Down Home Blog

Margaret Boyles lives in a wood-heated house in central New Hampshire. She grows vegetables, keeps chickens, swims in a backyard pond in summer, snowshoes in the surrounding woods in winter, and commutes by bike whenever possible.

Natural ways to tame bad smells

July 10, 2011

Part 1: neutralizing odors around the house, in the car

July 5, 2011

As someone who spent many midlife years training for and competing in summer triathlons and who enjoys a physically demanding self-reliant rural life, I count heat and cold among my most important first-aid remedies.

June 15, 2011

A baker’s dozen of safe, cheap, natural, multi-purpose essentials

June 6, 2011

Every four or five years, I suffer a temporarily deafening buildup of ear wax. It usually hits me early in the outdoor swimming season, when pond water seeps in behind and around the growing wax ball.

May 30, 2011

The humble oat (Avena sativa) has a long history of medicinal uses use that continues to this day.

May 23, 2011

Admit it, the crisp, flaky outer scales of the onions you use in soups, salads, and casseroles usually end up in the trash (or perhaps more usefully, the compost bin).