Insteading
Homesteading & Sustainability
Swat! My right hand slapped my arm. “One down, zillions more to go.” I wasn’t one for using bug spray, and these pesky mosquitoes were leaving their itchy mark -- though I’d tried herbal …
Continue Reading about 12 Beneficial Plants That Attract Dragonflies To The Garden →
I flipped open the new issue of my local conservation department’s magazine. Filled with gorgeous photography and information about nature in my state, I often learned things I had never known about …
Continue Reading about 6 Reasons to Overcome Your Fear Of Spiders On The Homestead →
Many of us, unsatisfied and even disgusted with the treatment and quality of animals in the food processing industry, have begun homesteading as a way to reclaim food responsibility. On that journey, …
Continue Reading about 8 Meat Chickens To Consider Raising For Your Table →
“A rose is a rose is a rose,” I muttered as I worked through my herb garden. “Unless, of course, it’s St. Benedict’s herb.” The shady perennial plant from the rose family (Rosaceae) has many names: …
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Are you looking to up your landscaping game this year? Have you considered adding vining or climbing plants? Vine plants can add a unique, vertical element to any landscape. Use them to climb …
Continue Reading about 10 Of The Best Vine Plants To Add To Your Landscape →
It seems like everyone has houseplants these days. This decor trend is well-received since there are many benefits to having houseplants. Not only will houseplants add a pop of color to your …
Meditating at home can be a real challenge, especially when you don't have a dedicated space in your house or apartment. When you're meditating or practicing yoga, it can be really easy to get …
One of the most recent trends in home decor includes adding greenery to your home. Hanging baskets allow you to grow beautiful plants without sacrificing counter space. Hanging plants can add …
Continue Reading about 17 Of The Best Hanging Plants To Add Beautiful Greenery To Your Home →
“Don’t cut the grass over there!” My husband ran toward me as I was finishing the weekly lawn routine. “I wasn’t planning to,” I replied, and shut off the motor. “But why?” “All the violets …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: Edible Wild Violets →
Many people use a lot more paper than they should. From printing to scribbling down notes, it’s easy to waste paper without even realizing it. Finding ways to reuse paper scraps around the home can …
Continue Reading about 20 Smart Uses For Shredded Paper Around The Home →
“You get your tomatoes in yet?” My neighbor smiled with his usual good-natured grin, but there was no denying the competitive edge to his voice. This was no mere neighborly exchange. It was the …
Continue Reading about Grow Healthy, Flavorful Fruit With The Best Fertilizer For Tomatoes →
Pop a flower box underneath your home’s front window, add one to your porch railing, or put a few around your patio. Colorful blooms add instant curb appeal and are an easy, inexpensive way to jazz up …
Continue Reading about 30 Gorgeous Flower Box Ideas To Welcome Summer To Your Home →
Epsom salt is an all-natural, time-tested mineral compound composed of magnesium, sulfate, and oxygen. Not only does it make bathwater soft and silky, but a long, relaxing soak in a hot bath full of …
Continue Reading about 10 Beneficial Ways To Use Epsom Salt For Plants →
I love caffeine. There are some naturally occurring resources that offer similar caffeinated effects, but they aren’t caffeine. One day, I was doing some wild edibles research and stumbled across an …
Continue Reading about How To Make Yaupon Tea For A Delicious Alternative To Coffee →
Many people around the world cut their grass, and either leave the clippings right where the lawnmower spits them out, or toss them into the yard waste bin. While those are perfectly fine ways to …
Continue Reading about 9 Beneficial Uses For Grass Clippings →
During both World War I and World War II, people with land (even small parcels) planted victory gardens -- also known as war gardens or food gardens for defense. It was a means to feed the family, …
One of the best parts about gardening is building community. There's something special about sharing the experience of planting and nurturing seeds, and watching them grow -- especially when it's with …
Not too long ago, I saw a photograph online of a reclining human figure, larger than life, totally carved out of shrubs. Garden topiary. I was fascinated -- and recalled years ago, when I visited …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: Art And History In The Most Unusual Garden Topiary →
Walking into church Easter morning, the air is rich with the powerful scent of Easter lilies. But not just any lily, the prolific white lily, popularly known as the Easter lily. Its symbolic …
Spring has come. For the winter-weary gardener, the chance to finally get back out into the wonderful world of soil and sprouts is exhilarating. Within a few short weeks, garden beds are awake and …
Continue Reading about 9 Beautiful Water Plants For Your Aquatic Garden Or Pond →
The arborist was following me around the property. It had been a hard winter with several damaged trees and a lot of large limbs downed. Rather than use the chainsaw to clean up the mess, I preferred …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: The Mighty Oak Tree →
If a garden was a high school movie drama, tomatoes would be the prom queen cheerleader, corn would be the basketball star jock, fennel would be the weird kid who dislocates his fingers and thinks …
I use a lot of cinnamon when baking. I love the smell it leaves in my cupboard, the aroma that wafts through the house when I’m baking, and of course, the flavor. That said, cinnamon is expensive. I …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: How Does It Grow? →
When you started gardening, you probably had dreams about all the different plants you'd grow. You imagined heaping piles of tomatoes, cucumbers to make more pickles than you could eat in one winter, …
Continue Reading about 10 Greenhouse Plants To Get A Jumpstart On The Gardening Season →
There’s something mysterious and intriguing about moss. Maybe it’s because of the way it drapes over trees and rocks in places like the Hoh Rain Forest of Washington state. It looks like a land …
You walk into the garden, wiping sweat from your forehead in the summer’s boggy heat. The peppers are dangling like hidden jewels beneath their glossy leaves. The okra is dazzling with its tropical, …
Continue Reading about Powdery Mildew: What It Is, How To Identify It, And Treatment Methods →
There are a lot of beautiful plants in the world. Some have medicinal purposes, others are edible, and there are those that are purely decorative. There are also many plants that are dangerously …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: The Poison Garden →
“And what do we have here?” I shook my head as I worked around some sprouts that had poked through the ground. It was early spring and the garden was coming back to life. I wasn’t talking to …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: What Color Is Your Bleeding Heart Flower? →
I have a special affection for the tiny blue wildflower that appears every spring. Forget-me-not flowers, the state flower of Alaska, is known to have special meaning and reflect compassionate …
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Whether you overplanted peppers in your garden this year -- or stockpiled a bunch that were on sale at the store -- don't let them go to waste! After you've made your red pepper soup and spicy …
Straw bale gardening is an ideal way to overcome nutrient-limited soil. Like other forms of raised-bed gardening, straw bale gardening lets you control the nutrients in your soil. Straw bale …
Continue Reading about 12 Best Plants For Straw Bale Gardening →
If sea levels keep rising, where will we grow our food? Researchers in Italy are exploring one option: Underwater gardens. Nemo's Garden in Noli, Italy is an agricultural project that's attempting …
Continue Reading about Are Underwater Herb Gardens The Future? [Video] →
Every vegetable that bursts out of the ground is a gift to me. The wispy little feathers of emerging carrots, the blink-and-they’re-there sprouts of lightning-quick radishes, and the first true leaves …
In September you'll start to see bins full of orange pumpkins at the grocery store. Why settle such a monochrome display? More than 30 different varieties of squash are grown in the U.S. These …
Continue Reading about 20 Pumpkins You Should Have Planted This Year →
Do you wish to practice self-sufficiency and grow and preserve your own vegetables -- but are concerned that you have little time to tend a garden? No worries! There are lots of easy-to-grow …
Continue Reading about 7 Of The Easiest Vegetables To Grow →
"I love my nasturtiums,” Mom declared years ago as she led me on a walk through her extensive garden. The nasturtiums were everywhere. Every color imaginable -- from solids pinks, reds, yellows, …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: A Colorful Mosaic Of Nasturtiums →
After months of planning, house hunting, and endless emails to your very patient realtor, you've finally found the house of your dreams -- but the driveway is showing every crack and oil spill from …
Continue Reading about 12 Stunning Driveway Ideas To Transform Your Home’s Exterior →
We didn’t go to farmers' markets often when I was a kid. When we did, my dad always purchased a fennel bulb with the huge spray of feathery leaves that make it so attractive. I think he liked how it …
Continue Reading about How To Grow, Harvest, And Use The Humble Fennel Plant →
If you’ve ever heard of truffles or been lucky enough to taste them, it’s probably been in the context of gourmet dining. A truffle is a type of edible fungi that’s much more difficult to cultivate …
“Did you know there are hundreds of varieties of passionflowers?” I thought I was talking to my husband, but he had wandered off to another part of the nursery while I studied the array of color …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: The Purple Passionflower →
Is growing lettuce indoors possible? Absolutely! In fact, lettuce is one of the easiest vegetables to grow both outside and indoors. When the temperatures drop below zero, it’s possible to grow …
“What's in your sandwich? It looks gross.” It’s a weird moment realizing you are THAT KID at school lunch. Surrounded by bologna, pb&j, and ham and cheese, the shiny, black skin …
“I have a swaddled baby to show you,” a friend said over the phone. “Like a baby in the cradle. Want to come over and see?” The words caught my curiosity. My friend was too old to have a baby in …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: Swaddled Babies Or Baby In The Cradle? →
To those unfamiliar, there may not seem to be much difference between a gourd and squash. Fruit-wise, they share a lot of similar attributes -- cool shapes, hard rind, seeds hidden inside, and …
A terrarium garden is much like an aquarium, but a habitat for plants rather than aquatic life. A terrarium can be constructed in a diverse array of glass containers. When planted, it should look like …
Continue Reading about 19 Eye-Catching Terrarium Plants For Your Miniature Garden →
I had spent another morning doing battle with the proliferous wild grape that grew across my rock wall border. I had nothing against grapevines, especially when they bore fruit (which these vines …
I don’t like to describe anything as a miracle when it comes to gardening, but honestly, mulch comes close. Before I learned how to mulch, my garden was plagued with problems. While my square-foot …
Continue Reading about How To Mulch For A Beautiful, Weed-Free Garden →
An ancient gardening technique dating back to the Romans, straw bale gardening is a simple concept. As a straw bale starts to decompose or break down, it turns into a raised, compostable, 40-gallon …
Peter Piper may have picked an inexplicably pickled peck of peppers (were they fermenting on the plants or something?) but in order to pick a peck, they first needed to be planted. Thankfully, the …
“What is that huge plant in your shade garden?” The large, leafy plant with tall spiky flowers (extremely tall -- almost my height of 5 feet) really caught my attention. I was visiting a nursery …
