Gardening

Apr 29th, 2009 By Guest Post

The theory is simple – solancea plants will root from any stalk that has ground contact – I’ve seen both peppers and tomatoes rooting from their stalks. The important part with potatoes is that they will lay tubers anywhere between the original “seed” potato and the soil surface. Every time the potato plant gets about 6 inches above ground, add more soil – this is why you mound potatoes in the field. These towers just take the mounding to crazy logical conclusions [...]

Apr 22nd, 2009 By Matt Mayer

Treehugger featured a story recently discussing ways to keep the costs of a garden down. Some ideas are good, although they could use expansion, and some were really not that great. Let’s have a look-see. [...]

Food

Jul 24th, 2009 By Edson

First, buy a whole chicken.
I know, I said it was free, but as any physicist can tell you, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Free always has a price, even if it’s sometimes hidden.
Anyway, soup.
So buy a whole chicken. If you buy it from a nearby small farmer, you will be helping your [...]

May 2nd, 2009 By Edson

Slate has an interesting article about whether you’re better off buying certain items at the store or making them yourself. Their primary focus is cost, though the author does address quality to some extent. They leave out plenty of other factors that might come into play – supporting local growers, sustainable farming practices, or various other ethical considerations. But let’s face it: money is on a lot of people’s minds right now.

Reviews

May 1st, 2009 By Matt Mayer

This book is hard to categorize.  It’s not a how to book; it’s more of a book about life experiences while being involved in farming.  Yet, there are some real lessons in the book on how a new homesteader starts down the path of self sufficiency.  I’m having a hard time [...]

Mar 18th, 2009 By Guest Post

Children know things.

They listen and they see – things we, adults, miss, they don’t. They may not have any idea of what they are seeing and probably lack the capacity to logically analyze what it is they’ve seen, but they know.

When I was a child in the 1970’s, I knew that a thing could only get so big and then it couldn’t get any bigger. I had observed the phenomenon in practice with balloons. You could only put so much water or air in a balloon before it would burst.

Lifestyle

Apr 1st, 2009 By Guest Post

[ This is a guest post by Greenpa of Little Blog in the Big Woods, originally posted last spring. He's full of unconventional wisdom, as always. ]
When we bought this farm- 160 acres- it had a “rough corner” – a steep rocky ravine, with a dry bottom. About 40 acres of forest there, some good [...]

Mar 24th, 2009 By Shasha

Recently a neighbor stopped by our house and told me about a neglected orchard that lies on the corner of our property. He told me that with careful pruning, I may be able to revive some of these trees. I decided to investigate.
I hiked along a path that leads leads along the side of a [...]

Energy

Apr 9th, 2009 By Aaron Newton

Last Friday night I turned of the electricity to our house. I also turned off our water at the meter buried in a box in front of our house. My family and I normally use natural gas to cook with and to heat our water. We used it for neither last weekend. I want to [...]

Mar 27th, 2009 By Aaron Newton

Many of us have experienced the short term loss of one or more of the fossil fuel based resources we have come to take for granted in this country. Electricity blackouts have happened to almost everyone during a bad storm. Some of us have been without a car while ours was being repaired or without water for a few hours while work was done on a mainline. Well this weekend my family is going to voluntarily turn off all of our utilities. Yes we’re going to turn off the electricity at the breaker box. We’re going to turn off the water at the street. We’re not going to turn off the natural gas line. I’m not even sure how to do that but we’re not going to use the stove or the hot water heater (since we won’t have running water) and we’re not going to drive anywhere either. Basically we’re going to try not to use fossil fuels and we’re going to do all this on purpose.

Animals

May 3rd, 2009 By Matt Mayer

Well, we made it through the winter.  Winter for me here in Iowa was more mild than last year, snow wise, but much colder.  The chickens handled it surprisingly well.  I put a CFL bulb in their coop (which they did not like) for warmth (I guess it’s supposed to be [...]

Jan 21st, 2009 By Matt Mayer

I’ve had chickens on my little urban homestead going on about 7 months now. When I contemplate what I’ve learned it’s really quite amazing.
I learned that chickens can escape from a crudely built chicken run easily, even in spaces you think are too small for them. They especially can figure out how to [...]

Projects

Jun 8th, 2009 By Aaron Newton

As I turned the corner and walked into the garden I could clearly hear it running. The greenhouse fan was blowing full force. The weather was suppose to be unseasonably warm this second week of March but I was still surprised by the mid 80 degree temperatures we received. I was happy that the fan in the greenhouse was set to automatically kick on. If not we might have cooked our vegetable starts. So begins the wild warm weather of spring and summer in the southeast.

Jan 21st, 2009 By Edson

Maybe you’ve heard of the concept of a bug-out bag. It’s essentially the bag you grab to take with you when the hurricane is coming. Or the wildfires. Or the zombies. It’s an emergency kit. But instead of a duffel bag, ours are in buckets. The bucket itself is pretty useful in an emergency, for anything from water storage to a stool or table to a makeshift toilet. Or even a drum, if you get bored enough. I often hear that after the initial rush, emergency situations can get unspeakably boring for those affected. [...]