Kombucha

The Best Online Classes for Learning Traditional Skills – Bread Making, Fresh-Milled Flour, Homemade Cheese, Herbal Medicine, Canning, Preserving, Gardening, and More…

Traditional Skills That Are Making a Comeback

If you’ve followed my blog for any amount of time, you know that I love the classes at Homesteading Family. I’ve learned so much from them – bread making, sourdough, homemade cheese, canning. Their classes on herbal medicine, preserving, and permaculture are a great starting point if you are wanting to learn more about traditional homemade skills. The skills that our grandparents knew are becoming less commonly known, if not forgotten altogether, but they are so much more important to our daily lives as grocery prices soar and uncertainty looms around the corner. Consider these Homesteading Family Classes as a way to take back some of your independence and the skills we have lost.

Read to the end for a special coupon code! Take advantage of this discount code just for Maggie Lane subscribers!

Traditional Food Preparation Skills

1. The Art of Homemade Bread

This course covers yeast and sourdough. It is broken down step-by-step so that anyone can do it. If you’ve tried to make bread before and failed, this course is for you. By the end you’ll know just what to do to achieve the perfect loaf every time. What’s the secret? Knowing how to read the dough. The course gives you benchmarks at each step to know when your dough is ready for the next step.

2. Homemade Dairy Masterclass

Think you can’t make use of this class because you don’t have a cow? Think again. You can make all the recipes in this course using store-bought milk. Every recipe I’ve made have been made with milk from the store. The course starts out simple and builds your skills so that you can make the simplest fresh cheese all the way up to mozzarella or hard cheeses like cheddar and parmesan. No special equipment needed. You can use the things you already have in your own kitchen.

3. Baking with Home-Milled Flour

Want to learn the ins-and-outs of milling your own flour at home. This mini-course is a great companion to the Art of Homemade Bread class and gives you even more tips on using fresh-milled flour at home.

Food Preservation Techniques

4. The Abundant Pantry Canning Masterclass

Learn how to safely water bath and pressure can in this masterclass. This comprehensive course gives you step by step instructions in over 70 lessons. You’ll get all your questions answered and learn to can with confidence. This class will remove all the doubt in eating your home-canned food.

5. Preserving Eggs & Wild Milk!

If you have your own animals, these two classes will help you know what to do with all those eggs from your chickens and milk from your cow rather than give them to the neighbors. Learn to preserve your eggs like they are fresh for over a year, and find out how to use the good bacteria naturally present in your raw milk to your advantage.

Medicinal Herb & Garden Skills

6. The Herbal Medicine Cabinet

Discover how to grow, harvest, and prepare your own herbal remedies. This beginner course is just what you need if you’ve been wanting to learn how to make your own teas, tinctures, gylcerites, syrups, herbal vinegars, oxymels, and steams, but don’t know where to start.

7. Permaculture

Learn how to work with nature in this introductory course to growing a productive and sustainable garden. Gain the basic skills you need to maximize your food production and provide your family with good home-grown food.

Household & Kitchen Resources

8. Handmade Home

This course is part of Homesteading Family’s Homestead Kitchen Membership. It covers soap making and making your own herbal oil and salves.

9. Home Management

Gain tips on managing a busy home, homeschool, and homestead. From tips to streamline breakfast to managing your time and finding joy in your day, let this course guide you to peaceful productivity.

10. In the Homestead Kitchen Magazine

This digital and print magazine is a beautiful addition to your coffee table and a valuable resource to your kitchen. The kitchen is truly the hub of the home. Whether your homestead is acres of land or a tiny balcony garden, you can make use of these tips and recipes in any kitchen. Take your cooking from scratch skills up a notch. This will soon become your favorite cookbook!

Want access to all these classes and more?

Homesteading Family offers a monthly or annual membership to their Homestead Kitchen Community. Membership offers you all these classes plus access to members-only content and challenges.

Whether you’re seeking greater self-sufficiency, trying to balance the budget, or simply wanting to experience the joy of making things at home, these online courses offer guidance and experience that makes traditional skills accessible to anyone.

Special BONUS for Maggie Lane readers!

Enter your email below to get the Homesteading Family coupon code.

Click here for your FREE Coupon Code for Homesteading Family!

View Homesteading Family classes here.

Not ready to sign up for full class? These FREE trainings might be just what you need.

FREE Dairy Training – click the link to sign up.

FREE Canning Training – click the link to sign up.

FREE Bread Making Class – click the link to sign up.

FREE Herbal Medicine Training – click the link to sign up.

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

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Coffee Kombucha

Never heard of it? Me either. But it’s a thing.

I just learned about it from Farmhouse Teas Kombucha Mastery Class, and since I am more of a coffee girl, I had to give it a try and mix up a batch.

Don’t get me wrong. I like a good cup of tea, and I love making my own tea blends with black tea and herbs. And my husband and I are faithful kombucha drinkers, but this peaked my interest. I didn’t even know coffee kombucha was a thing.

But it’s so easy to try. Just mix up some sweet coffee and add some starter tea and let it sit for about 5 days checking it often. It will brew faster than coffee becomes coffee is more acidic. So keep an eye on it and taste it to determine when it is ready. I’m grateful to have the Kombucha Mastery course to guide me along with this advanced brewing technique.

I can’t wait to try it. I’ll come back in five days and keep you posted as to how I like it. 😊

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

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Nectarine Jalapeño Kombucha

Who doesn’t like a little spice in life? I know I do.

I was bottling up some kombucha for a second ferment tonight planning to add some strawberries. But alas, the strawberries had gotten pushed to the back of thr fridge and when I finally found them they were moldy. 🫤

But there’s always some fruit around here that is on the edge needing to be used up, so nectarines to the rescue. I sliced up some white nectaries that were over ripe which makes them perfect for this use as there will be lots of good sugars to feed the bacteria, and while I was slicing them I noticed half of a Jalepeno on the counter from dinner.

🤔 My wheels started turning and I got to wondering how that would go with the nectarines. I think it might be pretty good. I’ve never made a spicy kombucha before, so I decided to add a couple slices to one bottle and see how it turns out. At the very least, this will ensure that I’ll get a bottle to myself before the kids drink up the other two. 😂

Playing with flavors can be fun, and I’ll be sure to edit this post and let you all know how it turns out. To see my other favorite kombucha flavors visit this post on Flavored Kombucha.

And if you like spice, stay tuned for a post later in the week on my new favorite spicy fermented relish. 😁

Happy brewing!

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Flavored Kombucha

Who makes kombucha? 🙋🏻‍♀️

Did you know that you can set your kombucha up for a second ferment to add flavor and fizz?

I just poured up a new batch tonight into these flip top bottles and added blood oranges. I let it sit for 2-3 more days until the orange is infused and it becomes this beautiful pink color. It will also become fuzzy and carbonate which can be quite refreshing.

If you decide to try a second ferment, use glass bottles with flip top lids or plastic bottles. Don’t use a glass container with tight fitting lids as it will continue to ferment and build up pressure and jars have been know to break from the pressure build up. It’s a good idea to burp your container once or twice a day.

What flavor will you try? Some of my favorites are….

Blackberry Lime – add fresh or frozen berries and lime slices or zest.

Blueberry Lemon – add fresh or frozen blueberries and lemon slices or zest.

Raspberry – add fresh or frozen raspberries.

Strawberry Basil – add fresh or frozen strawberries and fresh basil.

Mango – add fresh or frozen mango. (Watch out! The sugars in this one cause it to ferment fast.)

Orange – add fresh orange slices with the rind. I like blood oranges, as you can see.

Cranberry Ginger – add fresh or dried cranberries and grated ginger root.

Or come up with your own combo. Use what you have or whatever yummy flavors strike your fancy.

Happy brewing!

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Reviving my Kombucha


So I decided to revive my kombucha. I hadn’t made any since before our last move. Somehow between packing and morning sickness at the time, I couldn’t keep up. So, I put it in a jar with some of the kombucha liquid, stuck it in the fridge and it has sat there ever since. Two years later I’m finally ready to try again.

Tea and sugar water cooling.

I took my jar out and let it sit on the counter overnight so that it could warm up to room temperature. The next day I made up my sugar and tea mixture. For more specific directions on how to brew kombucha see my other posts – (Cranberry Ginger Kombucha).

I brewed three batches before I started drinking it again to be sure that it would revive. I’m pouring up a new batch today.

Ferments amaze me. The fact that all those little bacteria do what they do fascinates me. I think I need to start another ferment. Maybe I’ll go back to one of my favorites – Garlic, Onion, Jalepeno Relish. Or maybe I’ll try beets. Fermented beets are delicious. Until I get around to that, I think I’ll go enjoy my kombucha.

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Cranberry Ginger Kombucha

Cranberry-ginger Kombucha Cranberry-ginger Kombucha

We’ve been brewing kombucha lately. A friend gave us a scoby and this is our fourth or fifth batch. If you’ve never brewed kombucha you can read more about what it is and it’s health benefits at Wellness Mama.

So, once you brewed your kombucha and decanted or siphoned it off from your brewing container, add the liquid to a glass swing top jar.  Then toss in about 1/2 cup of ginger root (peeled and chopped), and 1/2 cup cranberries.  Let it sit again on your counter for about 3 more days. It will continue to ferment feeding off the ginger and the sugar in the cranberries. This second fermentation will also add carbonation. Be sure you release the carbonation about twice a day, otherwise the pressure will build, and as the swing top jar is designed to do, it will fly open on it’s own. If you want more carbonation, leave it on your counter for a day or two longer until the fermentation is slowed and there is very little pressure when you open the lid.

Once you are satisfied with the amount of carbonation, remove/strain the ginger and cranberries, and refrigerate your new delicious, homemade drink.

Our kombucha fermenting. You can see the scoby floating on the top. Our kombucha fermenting. You can see the scoby floating on the top.

For more information on starting your own kombucha you can refer to the resources below. They are my favorite books. Some of them are even on the Kindle.  Wild Fermentation is especially facinating as it discusses how to begin cultures and ferments using just the natural yeasts and bacteria in your environment without using purchased starters – after all that’s how Maggie would have done it – passing each starter along from friend to friend and neighbor to neighbor. So, if you don’t want to buy a starter go about it the old-fashioned way using a little modern technology to boost your efforts. Post on Facebook and ask your friends. You never know who secretly has kombucha brewing on their counter. And if you find someone they will certainly have a scoby to share and you’ll be off on your brewing adventure.

Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods

Real Food Fermentation: Preserving Whole Fresh Food with Live Cultures in Your Home Kitchen

How to Make Probiotic Drinks for a Raw Food Diet: Kefir, Kombucha, Ginger Beer, and Naturally Fermented Ciders, Sodas, and Smoothies

(See my Disclosures page here.)