When it turned so cold last week, I thought a bowl of soup would be ideal. Unfortunately, I never actually got in the kitchen long enough to do more than heat water for tea. A week later and it’s cold again and, after a 3am inventory of the freezers and kitchen, I had two day’s … Read more
Winter’s on its way and the daylight hours are fading fast. Kinda SAD, isn’t it? What’s really sad is that SAD – Seasonal Affective Disorder – is more than a punny joke for nearly 10 million people. It can run the range of feeling a mild case of the blues to a debilitating bout of … Read more
Permaculture people like to practice a “no till / no dig” policy in their gardening. Most folks in Permaculture agree that one should never till your soil for a number of good reasons. There are fascinating Youtube videos and articles out there on the topic of soil science and why one should basically let nature … Read more
In this article, we’ll cover the basics of getting a backyard farm up and running. By backyard farm we mean anything from a small garden plot to a larger, more systematic approach. It all depends what you want to accomplish. We use the term backyard farming simply because it implies that we are taking a … Read more
I moved away for a few months and, when I came back, my very fertile soil encouraged a jungle to grow It’s not you. It’s your soil. The soil quality in a typical neighborhood setting is usually pretty terrible. Although most people do not realize it, poor soil is the reason why backyard vegetable … Read more
Raking Leaves is bad. Never rake your leaves again. Today while driving on a short errand, I saw a gentleman with a leaf vacuum attached to a riding lawn mower in a small front yard sucking up his leaves to deposit into the street. Next I saw an old woman raking leaves by hand in a … Read more
Raised garden beds are extremely popular these days, however, some beginning gardeners ask themselves why they need raised beds at all. At first glance, they do not seem to offer much advantage over planting directly into the ground. If one conducts a quick search on the internet to try to find out what the advantages … Read more
If one is serious about producing a large quantity of truly organic produce within a small space, then fruit trees are absolutely essential. The advantages of fruit trees in your backyard farm garden far outweigh the disadvantages. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of fruit trees: Fruit trees, contrary to popular belief, … Read more
One of the best fruits to forage for during the late summer and early fall in zones 5-10 are wild blackberries. In this article we will discuss how to forage not only for the blackberries themselves but for the plant too, so that you can grow these delicious, nutritious superfoods at home for free. We’ll … Read more
Chamomile has been valued since ancient times for its many beneficial properties and delicate scent (the name comes from ancient Greek, meaning ‘ground apple’). There are different types of chamomile but one, Chamaemelum nobile treneague – Roman chamomile, aka lawn chamomile, is an evergreen that grows 2 to 4 inches in height. Treneague means nonflowering … Read more