For those of you transitioning from the corporate world to the homestead, I have prepared this helpful guide, dual homed with one foot in a Muck Boot and the other in a Wingtip Oxford. Though they may seem divergent, the core competencies of gardening and cubicle wrangling are not so different after all. The language…
How To Turn A Pack-and-Play Into A Chicken Brooder
I am learning what every first-time chicken keeper knows: chickens grow fast. At three weeks old, our 6 birds had outgrown their rubbermaid brooder. They were getting a bit too excited about their flight feathers and were constantly crashing into things, like the mesh ceiling of their brooder. They clearly needed more free ranger space. Thankfully,…
What Moms Want, What They Really, Really Want
Chances are good that if you are reading this you are a mother (much of my readership being female and of a certain domestic bent). Chances are excellent that even if you are not personally a mom, there is a mother in your life: perhaps your spouse or the woman who brought you into this…
Japanese Style Leek And Beef Skewers
When we pulled the last of the season’s leeks from one of our beds, we ended up with quite a few leeks. Several people asked me what what in the world I was going to do with all those leeks. Well, the first thing I want to clarify if that, as a family, we eat…
Even Urban Homesteaders Get The Blues
My little boy had surgery last Wednesday. He’s fine, it was an expected and “routine” procedure. I put routine in quotes, because turning my not-yet-eight month old over to surgeons is, blessedly, pretty out-of-the-ordinary for me. Because he was going under general anesthesia at 7:30 am, he could not eat or drink, including nursing, after…
My, How You've Grown!
The chicks are two weeks old now. They are changing day by day. I’m a bit shocked by how fast they are growing. Relatedly, I am a bit shocked by how much they eat. Yesterday morning my daughter called out, “Mom! Come here!” in that voice that means something is really, actually wrong. One of…
There's Not Going To Be An Earthquake. But If There Is…
“There’s not going to be an earthquake. It’s not going to happen. But if there is an earthquake, we have to be prepared.” So began the neighborhood meeting on emergency preparedness. Six of us gathered, representing about half the homes on the block. We wanted to talk about disaster readiness from a local community perspective. We talked…
Backyard Orchard Culture: Designing Fruit Tree Quartets
The whole idea behind the Backyard Orchard Culture method is to prune trees so that they produce an extended harvest of manageable quantities of fresh fruit rather than one really big harvest all at once. This is achieved by planting trees with different ripening times and keeping them small through aggressive but thoughtful pruning that includes annual summer…
Seed Starting 101: When You Didn't Quite Get To It – Quality Nursery Seedlings
You may be looking around the gardening web right about now thinking to yourself, “Oh, shit. Was I supposed to start a bunch of seeds last month? Is it time to be transplanting my seedlings out?” Well, if you live in the Pacific Northwest, as I do, congratulations! Your procrastination has totally paid off. Our…
Backyard Orchard Culture: A Mini-Orchard In The Making
About a month ago, I talked about our plans to attempt the high-density fruit growing method called Backyard Orchard Culture. Well, plans have become reality and the mini-orchard is planted! A few weeks ago our bare-root trees came from Raintree Nursery. A box arrived that was about the size of me. I was very excited to see the…
A Half-Dozen Of My Favorite Things About Chickens
Best things about adding chickens to our backyard, in no particular order: 1. Their eggs are just better. Homegrown egg on left, organic store-bought on right. Note the larger, darker, richer yolk and the firmer, tighter white on the homegrown egg. They fry up beautifully too. 2. Chickens make very willing weeders and soil cultivators. (I wish…
Self-Sufficiency, Not All-By-Yourself-Sufficiency
I was attempting to turn and loosen one of my most heavy-soiled beds this weekend. I needed a good stout garden fork. Sadly, I had not yet replaced the fork I snapped in half while transplanting asparagus crowns a few months ago. Without a garden fork, I was hacking at my soil with a pick-mattock. Doing…