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Homesteading & Sustainability
Several years ago, my daughter informed me (with great excitement) there was a mourning dove nesting in my hanging fuchsia on the front balcony. “No way,” I declared. “Come see,” she …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: I Love My Birds, But… →
My mother survived stage IV lung cancer (!) but the effects of the disease forced her to be on oxygen 24/7. Needless to say, she's had to make adjustments to her lifestyle. One thing she had to …
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As homesteaders, we don’t eat out a lot because we prefer to raise our own healthy food. But sometimes it's nice to splurge when we are out for the day. When we do, I love having Asian food. Chinese, …
Continue Reading about 4 Asian Vegetables You Should Add To Your Garden →
Flies are everywhere. In fact, entomologists have named over 100,000 species of flies on earth. Not only are flies annoying, but they also carry germs and diseases. Though flies are a tasty treat for …
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“Isn’t that a weed?” I asked my friend. I pointed to the pale green, hairy stem rising from the flannel-textured center rosette. “It grows tall, you know. I pulled one last week that was taller …
Continue Reading about Mullein: An Herbal Remedy, Not A Weed →
Radishes come in several shapes, sizes, and colors, all with their own unique flavor. The radish is an easy to grow vegetable that is great for beginning gardeners. This cool weather root vegetable …
Horseradish, a member of the mustard family and a close cousin of both cauliflower and the common radish, deserves a place in the homestead garden. Cultivated for its thick, creamy white or …
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Amazon's massive Prime Day promotion started Monday, July 15th at 12 am PT. They'll be announcing deals throughout the day. This year's Prime Day will last for 48 hours. Each deal will be one of …
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Grown for decades by farmers and gardeners across the mid-western United States, Osage orange trees are incredibly versatile and can serve all sorts of purposes on the homestead. The wood from the …
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Vermiculture is pretty magical. Think about it, you put your kitchen scraps in a bin with some wiggly worms and before you know it, everything has decomposed into a beautiful soil additive for your …
Okra seems to be one of the foods synonymous with the south -- alongside fried chicken, collard greens, and cast-iron cornbread. And indeed, the warm-weather crop does best in places where the …
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Once upon a time, everyone had gardens. The soil was fertile and healthy, weeds and bugs were free to roam, and all sorts of heirloom varieties were grown. There was plenty of acreage for every …
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I love sunflowers. Sunflowers display a bright splash of cheerful color against the garden fence, they provide an abundant crop of seeds which both our family and the birds enjoy, and they are so easy …
Native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, the yarrow plant is a hardy herbaceous perennial that's a member of the Asteraceae plant family. Also known as old man’s pepper, common yarrow, …
Deer are graceful, nearly ethereal creatures. Their silent forest ways and magnificent appearance may inspire paintings and poetry, novels and songs. But for the hard-working gardener, they may more …
Te’Lario Watkins Jr. is a 9-year-old entrepreneur with a dream. One day, he hopes his mushrooms will feed the world. With the help of his family, Te'Lario cultivates and harvests mushrooms to sell …
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Forget about that perfectly manicured lawn consisting of short green grass and nothing else. Boldly embrace biodiversity instead by turning that sterile lawn of yours into a mini-meadow or wildflower …
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“You know I don’t really like spiders.” I scowled as my friend led me around her garden. Large or small, spiders really do give me the creeps, and sometimes they bite. Yuck! I do know they have a …
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Brooke Medlin is an Ohio horticulturist with experience growing both edible and ornamental plants. She really likes anise and is a fan of the plant’s medicinal and culinary benefits. She also loves …
With a sweet taste and crisp texture similar to apple, yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is a flavor-packed root vegetable that's quickly gaining popularity with homestead gardeners. Yacon is a …
Continue Reading about How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Yacon Root →
As gardeners, we all aspire to spend our mornings and afternoons planting seeds, pulling weeds, and finishing the day off with a dinner made of home-grown vegetables. But for some of us, gardening is …
Continue Reading about 12 Office Plants to Add Greenery to Your Workspace →
You want a place to kick back and relax in your backyard, your teenager wants a space to hang out with their friends, and your kids want a place to explore their imagination. What if all those things …
Continue Reading about This Shed’s Sliding Walls Unveil A Beautiful Garden Studio →
Don’t you just love the fragrance and flavor of vanilla? Most folks do. In fact, the United States is the second largest consumer of vanilla per capita worldwide. While much of the world's vanilla …
“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire …” is a phrase most Americans can sing along to without even thinking, but there is so much more to these amazing trees than Christmas lyrics. Much more than a …
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Planting a garden may just be the most exciting part of the growing process. Whether it is your first time or your twenty-fifth season, the anticipation of fresh spring greens emerging in your …
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Avocados have long been considered a perfect food. If the avocado were newly discovered today, it would be marketed as a miracle food. Irresistibly flavorful with a smooth, creamy texture, avocados …
Across the country, market demand for raspberries far exceeds availability and provides an ideal opportunity for homesteaders to cultivate the fruit for local markets as well as home use. A berry …
“Oh my! The flowers on those trees look like tulips.” I was taking a walk with my grandmother along a country road just north of Lake Erie. It was spring and the weather demanded some outside …
Lucky bamboo is a fascinating little house plant. Adorable and easy to grow, they are quite common in homes around the world. Yet there are some myths that we need to get out of the way before we …
Grapes are one of the oldest propagated crops and with good reason! These beautiful fruits are delicious and versatile foods used for snacking, canning, freezing, and of course, winemaking. Even if …
Flowers are becoming a very popular ingredient among chefs, bakers, and home cooks around the world. There are many species that are not only edible and delicious but contain nutritional value as …
To reduce our reliance on commercially grown produce, we grow as much of our own food as possible and preserve it for the offseason. Preserving fruits and vegetables is a centuries-old homesteading …
Nothing could be simpler, or more complex, than organic fertilizer. Garden stores make it seem like it's something that you buy in bags. Big Agriculture makes it seem like it's something that’s less …
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Wouldn’t gardening be far easier and infinitely more enjoyable if you didn’t have to turn the soil and break your back every spring? Each of us has been there and done that! After all, that ritual is …
“What’s wrong with your rosebush?” I asked. We were standing in front of my mother’s profuse garden of rosebushes. She loved her roses and was always adding a new color to the collection. “That’s a …
Continue Reading about A Green Rose for St. Patrick’s Day … Why Not? →
A staple in homestead gardens, garlic is easy to plant, easy to maintain, easy to harvest, and transports and stores well. With a little effort, homesteaders can grow garlic for home consumption and a …
I am the do-it-yourself type. Why hire someone to do it if you can do it yourself? This is my mantra, and part of the reasoning behind this mentality of mine is saving money. I am not cheap, but I am …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: Growing Wedding Flowers →
I have seen, grown, and written about some pretty unusual flowers – unusual in the fact they have unique names. There was the story I wrote about Jack-in-the-pulpit and the story about the black bat …
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When landscape professionals talk about dwarf trees, they refer to trees both deciduous and evergreen that are explicitly cultivated to remain small and manageable. If space is limited, dwarf fruit …
Artichokes are beautiful and interesting plants to grow, and if you have space, they can be an incredibly delicious addition to your garden. An artichoke plant has the unique distinction of being …
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Cardoon isn't a vegetable you'll find at the supermarket, and maybe not even at a farmers' market. This spiky, stalky relative of the artichoke is a delicacy, especially in the US. You're more likely …
It's spring in Minnesota when the trees are sporting their new green leaves and the ground is warm and damp. It's also time to get into the woods and look for morel mushrooms. Morel hunting has become …
Compost tea is enjoying a huge surge of popularity in the gardening world. Sometimes called the "liquid gold" of gardening, this nutrient-rich, microbe-rich liquid is hailed as a disease preventative …
I looked at the display of potted tulips and daffodils in the grocery store and let out a deep sigh. Each flower was perfectly coiffed, the stems standing tall and pristine, the display awash with …
Continue Reading about Homestead Stories: Forcing Indoor Flowering Bulbs →
“What is that?” I exclaimed, pointing at the black thing that sat atop a tall stem. "Black thing" was the best way I could describe it, though perhaps some avid gardeners would refer to it as deep …
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Those of us with green thumbs may feel a bit of the winter blues once the first hard frost hits. Though the tender sprigs of our favorite basil and dill may look beautiful as the dawn strikes their …
Continue Reading about 5 Perennial Herbs For Fresh Garden Flavor All Year Long →
Unless you’re a roach-loving entomologist, chances are you can’t stand having little critters all over your kitchen. Not only are they unsightly, but they are also known to be allergy triggers, …
More and more people are turning to veganism as a compassionate and health-conscious lifestyle, so that means you probably have at least a few veg-heads in your life. And at some point, you're going …
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Every time the holidays come around, do you find yourself wondering what in the heck you're going to get for all those special people on your list? Chances are you have at least one relative or friend …
Continue Reading about 10 Gifts To Give That Will Change The World →
Chia seeds are nutritional powerhouses and have a huge range of versatility in the kitchen. They are my very favorite seed to use in the kitchen. But what about chia plants? In this article, …
Continue Reading about Chia Plants: How To Grow and Harvest Chia Seeds →
