I sure do love pulling a massive, jaw-dropping sweet potato from beneath the soil. There’s just something so invigorating and satisfying about harvesting these tubers in particular, that no other crop can rival. However, I’ll tell you one thing I do not like: Voles. Filthy, thieving, over-populated voles. The war against these tiny demons is
Tag: Eco Friendly
Seed Starting: It’s exciting. It’s liberating. It’s the best late winter tradition. When all else is cold, dead, or dormant, while the sun hangs behind the gloomy winter clouds, starting our seeds indoors or in the greenhouse gets us homesteaders pumped for the incoming growing season. But… What if I told you that sowing a
Rosemary. Rosmarinus officinalis. Affectionately “Dew of the Sea” in Latin, also referred to as “Anthos” in Greek, or “flower.” It makes a delicious, comforting roasted chicken, especially when it’s plucked straight from the homestead garden. Walk through the Rosemary bed on a warm summer day, and you’ll be greeted with an aromatic burst of the
As the weather warms up and the fruits are gently harvested from our lush vegetable plants, we notice that the ants like to slip into our homes “unnoticed” in search of an easy, fresh meal. They know we’re doing all of the hard work, and that our counters are the perfect place to find a
Having a single dairy cow on a homestead can prove to be quite the challenge: how are you going to use up all of that spare milk?! Even a die-hard milk fan will have a hard time working through a gallon of milk on a daily basis. I cannot fathom drinking glasses and glasses of
Growing strawberries from seed is extremely exciting- I should know! While I didn’t exactly stratify my berries in my experiment, they did sit in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. This might have been all of the stratifying that they needed; so, chances are, your local grocer has already taken care of this. But to be
Need Some Advice? Cucumber Growing Tips? So, there you were, cruising through the spring growing season watching your cucumbers simply flourish. You had one delicious salad with a crisp cucumber, right after you rubbed the curious little spines off of the fruit in your bountiful garden, and you were hooked. Then, as if disaster struck
Throughout the mid and late 1900’s, many farmers found a way to reuse what they had on the farm, including motor oil. During hard times, especially when it came to farming families, sometimes “making due with what you have” was all the farmer could do to stretch his or her resources. They would up-cycle the
Container gardening makes gardening fun and easy in rental or urban properties. We LOVE container gardening, even with our 3 acres! However, you might notice that a mid-sized pot of at least 5 gallons will run you $10, $15, maybe even $20 or more. This ends up being an outrageous price tag in the end…