Harvest

This spring was the start of a shift in model around our homestead. Instead of buying the same generic meat chicken breed that grows fast, stays docile, and never really looks particularly healthy, I went in a totally different direction after researching everything there was to know about dual...

It’s a common experience for folks trying to grow vegetables without pesticides. You plant squash in the first stretch of warm weather and watch it grow into a beautiful plant. But soon after harvesting the first delicious squash, you come out to your garden and find the plant that was beaming with...

Ramps, also known as wild leeks, are one of the most coveted edible native plants in the North American forest. They are particularly prized by people in our area of Appalachia, where they have been collected and eaten for generations. They have a delicious mild garlicky flavor, and where you find...

If there were a way to measure each nation’s tolerance for bold flavors that were not made bold by salt or sugar, I’d bet The United States would have the lowest tolerance of all, and I feel like this is something we really should work on. We’re a melting pot of so many cultures with so many...

What if I told you that out there in the world exists a bird that is so low to the ground that it often goes under the radar of the vast majority of homesteaders? It’s the same bird that allows folks in both rural and urban settings to explore several aspects of self-sufficiency while still often...

By now the benefits of incorporating native plants in your landscaping and vegetable garden are very well documented. Native plants require fewer inputs and less upkeep because they’re adapted to your local environment, they provide habitat for native insects and birds, and in some cases, they are a...

It’s easy to get caught up in thinking that you must have a lot of space to make gardening worthwhile. But even with a small amount of space, you can actually produce quite a bit of produce by using the square-foot garden method. If you aren’t familiar with the concept of a square-foot garden, it’s...

Once the days grow longer and we start seeing little buds on trees and daffodils popping up around the periphery of the yard, it’s easy to want to get some plants in the dirt. And though we can’t grow a lot of the vegetables that require the mid-summer heat to thrive, there is actually a lot that we...

Tomatoes were likely first bred from wild nightshade plants with tiny fruit about 7,000 years ago in Mesoamerica. The original wild fruits descended from a Peruvian and Ecuadorian plant that is similar to modern cherry tomatoes. Although tomatoes had been eaten by people in the Americas for...

Homesteading is whatever you decide to make of it, much like anything in life. But the more I talk with friends, family, and total strangers, the more I realize there are plenty of stigmas out there about homesteading. One person assumed I’m a hippy (only partially true). Another close family member...

You might feel so familiar with dandelions that when you hear about them each spring, you’re immediately bored and want to move on to something new and sexy. You might have tried the leaves and thought they were too bitter or tried making tea with the roots to cleanse your liver but thought the...

Garlic is one of the slow movers of the garden world. It’s typically planted in the fall and quietly builds a solid root structure underneath the ground all winter. Little green garlic stems popping up over the top of the soil are typically one of the first signs that spring will be here soon, but...