Garden season is just around the corner! Woohoo! As someone who has dabbled in growing various tomato varieties over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the distinct flavors and joys that come with cultivating these vibrant fruits right in my backyard. From the rich, complex taste of heirloom varieties like the Cherokee Purple to the […]
Baby Chick Basics – a few things to think about before buying those cute fluff balls
3 years ago I got a small handful of chicks from the local Tractor Supply. About a dozen of various breeds, mostly Rhode Island Red, Ameraucana, and white Leghorns . At about 5-6 months the hens started to lay eggs. It was a fun, considering it was my first experience with getting into chickens. Unfortunately, […]
When Everything Starts Hurting — Managing Your Aging Body While Continuing to Farm
For the past 3-4 months I’ve been having some shoulder pain that I thought was from lifting too many heavy cinder blocks earlier this year. But it wasn’t getting better, even with rest. Being in my mid-50s, I was concerned that I did some real damage that would take a long time to heal. I […]
3 Popular Types of Raised Beds: A Home Gardener’s Experience
I’ve always liked the idea of raised beds in a garden. It just seems neater than traditional rows of vegetables. The area within a bed can be planted with more things, and weeds can be picked out without too much trouble if the bed is still narrow enough. In my experience a typical garden bed […]
Can I Use Baking Powder for Baking Bread Instead of Yeast?
The short answer: YES! The longer answer: yes, but you’ll get a different product from using yeast. Chemical leaveners tend to give you a more “loose” crumb. Not the nice, chewy quality you can get with yeast breads. But that may be what you want in a bread at the moment. Something that mixes up […]
Baking Bread at Home
Table of Contents Equipment Needed for Bread Baking Basic Steps in Baking Bread Is Bread Baking Physical or Chemical? Good Books on Bread Baking for Beginners Using a Dutch Oven — or Not Using Other Cast Iron for Baking Comparing the Cost of Homemade vs. Store Bought Different Types of Yeast Breads Different Types of […]
Can a Garden Get Too Much Sun?
Late summer can get really, scorching hot. And sometimes I have a few tomatoes that are right in direct sunlight long enough to cause the tomato skin to start “cooking” and die. It hasn’t been too bad of a problem as I’m usually able to get out to the garden and pick things before they […]
Getting Into Grilling Vegetables
As an avid home gardener, I’m always seeking new ways to highlight the fresh flavors of just-picked produce. This summer, I decided to fire up the grill more often to bring out the natural sweetness in vegetables through char and a touch of smokiness. Grilling is an easy way to add lots of plants to […]
Composts — It Doesn’t Have to be Stinky
I produce a lot of vegetable kitchen waste since I enjoy cooking hearty plant-based meals. In the past, I would just throw the scraps in the trash (when I lived in town) where they would contribute to landfill methane emissions (which I was totally unaware of). However, I found that moving the waste outside to […]
Is a Soil Test Worth It?
When I first start a garden space the veggies do really well for 2-3 years. But then they start to slow down. Not grow as big or as productive. I’ve done some simple off-the-shelf soil test kits and found the potassium gets depleted, as well as the soil pH becoming more acidic. Fixing these with […]
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