Wild rice (Zizania palustris) is known as the โcaviar of grains.โ Contrary to its name, wild rice is actually the seeds of wetland grass. Other common names include water oats, Canadian rice, marsh oats, and blackbird oats. A native, aquatic, ancient cereal grain that grows in isolated riverbeds, marshes, and shallow lakes across North America, wild
Search Results for: grow your own
Know Your Vegetable Seeds: The Lowdown on Heirloom, Hybrid, and Organic Seeds
Now’s the time of year when prudent green thumbs curl up with their favorite seed catalogs and plan their springtime gardens, selecting from a huge variety of vegetable seeds for sale from an equally large number of seed companies. Many companies commonly offer heirloom and organic seeds, but what sets these varieties apart from the
Insteading Giveaway – December 2019
Regardless of whether you had a large harvest of food from the garden this year, or simply found a lot of cucumbers on sale at the grocery store, preserving food is an excellent way to provide yourself with a little more self-sufficiency in the winter months. While canning and dehydrating are common methods of food
Hugelkultur: What It Is & Inspiration For Your Permaculture Garden
Instead of putting those small branches, leaves, and grass clippings in bags by the curbside…build a hugelkultur bed. Simply mound logs, branches, leaves, grass clippings, straw, cardboard, petroleum-free newspaper, manure, compost, or whatever other biomass and organic matter you have available, top with soil, and plant your veggies or perennial plants. What you’ll get in return
Moss Art
Bringing out the beauty of this 350-million-year-old plant. Mud Maiden Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornall, England www.heligan.com Mud Maiden Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornall, England. www.heligan.com The Giant’s Head Lost Gardens of Heligan. By Susan & Pete Hill. www.heligan.com Mud Maiden (a newer sister to above) By Susan & Pete Hill – Private Collection. www.flixya.com
Growing Cauliflower
Growing cauliflower can be a bit of a challenge in the home garden as it is extremely sensitive to changes in temperature. However, growing cauliflower is not difficult once you know its likes and dislikes! With some loving care, cultivating cauliflower is more than worth the effort. Read on for helpful planting and growing tips
What Is Fruit Tree Grafting?
Do you have an orchard or a beautiful fruit tree you would like to see produce more fruit? Are you interested in growing more fruit varieties but not necessarily planting more trees? And would you like to produce fruit quicker on younger trees? If the answer was yes to any of the above, you might
10 Answers to Your Beginner Goat Questions
Itโs time for another installment in our series of articles where you ask us questions and we do our best to give you good answers. The theme of todayโs series: Goats! It seems you all have tons of questions about these capricious caprines, and rightly so — theyโre interesting, useful, and personable members of any
How to Make Soil Acidic: 3 Natural Methods That Work
When you think of the word โacidicโ, what images first spring to mind? Perhaps visions of lemons, vinegar, and upset stomachs — but I will hazard a guess that a pile of soil didnโt join their number. If youโre hoping to grow a bumper crop of blueberries or potatoes, soil acidity and learning how to
Seed Saving: 5 Things I Never Knew
Before I moved to my homestead, I was gifted a huge jar of heirloom seeds by a friend who understood what we were trying to do and had experience in seed saving. I remember dreamily sorting through the tiny baggies of beans, kale, and beets; my inexperience and ignorance of gardening temporarily gilded with happy
What Is Mugwort?
A medicinal herb native to Europe and Asia, mugwort has had known benefits for centuries throughout the world. Its earliest introduction to North America was in the early 1600s when Jesuit missionaries migrating from Europe brought it to Canada. Since then, it has spread south into the eastern United States, and gradually, west as well.
20 Soothing DIY Wind Chimes
Wind chimes: They’re soothing, relaxing, and add a beautiful, decorative addition to your garden or backyard. Wind chimes come in basically any color, material, size, and price tag, and nowadays, you can find some pretty artistic options on Etsy and at other retailers. But if you’re the do-it-yourself type that wants the ultimate satisfaction of
Buying Baby Chicks: A First-Timer’s Guide
Raising your own backyard chickens makes you feel connected to the source of your food, and proud of every egg you eat. There are lots of resources to help you get started if you are a first-time chicken owner. Here, we will look at where and how to go about buying baby chicks. Even if
Tropical Homesteading: Growing Bananas
Bananas are a fruit instantly recognizable to just about anyone, anywhere in the world. Yet they grow only in tropical and subtropical areas. So how is it that grocery stores in temperate zones the world over manage to offer piles and piles of them year-round for 10 cents or less per fruit? Though part of
Mullein: An Herbal Remedy, Not A Weed
โIsnโt that a weed?โ I asked my friend. I pointed to the pale green, hairy stem rising from the flannel-textured center rosette. โIt grows tall, you know. I pulled one last week that was taller than me — at least 7 feet!โ “No, itโs called mullein,” my friend replied. Itโs actually a heritage plant, brought
Frugal Homesteading Tips For Stretching The Family Food Budget
Many Americans experience the tight squeeze of tough economic times. In many parts of the nation, unemployment statistics may unexpectedly soar to an all-time high. When this happens, jobs are hard to find. If you are in a situation where you need to cut back on living expenses to stretch your budget, reducing the amount
Homestead Stories: Strange Names for Beautiful Flowers
I have seen, grown, and written about some pretty unusual flowers โ unusual in the fact they have unique names. There was the story I wrote aboutย Jack-in-the-pulpit and the story about the black bat flower,ย but there are more unusual names for flowers, and some that might seem a little too bizarre. Like the flying duck
25 Small Greenhouses (For Nearly Any Spaceโ2×2 And Up)
A small greenhouse allows just the right amount of sun and moisture to come in while keeping insects and bad weather out. And the easy access panels or sliding doors make tending to your tomatoes or lettuce easy labor. If youโre a hobby gardener who likes to grow a few veggies on your patio, or
Ocotillo Facts
Ocotillo, also known as coachwhip, Jacobโs staff, vine cactus, or by the scientific name of Fouquieria splendens, is a flowering spiny shrub thatโs a characteristic species of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts. Desert Life Though this species resembles a cactus with its long spiny branches, it is more closely related to blueberries and tea. Ocotillos
Harvesting Lettuce: How to Harvest and Store Lettuce For Fresh & Delicious Garden Salads
Go to any cheap restaurant, and youโll see a sorry showing of lettuce. It usually is represented in two forms: either a single leaf of romaine, apologetically separating your burger from the bun, or the translucent, colorless chunks of a sodden iceberg that makes up the bulk of the salad you regretfully got instead of
Self Watering Planters
Every gardener has that one plant that seems to have a never-ending thirst. You water it, tend to all your other plants, and next thing you know, the soil is all dried up again! Plants that like (or tolerate) wet soil include mint, snowdrops, canna, astilbe, and calla lilies. This soil preference makes all of
Getting Rid of Squash Bugs
Am I the only one who had an all-out war with squash bugs this year? They annihilated most of my butternut and zucchini before the plants even had a chance to produce. I knew how to get rid of them, but the bugs had covered too much ground before I realized they were present. We’d
Herb Gardening 101
Planning and planting an organic herb garden is a traditional part of the homestead lifestyle goal of self-sufficiency. Growing rare and beautiful culinary and medicinal herbs is a glorious gardening experience. Herbs offer brilliant flowers, delightful fragrance, eye-catching foliage, and they are one of the easiest types of plants to grow. Think of the herbs
Types of Carrots
From salads to stews, carrots have plenty of culinary uses, all of which improves its crisp and sweet flavor. Before growing your own, discover these notable carrot varieties and their special characteristics.
Raising Angora Goats for Soft and Sustainable Mohair Fiber
When we decided to leave the city behind and start homesteading, one of the first animals I wanted was goats. But the breed of goat became a big question. Fainting, Nigerian dwarf, Pygmy –? And then I learned about Angora goats, and I knew they would become our choice. By this point, we already had
Best Canning Recipes
Canning is a fun project that gets your hands dirty, keeps your food fresh, and gives you a last-minute gift option when the holidays roll around. The key to successful canning is starting with a recipe you can trust. We pulled these gems from our favorite homesteading and farming blogs. We also recommended the best
Growing Black Beans
Green “snap” beans are a staple in many a homesteaderโs garden, and rightly so — theyโre delicious and flavorsome, and eating green beans straight off the vine is one of the great pleasures in growing your own food. But far fewer gardeners grow dry beans like black, kidney, or pinto beans. The idea of growing
Foraging for Wild Strawberries
One of my earliest foraging memories is crouching in my childhood backyard. I nudged the leaves of a low-growing plant aside with a tiny, slightly grubby finger — and the white flowers that were there a week ago had changed into dimpled green spheres. I asked my mom, and she said they were strawberries. But
10 Summer Flowers to Make Your Garden Pop With Color
Summer is a time of bold barbecue flavors, bright sunlight, vivid green on the fully-leafed trees, and hot temperatures. The garden would be remiss if it didn’t have colorful flowers to match the intensity of the season! Move aside, you pale pastel spring flowers, these eye-zinging blossoms are here to fill the garden beds with
Enjoying Garlic Scapes
There are some obvious benefits from having a garden — freshly grown food, meaningful, rewarding work, and a relationship with your land that you can feel good about. Then there are some benefits that aren’t as obvious, such as getting “bonus” foods that you’ll rarely, if ever, find in a grocery store. These are fleeting
Types of Spinach
From the popular Bloomsdale variety to lesser known cultivars, get to know the spinach plant before planting them in your garden. These leafy greens are packed with nutrition and boasts versatile culinary uses.
What Is Hobby Farming?
Hobby farms are small-scale farms with the focus on following that farming passion to produce several benefits. This type of farming is not mainly about making money, but there is a potential for financial side hustles. Before we jump into the exciting world of hobby farming, let’s start off by differentiating between some commonly confused
Homestead Stories: The Black Bat Flower
โWhat is that?โ 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 purple. Not me! It definitely was black. With two wide flower petals flattened back like wings around what
Make Your Own Homemade Tea Blends With These 8 Recipes
Homemade tea blends can be very simple or more complicated, and you can customize your recipes to suit your own tastes. These are some of our favorite hand-crafted tea ideas to stock your pantry or for your gift list!
Beets: From Growing And Preparing To Canning and Cooking
When I was very young, my mom taught me how to can and pickle beets, and I have continued to do so since my husband loves pickled beets. I have always wanted to eat beets, but Iโve never been a fan of the earthy flavor. Beets are such a healthy vegetable supplying large amounts of
8 Mistakes to Avoid as a New Homesteader
If youโre a new homesteader on new land, youโre in an interesting place. Youโve probably just left everything in the city, your job, your friends, your family, your inherited way of life, to start over in the country. And, like earlier generations of back-to-the-landers, you may not really know what you are doing, have had
Homestead Stories: The Poison Garden
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 poisonous, โlook, donโt touchโ garden beauties. So what about planting a poison garden dedicated solely to them? While doing some recent research
Types of Okra
Okra is a Southern staple that primarily thrives in warm regions. However, you can grow this nutritious fruit at home under optimal growing conditions and use it to various culinary applications.
Rooster Spurs: What They Are And What To Do With Them
If I were to ask people on the street what makes a rooster a rooster, what do you think they might say? I guarantee most would mention their crow, the large wattles and comb, or the impressive and beautiful feathering. And of course, all those answers are correct, but there is one more important feature
10 Heirloom Seeds and Their Strange Histories
Heirloom seeds offer much to the backyard and homestead gardener. They reproduce true-to-type, affording you seed self-sufficiency if you grow and save them from year to year. But for those who love a good story or who really enjoy delving into history, these seeds also offer something for the intellect and curiosity, as well as
How To Clip Chicken Wings
Clipping the flight wings on your backyard flock is a harmless and helpful domestic trick that is easy to learn. Clipping a chickenโs wings doesnโt hurt them and can be done at any age. Clipping a chicken’s wings is usually unnecessary until your chickens become adventuresome enough to try to escape their enclosure. Wing feathers
Growing Furniture
Train and graft a tree for half a dozen years or so and you have strong, local, one piece (tree) furniture. One piece wood chairs, no joints. Partially planed. The first chairs are expected to be in galleries mid-2017. byย FullGrown, UK. One piece tree chair. The trees are harvested in winter and then allowed to
Homestead Stories: The Tulip Tree
โOh my! The flowers on those trees look like tulips.โ 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 activity. โThatโs why people call them tulip trees,โ Gran said. โTheyโre also called poplars. In fact, other than in
10 Gorgeous Winter Flowers To Add Color To Gray Winter Days
It can be rather sad to see the blooms of summer fade. As your summer flowers die back and prepare for winter, plant some of these winter flowers to create color for otherwise dreary landscaping. You can fill containers with winter-blooming annuals like pansies and violas, and plant perennials in the landscape for color that