The moment I launched this website I started down a path towards raw hypocrisy. I had no idea at the time that this was what I was doing, and it certainly wasn’t my intention. Nonetheless, looking back over the past year+ of posting, it is clear that hypocrisy was inevitable. I have these ideals, you…
Recent Posts
Improve Your Soil With Chemical Exudates (It's Not What You Think)
Guest post by Kelly Scott of Sweet Bay Farm. Thanks Kelly! The more I learn about farming, the more I realize that plants are truly wondrous things. It’s easy to think plants are boring and passive. After all, they just sit there. But here’s some news! Plants are powerful chemists and very active participators in their…
Ginger Breadcrumb Fried Cauliflower with Sriracha Dipping Sauce
Like most everyone with a pulse, I love crispy, high-fat food. I also like a good honest hot oil burn on my forearm, so deep frying should be right up my alley. But because of the hot aerosolized fat that goes everywhere, the 7 or 8 bowls it usually takes and the cup or more…
Chicken Coop Update: Sand Bed-Deep Litter Hybrid System
I’ve had a few readers ask for coop updates since we switched the area under the rooting bars from straw to sand. Ask and ye shall receive. Sand Bed Update The sand bed under the roosting bars is working out very well. The sand works like kitty litter and dries the chicken poop out. There is…
While I'm Away, Check These Out
Hi Friends, I’ll be posting sporadically this week, if at all. It’s Spring Break: time to spend some time with the kiddos and get some solid work in on a few garden projects I’ve been needing to wrap up. While I’m quiet, here’s some stuff I’ve been loving: Back To Eden – an amazing film,…
Contest Winner: Free Range Chicken Gardens and The Fresh Egg Cookbook
Congratulations to Mary W., the winner of Free Range Chicken Gardens and The Fresh Egg Cookbook. Mary, check your email for details on how to get your books. Thanks to everyone who entered, don’t forget to check out any other giveaway sites where you might have entered: NW Bloom: Garden Fowl North Coast Gardening Living…
An 18 Month Old's Ode To Broccoli
On Things That Make You Feel Big Broccoli, my broccoli: Nothing brings me more joy I love you more than all my toys. With you I can pretend to be A big ol’ giant, eating trees. On Showing Your True Feelings Broccoli, my broccoli: When I know I get to eat you – and what…
Don't Buy These 5 Williams-Sonoma Agrarian Products
Last week Williams-Sonoma branched out from French dishwear, excellent knives and seasonal high-end cocoa mix into urban homesteading gear. With the launch of their Agrarian line, Williams-Sonoma now sells gardening gear, chicken and bee keeping supplies, seeds, edible plants, fruit trees and preserving supplies. Some people in the hardcore DIY community (you know who you…
Kim Kardashian's Tomatoes: 5 Thoughts on Blogging
Here’s something you might not know about blogging. If I write headlines like these: What Kim Kardashian Can Teach You About Tomatoes 20 Ways to Grow 1,000 Pounds of Vegetables In 10 Minutes A Day Why Overpaying For Seeds Is Costing You More Than Just Money …there is a huge chance you will click on the…
Wall Mounted Clothes Drying Rack, Perfected
Last week I talked about building my wall-mounted DIY clothes drying rack from a Freecycled baby play pen. Several readers expressed their concern that my rack as-built wouldn’t allow quite enough airflow to ensure prompt drying. I addressed those concerns temporarily by propping the rack when in-use away from the wall using a fruit tree branch spreader….
Giveaway: Free Range Chicken Gardens and The Fresh Egg Cookbook
Edible gardeners want to eat what they grow. Chicken owners want happy egg-laying helpers. But happy, free-ranging chickens will mess up a veggie patch faster than you can say cotyledon. And that is the conflict garden-growing chicken-owners face. Thankfully, Free-Range Chicken Gardens, the new book by landscape designer and chicken expert Jessi Bloom, tells you how…
The Simple Decisions of a Complex Life
Want to know why I really keep backyard hens? The eggs are great, the chicken TV is a blast, and the deep-litter compost might actually make our hens a financially reasonable investment. But that’s not really why I have the girls. I keep laying hens because the sum total of the work involved in feeding,…