Category: Cultivate
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The Walled Garden
I’ve been enamored with the idea of a walled garden forever. Okay… not actually forever. It’s only been since my first trip to France (over 20 years ago) when I saw how beautiful they could be. Before that, walls around yards defined property lines, increased privacy, and gave cats a place to sit. And that…
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The Year-Round Spice Garden (with free PDF seasonal chore calendar)
Variety is the spice of life. Likewise, spices can add immense variety and edible interest to your meals and your landscape year round. There’s a lot of crossover between spices and herbs in the kitchen. However, for garden planning purposes, it’s good to have a clear distinction between the two in mind. Herbs vs. Spices…
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Vegetable and Spice Garden Time!
Spring is nearly here. That means its time to get gardening in earnest! I have written tons of posts and made lots videos about gardening over the years. So, below, I’m going to detail what I’ve got going on in my garden right now and what’s coming up in the near future. Then, I’ll also…
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Grow Your Own Spices Arrives – at Homes Everywhere!
Hi all! Today was the big day! Copies of Grow Your Own Spices started showing up at homes everywhere. Some dear friends of mine spontaneously started sending me photos of their copies as they arrived. It was amazing because it felt like we were together for a moment. But as more photos showed up on…
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Spice Gardening for Indoor Landscapes, Greenhouses, and Outdoor Gardens
Lately, I’ve had several people tell me that they don’t think they can grow spices where they live. I happen to know that’s simply not true. You can grow many spices anywhere if you put in a little effort to create ideal growing conditions. That’s why spices like coriander have literally been grown on all…
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An Inside Look at Grow Your Own Spices and the Secrets of the Publishing Process, Plus Personal IOUs for the Holidays!
Hi all! First, I have some not-so-good news to share. We had to push back the release of Grow Your Own Spices to January 5th because the first shipment of books was damaged in transit. Now, on the upside, the new copies are all set to be shipped out starting on January 5th. I just…
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Free Course on Growing Spices
Hi All! With my new book, Grow Your Own Spices, coming out soon (and already available for pre-order from many booksellers and on Amazon), I’ve been doing talks and interviews to get everyone excited about growing spices in 2021. So, today I want to share a link to a 2-hour course I taught this week…
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Fermented Food Fight Over Kimchi
I think food dishes taste better — and nourish more than our bodies — when they are steeped in long-standing traditions and cultural diversity. That’s one of the big reasons that kimchi makes my top ten list of all time favorite ferments. Not only is it easy to make at home, but thinking of those…
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Growing, Harvesting, and Curing Saffron at Home (with Video)
Saffron is one of the most exotic seeming and expensive spices in the world. Yet I grow an abundant perennial crop of it in a weedy, but compost rich patch of ground in my North Carolina backyard. Okay, so my backyard isn’t exactly a typical yard. It’s a homesteader’s fantasy of organic food production meets…