Garden Put to Bed
We finally completed one of the hardest tasks of the year, which is getting the gardens ready for winter. Usually, we have this completed...
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Gardening
Growing food is a large part of our blueprint for sustainability. Ed is an ex-Master Gardener and Maggie has been raising vegetables in a 400-square foot urban plot for over 10 years. We now have plenty of room to scale up...
Ed
Oct 133 min read
The Year of Perennials In Review
We are at the mid-point of closing down the garden for winter. We are spreading a giant piles of woodchips across the beds, mucking out...
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Ed
Sep 271 min read
Lavender Update
As summer winds down, we will be taking stock of our Year of the Perennials. First up is our attempt at growing lavender. Like many of...
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Maggie
Sep 101 min read
My Neighbor's Tomatoes Are So Large!
My neighbor gave me some tomatoes today and I'm looking forward to making tomato sandwiches as my main sustenance for the next week or so....
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Maggie
Aug 202 min read
A Dump Truck Full of Wood Chips - Woo Hoo!
"Back to Eden" gardening is the long-term goal for our garden (my perspective). The purported benefits of the gardening method almost...
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Ed
Jul 282 min read
Gardening with Chickens
Last week, we harvested our garlic. We succession-plant bush beans, which was one of this weekend's tasks. The variety we plant mature in...
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Ed
Jul 282 min read
Side Project
We have a few side projects going on this summer. These are fun little things we are trying on a small scale, to see how they may fit...
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Maggie
Jul 131 min read
Lots Can Happen With a Garden In a Month and a Half
This picture of our garden was taken a week ago on July 6. We planted this garden between May 31 and June 7. With all of the rain we've...
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Maggie
Jul 102 min read
Picking Snow Peas Leads to Thoughts on Life
Picking snow peas for the second time today (the first time was only 4 hours prior) reinforced some important life tools for me today. In...
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Maggie
Jun 292 min read
Cherries, Berries, and Peas
At any one picking, we're not getting a "ton" at this point; however, we are having fun with what we are getting. Today, we picked Black...
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Ed
Jun 232 min read
Rainy June
The average precipitation for Richland County is about 5 inches. Last summer, we were lucky to have gotten an inch of rain in June, and...
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Maggie
Jun 202 min read
What Happens When Getting Interested In Medicinal Herbs
I'm in the process of learning about all of the medicinal benefits of herbs and other greens. I've bought reference books that outline...
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Maggie
Jun 51 min read
Garlic Scapes
I picked our first round of garlic scapes this morning (there will be more). I need to find something new to do with them. ...
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Maggie
Jun 51 min read
Our First Home Grown Strawberries
Ed first planted strawberry plants in our garden last year; however, it was a drought year AND we had huge problems with some sort of...
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Ed
May 262 min read
Garden 2024 is in!
It took nearly 3 months, but the 2024 version of our garden is finally completed. The extra time this year was spent installing a fence...
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Maggie
May 102 min read
Buying Sweet Corn Seeds in "Bulk" for Our Garden
Ed and I are still relatively new gardeners. Historically, when buying seeds for garden sweet corn, we've bought little packets of seed...
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Ed
May 91 min read
Asparagus Season
This spring has been a little rainier and warmer than usual, which has triggered an early burst of greenery. One of the plants making a...
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Ed
Apr 231 min read
Lavender Up-potting
The lavender we started from seed a few weeks ago ended up with a fairly good germination rate. The 'Vera' variety performed best, with...
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Ed
Dec 31, 20233 min read
2024 will be the Year of....
Since we first started our homesteading adventure, we have given each year a theme. While work overlaps from year to year, we find that...
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Ed
Dec 14, 20233 min read
2023 Garden Wrap Up
One of the end-of-year projects we always have is a review of how our garden performed. Every year we rotate crops and try new varieties,...
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Maggie
Aug 21, 20231 min read
Rhubarb Scones with Honey Substitution
We've harvested lots of rhubarb this season. I've been canning rhubarb and freezing it as it comes in. While I've made rhubarb Jell-o...
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Maggie
Aug 1, 20231 min read
Orange Pumpkins on August 1st in Wisconsin??
Maybe we're just too new to growing pumpkins, but having an orange pumpkin (3 actually) on August 1st in Wisconsin seems way too early. ...
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Maggie
Jul 31, 20231 min read
Dirty Hands and Some Red Potatoes from the Garden
In mid to late April, a friend gave me some potato starts as a gift. Excited, I planted them right away. Here and Wisconsin, April is...
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Ed
Apr 9, 20232 min read
First Spring Day
While spring started several weeks ago, today was the first day it seemed the weather got the memo. Sunshine, blue sky, temperature...
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Ed
Dec 25, 20222 min read
Estate Sale Find
I love estate sales and rummage sales. I look at them as little treasure hunts. Stores today all carry the same homogenized merchandise,...
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Ed
Dec 10, 20223 min read
Garden 2023
Every year it is the same. By October, we are tired of the abundance of squash and canning pickles, but by the first snowfall in...
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Maggie
Oct 9, 20221 min read
Shucking Beans
Today I shucked some dried beans we'd let go to seed (for next years' seed and maybe just a little to actually eat). Yesterday, I picked...
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Maggie
Oct 9, 20221 min read
Excited to get Manure for Garden
We made three trips to a local cattle farmer family who raise 90+ meat cows. We had our old Dodge Dakota pick-up truck pulling a trailer...
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Maggie
Oct 3, 20221 min read
First Year Actually Harvesting Brussel Sprouts
I enjoy Brussel Sprouts; Ed, not quite as much unless they're roasted. Because I enjoy them and because they're said to be a cool...
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Maggie
Oct 2, 20221 min read
You Know It's Fall When the Decorating Starts
You know it's fall when the leaves start turning and when the Halloween and other fall related decorations start. Fall is Ed's favorite...
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