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Leeks, Beets &‘Extra’ Weeks
In this unusually mild winter where it’s looking a lot like it’s not going to freeze after February (actually, February itself is starting off in the 60s day and 40s at night), my recent attempts to...
View ArticleFinishing Up Last Year’s Food
Waiting for ‘Spring Enough’ to spend real time outdoors to clear and dig beds for this year’s spring crops can be maddening. I’ve folded up dozens and dozens of newspaper seedling pots, have some of...
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The Vernal Equinox
Today is the vernal equinox, the day in between the winter and summer solstices when day and night are of equal length. It is also the first day of spring. Many of us who have been trying to figure...
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The Poultry Project: 1… Peeps!
The Poultry Project Begins… Easter Weekend, At The ‘Stead: Daughter, Son-in-Law and the two youngest grandkids visiting from up north. Environment quickly greening, dogwoods, azaleas, phlox, etc. in...
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The Poultry Project 3: First Feathers
The ducks are now officially a month old, continue to grow noticeably every day. Real feathers of the white variety are beginning to overtake yellow down. Weather’s warming, so they get to enjoy more...
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Almost Summer
June is upon us, which usually means the spring crops are about done and the summer crops haven’t started producing in abundance yet. So… you’ve taken your morning garden stroll. The corn is a foot...
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The Great Corn Experiment
The ‘Great Corn Experiment’ this year on terrace #4 of my growing area turned into a very sad failure earlier this month when one of our ubiquitous summer afternoon boomer-storms started dropping...
View Article1 Million Pounds of Food from 3 Acres?!
Awhile back I happened upon a very inspiring 2-part story on about Will Allen and a company called Growing Power. How 1 MILLION Pounds of Organic Food Can Be Produced On 3 Acres and Part 2 are well...
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Spring Seed Catalogue Time!
Yes, it’s that time of year again. Either you’re getting seed catalogues to brighten your mailbox this week, or you got them (like I did) before Christmas and had to stash them for perusal now that...
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New In The Garden: Hops!
Now that the threat of last frost (or just temperatures into the high 30s at night) is finally over, I thought I’d expound a bit about what’s new in my garden(s) this year, and why. This year we’re...
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Killed a Rattlesnake This Morning…
Just a bit of Father’s Day excitement here on the ‘stead, where this morning Sirius the Cat was seen stalking a slithery something in the jasmine growing along the garden fence next to the gateway....
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An Early July of Biblical Proportions
The first week of July here in the southern Appalachians has been positively diluvian. That means we’ve had so much rain – falling at the rate of 1-2 inches an hour spaced in waves throughout the day...
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It’s Summer: Must Be Preservation Time
Boy, oh boy – it’s hot! That means tomatoes, apples, peppers and beans are coming in as fast as I can pick in the scorching heat of late July, taxing my tolerance for dripping sweat at the counter...
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Cider, Salsa and Peach Pie
The photo on the left is of my 3-year old volunteer peach tree, taken just this afternoon. You can see that it’s growing right next to my recently-moved compost bin, from which it volunteered. I have...
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Winter Food Production
Mountain Express In the quest for local, responsibly grown organic food in my region of Western North Carolina, there has been a perpetual issue with the fact that our winters can be nearly Canadian...
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Mid-Winter Thoughts: A Continuum of Consciousness
Is Consciousness a Universal Aspect of Life? Many years ago, when I was harvesting peppers and tomatoes in my very first yard-garden soon after my husband got out of the navy, a friend and I got into a...
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Antioxidants vs Radiation: Lemon Balm!
Most of us who are committed to the homesteading lifestyle are committed because we perceive the value of living closer to the earth, taking responsibility for ourselves per the ‘conveniences’ of...
View ArticlePruning Grapes and Fruit Trees
It’s into February now – the longest month of the year psychologically, so the shortest month numerically – and pruning the fruit trees and grape vines is the name of the game in my region. Even as...
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Ginseng: New Research & Income Opportunity
Researcher Sang-Moo Kang at Georgia State University’s new Institute for Biomedical Sciences reports that ginseng can be used to treat flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). I have touted in this...
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Killed a Rattlesnake This Morning…
Just a bit of Father’s Day excitement here on the ‘stead, where this morning Sirius the Cat was seen stalking a slithery something in the jasmine growing along the garden fence next to the gateway....
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