Honoring God in all we do on the Homestead
We have these crazy beautiful bushes that I initially found to be crazy ugly. The problem with flowering plants is that if they aren't tended at least semi-regularly, they get a bit out of hand. That's what happened to these quince bushes. When we first moved in, they were scraggly overgrown shrubbery that I intended … Continue reading Quince Bush Maintenance
It's "joked" about amongst my husband's coworkers (our pastors and church staff) that we're all just one light bulb away from being Amish. I say "joked" because it's not far off from the truth. We don't have social media and, honestly, if I had my way, you'd all be reading this via handwritten newsletter. Unfortunately … Continue reading Electricity and Other Unfortunate Inventions
It's Fall!! and that means we're building another Back to Eden terrace (our final one in this garden) and we thought we'd take the opportunity to make it a teachable moment. We'll cover the basics of permaculture land works, B2E site preparation, planting, cultivar selection, pruning, and more! Join us for a demonstration/master class/tour on … Continue reading SMH Back to Eden Demonstration
I recently pruned my cherry and peach trees. Yep, I did a soft pruning in October. One of the biggest lies is that you can only prune your trees in dormancy. That's like saying you can only trim your fingernails while you sleep. Here's the thing about pruning- if you had a broken bone, you … Continue reading Gardening Lies You’ve Been Told
We decided to propagate our strawberries for a greater harvest next year. But, we aren't really sure if we like them where they currently are. While they successfully bloomed and fruited in their current locale, we know a place in full sun would be more beneficial to them. So that means we have 2 options. … Continue reading Catching Strawberry Runners
Here are the things I need to address this winter: Bees- order 3lb package locally Chickens- decide on breed for flock expansion and set up brooders Garden- what to plant and where; seed start area Goats- build shelter; fencing; milking stand; water and feed; medical preparations; get goats Fermentation- start brewing ACV; kombucha; kefir These … Continue reading Planning for Spring 2018
I wanted to evaluate my first year experience with the Back to Eden garden. I decided to break the experience into sections: preparation, planting, productivity, weeding and watering, overall experience. My rating scale is from 1-10 with 1 being unsuccessful and 10 being absolute success. The effort to reward ratio will be covered in the … Continue reading Year 1 Evaluation of Back to Eden Experience
It's been absolutely buzzing around the homestead lately, unfortunately, literally... We finally decided to get our own yellow jacket pesticides as they're beginning to take over the south side of our property, and that's just not okay. We put it off initially because of our honey bees- we were concerned they'd be innocent victims of … Continue reading Busy Busy Busy!
This year in gardening was largely experimental for us. This October marks our first full year on the homestead, and so far we have only had a spring and summer garden. We decided to forgo a fall garden simply in favor of letting our ground rest and compost before spring planting. That said, I discovered … Continue reading My Top 5 favorite Heirloom Garden Plants
My husband and I hit a low point about a week ago in our morale regarding homestead expansion. We were discussing the necessity of the kitchen remodel before the floor falls through to the basement (I honestly don't know if it's that bad or not, but I don't really want to find out after the … Continue reading Great Homestead Expectations
