Author name: mindyannbrown

Hi! I’m Mindy, known as The Off Grid Barefoot Girl. I’m passionate about living simply, sustainably, and self-sufficiently — one barefoot step at a time! After years of embracing an off-grid lifestyle, I love sharing practical tips, heartfelt stories, and easy-to-follow guides to help you thrive whether you’re dreaming of homesteading, prepping, or just a more independent way of living. Join me as I explore everything from gardening and food preservation to solar power and natural living. Here’s to freedom, resilience, and cozy barefoot days!

bearded iris
Cottage Garden

How to Grow and Care for Bearded Irises

Bearded irises are gorgeous flowers that provide dimension to any floral or cottage garden. They are easy and fun to grow. They multiply each season, so you plant them once and watch them come back with more each year. They come in a variety of beautiful colors too! CLICK TO READ MORE.

hollyhocks
Cottage Garden

How to Grow and Care for Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks bring delight to the garden with their tall gorgeous spring blooms. Did you know that the whole hollyhock plant is completely edible offering medicinal benefits, including roots, blossoms, and leaves? Hollyhocks can be a great substitute for the related herb plant called marshmallow. These plants can be beneficial to our health helping with inflammation of the respiratory tract, cough, stomach ulcers, bowel issues, urinary tract inflammation, and bladder stones. CLICK TO READ MORE.

cottage garden roses
Cottage Garden

How to Grow and Care for Roses

Rose bushes bring delight to the garden from their gorgeous spring blooms to the bountiful hips that follow in the fall season. You can be sure to be given a huge harvest from your rose bush so be prepared to learn how to preserve the rose petals if that’s your fancy! Learn how to grow, care for, harvest, and propagate rose bushes. CLICK TO READ MORE.

Image illustrates DIY garden soil tests you can perform with a Mason jar.
Vegetable Garden Projects

4 Easy DIY Garden Soil Tests to Do Now

Perform these easy DIY garden soil tests and improve the quality of your soil by knowing which amendments you need to add for nutrients.

hurricane survival tips
Self-Sufficiency

Hurricane Survival Tips: How My Family Survived a Category 4 Hurricane Twice!

Prepare and fortify your home to survive a hurricane with these helpful hurricane survival tips for any hurricane season.

spring garden
Vegetable Garden Projects

How to Avoid These Common Spring Gardening Problems

Spring gardening alone has many problems from unpredicted weather conditions, seeds not germinating, seedlings looking rather ill, confusion about when to plant, not planting the right varieties of plants for our area, planting plants too close together because they are cute and tiny in the beginning, killing seedlings during hardening off outside and spreading diseases with unsanitized tools, equipment, and containers. We have all been there and done many of these mistakes and I am guilty of these gardening crimes myself. Spring can trick us all into thinking that it is time to plant new plants and bring our indoor plants back outside and then the unspeakable sneaky frost swipes in unannounced to kill them all. This post will help better prepare you for your spring gardening and help you have a successful growing season. Let’s elaborate further on unpredicted spring weather conditions. CLICK TO READ MORE.

kids gardening
Self-Sufficient Kids

OMG! The Best Garden Grow Kits for Kids Ever!

Kids love hands-on activities, getting dirty, and creating their own things. Kids are curious about the natural world around them. Help them discover what they can create and grow by providing them with fun activities and kits that allow them to explore fun ways to garden. CLICK TO READ MORE.

companion planting
Vegetable Garden Projects

How to Do Companion Planting: Friends or Foes?

Plants that like each other, attract beneficial insects and pollinators to each other as well as repel pesky enemies to keep each other safe, happy, and healthy. Remember your tight-knit friend group in school when you all looked out for each other? Keeping your enemies out and your friends in is exactly the same thing that plants like to do too. When you keep their foes away from them, you will be preventing your garden from acquiring diseases and pests and find that you do not need extra help with chemicals just to be successful. If you skip companion planting in your garden, you are more likely to resort to using chemicals on your plants. CLICK TO READ MORE.

Image illustrates a backyard snack yard.
Vegetable Garden Projects

How to Make Your Backyard a Snack Yard

Learn how to make your backyard a snack yard with a few perennial plants t that provides healthy snacks for your family.

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