Step-by-step photos show how I turned a pair of pallets into an easy storage solution for garden tools. This is a fun and simple garden DIY!
Tools and Equipment
Five Things Friday: 6/2/17
How to justify chocolate chips for breakfast, a new favorite watering tool for the garden, the most adorable house-swap you’ll ever see, my everyday beverage carry, and why no one goes out for lunch anymore.
Reader Questions: February
I can’t let February sneak past without doing a reader question post. This month: fermentation lids, peppers that will ripen in the Northwest, litter for chicken coops and more. We also have Community Questions asking for suggestions, advice or resources for gardening in Central America and Florida. I’m not knowledgeable enough to answer, but maybe you can help?
Reader Questions: Expanding The Garden, Best Gardening Tools, Sand In The Chicken Coop & More
I’ve been sitting on a pile of Reader Questions for awhile. I love your questions – they’re the best source of inspiration and really help shape what I write about! It’s my experience that if one person has a question, 20,000 people have that question. And if I don’t have an answer – one of…
To Do In The Northwest Edible Garden: February 2015
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s February. You know what that means? It’s time to get going. I can feel it, and I’ll bet you can too – that little twitch in your hand that says, “alright, baby, let’s start some tomatoes!” February typically marks the beginning of the big seed starting effort around here. Not just…
Biweekly Menu Planning Form (Free Downloadable)
This year, with my son in preschool, mornings are spent shooing two kids along and getting everyone out the door on time. The AM has to be far more regimented, and fast breakfasts and easy, (often make-ahead) lunches are essential. We are also doing a lot more freezer-meal cooking to streamline dinner these days and…
How To Right-Size Your Lawn: In Defense Of (A Little) Turf
Something amazing has happened. I no longer loathe my lawn. For nearly ten years, I have hated my lawn, and muttered curses at the landscaper who insisted that, “with small kids, grass really is the easiest thing to maintain,” before hydroseeding everything in sight. Lies, damn lies. I am no shirker. In fact, I like physical work….
Which Seed Starting Supplies Are Worth It? And Which Aren’t?
As a gardener, there is no end to what you could spend your money on. Take seed starting – what do you really need? Are those peat pellet kits really worth it? Can you start your seeds in yogurt tubs, or is that somehow not….correct? Here’s my opinionated opinion on what should get your money…
Buying An All American 30 Quart Pressure Canner: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
If you are part of the NW Edible community on Facebook, then you may already know about the pressure canner that brought me to tears. I had some birthday money, you see. Visions of pantry-ready, home-canned stock danced in my head. And so, after some research, I look the plunge into pressure canners. It was a…
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…
A Tour Of The Indoor Seed Starting Rack
My seed-starting set-up is pretty well equipped, which makes it a lot easier to manage the fairly aggressive seed-starting schedule I keep. When we moved into our current home, I commandeered a corner of the garage as my indoor garden and seed-starting area. Having a dedicated area to grow out seedlings is a luxury, but one I would sacrifice…
The Finnish Potato Masher I Can't Live Without
A fellow personal chef friend of mine who is married to a Finnish man gave me this…uh…suggestive kitchen tool a few years back. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t entirely certain what it was (Scandinavian modern sculpture? World’s biggest muddler? Minimalist bishop from an oversize chess set?) or what to do with it, though several inappropriate…