Tag: gardening
-
Charm City
Baltimore first cast its spell on me 12 years ago. Prompted by an incredibly intriguing profile posted on a dating app, I parallel parked Felicia the Fit outside the steps of a Bolton Hill townhouse, turned apartment building. Moments later, Matt emerged from behind a hundred year old door. Seeing him standing 6’2”, in dark…
-
Snake Warnings and Cicero
One of my favorite parts of our rustic homestead is a woodland trail that winds steeply to the uppermost limit of our property. Over the past 8 years of walking it, I’ve crossed paths with many snakes there. Like polite strangers, we note each others’ presence and continue on our separate ways. Recently, I had…
-
Embrace Change, Adapt, Grow
Those three ideas in the title of this post are pretty much the heart and art of living well today. They are also the focus of Issue 4 of Epicurean Living. For any newcomers, Epicurean Living is a free PDF magazine I create about philosophy, gardening, homesteading, creativity, and ecology. You can open and read,…
-
The One Thing Every Gardener Needs
Let me offer you the most important piece of advice I know to help you enhance your garden, your skills as a gardener, and your pleasure in having a garden. Create a comfortable place to sit in the garden and plant yourself there as often as you can. Increase Subliminal Learning If you don’t linger…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Light Deprivation for Weed Control
Light deprivation is great low-to-no cost way to control some weeds in your garden. It’s done by covering an area with black plastic sheeting, landscape fabric, scrap sheet metal, a tarp, old carpet, or other kinds of light barriers for a few months. Alternatively, you can use carbon rich materials like paper and cardboard held…