ontar
Fall mushroom foraging for Yellowfoot Chanterelles, also known as winter mushroom, or Funnel Chanterelle. These fall mushrooms begin to...
Canning & Preserving Fresh Wild Chanterelle Mushrooms
Often, the biggest problem with foraging wild mushrooms is having too many. Canning and preserving wild chanterelle mushrooms is a great...
Foraging For Chanterelle Mushrooms In Algoma, Northern Ontario
Chanterelle Mushrooms is the common name of several species of wild edible mushrooms in the genera Cantharellus. I was lucky to get out...
Broadleaf Plantain – Harvesting & Cooking The Flowering Shoots Of Plantago Major
Broadleaf Plantain (plantago major) is one of the most common edible backyard weeds that has been used for centuries for its medicinal...
Raising Canadian Nightcrawlers At Home | DIY Dew Worm Farm
How to build and set up a homemade Canadian Nightcrawler worm farm. Dew worms, or nightcrawlers are one of the most popular fishing baits...
Foraging For Trout Lily in Northern Ontario
WATCH: FORAGING FOR TROUT LILY – WHERE TO FIND AND HOW TO HARVEST
A Day On The Ice | Tilley Lakes | Walleye Ice Fishing in Central Algoma Northern Ontario | First Ice
Come along for a day of adventure, ice fishing in northern Ontario. We headed out to the Tilley Lakes in Algoma, northern Ontario for a...
Vacuum Sealer – Essential Homestead Tools
Ever since we got our first vacuum sealer, we’ve been hooked. You could say that it sealed the deal for us. There are many uses for a...
Fishing For Lake Superior Steelhead – Rainbow Trout of Lake Superior Provincial Park- May, 201
We’re surrounded by lakes and rivers in the Algoma region of northern Ontario. Every season has something to offer in the way of fishing....
Our Off Grid Salad Spinner Laundry Machine | Tiny House Appliance
Washing laundry in an off grid situation is tough. You have to think about energy use & water demands. We have a simple off grid...
Filtering Maple Syrup With Egg Whites
You can use egg white as a natural clarifying agent to filter maple syrup and remove impurities, including sediment and nitre. The...
How To Filter And Finish Maple Syrup
Filtering maple syrup after boiling is important. The filtering stage of making maple syrup will remove any ash or other debris that may...
How To Make Granulated Maple Sugar
To make maple sugar , the process is rather simple. You’ll need a sauce pan, a small amount of butter or oil, some maple syrup, a...
Should You Toss The Ice In Your Sap?
It’s a long standing debate in the maple sugaring community. Is Frozen Sap Just WATER? Does Frozen Sap Contain SUGAR? Should you leave...
A Homemade File Cabinet Sap Evaporator
We were in need of something more than just a turkey fryer to get our sap turned into syrup. The turkey fryer does indeed work well for...
2019 Maple Syrup Season Kickoff
The long, cold days of winter are quickly becoming a thing of the past! The first day of spring has come and gone. The snow is slowly...
Homemade Broom and Boot Brush Stand
When space is limited dual purpose items are very important. The entryway of our house is always full of snow and dirt so we really...
How To Make Chaga Tea Two Ways
Chaga freshly harvested from the Birch tree needs to be processed before you can make Chaga tea. Processing the Chaga right away is...
Making Birch Oil From Birch Bark – Ancient Medicine, Tar and a Natural Superglue
Today we bring a Bushcraft Special! VIDEO OUTLINING THE BIRCH OIL PROCESSING METHOD WE USE: Using our land in every way we can is very...
Chaga Hunting – What is Chaga & Sustainable Harvest of Chaga Mushroom For Tea
What is that weird black stuff that grows on Birch Trees? It just so happens that the weird black thing growing on your Birch tree is a...
4 Ways we Spend Less/More now that we Homestead
While it would be great if everything about homesteading was cheaper, not everything about homesteading saves us money. Here are a few...
Spring Has Arrived – And So Have The Bears
Mother Bear and 4 cubs in southern Manitoba It’s been a long winter. Our first full winter in Manitoba. And it seems that it’s not...
Dehydrated Tuna Pet Treats For Cats Dogs & People
If there’s one thing both Caddis our pooch and Minnow our 3 legged cat can agree on, it’s their love of dried fish treats. They both go...
$50 Collapsible Chicken Brooder – Lumnah Acres Inspired
Every spring, we invest in chickens to raise on our homestead. Some of these chickens will be added to our flock of laying hens, while...
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