For People who Like to Grow, Make, and Figure Things Out
Gardening, food, preparedness, recipes, quiet reflections, and old-fashioned know-how — shared weekly from our Wisconsin homestead. To subscribe, just enter your email in the sign-up form below.
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What you’ll receive
- A weekend newsletter with new and seasonal posts
- Practical gardening, food, and preservation guidance
- Calm, realistic preparedness ideas
- Recipes, home remedies, and wild food knowledge
- Occasional updates on free classes, guides, or trusted partner offers
Free Subscriber Bonuses
- Common Sense Homesteading 101 Printable Guide
- Printable Garden Planner
- Bread Baking Troubleshooting Guide and Q&A
- and more
This newsletter is for you if you…
- Enjoy learning practical skills at your own pace
- Prefer real-world experience over quick fixes
- Want to be more capable without being extreme
- Like a calm, thoughtful approach to preparedness
- Appreciate occasional reflections from life on a working homestead
You don’t need land, livestock, or a perfect plan — just curiosity and a willingness to learn.
A Note about Common Sense Home
I’m Laurie Neverman, creator of Common Sense Home. Common Sense Home is run by our family from a small homestead in northeast Wisconsin. We grow and preserve much of our food, experiment with practical resilience projects, and share what works (and what doesn’t) along the way.
We’re not perfect, and we don’t do everything ourselves — but we believe in learning, adapting, and using sound judgment to build steadier lives. Along the way we’ve gone through job losses, economic upheaval, and the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020. (More about us here.)
What Readers Say
“You make us readers feel like family, and you have solid advice because you and your family have paved the way for us to follow however it best fits our lives. I also love your recipes! ❤ Thank you for all you do.” – Krystal C.
“Your newsletters always feel like a note from a friend.” – Heather N.
“I like the sense of home and family and down to earth real living. You’re like my country cousin who teaches me the good ways.” – Roxyann B.
“I love the free guides. They are such a big help for me. All of the ones I have down loaded I have saved in my I-books. My husband and I have been slowly working on homesteading for the past four years and are planning a big move during this year. All of the information you share is awesome and I love it!!” – Nikki D.
If this sounds like a good fit, we’d be glad to have you along.
To subscribe, enter your email in the sign-up form above, or leave a comment below if you can’t see the form.
We send one main newsletter most weekends, with occasional extra emails when something feels especially useful. You can unsubscribe anytime.
— Laurie, Common Sense Home
Please add me to your newsletter list!
Hi Pat. I have you added. You should receive your welcome email soon.
I’m not sure i subscribe or not but please add me, thank you,
Jason Mckenna of Tennessee.
Hi Jason. I checked, and you are not currently on the list, so I signed you up. Welcome!
Thank you so very much
You’re very welcome.
This looks really interesting, good information in an entertaining presentation.
Welcome, Kathleen.
I would like the weed cheat sheet! Thank you!
Hi Deb. Got you signed up and the download link should be in your inbox.
Thank you for the presentation, sending this comment for the cheat sheet 🙂
Good morning, Lesley. I’ve entered your email and your download link should be in your inbox. Glad you enjoyed the presentation.
I’d love the weed cheat sheet!
Headed your way. Welcome!
I’m also trying to get the weed cheat sheet. No form available to fill out above. Thanks.
Got it. Email entered and cheat sheet on the way.
I was trying to get the Free Weed free garden cheat sheet
Hi Donald. I’ve entered your email for the cheat sheet and the download link should arrive in your inbox shortly.
Hi Laurie, I’ve just come across your site after looking for ‘how to grow sunchokes’. I’ve heard about these plants taking over so I’m going to try them in fabric pots this year. I bought some on Ebay recently. I was going to try starting one off in water but other sites say they won’t grow. What do you think? Have you ever tried this?
Great site btw, some comments had me laughing out loud! I live in Dorset near the coast of England.
I’m looking forward to seeing your Newsletters. Thank you
Hi Donna, and welcome.
The problem with sunchokes and water is that they are likely to rot before they root substantially. You could plant them in your pots indoors and then move them outside when it warms up.
If you want to pre-sprout indoors, you can mimic chitting potatoes:
Best method (recommended):
Place tubers in a shallow tray of slightly damp potting mix or sand.
Keep at ~50–60 °F (10–16 °C) with light.
Plant once sprouts are ~1–2 in (2–5 cm).
Water method (possible but risky):
Suspend the tuber so only the bottom touches water (don’t submerge).
Change water every 1–2 days.
Move to soil as soon as roots or shoots appear (usually 3–7 days).
One of my friends told me about your newsletter and how much she enjoys it. I thought I’d like to get your newsletter as well. Thank you!
Thanks for stopping by and giving the newsletter a chance. I entered your email and you should receive your confirmation email shortly. Welcome!
Looking forward to joining you all on this journey
Welcome, Joanne.
Njroseman62@gmail.com
Hi 👋 anxious to get my first newsletter, Common Sense Home
Welcome, Nancy Jane. I’ll be sending out one later today that I hope you enjoy. You’d normally get a couple of introduction emails first, and then next week’s newsletter, but I’ll bump the schedule a bit.
Please send me your newsletter!
Got it! Confirmation email headed your way.
I am so anxious to receive the news letter. It sounds so helpful and current for today. thank you.
Looking for ways to use fresh food wiser and be mentally prepared in difficult times for my family. Looking forward to learning from you.
Welcome, Patti.
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I don’t exactly know how you found me but I am happy you did! You are living the life I have always tried to do but on a much smaller scale. My husband Jim and I live at the edge of a very small town in Northwestern Pa. about 40 miles south of Lake Erie with property that is about an acre. We have a trout stream (Conneaut Creek, we call it a cricket here 😂) running through the western side of the property. Also a small field and wooded area to the south.
We call our place our little Hippy Farm because we garden, collect and use rain water, preserve and sun dry or dehydrate our food we grow, compost our and family members “leavings”, and recently have been doing worm farming as we don’t want to add any chemicals to our food or water and try to live in harmony with the land and nature.
We live in a home that once belonged to my Grandparents and the original Foundation and parts of the house have been on this land for almost 150 or more years.
I learned much about sustainability for my mother who lived through the Great Depression and instilled in me the value of land and how to use what we have rather than buying everything disposable.
I look forward to learning from you and your family as we try to live as good stewards of our land and nature!
Hi Lillian. It looks like you used “Save This” to save an article and decided to stay around a bit longer.
That sounds like a great little property with a lot of history. Kudos on tackling humanure along with everything else. I have friends who do it, but we haven’t tried it.
My mom grew up in The Great Depression, too, back on the family farm. She was always very frugal, especially with the six of us kids to take care of.
Dear Laurie,
Please add me to your list.
Thank you so much,
Maria
Hi Maria!
I’ve signed you up and your first email should be on it’s way to your inbox. Welcome!
I just came across your site. I am looking forward to learning as I go along. Thank you for sharing your information with us.
Welcome, Joyce. Did you need me to sign you up, or were you able to see the sign up form?
I am buzzed from 2 shots of Jim Beam and went browsing for Mulberry wine production guidance! Want to make sure I am doing it right for the first time. I am using an airlock on my 3Liter jar, and I have started the fermenting process. Using a You Tube Mulberry recipe gotton on-line from Trini, from the Islands; started with a palm of cleaned and shopped ginger, then a whole cut up lemon, dropped in the jar. Two cups of sugar and then filled with boiling hot water till the 3000 ml gradient add a 1/2 teaspoon of Fleischman active Yeast then stir, cool till under a 100 F, capped jar with water filled airlock. Now my concern is with tightening the lid which I did and then backed off the lid a turn. Fermentation has begun; I can see the carbon dioxide bubbles rising and the fruit has risen to the top and the first stage of fermentation has begun, so am I right now Tighten the lid airtight?
You want to use an airlock or leave the lid a little bit loose to allow carbon dioxide to escape during active fermentation. If you do not allow the CO2 to escape, it will build up and your fermentation jar could blow up. It would be exciting, but messy.