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We have been lucky that our dog has been, for the most part, pretty accident free in our house in the 12+ years we've had her.

But, every now and again, she gets an upset stomach and if we are not quick enough to notice, she has an accident on our carpet- typically in the form of vomit.

For the most part, light stains we catch quickly are fairly easy to deal with. But one time she had such a severe case of diarrhea after eating something bad that not only should it described as a disaster scene (it was all over our carpet, on curtains that were touching the ground, and even our Turkish rug- don't worry, I'm not posting before photos of this one). To make matters worse, it happened when we were gone, and it had several hours to set into said carpet, rug, and curtains, too.

The solution we had used time and time again for minor stains wasn't making a dent in this catastrophe. That dog doo stain wasn't going anywhere. Cue panic and buying every cleaning supply imaginable with rush, next-day delivery- no cost was too high for this mess!

Thankfully, after testing a number of products, we have three that we have found work well enough depending on the level of pet stain you are dealing with. So, in this one, we thought we'd share the best ways to clean dog stains from carpet (all stains, mind you- urine, vomit, and poop), and highlight the one that has worked best for us out of them all.

So let's dive into a topic I never thought I'd be writing about on the internet, and hope that we can help you out if you are facing a poop explosion like we did.

Warning: Before purchasing and/or using any cleaning supplies recommended in this article, please reconfirm material compatibility. We have not had issues with any of the items mentioned below on our own carpets and pet-friendly upholstery; however, some materials may not be compatible and could result in discoloration or worse (for example, for the insane dog doo stain referenced above, we took our Turkish rug to a professional cleaner as some cleaners can discolor that material). But, as with everything, you may want to test on a hidden area to confirm to ensure no discoloration or damage.

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We founded Hipster Homesteaders in late 2021 to chronicle our somewhat different approach to urban homesteading on our ~0.13 acre lot in Pittsburgh. 

Our goal here is not to be 100% self-reliant on food grown in our yard, but rather to maximize our urban gardening as best we can while supplementing it with local produce (via CSAs), local meats (via area farmers), and cutting out intermediaries when supporting other non-local businesses (such as buying seafood direct from fishermen in Alaska over factory farmed products in the grocery store). 

Now that we are winding down our fourth seaason after launching this site, we thought we'd review everything we have added to our homestead in the past year!

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With all that is going on in the world, you may have considered starting an emergency pantry to have household staples and food on hand to be ready for whatever life throws at you.

We don't blame you. While we're not doomsday preppers in the conventional sense, we do admit that the reasons you may want to build an emergency pantry are nearly endless (and, for most reasons, absolutely valid).

Climate change is causing more dangerous storms and more frequent power outages (our city just got hit by a massive storm, and some lost power for over a week!). The next plague could mean a global shutdown for weeks or months, like we saw in COVID. Tariffs by incompetent leadership may mean your favorite products increase in price dramatically, and that is if they're available at all. Wars happen, too.

We could go on.

We're not advocating for becoming a prepper and being ready for an end-times style apocalypse. But we must admit that there are many reasons why having extra emergency items on hand could be a good idea- whether you're looking to be ready to go for a few days or a few months.

So, how do you build an emergency pantry? We share some things we thought about when starting ours!

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We founded Hipster Homesteaders in late 2021 to chronicle our somewhat different approach to urban homesteading on our ~0.13 acre lot in Pittsburgh. 

Our goal here is not to be 100% self-reliant on food grown in our yard, but rather to maximize our urban gardening as best we can while supplementing it with local produce (via CSAs), local meats (via area farmers), and cutting out intermediaries when supporting other non-local businesses (such as buying seafood direct from fishermen in Alaska over factory farmed products in the grocery store). 

Now that we are winding down our third proper season after launching this site, we thought we'd review everything we have added to our homestead in the past year!

Read more

We founded Hipster Homesteaders in late 2021 to chronicle our somewhat different approach to urban homesteading on our ~0.13 acre lot in Pittsburgh. 

Our goal here is not to be 100% self-reliant on food grown in our yard, but rather to maximize our urban gardening as best we can while supplementing it with local produce (via CSAs), local meats (via area farmers), and cutting out intermediaries when supporting other non-local businesses (such as buying seafood direct from fishermen in Alaska over factory farmed products in the grocery store). 

Now that we are winding down our second proper season after launching this site, we thought we'd review everything we have added to our homestead in the past year!

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When it was announced that the invasive spotted lanternfly was found in Pennsylvania, we got concerned. But the first year these pests came and went without real damage to our crops.

Year two, however, came with an overwhelming abundance of these little pests. Crop damage still remains to be seen, but with the quantity we can safely say this is inevitable given enough time- the volume of lanternflies was truly absurd.

Our home is primarily close to a prime breeding ground for the lanternflies (thanks to our proximity to a natural hillside), and, as it turns out, many of the flowers and crops we grow are these insects' favorite foods. 

As the season went on, our house became covered with quite literally hundreds of lantern flies on any given day. Our lemon tree became enveloped with nymphs, we couldn't leave our front door without at least three dive-bombing us, and the trees and plants next to our property had hundreds visibly climbing up each and every day. This is not hyperbole at all- it truly was a spotted lanternfly invasion.

Naturally, as we want our citrus trees, fig trees, grape vines, hibiscus, and others to survive, we went on a mad dash to test as many lanternfly traps and killing mechanisms as we could to see if we could rid ourselves of this pest. So in this one, we wanted to share a bit more about what we tried, what works, what works in some context, and what is our favorite method moving forward.

Note: Most of the methods below were tested primarily on the early nymph stages of spotted lanternflies (black or red-colored), not adults. We will be testing all of these with adults as the season progresses and will add comments over time. We would not be surprised if some of these work on the young nymphs but not adults, or vice versa.

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Before our kitchen renovation, we tried to research what our project could ultimately cost. We looked for rough estimates online, but they varied so widely that we knew we had to dig a little deeper to get a better estimate.

After talking to dozens of contractors, vendors, designers, and other professionals, we developed our own detailed spreadsheet broken down by category, outlining item by item our projected costs. And you know what? Our method worked.

In fact, we ended up coming in exactly within budget when our project was all said and done!

In this article, we're sharing what we learned about the cost of kitchen renovations, including a breakdown of our own expenses, simply because we wish something like this would have existed online for us when we were starting our project. Your own spending will vary, but our hope is to shed light on all of the categories of expenses you may come across in a kitchen renovation.

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When we installed hand-painted ceramic tiles into our bar, we dreamed of the perfect space to create drinks and entertain friends.

One thing we did not anticipate was the cleanup effort after installing the tiles, as the grout was, quite literally, everywhere.

This should have been expected, partly because the handmade tiles had a 3d-ish element with several nooks and crannies for grout to hook onto. The other part was something we did not know about until after, one that, if you found this article through a search result, you are probably experiencing yourself- grout haze.

Grout haze is more or less what you think from the term- a thin layer of grout coats tiles after installation, making it look hazy. You wipe them down, it looks great, and then a few minutes later the haze returns.

After fighting with this one for an incredible amount of time, we thought we'd share some of the methods we tried for getting rid of grout haze, how well they worked (or didn't), and help you find some direction in this infuriating fight.

Warning: If you want to use any chemicals on tiles, check their compatibility as you may risk damaging your new product. Acids, like diluted vinegar, can etch materials like granite, marble, and stone but may work fine on some ceramics. Likewise, some products may be too aggressive for the grout type you purchased and could cause erosion. Check your tile and grout company recommendations before attempting any form of cleaning. This article should not be used for determining material compatibility.

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