Choosing Rootstock When choosing rootstock I recommend looking beyond the trees’ use as a rootstock and looking at the usefulness of the tree as a whole. When I choose rootstock I like to select ones with multiple uses, Wild Plum and Antonovka Apple are clear winners in my book. Not only do they make great […]
Homesteading
How Much to Plant Per Person in the Garden
How much to plant per person in the garden. I think this is a question all homesteaders and vegetable gardeners deal with every year. Children grow bigger and eat more or they move out so you have one less mouth to feed, your eating habits change, someone suddenly has a favorite fruit or vegetable, the varieties of […]
Podcast – Homestead Waste Management (Episode 85)
Homestead Waste Management Podcast Though we don’t currently podcast, we have over 100 episodes on different subjects from survival to homesteading to permaculture and cooking. You can still subscribe on iTunes or listen online. Here’s one from On today’s podcast “Homestead Waste Management” Monica and I talk about turning “waste” into a resource. The […]
Are You Effective or Just Busy?
Are you effective or just busy? It’s very easy to fall into the busyness trap. You’re churning and getting stuff done. Feed and water the chickens, feed and water the sheep, feed and water the kids! There are times when things get jumbled in your mind. “I need to trim the hops back”, “I […]
Reducing Feed Costs
Past Podcast: Reducing Feed Costs We really enjoyed our time podcasting, but this last year we’ve focused more of our attention on speaking, teaching, hosting workshops, apprenticeships, creating videos and building our online Community. This is a podcast we did a couple of years ago focusing on reducing feed costs which is always helpful. Of course we […]
Uses of Viola tricolor
Uses of Viola tricolor Come June my herbal garden will begin to be spotted with delicate, tri-colored blossoms commonly known as Johnny Jump Ups or Wild Pansy . They are one of my favorite, wild-growing flowers in my herb garden. This last couple of years I have watched as their numbers happily multiply giving me […]
Sourdough Starter
Let’s make sourdough starter! One of the benefits of traditionally prepared sourdough bread is the satisfaction you get from knowing that it not only tastes better but it is better for you. Using soaked flour (that’s what we’re doing when we make sourdough starter) then resting the prepared dough for at least a day gives it […]
Effectiveness over Efficiency in Homesteading
Effectiveness over Efficiency in Homesteading You completed 48 things today on a to-do list but did you do what was important to you? Probably not. Be effective and then consider efficiency. Efficiency without effectiveness provides zero results. Think about it, you can be extremely efficient but if you are pursuing the wrong priorities you are […]
Beginning Your Medicinal Herb Garden
Even though our gardens and pasture are still covered in about 3 feet of snow, I’m thinking about and planning for my spring garden. In just a few months the ground will be ready to support plant life. Now, if you live in a milder climate than North Idaho then your ground will be ready […]
Culinary and Medicinal Garden Snowpocalypse!
Snow-Covered Herb Garden In the foreground is our culinary and medicinal garden. In the background is the food forest on terrace. We are excited about adding many different medicinal herbs this year to our established garden: yarrow, chaste tree, calendula and plantain just to name a few. In the food forest we will adding more […]
