I’ve always been a mushroom-lover… blame it on my upbringing. I grew up in the woods, with two generations of wild mushroom foragers before me. I’ve eaten a lot of really amazing fresh mushrooms in my life- and while I love foraging for them, it’s even better to be able to grow Shiitake mushrooms in […]
Homestead Quarterly – Fall 2017: Harvest All the Things!
Our Best Harvest Season Yet! It finally feels a little bit like we’ve arrived. For four years we’ve worked hard shaping our homestead into what we imagined- building orchards and gardens, planting trees, installing mushroom logs… it has been a lot of work with little reward so far, until this year. Things are finally starting […]
{Easy} Bread and Butter Refrigerator Pickles Recipe
For years I’ve tried making pickles- everything from bread and butter refrigerator pickles to classic dills… and for years I’ve never found a recipe I have fallen in love with, until now. I didn’t realize how much my general lack of pickling skills was weighing on me- I mean, a homesteader should be able to […]
Organic Potato Bug Control: How to Get Rid of Potato Beetles Naturally
Potato beetles showed up in my garden this year, and I was ready- here’s what I did to get rid of them organically and naturally without harmful pesticides… and it actually worked! Did you know that potatoes are on the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen?” This is the top twelve produce items with the most […]
Homestead Monthly: May & June {sow, weed, nurture, and reap}
Oh, hi. Yes, we’re still here. Here’s what’s been happening on the homestead! Planting and More Planting Putting things into the earth and watching them grow has been our whole life for the past two months. And weeding.. Oh the weeding! After having our old barn buried and the ground smoothed and leveled, we found ourselves […]
How to Use and Preserve Green Garlic
You might take one look at our garden and wonder if we’re preparing to be invaded by werewolves, vampires, and other evil spirits. Currently, a good 1/6 of our garden space is planted in garlic! My next post should really be on how to combat garlic-breath! Have you seen “garlic soap” before? If you’ve tried it, I’d […]
Homestead Monthly: April {orcharding, raised beds, and fungus}
Every time I write one of these monthly update posts, I think to myself: “a whole month has passed already?!” Every single time. I can’t even believe spring is here and half over already. It’s been a busy one! An Apple a Day We’re turning into pretty serious (crazy?) apple growers- we have 26 different […]
A New Way to Preserve Fresh Basil (freezing method, and NOT in an ice cube tray!)
Basil: the quintessential smell of summer around here! If only there was a way to preserve it… Oh, but there is! And I’m not talking about basil-scented soap and basil hand lotion. I can’t quite decide if these products are a good way to get a basil fix, or completely weird?! While I agree that there […]
Gardening with Chickens by Lisa Steele: Book Review
Gardening with Chickens by Lisa Steele should be your go-to reference for making your chickens work in your garden, and making your garden work for your chickens! When we got our first flock of egg-layers several years ago, I knew three things: I wanted to raise them as naturally as possible, I wanted them to […]
Homestead Monthly: December + January {natural beauty, fame, and fresh eggs}
Overall we had a lovely start to the winter season with unseasonably warm temperatures, which means the chickens got to free range for a while longer, and we were harvesting kale, chard, parsley and celery from the garden for a record amount of time! The holidays were filled with family and good food, and we […]