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urban homesteading in the pacific northwest

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Archives for April 2011

0April 29, 2011Homestead Animals by Erica

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…

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0April 27, 2011Productive Home by Erica

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…

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32April 22, 2011Gardening by Erica

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…

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1April 20, 2011Gardening by Erica

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…

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13April 19, 2011Gardening by Erica

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…

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1April 12, 2011Homestead Animals by Erica

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…

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4April 11, 2011Productive Home by Erica

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…

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0April 8, 2011Gardening by Erica

What Am I Going To Do With These Tomato Seedlings?

Despite my limited success with tomatoes, I have yet again found myself with a whole gaggle of seedlings.  I’ve got three flats of tomatoes and peppers; I think there’s 26 individual tomato plants. Goodness knows where I’m going to put them all this year. I’m thinking of trying grow bags placed up on my black asphalt-shingled roof. There’s…

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0April 7, 2011Productive Home by Nick

Taking Control in the Garden

Apparently we’ve been thinking about control a lot the last few weeks over here. Erica’s post about my employer’s likely buyout talked about what can prepare for and her reflection on gardening and kids discussed those things we just don’t have control over. Last Wednesday, after a day that felt completely out of control, something reminded me…

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3April 6, 2011Gardening by Erica

Bags Aren’t Just For Chips: The Potato Sack Experiment

Every year I run out of room. So this year I am moving my biggest space-hogs out of the raised beds and into containers I can stash around paths and patios. I’m starting with potatoes, which I am attempting to grow in huge bags. I received my seed potatoes from Territorial several weeks ago and have been…

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4April 5, 2011Productive Home by Erica

Yuppie-Hippie Artifice

There is this term I bandy about: YuppieHippie. As in, “I picked up my grass fed milk at the YuppieHippie market. It was on sale for $10 a gallon.” In my town there is a segment of the population that cares about the eco trendy trinity of local-organic-sustainable because they can. They drive their hybrid…

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2April 4, 2011Cooking by Erica

Lacinato Kale and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad (Plus Variations!)

Kale is a hearty green. It is tough and fibrous and people think you have to cook it to make it palatable. But kale can be fabulous raw, in big-time cold weather salads that double as a meal. One of my favorite combinations is finely shredded raw Lacinato Kale (also called Tuscan, Cavolo Nero, or Dinosaur kale) with…

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Hi! I'm Erica, the founder of NWEdible and the author of The Hands-On Home. I garden, keep chickens and ducks, homeschool my two kids and generally run around making messes on my one-third of an acre in suburban Seattle. Thanks for reading!

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