How to Get Started Collecting & Growing Rare Seeds

If you’ve only ever grown varieties like Big Boy tomatoes and Butternut squash… you’re in for a surprise, and a treat! As folks who take pleasure from sticking their hands in the dirt, who can’t wait to eat the first fresh green bean from the garden every summer, and who appreciate things like old mason jars, fresh eggs, and good neighbors- I think you’ll LOVE …

Seed Catalogs! Get Your Seed Catalogs! A List of Places to Request Free Seed Catalogs

These seed companies, they’ve got us gardeners figured out. They prey on all the poor, snow-bound people during the dark, depths of winter. I swear they each have a team of meteorologists in the catalog department, just waiting for the coldest days and worst winter weather to hit. That’s when they pull the trigger. Catalogs start flying out to all the desperate, vitamin D-deprived homesteaders …

How to Build a Rustic Garden Gate

When we moved to our homestead a couple years ago, one of the first things we noticed was that over the years the resident squirrels had most graciously planted a black walnut grove in the yard. The entire yard. The trees would have to come down because they were taking up our outdoor living space. We hated the idea of having to cut down those little …

Dried Wild Violet Sprinkles

I love these so much. I love everything about them. Straight from the earth, very easy to prepare- with no dehydrator or special equipment needed. Unless you consider a twist tie and a string as special equipment… Plus: no food dyes, no sugar, no additives, no gluten, no bad stuff at all. Heck, these even have some nutrients in them! Natural, organic purple sprinkles. This …

How to Hunt and Forage for Wild Asparagus

I grew up a tom-boy, with a dad who was well versed in what to eat (and what not to eat!) from the woods, the yard, and even the roadsides. Eating berries from the hillside and mushrooms from deep in the woods is one of the great pleasures in life! I suppose though, if you didn’t grow up with wild edibles, and nobody has ever …

Vintage 1962 Lettuce Seed

Buried underneath layers of homemade ice fishing lures in an old box, I rescued this treasure from Karl’s grandparent’s house. Grandpa chuckled at my enthusiasm for this vintage find and told me to take the seeds with me if I wanted. Yeah, I wanted. I know its only an old seed packet- and not even that old, but I love what it represents. Fifty years …

Tips for Choosing the Best Tomato Varieties!

“I can find room for one more tomato plant…” Just…one…more…plant. Do you say that every year too? My tomato obsession really took off about three years ago when I began starting my own tomato seeds. The varieties you can find when you buy seeds instead of already started plants are just incredible (at least in my neck of the woods). If you’ve only ever gotten …