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Abundance Begins
Our first real garden harvest of the growing season is the abundant and lush beauty that washes over our landscape in May. This feast for the senses nourishes us just as much as the fruit and calorie-dense staple crops that come later on. What’s most amazing to me is that before I began homesteading, I…
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Make Thyme
Bad pun, I know. But today, I have thyme and lots of it! Plus, it’s Easter Sunday and sunny. What better way to use my thyme than to reap an abundant harvest. I know the thyme is right because the sun is warming the tiny but potent leaves. Their savory, citrusy, spicy aroma is noticeable…
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Happy National Gardening Day!
I have friends who celebrate all the various national and world such and such days. They treat them as an opportunity to reflect on something different each day. I’m not in the habit of doing that, but today I want to share a few that I’m paying attention to. Like today, it’s Maundy Thursday, which…
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Today’s the Big Day!
Weed-Free Gardening is in print and shipping out to readers today! Thanks to all of you who pre-ordered and to all of you who plan to order soon! You do literally pay my salary (and lots of other people’s too). Plus, you make all the work that goes into creating a book like this so…
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Early and Evergreen Herbs and Spices
I started my journey to become a gardener by growing herbs. It was so much fun, and saved me so much money, that even before I even knew the term “homesteader” I became self-sufficient at growing herbs. I grew so many, everywhere I could, that I cut them for bouquets, gave divisions to friends, and…
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Epicurean Living: The Chicken Issue!
The latest edition of Epicurean Living is now available for free online viewing or download. I’ve dubbed this one the “chicken issue” since I devoted the entire Epicurean homesteading section to the subject. There are also details on using all five senses in the garden and some easy ways to engage with the ecology where…
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Early Spring Garden
Spring gardens are slow to wake. Day by day, they brighten a bit more. Blooms begin. Foliage fills in. Then one morning, you step outside and find the world transformed by life. This morning — a blustery, cold one set against the backdrop of a bright sun — it feels as if the garden has…
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Phenology and Phenomenology
Phenology is about understanding the relationship between natural events. For example, deciduous fruit trees flower after their chill hours are met, once certain daylength and soil temperature conditions occur. Many pollinators start their season after spending a certain amount of time in a semi-dormant state (diapause) followed by several consecutive days and nights of warm…
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Simple Savings
Make the good life a little more affordable with a few tried and true methods. Shop Deliberately Wanting is programmed into us as a survival tactic. If it weren’t then back when we had to hunt and forage for food, after a satisfying breakfast, we might not have felt the urgency to look for our…