Privacy policy

This privacy policy explains what Homestead Toolbelt ("we," "us") collects, how advertising and analytics work on this site, and the choices you have. Homestead Toolbelt is a static website of free planning calculators and guides for homesteaders and small farms. We do not operate user accounts, and calculator inputs are not sent to our servers.

Effective date: August 5, 2026. If we make material changes, we will update this page and may bump our consent version so returning visitors see the cookie banner again.

Who we are and how to contact us

Homestead Toolbelt is operated as an editorial and tools site. For privacy questions, email hello@homesteadtoolbelt.com or use our contact page. We aim to reply within a few business days.

What we collect

Calculators run entirely in your browser. Numbers you type for flock size, bed dimensions, frost dates, and similar planning inputs stay on your device unless you choose to copy, print, or share them yourself. We do not run a backend database of your calculator sessions.

We may store small preference records in your browser's localStorage, such as unit-system choice (imperial/metric) and your cookie-consent decision. Those records are first-party, not sold, and can be cleared by clearing site data in your browser or by reopening Cookie settings in the footer.

Like most websites, our hosting provider (Cloudflare) may process standard technical request data — IP address, user agent, timestamps, and URLs — to deliver pages securely and reliably. That processing is governed by Cloudflare's own terms and is necessary to operate the site.

Cookies, advertising, and Google as a third-party vendor

We use Google AdSense to show ads that help keep the calculators free. Google and its partners may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads, measure performance, and (where allowed) personalize ads based on browsing activity. This can include the DoubleClick cookie and other advertising identifiers.

Google is a third-party vendor. Google's use of information collected from this site is described in Google's documentation on How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

Ad scripts load only after you Accept non-essential cookies in our consent banner (or if you previously accepted under the current consent version). If you Reject non-essential cookies, we do not inject the AdSense loader and we do not initialize ad units on that visit. You can change your mind later via Cookie settings in the site footer.

How to opt out of personalized ads

You can control personalized advertising through several industry and Google tools:

• Google Ads Settings — manage ad personalization tied to your Google account or browser.
• Digital Advertising Alliance (aboutads.info) — opt out of interest-based ads from participating companies.
• Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) — additional opt-out tools for member companies.

Opting out of personalized ads does not mean you will see no ads at all; you may still see contextual or non-personalized ads where permitted. Browser controls (blocking third-party cookies, using tracking protection, or an ad blocker) can further limit tags — note that blocking ads does not remove our need for a consent choice if you later allow scripts again.

Analytics

We may use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which Cloudflare describes as a privacy-first, cookieless analytics product. It is intended to measure aggregate traffic (page views, referrers, basic device classes) without using client-side cookies for analytics. When a site token is configured, the analytics beacon may load regardless of the advertising consent choice because it does not rely on advertising cookies. Details of Cloudflare's processing appear in Cloudflare's privacy documentation.

We do not use invasive session-replay products, and we do not build cross-site advertising profiles ourselves.

Affiliate links

Some pages may include affiliate links (for example, to farm gear or supplies). Those links are marked and disclosed on the page. Clicking an affiliate link may take you to a third-party site that has its own privacy policy and cookies. We do not control those sites. See our disclaimer for the FTC affiliate disclosure.

Children

Homestead Toolbelt is aimed at adults planning farms and gardens. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child provided personal information to us through a contact email, contact us and we will delete what we can reasonably identify.

Data retention

Preference and consent records remain in your browser until you clear them or until a consent-version bump invalidates them. Server logs retained by our host follow the host's retention practices. Emails you send us are kept only as long as needed to respond and operate the site responsibly.

Do not sell / CCPA–CPRA

We do not sell personal information. We do not knowingly share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising beyond what advertising partners may do when you consent to ads, as described above. California residents can contact us at hello@homesteadtoolbelt.com with privacy requests; we will not discriminate against you for exercising rights available under applicable law.

GDPR / UK GDPR note (EEA and UK visitors)

Where GDPR or UK GDPR applies, our lawful bases include: legitimate interests in operating a secure static site and understanding aggregate traffic; and consent for non-essential advertising cookies and similar technologies. You may withdraw consent at any time via Cookie settings. You may also have rights of access, erasure, restriction, and complaint to a supervisory authority. Contact us to exercise applicable rights.

International visitors

Our site is hosted on infrastructure that may process data in the United States and other countries. If you visit from elsewhere, you understand that technical processing may occur outside your home country with appropriate safeguards provided by our vendors where required.

Changes

We may update this policy as the site, advertising stack, or law changes. The effective date at the top of this page will change when we do. Continued use after an update means you should review the new text; material advertising-consent changes may re-prompt the banner.