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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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...
Maggie
- Aug 20
- 2 min
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 28
- 2 min
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 28
- 2 min
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 13
- 1 min
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 10
- 2 min
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 29
- 2 min
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 23
- 2 min
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 20
- 2 min
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 5
- 1 min
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 5
- 1 min
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 26
- 2 min
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 10
- 2 min
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 9
- 1 min
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 23
- 1 min
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, 2023
- 3 min
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, 2023
- 3 min
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, 2023
- 1 min
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, 2023
- 1 min
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, 2023
- 1 min
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, 2023
- 2 min
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, 2022
- 2 min
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, 2022
- 3 min
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, 2022
- 1 min
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, 2022
- 1 min
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, 2022
- 1 min
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, 2022
- 1 min
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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Maggie
- Oct 1, 2022
- 1 min
So Much Winter Squash! What to do with it??
As we cleaned out our garden today to get it ready for winter, we found the last of the winter squash. Having planted various types of...
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Maggie
- Oct 1, 2022
- 1 min
Taking Down the Garden
It took Ed and I much of the day today to take down the garden. With a few exceptions (ex: we're waiting for beans to dry and we like our...
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Maggie
- Sep 4, 2022
- 1 min
Peppers Five Ways
We've been picking and using our peppers for quite a while now; using them in canning salsa's and relishes and sauces. Today, we said,...
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