THE FIRST ALLIUMS OF THE SEASON This week marked the first allium harvest of the season: The Dutch Yellow shallots, which are planted in...

EIGHT Broody's clutch of eight chicks is energetically exploring their new world today. After the anticipation--and concern, given the...

DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS BEFORE THEY'RE HATCHED Broody has been on the nest for twenty very warm days. She started incubating thirteen...

We don’t usually name our hens. We did at first: Henny and Penny (Buff Orpingtons), Beatrice, Bernadette, and Brigitta (Light Brahmas),...

BEAT THE HEAT WITH A NATURAL, REFRESHING BODY SPRAY We enjoy using Weleda’s Sage Deodorant from Azure Standard. Its scent is subtle, it...

My dad was a quintessential, salt-of-the-earth farmer. He used many colorful expressions to describe everyday events. One of them came to...

PLENTIFUL CREAM IN THE HOMESTEAD KITCHEN One of the great blessings of having a family cow is the abundance of cream produced every...

A HOMESTEAD WONDER PLANT Last year when animal food at the local co-op was in short supply, we began to think again about ways to grow...

BLOOM TIME June on the homestead is not all about work. Certainly there is an abundance of work to be done--more that we will ever...

RESTORING THE SOUL Each day of the week has regular chores that must be done: feeding the animals, milking the cows, watering in the...

SPRING PLANTING: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED This past month and a half has been a busy time on the homestead--a time of blog silence and...

ALLIUM RESILIENCE ON THE HOMESTEAD This is the time of year for starting all of the homestead's crops--some in flats, others in...

Every day is a gift. Each morning brings with it new challenges, new dreams, and new hope for the day ahead. But some mornings on the...

GROWING VERTICALLY Once we settled on a garden bed configuration in our greenhouse, a geodesic dome from Growing Spaces, we looked for...

MANY EGGS MAKE FOR A CREAMY HOMESTEAD DESSERT In the spring of the year we have a wonderful problem: too many eggs. We share some, sell...

THE EARLIEST FRUIT IN THE HOMESTEAD GARDEN Among the many trees and bushes that produce fruit in our homestead garden, honeyberry bushes...

ADDING A FIG TO THE GROWING DOME In the homestead's greenhouse, a growing dome from Growing Spaces, we have enjoyed being able to develop...

SPRING CLEANING IN THE GREENHOUSE If you haven't already, now is the time to clean the transparent walls and ceiling of your greenhouse....

GREENHOUSE LAYOUT AND DESIGN When we began to consider ideas for the layout of our greenhouse, we wanted to use space as efficiently as...

FOUR PRINCIPLES OF PRUNING TO GET YOU STARTED We finished the pruning today, a full month after we had intended. Part of learning to live...