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Multipurpose poultry
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to see more on mountain living go to www.brucecarolcabin.blogspot.com
Gardening Challenges
Gardening challenges at high elevation.
Downsizing - How to Get There
The process of evaluating needs for successful downsizing.
Downsizing The Sequel
New wood stove, another unexpected advantage of downsizing, and Murphy's Law.
Pack Rats - Mountain Living Reality
Pack Rats, cute, tricky and destructive
Don't Put Off Until Tomorrow
Sometimes you have your plans changed for you, so don't put off tomorrow what can be done today.
FRONT PORCH: Making your own Homestead Music Coffeehouse
Folksinger Michael Johnathon is on tour nationwide. Visit his homepage: www.MichaelJohnathon.com
Homesteading: A Way of Life
Choosing homesteading as a way of life and what it takes.
High Altitude, Rural Living in Washington and Colorado
Ed and Bruce share their experiences with homesteading and self-sufficiency in a rural setting.
Living Off Grid - Our Boneyard
How we avoid most clutter but manage to keep good leftover products for future use.
Mountain Living in the Springtime
Spring time is a time to experience the newness of life and living in the Sangre de Cristo mountains amid the wildflowers, birds, green woods and new birth.
Measuring Amount of Precipitation in Snow
Calculating the amount of mountain snow to actual moisture.
Are You Drowning in a Sea of Misinformation?
Much to our chagrin, many things we believe are true are dead wrong. Things we believe about other people, health, medicine, renewable energy, and the environment are wrong. Start digging and you'll see and you will start living a smarter life.
Do You Have Dirt Road Memories?
Life really is good when you live on a dirt road.
A Changed Life
How a single purchase of a magazine in newsprint in 1970 changed my life.
High Altitude Living in Washington and Colorado: Natural Resources
Ed and Bruce share their experiences with homesteading and self-sufficiency in a rural setting. This segment is on using natural resources around the homestead.
Seed School
The most basic part of food is the seed. Learn to grow and save your own. You can do this at home, but if you want to further hone your skills, attend Seed School.
Hemp History Week: Should We Outlaw Powdered Sugar, Too?
If the DEA can't tell the difference between hemp and marijuana plants, says a former Kentucky governor, how can it distinguish between powdered sugar and cocaine? Hempsters: Plant the Seed is a must-see movie that gives pro-hemp activists a voice.
Seedless Watermelons: Juicy Food for Thought
One reader learns how to grow seedless watermelons: A successful venture in growing juicy fruit that led her to question how much control we want over nature.
A Cartoon on Growing Peaches From Seed
Growing peach pits doesn't get much easier than this.
Founders Seed Collection Offered by the Living Seed Company
The Living Seed Company is creating a platform to inspire gardeners and gardeners to be.
Teeter-Totter for Sustainable Living
Daniel Sheridan found a way to turn children's energy into electrical power with a see-saw that generates electricity. The see-saw should generate enough electricity to light a classroom for a whole evening after only five to 10 minutes of use.
What's the Best Way to Start Seeds Indoors?
Learn how to start seeds indoors using inexpensive fluorescent lights.
Video: Hunting Morel Mushrooms
You don't have to pay $50 a pound for fresh morel mushrooms. Watch this video and find out how to forage for morels yourself.
Heirloom Seed Collections
The Living Seed Company is working to preserve genetic diversity in our food chain, through the distribution and growing of open pollinated seeds and preserving the ancient art of seed saving.
Kasco Mfg. of Shelbyville, Ind., Announces the Acquisition of Herd Seeder Corporation
Kasco is excited to offer these outstanding products to our own line of grain drills and overseeders.
Kasco Manufacturing Acquires Herd Seeder Corporation
Herd Seeder is the primary name in the industry, having produced quality seeders and spreaders for more than sixty years. Kasco is excited to offer these outstanding products to our own line of grain drills and overseeders.
Winning The Lottery vs. Lifestyle Change
Riches sometimes come from natural resources - not always connected with dollar signs.
Determining Drought History
Tree rings tell the tale. It is nice and green here now but our plants and weeds are acclimated to semi arid and have deep roots.
Mountain Homesteading Challenges
There is hard work homesteading in the mountains and the weather dictates much of those challenges.
Mountain Reflections
Taking time to reflect on the past brings renewed appreciation to the present.
Five Seasons in the Rockies
Other than the four regular seasons there is a fifth season in the mountains called mud season.
Make Your Own Biodegradable Seed-Starting Pots
Using newspaper, learn how to craft easy, biodegradable pots to start seeds.
Composting Toilet Construction and No-Till Gardening Details
talking about building a composting toilet and how well the Seed Swap went on Saturday. Hauling capacity of a golf cart compared to an ATV generated some useful and helpful comments regarding electricity vs internal combustion engines. No till works!
Typical Day Of A Remote Mountain Homesteader
Our typical day living in the mountains in the winter.
Make Seed Pots From Recycled Newspapers
Homemade transplant pots from newspaper save money and reduce waste.
Winter Is Coming
The cold weather is hitting Virginia early this year and it's time to winterize!
Music Saves Mountains: Dave Matthews and Patty Loveless Sing for the Hills
The Natural Resources Defense Council is teaming up with popular country, bluegrass and folk musicians, including Dave Matthews and Patty Loveless, for Music Saves Mountains—a one-night fundraising event to end mountaintop removal coal mining in the Appalachians.
Wabi-Sabi Wednesday: How to See
Natural beauty is priceless. We can take in and appreciate a great view because we don't have any hope of owning it, and we can't manipulate it. With our egos out of the way, we can learn to simply observe.
Photo of the Week: Attack of the Snake Gourds
Snake attack! OK, maybe it's just a creative picture of snake gourds. Keep submitting for your chance at Photo of the Week!
Living Off Grid - My Year of Blogging
Fun facts about our first year of blogging for Mother Earth News.
Living Off Grid - Winter Fresh Vegetable Options
A brief description of how we grow fresh vegetables in our long cold winters.
Living off Grid - Home Design Features Part 1
Design features we incorporated into our new off grid home.
Challenges Of Mountain Gardening
Tips that we have learned gardening at a high elevation.
Living Off Grid - Mountain Salmon
How we have adapted from salt water fishing to freshwater and what we do with our catch.
Winter In The Rockies
How we live in the mountains during the winter.
Reflections Of A Mountain Man
Reflections on 15 years of mountain living.
Moving to The Mountains and What To Expect
Living in the mountains or remotely requires physical endurance as well as being fit.
How to Build a Hoop-style Greenhouse
A "how to" for building a hoop-style greenhouse using PVC pipe and plastic sheeting.
Is Golden Sage Edible?
Stick with culinary sage whenever you don't know if a specific type of sage is edible.
Choosing Heads for Fall Garlic Planting
Musings on growing and eating garlic, and why you should "Never Eat Your Seed Garlic"!
Want Goats? Come to Goat School!
Janice Spaulding teaches goat husbandry both at her farm in Maine, and around the country with her "Goat School."
Google PowerMeter Tracks Energy Consumption
Natural Home editor-in-chief Robyn Griggs Lawrence shares exciting information about the Google PowerMeter, a new device that helps homeowners find ways to reduce their electric bills.
Five Easy-to-Grow Gourmet Vegetables
Growing some of the most delicious and sometimes expensive gourmet vegetables doesn't have to be hard. Artichoke, bronze fennel, kohlrabi, leek, and savoy cabbage are among the vegetables that grow well from seed.
Aquaponic Trout and Golf Cart Jousting
Summing up the last week of activity by hitting on a few key stories that might prove note worthy to a few of the homesteading folks out there complete with photo montage of golf cart jousting and aquaponic trout.
The Linked Health of Civilizations and the Environment
Abuse of the environment has been linked to the demise of empires.
What Are Your Favorite Seed Companies And Why?
Readers share their favorite garden seed companies for a chance to win a gardening prize.
Children Are Like Seedlings
Discusses the similarities between the essential needs of children and seedlings in terms of what they need to grow and thrive.
From File To Knife: Make a Bushcraft Knife Using Simple Tools
Learn how to make your own bushcraft knife using only simple tools and materials, including an old file.
The Goldenrod is Starting to Bloom in the Beeyard
Goldenrod is starting to bloom in the beeyard now that the cooler weather is on its way.
Self-Seeding Crops: Plant Once and Forget 'Em
There are some veggies, herbs and edible flowers that are self seeders. Plant them once, let them go to seed, and you will have continuous plants year after year.
Kasco Manufacturing Introduces 10' Vari-Slice Seeder
Kasco Manufacturing introduced a new 10' wide Vari-Slice seeder at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Ky. The Vari-Slice seeder is suitable for applications including pasture seeding, beef, dairy and horse farms for worked or no-till conditions and where tight germination of grass seed is needed.
Goats: Meat Goats
There are so many different "types" of goats! My last post was all about Angora goats and their fiber; this post will be about the meat aspect of goats. So what makes a goat a meat goat?
Goats on Their High Horses
These kids just won't quit! Jumping up and standing on horses is one sure way for goats to get up higher than the rest.
Living Off Grid - A Home Made Deep Well Pump
In this blog we share someone else's story about old fashioned home made ingenuity concerning deep well pumps that operate without electricity.
Living Off Grid - An Average Winter Day
A snapshot of winter life living remote and off grid.
Living Off Grid - Working At Home
Things we have done to earn an income from home in a down economy.
Living off Grid - Home Design Features Part 2
Things we did to make our new home more sustainable.
Living Off Grid - The Cost Of Water
Costs associated with providing your own water.
Living The Sustainable Life: Interns, Building With Trash, and So Much More
Who would think it's possible to discover the artist in me, incubate a business, plus milk goats, grow a garden...all in one unforgettable summer. I'm a rich woman by any standard.
Voyageur Press Wants to Hear Your Goat Stories
Submit your goat stories for possible book publication.
Watch Goats Playing Rambunctiously on Steel Ribbon (Video)
This video of goats playing shows how simple it is to keep your goat herd entertained.
Seed Swap at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR!
Bring your best heirloom veggie or other unique saved seeds to the Seed Swap at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR taking place Sept. 25 and 26 in Pennsylvania.
Comstock, Ferre & Co: America's Oldest Continually Operating Seed Company
Comstock, Ferre & Co has operated for almost 200 years and, with the help of new owner Jere Gettle, is undergoing a revival.
Weed & Water Wednesday: 10 Green Gifts for Gardeners — All Under $50
Check out this roundup of 10 favorite sustainable gifts for the gardeners on your list — all under $50!
Three Cheers for the Volunteers!
What a nice surprise it can be to notice new spring babies emerging from where their parent plants grew the year before. Volunteer plants are a wonderful gift!
HOMEGROWN Life: A Bit Of ATreat
This fall, while the chickens were still living with the goats, we had decided to fence off the leg and seed it with pasture seed. I wasn't sure if we should seed it for the chickens or for the goats. After doing some research we ended up going with
Measuring Tomato Seedling Success
How to measure tomato seedlings for success before planting into your garden.
Pasteurize Your Own Compost
Pasteurizing your own compost can protect your new seedlings from damping-off and harmful bacteria.
My Top 5 Favorite Seed Companies
Here are five great companies to buy seeds from.
MAX Update No. 88: The Minimum Windscreen
A video demonstration of MAX's windscreen, which deflects air around the driver's face with minimal aerodynamic drag.
Gruyere Gougeres (Cheese Puffs)
The technique for making these easy cheese puffs is the kind of recipe that every cook should have up her sleeve.
The Responsibility of the Corporate World to the Environment
For decades, corporations have been able to skirt past being held accountable for any environmental irresponsibility, and that has helped propel us into a time where pollution is out of control, and our natural resources are at a constant decline. Raising the standards for these faceless corporations is becoming evermore necessary.
Natural Goat Care
How to use herbs on goats, blends, suggestions, and tips.
The Oregon Megabucks Show!
An all-day adventure to the Oregon Megabucks show!
Really Big and Off the Grid
Michael Funk's 6,000-square-foot off-the-grid home and retreat center on 1,200 acres in the Sierra Nevadas is an heirloom, handbuilt with reverence for the spectacle that surrounds it. He hopes it will inspire every visitor to preserve the paradise.
From Globe to Google Maps
I learned to love the Earth while studying a globe, now I can see it all on Google maps.
Seed Savers Exchange Catalog Wins Gold Award
Seed Savers Exchange, which many MOTHER readers say is the best seed company, has won the Gold Award for its great seed catalog.
Stumps Why So Tall?
Tree stumps, reminders of special moments and birds contribution to life.
Thank you Mother
If you have questions on how we accomplished our dream - ask us maybe our experience will help you. We welcome questions on how life is in the high mountains of S. Colorado. Please visit our personal blog for more information on us.
Wild Strawberries - A Treat To Remember
Wild strawberries are a tasty treat.
Using Professionals -VS- Doing It Yourself
The virtues and wisdom of having some projects done by professionals -vs- rather than attempting them yourself. While many can and do their own installation, occasionally it is better to have professionals do the job.
Wood Mill - A practical Tool To Have On The Homestead
Practical use of a wood mill on the homestead. The benefit of cutting your own lumber.
Carpenter Ants - A Safe Alternative Control Method
Carpenter ants: an alternative to chemical treatment. Living within the environment and not attempting to destroy or change it.
Homesteading With Wild Animals
Homesteading with wild animals and how to cope with their antics.
Meat Goats Two
There is no "one size fits all" bunch of information that works every time in every location, every person, and for every goat.
Goats: You Are What You Eat
"Garbage in, garbage out," is as true to goat nutrition as it is to the computer world and more folks should take heed!
Fun Times at Goat School
Maine and Minnesota Goat Schools are over, and a great time was had by all; Janice Spaulding recaps the events and prepares for the next one is in Ohio in September.
Another Day in Paradise: Life Outside of the Big City
The goat herder extraordinaire, Annie Warmke, talks about the care of breeding bucks, and a life in the day of a goat herder.
The Dirty Weather Report
This is an announcement inviting you to participate in a global web cast discussion on climate crisis on November 14, 2012. This is hosted by the Climate Reality Project and Al Gore.
Paraffin-free GoodLight Natural Candles Launches in the United States
Perfect for an evening of socializing out on the deck or an intimate meal at a table for two, GoodLight candles keep the mood bright and the air clean and are now available both online and in stores nationwide.
Candlelit Dinners: Finally, Petroleum-Free!
GoodLight is first to offer sustainable, non-toxic candles for restaurants.
Photo of the Week: What Are You Baking?
Wintertime and the holiday season bring out the baker in a lot of us. Why not try something new this year?
Testing Out the Meadow Creature Broadfork
David Goodman tests the Meadow Creature broadfork on his Florida farm and finds it to be amazing as heck.
What Can You Do In the Next Hour to Get Closer to Your Goals?
When we're trying to achieve our dreams, it can be easy to be overwhelmed by all of the steps between where we are today and where we ultimately want to be. MOTHER EARTH NEWS writer Jenna Woginrich suggests a great idea for a fresh perspective and making your goals more attainable. If you look at the next 60 minutes, what can you do in the next hour to get closer to your goals?
Spring Planning
Starting flats of seedlings begins this year's growing season.
Goats: Getting Ready for Goat School!
Getting ready for Goat School is always a daunting task, but once all of our new friends start arriving, we get excited! What a great time learning all about goats!
How We Transplant Vegetable Plugs
This post will take a look at how we transplant vegetable seedlings in our certified organic greenhouses, especially tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.
Clothing Swap
Participate in a clothing swap and make an economic statement
Alpaca Gold Introduces Line of New Organic Fertilizer
Introducing Alpaca-Gold, a new company producing 100% all natural, organic Alpaca fertilizer.
Californian's Savory Spin on Porridge Wins Grand Prize
Merry Graham will help represent Bob's Red Mill in the 2011 Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship in Scotland
Don't Mistake Ignorance for Perspective
Many of us spout opinions and make bold assertions based on very little evidence. Our ignornance is often mistaken for perspective. We think we know a lot more than we do. Take time to acquire knowlede and create true wisdo. It has a settling effect.
The Mind Can Be a Terrible Thing
Our minds can play tricks on us, and often do, bending and shaping our perceptions to our own liking. As a result, what we hold to be true about ourselves, others, even the world around us, can be dead wrong.
Alaska Sues Against Protecting Beluga Whales
Governor Sarah Palin announced that the State of Alaska will sue against the decision to place beluga whales on the Endangered Species List.
Goldie: A True Cat Tale
A heart warming story about a feral cat that traveled many miles across harsh terrain to be back to familiar ground.
Taste Test of the Week: Peanut Butter & Co. Sandwich Spread
Enjoy the ultimate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with gourmet sandwich spreads from Peanut Butter & Co.
What Species is a Giant Runt?: Promoting Heritage Breed Poultry
Alexander Goldberg's first blog post, introducing himself, his chickens and his concerns for rare and endangered breeds of poultry. Alexander talks about poultry shows, his work with 4H and support for the Livestock Conservancy.
Springtime Wild Flowers In The Mountains
Wild flowers in bloom in high country meadows. Wild iris in profusion.
Our Little House
The thrill continues living in our handmade house.
Seed Starting at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Office!
The staff at MOTHER EARTH NEWS plants tomatoes and peppers during a seed-planting project at the office.
How Can I Save Cucumber Seeds?
A long-time gardener describes the seed-saving technique for cucumbers.
Summer Apples and MeMa's Applesauce Recipe
Characteristics of early summer apples and an applesauce recipe from MeMa's Bakery in Kansas City.
Ernestine and the Ben Davis Apple
Learn about the Ben Davis Apple, one if not the most important commercial apple of the late 1800s, and get a recipe for Apple Dumplings.
Living Off the Grid: Rebuilding Their Own Reality After a Wildfire
After a wildfire destroyed their off-the-grid compound in Colorado, Betty and Rolland rebuilt—better than before—following Rolland's creed: no plywood, no plastic and nothing that smells bad when it burns. The wildlife around their home approve.
Quit Working So Hard – Plant a Food Forest Instead!
Rather than toiling away with annuals, consider creating an edible perennial food forest.
Cassava: A Reliable Staple for Subtropical Gardeners
Learn how to grow, harvest and process cassava – an amazing staple crop.
Composting for Anarchists
Composting doesn't have to be tough! Learn to make easy compost without the stress.
Seed Catalogs: Waiting for Winter to End
Sorting through seed catalogs is one of the most entertaining tasks we have here at MOTHER EARTH NEWS. These garden seed catalogs come in handy when searching for just the right variety of heirloom veggies to grow, and they're fun to look at too!
Design Your Own Seed-Saving Course
Interested in seed saving but worried about mistakes? Have questions about seed saving? Here's the chance to give your input in a new seed saving class!
Seed Starting Tips
Consult these seed starting tips for easy advice on seed planting, using the best materials, watering, grow lights and more.
This Valentine's Day, Say It With Seeds!
Let packages of heirloom seeds say how much you care.
Seed Libraries
A description of what a seed library is and suggestions for why you might want to be involved with one. Links are included for more information.
A Beginners Guide to Starting Seeds Indoors
Tips on how, when and why to grow your own seedlings.
Organic Seed Alliance: Stewardship of Genetic Resources
If you think it's important to prevent Monsanto and other corporate giants from controlling the seed supply, you may want to consider donating to Organic Seed Alliance. Here is a short video about the work they do.
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange: Heirloom Seed Highlights From the 2012 Catalog
Highlights from the catalog of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, by the editor in chief of Mother Earth News.
An Appalachian Alternative to Mountaintop Removal Coal Mines
Many criticize eliminating coal mining in West Virginia because of the amount of jobs the sector provides. A wind farm, however, would employ over 200 local residents during the two-year construction phase, and create 40-50 permanent maintenance jobs afterward. A wind farm would also allow the mountain to be used for other purposes, like sustainable forestry, mountain harvesting, and gathering of wild forest plants, creating additional jobs and the opportunity for stable income for locals.
Photo of the Day: Sunbathing Turtle
Photo of the Day blog features a different photo from reader each day. Submit your own photos for a chance to appear on MOTHER's website! What's your favorite facets of nature or down-to-earth living? Share your finds or handmade creations!
Photo of the Day: Splashing Bird
Check out one reader's fun action photo of a splashing bird, each water drop captured in mid-air, from MOTHER's See You photo-sharing website.
Choosing a Dairy Goat Breed
A look into each dairy breed, on how much milk each one averages and what to expect in taste.
HOMEGROWN Life: Sticking Together For Winter Goat Breeding
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Maine dairy farmer Dyan Redick gets through winter — and goat breeding — by taking a page from her herd and sticking together.
Goats: Goat School Needs a Class Room!
Goat School needs a class room, visit our Kickstarter project and enjoy our video of Goat School!
Goats: Still Waiting for 2012 Kids!
No babies yet, so a few anecdotes about Angora kidding,labor
No Rest in the Winter!
Traveling with Goat School on the Road, and learning all about newborn kid hoofs.
Selecting A Herdsire, Part 1
What to look for in a buck, and how to choose a herdsire.
Goats: Just Kidding! Part 1
Kidding is quite a process! This blog covers the very first signs of impending birth.
Choosing A Herdsire, Part 3
The third and last part in choosing a herdsire.
Choosing A Herdsire, Part 2
The second part to choosing a herdsire for the dairy goat herd.
Waiting For Kids...
Overdue does, goats with bloody milk, harried milkmaids... Oh where does it end?! Life isn't ALWAYS roses in the goat life; sometimes it does leave you tired frustrated.
Time Flies When You're Having Fun
The summer days are getting longer, and so is the list of barn chores! Goats are kidding, cows are arriving, and a dream of having a raw milk dairy is becoming tangible.
Chad Gadya: A Jewish Name for an American Goat?
Chad Gadya. Not just a Jewish song anymore, but now the future name of Goat Song Farm's herdsire.
False vs. Edible Morel Mushrooms and Fiddlehead Ferns
Don't be fooled by false species. Enjoy real morels and fiddlehead ferns. Tips for identification and lessons learned from misidentifications.
The Yule Goat
The Yule Goat is an ancient Scandinavian tradition which predates Christianity. Learn about how our oldest farm animal became the symbol of Christmas.
Goats: A Busy Autumn
Autumn is very busy at Stony Knolls Farm between the Common Ground Fair and Fall Goat School!
How to Tell When Meat is "Off"
Hmmm - not feeling so well. Was it those chicken wings?
Gourmet Garlic: Black Garlic
In the last few years, gourmet black garlic has become an in-demand culinary ingredient. But what exactly is it? And what can you do with it?
Gourmet Garlic: Rocamboles
In the second of this series of blog posts, I'll be discussing what are arguably the caviar of the garlic world: Rocamboles!
Gore Says this is the Year for Action on Climate
Former Vice President Al Gore thinks 2009 needs to be the year that America creates a climate bill. And he's got a plan to back it up!
In Search of Real Survival
Survivalists and others who yearn for a better way of life, and a better world, would be best served by studying the successful tribal cultures and ways of the past. Based on an interview with Vine Deloria, author of "God is Red."
The GO Home Receives 2011 Project of the Year Award From US Green Building Council
GO Home, built by architecture and construction firm G•O Logic LLC, received the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) 2011 LEED for Homes Project of the Year Award.
Check It Out: You Could Start A Seed-Lending Library
Just as libraries transformed society by giving everyone access to books, the Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library is providing all citizens the opportunity to borrow seeds and grow their own food. Start a seed-lending library in your town!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Redefine
In Simran Sethi's final post, she describes her philosophy on sustainability.
Getting in the Race: An Advocate's Guide to Elections
Advocating for biking during election season can result in the government focusing on bikeability and walkability.
Listen to Your Inner Voice
In each of us is an innervoice that really knows what we want to be and what we want out of life but we continually ignore it for the sake of security or out of fear of failure or a million other reasons. Listen to the innervoice and heed its advice.
The Gourmet Butcher's First Blog
Cole Ward - AKA The Gourmet Butcher - introduces himself
After Seeds Have Sprouted in Indoor Greenhouse Trays, Should I Remove the Clear Plastic Lid? And Do I Need to Move Them to Bigger Containers?
A gardening expert discusses what you should do with your seedlings after they sprout in their indoor greenhouse containers.
How Do I Organize a Seed Swap?
A reader inquires about how to set up a community seed swap.
Swap Seeds at the Green Festival in Washington, D.C.
Swap seeds at the Mother Earth News Fair Community Seed Swap at the Green Festival in Washington, D.C.
What New Fruit or Vegetable Variety are You Most Excited About Growing This Year?
Readers share information about new varieties of fruits and vegetables they plan to grow this year, and why.
Fight Back Against Fossil Fuels
Read about new legislation that would stop the government from funding the fossil fuel industry. Then, sign your name to the petition and make a difference.
One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Soar: Saving Garden Space with a Potato Tower
Whether or not it was devised by clever Mexican potato growers, the cheap, easy to build, and space-saving potato tower is a unique alternative to rows, barrels, and other methods for planting, growing, and bringing in your season's spuds.
Autumn Is A Time Of Preparation
In the beauty of autumn comes a time of preparation for winter. The many necessary tasks to be prepared if you are self sufficient.
Growing A Garden At High Elevation
Some of the difficulties we encounter in gardening at a high elevation
Canine First Aid
Being prepared for canine emergencies.
Swamp Bridge Stump Dirt
Fixing the swamp bridge and starting some new onion seeds along with a new experiment involving willow rooting hormone tea.
Our Favorite Heirloom Seed Companies
Planting heirloom, non-genetically modified seeds is a great way to help preserve endangered plant varieties--and the planet's very ecosystem.
New Year's Revolution: Trust in Allah, but Tether Your Camel
We all have dreams but why is it that some are so lucky that they come true?
Seed Sieves for Seed Saving
Check out these two companies if you want a seed sieve for small-scale seed saving.
Testing Seed Viability
Try a simple seed viability test to see if your old seeds are worth planting.
Making Music on the Front Porch
Michael Johnathon is a folksinger, songwriter, author and playwright. He also created and hosts the weekly national broadcast of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour, heard on over 509 public radio stations, American Forces Radio network in 173 nations. In this blog, Michael muses on discovering the joys of folk music and songwriting.
Getting over the Barriers
Getting started each day presents a major challenge to many people. With so many pressing demands, it's often difficult to know where to start. Feeling overwhelmed and panicked, you may end up frittering away your time. He's a trick to get you going.
Growing Pineapples Outside the Tropics
As tropical plants go, pineapples are one of the easiest to grow.
How to Garden Without (Much) Money
Learn to think differently and you can grow a garden without breaking the bank.
Seven Amazing Berries for the Subtropics
Can't grow temperate berries? Jump into the tropics with these seven amazing fruits.
Fertilizing Organically On the Cheap
Ways to fertilize organically without breaking the bank.
Four 'Holy Moly I'm Freezing' Keys to Gardening Success
It's freezing out - but that doesn't mean it's time to quit gardening. Learn how fall and winter are the key to next year's gardening success.
Sugar Cane: You CAN Grow It Outside the Tropics (And Make Amazing Syrup!)
If you live in the South, you can grow your own sugar cane. Learn to plant, harvest and make delicious syrup at home!
You Can't Compost Meat (And Other Ridiculous Myths)
Composting doesn't need to be complicated. It's time to throw out the guide book and start letting nature take its course. Meat? No problem. Bread? Don't worry about it. Human waste? Why not? It's easy!
Survival Gardening in the Deep South
Why "hot and humid" doesn't have to equal "sad and lifeless."
Great Fruit Trees for the Deep South: The Persimmon
A profile of Japanese and American persimmons, excellent trees for the deep south.
Add Fungi to Your Homestead Activities
Fungi help your soil, your composting and your plants. Add fungi to your homestead activities and let 'em grow!
Golf Cart Modifications and Back Up Generator Failure
Talking about the back up generator failure along with recent golf cart modifications.
Porch Building and Deer Pressure
Porch building tips along with deer pressure notes and golf cart pickup bed instructions.Throw in a 5 foot high chicken wire fence and a rare appearance from a normally camera shy cat named Strider and you've got an idea of what we've been up to.
Wanna Make Planting Easier?
A Precision Garden Seeder can make planting seed crops quick and easy!
Getting My Goats
One woman's journey from life in urban America to a small town in Austria, then back to a suburban homestead in Dallas on which she tries her hand at keeping dairy goats.
Better Lettuce Seed Germination
When lettuce is mentioned, many think of the standard iceberg lettuce found in supermarkets and restaurant salads. That is changing with the growth in popularity of the different types of lettuces from Romaine to head and leaf-type lettuces, mainly due to the flavors and colors that they offer from deep red to almost white and noticeably sweet to tangy and slightly bitter.
Kids Have Fun Starting Seeds at the FAIR
Kids get to have fun, learn about gardneing and start veggie seeds at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR in Puyallup, Wash.
The Good Life Center
Helen and Scott Nearing's farmstead, near Harborside, Maine, is now The Good Life Center, where you can tour the grounds, listen to lectures and participate in workshops.
Goats: Raising Angora Goats
Angora Goats are not the easiest of the breeds to raise, however, even though the work can be intensive, the rewards are incredible!
Making A Difference- Death Of A Good Friend
Demise of the Southern Energy and Environmental (See) Expo
Photo of the Day: Rustic Bench
Photo of the Day features a rustic wooden bench handcrafted by a reader. Be sure to submit your own photos to share your favorite moments with us and other readers. Maybe the next Photo of the Day will feature it!
Mountain Gardening And The Challenges - Part 2
Thank goodness for good friends who will share their garden harvest with those of us less skilled.
Dormant-Pruning Apples for Strength
Pruning apple trees to a three by three central leader shape for strength against high winds and to prevent fungal infection.
The Search for Lost Apples
The search for the long lost apples of Isaac Bowen Essex, the Fulton County Apple.
What is Ritual Slaughter?
"The Gourmet Butcher" Cole Ward breaks down the meanings of Kosher, Glatt Kosher, and Halal.
Growing Gourmet Garlic, Part 1: Where to Get Seed and How Much to Plant
This is the first in a 5-part series of blogs on the process and issues involved in plating gourmet garlic. Part 1 discusses options for acquiring seed and also provides information regarding calculating the amount of seed required.
Preserving Gourmet Garlic: Freezing Garlic In Oil
Another easy way to enjoy the fresh taste of gourmet garlic year-round is with these convenient cubes!
Gourmet Garlic: Marbled Purple Stripe
In this post, I'll be discussing the Marbled Purple Stripe garlic variety, also known as the 'everyman' of the garlic world!
Gourmet Garlic: Glazed Purple Stripe
Introducing glazed purple stripes, the beauty queens of the garlic world!
What is Gourmet Garlic?
Often at a farmers market you'll see garlic designated as 'gourmet.' But what does this mean? Is it a marketing gimmick? Or is there actually something special behind the name?
Toot-Toot My Own Horn
A new guide-to-meat book.
Only In America
How we focused on attaining our dream homestead.
Gourmet Garlic Curing
Garlic will keep for months if properly cured, allowing you to enjoy it all winter long!
Gourmet Garlic: Asiatics
Asiatic garlic cultivars may be difficult to find, but their great taste and easy-growing nature make them a great choice for garlic lovers and growers alike!
Gourmet Garlic: Silverskins
Silverskins are an ideal garlic for braiding and long-term storage!
Gourmet Garlic: Artichokes
The last of my series of posts discussing the different types of gourmet garlic will explore Artichokes, the giants of the garlic world!
What Do You Really Want Out of Life?
Creating the life you want, both personally and professionally, requires clear goals. By establishing the direction of your journey and sticking to your goals, you can achieve anything you want.
Redesigning Your Life
Many people admit that their lives haven't turned out the way they'd hoped. Fortunately, it is never too late to re-design and re-create your life so that you live up to your full potential and find the happiness and fulfillment you seek.
Belated Weed & Water Wednesday: A Visit to the Amazing Seed Savers Exchange Farm
Jessica visits the 890-acre farm belonging to the nonprofit Seed Savers Exchange, the largest nongovernmental seed bank in the U.S. and a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving our nations heirloom seeds and biodiversity.
Green Goods: Useful Products and Gifts
An index of previous posts that have referenced green products. These posts have covered building- and home-related products, as well as chocolates, books, and other types of goods. Many of the products mentioned in these posts would make good gifts.
Goat School Goes International
Goat School will be traveling to British Columbia and then to Ohio in September.
Which is Better for a Family: A Milk-producing Cow or Goat?
An experienced homesteader discusses the pros and cons of one family keeping either a cow or a goat for their milk supply.
Goats: Just Kidding! Part 3
Baby kids do not always present in the correct position when descending the birth canal. Learn about the different positions and how to handle them.
Goats: Just Kidding! Part 2
Be prepared for kidding season! Set up your kidding kit ahead of time. This information will help you have the right equipment at your fingertips.
Goats: Horns or No Horns
Horns or no horns, that is the question! Why should you disbud your goats, or is it okay to leave the horns on? This post discusses both options with a link to a great article about horns and their beauty.
Goats: Spring Cleaning!
Spring clean up on the farm doesn't only include cleaning fallen branches, but cleaning up the goats too! Getting ready for kidding and making sure the goats are all set is our most important spring task.
Goats: Just Kidding! Part 4
The babies have arrived, now is the time to take care of all of the other parts of caring for the newborns!
The Newest Member At Goat Song Farm
The newest member at Goat Song Farm: A 3 week old, purebred Nubian doeling named 'Rose Of Summer'.
Goats: Why Raw Goat Milk?
Why raw milk? Why goat milk? Things to consider for good health and nutrition for you family. Also a trick to get stubborn kids to nurse from a bottle.
Goats: How Do I Milk My Goat?
Milking is a fun and easy chore! Here are some hints on milking in an easy fashion.
Goat Farming, Not All Lollipops and Rainbows
The tale of Carlotta's last day. A trip to the processor. Real happenings on a goat farm, it's not always lollipops and rainbows.
Goats: Spring Goat School is History
Goat School is over for a few months, and now the routine will be a little more normal! Great questions were asked at Goat School and some of those answers are shared.
Goats: New Kids, Finally!
The kids have finally arrived, and we have plenty of photos of them!
Seed Saving: Useful Tips for this Growing Season
Get prepared for the season with useful tips for seed saving with Art Davidson, expert from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed.
Feeding Bees With Real Food - Honey and Pollen
You don't have to depend on nature to feed your bees. Take matters into your own hands and plant enough good food for your bees, so they have good, safe food all year long.
Searching for America's Front Porch
Making Music on the Front Porch ... let's define what the musical Front Porch is.
Google Case Study: Does it Create Abundance?
Abundance is the most fundamental building block in the Google DNA.
Case Study Three: The Juggernaut Google Inc.
The decade between the turn of the millennium and 2010 might justifiably be called the Google Decade. The company may have built more influence in less time than any other human endeavor in history.
Google Case Study: Background
Conscientiousness is woven into the company culture, quite intentionally. The more prosperous and powerful the company becomes, the more strident the criticism. Any institution as powerful as Google has great potential for evil, and for good.
Google Case Study: Is it Beautiful?
Google's mission is making information available. That includes all the beauty in the world (along with everything else, of course).
Google Case Study: Is it Fair?
Google's unofficial motto, "Don't Be Evil," could be expressed as easily in the positive, "Be Fair."
Google Case Study: Is it Contagious?
The company's founders seem to be as proud of the company's culture as they are of its financial success. Can the Google culture persist when the company's economic power declines?
Google Case Study: Initiatives
Google can be the most enlightened power-user on the planet. Because it is so successful, and because it uses a lot of electricity, Google has the opportunity to set a new global standard for clean power.
Products in our Future: Bamboo Knives and Cork Yoga Mats
Green products rule at Ambiente 2011, the world's most important consumer goods fair, in Frankfurt, Germany, this week.
A Government Of The People - For The Trout - Sequel
Dealing with a government agency to save a creek.
A Government Of The People - For The Trout
A brief story of how a creek was damaged and how it was reported to the authorities properly.
Developing a Consensus on Human Induced Climate Change
This posting present comments by leading scientific organizations, individual scientists and government leaders pertaining to human induced climate changes. All agree that climate change is anthropogenic and that it has become a serious problem.
Organic Garden Seeds
Organic seeds have benefits for your garden. Learn what our expert recommends and how to find organic seeds to plant.
Meatless Monday: Hamersley's Bistro Vegetable Tian
Chef Gordon Hamersley's Vegetable Tian makes use of tomatoes, squash and eggplant--all in their prime right now.
What Is Your Favorite Memory of America's National Parks?
PBS and Ken Burns' new series, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," is stirring up interest in some of our country's most beautiful and awe-inspiring nature, as well as its people. And it's no surprise that many of MOTHER EARTH NEWS readers have fond memories of these wilderness areas. What are your favorite memories and stories regarding our national parks?
A Day In The Life Of A Mountain Homesteader
What we do on snow days in the mountains when it is snowing hard outside.
Does Invasive Always Equal Evil?
Taking a new look at non-native invasives, such as wild yams.
Simple, Low-Tech Trick That Keeps Your Greenhouse Warm (and Cool)
Keep your greenhouse above freezing during short cold periods without paying for a heater.
Great Fruit Trees for the Deep South, Pt. II: The Loquat
A profile of the wonderfully tough loquat tree.
Great Fruit Trees for the Deep South, Part. III: The Mulberry
A look at the wonderful mulberry tree.
Chaya Is a Tasty Perennial Vegetable
Chaya is one of the most delicious greens you've never tried. Learn to grow and enjoy this wonderful perennial!
A Year in the Round: A Few Things I've Learned
I've been living in my tipi for almost a month now. Last night, under a chorus of screech owl trills and whinnies, I spent a little time reflecting on some things I've learned about this curious way of living. Enjoy.
How a Dairy Goat Farm Grows
Dairy goat farmer Julia Shewchuck learned a lot about keeping dairy goats in her first few months (and much more since). It was a learning curve too steep to be repeated willingly, but which has saved many other goats' lives since.
The Importance of Goat Watching
Spending the time to get to your goats is more important than you may think
Chevron: Butchering a Goat
Sherry's son worked hard to raise a goat. Read how he, with the help of family and friends, butchered and prepared the meat for a homegrown Chevron treat.
How to Wage War on Worms and Coccidia in Goats
Here are 12 simple tips that will help you to fight the war on worms and coccidia in goats.
Remote Homesteading With Dogs
Homesteading with dogs in remote mountain living. Considerations in providing a good safe homestead environment for your cherished pets.
Mountain Rose Herbs Receives High Honor
Mountain Rose Herbs honored with Social and Fair Trade Certification.
Mountain Snow in the Rockies
Snow in the mountains is different than snow found at lower elevations.
Colorful Colorado Turns Brown
The forests in Colorado are dying at a fast rate. Find out what's to blame.
Mountain Top Living
Hiking to the top of our mountain, the breathing view, the soothing effect.
Green Faith
Simran Sethi explains how the green faith movement can provide common ground among different groups.
Creating an External Hard Drive for Your Brain
Many people have trouble getting things done or done on time. The blog presents a simple technique that will help you become more effective and more successful in all you do.
Can an Egg Timer Motivate You to Get Work Done?
Many people waste too much time each trying to get motivated to work. As a result, they get a lot less done than they need to or would like to. In this blog, I show a way that has helped me for many years get motivated to work and stay on task.
Goats: Just Kidding! Part 5
After the kidding is over, we take good care of our girls! And, the babies need to be bottle fed, so here are the instructions on how we feed our kids.
Strength and Resilience: Two Keys to a Happy Life
LIfe is full of adversity. Whether you succumb to it or bounce back is up to you. Knowing that no matter what life throws your way you will emerge stronger will help you become more resilient and stronger and will help you create a happier life
Choose Strength and Happiness
Life presents many challenges, but if you consciously choose to be strong and resilient you can recover more quickly and grow even stronger. Your experiences will make you better able to cope and will help you live a happier, more productive life.
Sometimes Life Has a Better Plan for You
Adversity is a part of life. Enbrace the hard times. Sometimes, adversity can lead to new opportunities that allow us to pursue new paths, sometimes even re-invent our lives. Knowing something good may arise can help us cope with adversity, too.
Easy Goat's Milk Cheese: Queso Blanca
When you have goats, you need to do something with all that milk. Why not try making Queso Blanco, an easy cheese which tastes great and cooks well.
How to Make Cajeta
How to make cajeta, Mexican-style goat's milk caramel.
Fresh Chevre Cheesecake Recipe
Made from creamy chevre (fresh goat cheese) instead of the typical cream cheese, this surprising cheesecake is sure to please cheese lovers and dessert lovers alike.
Kidding-Season Tragedy
Preparing for kidding time is always crazy, and sometimes things never go the way you planned.
How to Have Happy and Healthy Goat Babies
How to prepare for a successful kidding season.
Baby Goats
The joys and heartaches that can come with kidding season are a part of life on a goat farm.
Is There Any Way to Keep the Goats Confined Without Putting in a New Fence?
Try this expert advice to keep goats from getting out of the pasture.
Goatie Time!
Of all the baby animals born on the farm — the chicks, lambs, puppies, calves — the goat kids are in a class of their own. Racing, playing, causing mischief, find out what makes kids so much fun and so invigorating to watch.
Sacred Seeds Sanctuary: Saving Plants for the Future
Finca Luna Nueva's Sacred Seeds Sanctuary is a living laboratory to nurture tropical and native species through the next 10 years of climate change.
Seed Cleaning Screens
Cleaning the chaff from the seeds you want to save can be done with screens of different sizes. There are options for all budgets, including using the strainers and colanders you already have in your kitchen.
Needing Space from my Place
Simran Sethi reflects on her first summer of yard-care and gardening.
Wabi-Sabi Wednesday: 3 of My Favorite Things
A flea market basket that called to me, my grandmother's hand-embroidered linens and a quilt made by a circle of women in Minnesota are among the wabi-sabi items that I wouldn't want to be without.
Start a Seed Library
A seed library is a place to get free seeds to grow out and donate back. It is a means of keeping seeds in the hands of the people and out of corporate control. Learn how to begin to start a seed library in your community.
Sales and Seed Banks
How to get a vegetable garden on the cheap with low-cost starts and (almost)free seeds.
Seed Savers Exchange Conference and Campout: A Photo Review
The 32nd Annual Seed Savers Exchange Conference and Campout featured many hands-on learning activities, tours of the gorgeous Heritage Farm grounds and an insider look into the organization's seed-saving efforts and current projects.
Three Easy Ways to Make Your Own Seed Envelopes
Here are three simple ideas for making your own seed packets.
Farmers Harmed by Decline in Nation's Public Seed Supply
Atrophy of public seed breeding investment impacts farmers' ability to confront the challenges of climate change, global food security and financial solvency.
Gourmet Garlic Trimming and Cleaning
Your gourmet garlic bulbs are finally out of the ground. Now it's time to prep them for curing!
Easy Ways to Save Money
Do easy ways to save money exist? Absolutely! Blissful saving is only a trip to the bulk section away! When you get home from the store, keep track of your finances on Mint.com; then look for Groupon's daily deal. Search the house for unused items and sell them on eBay. Use these tips to start saving today!
Gourmet Garlic: Turbans
Is your growing season a bit too short for gourmet garlic? Turban garlic cultivars may be the solution!
Fedco Seeds: Heirloom Seed Highlights From the 2012 Catalog
Highlights from the catalog of Fedco Seeds, by the editor in chief of MOTHER EARTH NEWS.
Garden Seed Tips: Organizing Seeds, Understanding Seed Catalogs and More (Video)
Get advice on all things garden seed, from organizing seeds and ordering seeds to understanding seed catalog terms such as open-pollinated and F1 hybrid.
"Spotlight on Earth Stewardship" with Founder of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Jere Gettle
An interview with Jeremiah Gettle, discussing his thoughts on and solutions to pressing environmental issues facing the world today.
With a Packet In My Pocket
To ensure we have a full productive garden, each spring I start a habit of carrying a packet of seeds in my pocket every time I head to the garden!
Are Heirloom Varieties the Only Ones from Which Seeds Can Be Saved to Produce Another Plant?
Many gardeners save seeds from their plants for use the following year, but this technique doesn't work equally well with all vegetable varieties. Here's what you need to know to figure out which plants in your garden you can save seeds from.
Wabi-Sabi Wednesday: 4 Ways to Change Your Vision
Learn to let go of associations with price, value, age and prestige and just appreciate beauty without judgment. Nature is the best muse for cultivating wabi-sabi.
Wabi-Sabi Wednesday: Living in Loud Places
Over the past 15 years the noise level in cities has increased sixfold; urban noise doubles every eight to ten years. Even in the country, we can't escape the sound of airplanes and engines. What can you do?
Why You Should Save Seeds
Reasons why you should save seeds from the vegetables in your garden from year to year.
15 Initiatives That Conserve Seed Diversity Around the World
These seed-saving initiatives are working to conserve seed diversity across the globe through seed banks, seed exchanges and other innovative preservation techniques.
Starting Seedlings, Green Chitting Potatoes and Roselle Dessert Bars
Summer comes on fast in the Southeast. Expert gardeners Ira Wallace and Pam Dawling share some tips to keep ahead of the heat and a recipe for Roselle Dessert Bars to help you appreciate the heat when it comes.
Seed Savers Exchange Searches for New Executive Director
The Seed Savers Exchange is looking for a new executive director. Just six months after he succeeded George DeVault, Aaron Whaley has resigned.
Urban Homesteading - Seed Starting
You can get more for your gardening money with a group seed starting effort.
Energy Hogs
I am especially concerned with the electricity hogs that keep us burning coal.
Sunflower Cover Crop
Sensor Plug update along with a report on Sunflowers being used as a cover crop and when to properly harvest onions.
Eating Cicadas and Building a Porch
Eating cicadas, building a porch, and hauling lumber for said porch all in the same week with several images of the action as well as some bee installation pictures.
More The Same Than Different - Discussing Top Bar and Standard Hives
Beginning a discussion on top bar hives and standard hives in a question and answer format, getting the best of each for users of both kinds of hives.
Gold Prospecting And Having Fun
Spending a day having fun prospecting for gold, enjoying the outdoors, exploring a ghost town and the high mountains.
Introducing Find Good Food on HOMEGROWN
HOMEGROWN.org introduces Find Good Food, a new page that includes national and state-by-state resources for locating family farmed eats near you. Read it! Share it! Add to it! Make it your own—and help make it even better.
Visitors and Company
Ed and Laurie struggle with making time for visitors while dealing with all of the daily business and homesteading tasks.
Day Two Starting Strong
Today's FAIR attendees will be well prepared to grow, make and preserve their own food and, as Joel Salatin encourages, get out of the Industriall food system.
Best Way to Clean a Goat's Udder (Or Is There?)
There are some questions worth exploring, find out if there is a BEST way to clean your goat's udder before milking.
Goat Milk and Goat Kids
Ilene White Freedman contemplates sharing goat milk with the nursing kid.
Hello From Oregon
An introduction from a goat-crazy Oregonian.
A New Future: Winning a USDA Value-Added Producer Grant
Our little farm received the USDA Value Added Producer Grant and we are embarking on an exciting future. Be with us from start to finish.
Sustainable City Living
The book Toolbox for Sustainable City Living: A Do-It-Ourselves Guide is a collection of skills, tools, and technologies usable by urban residents wanting to have more local access and control over life's essential resources.
HOMEGROWN Life: Geeking Out on Goats
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel recounts how she went from half-hearted to full-breed-ahead when it comes to breeding goats.
HOMEGROWN Life: A Bittersweet Month on the Farm
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Maine dairy farmer Dyan Redick honors the determination of women farmers, even as she observes a bittersweet month on her farm.
A Dairy Goat Homestead: Our First Breeding Season, Part 1
A dairy goat owner chronicles the frustrating beginning of her first breeding season.
Becoming a Modern Day Dairymaid
Follow Sarah Cuthill's search for a dairy mentor and her very first experience milking a goat.
Why You Really Don't Want a Billy Goat
Owning an intact male goat can be difficult, even if you know about their little idiosyncrasies. Learn about (and laugh at) one goat owner's attempt at doing something simple, like switching female goats in a buck pen.
Barn Thieves: Beware Marauding Goat Herds
Goats will get into and out of everything. Some thoughts on why you need to keep your feed secured.
How to Make Money on a Goat Farm (Or Not)
More goat babies and finding ideas to make money on a farm.
Dealing With Goats in Cold Weather
When the temperature drops below zero Fahrenheit, you have to keep an eye on your goats.
A Difficult Goat Kidding
If you have dairy goats and plan on getting milk, inevitably you have to deal with difficult kiddings. Most of the time, you walk in the barn and there's mom and her kids staring at you, all dripping from birth slime. To be honest, that's how I like it. All I have to do is dry the kids, tie off the umbilical cord, and dip it in iodine. Not yesterday.
Goat Fencing 101
Do you know where your Goat is NOW? A quick overview over fencing materials, fencing type, fencing do's and don'ts.
Wethering Heights: Neutering Male Goats
When you have too many bucklings, you need to neuter or wether if you're going to keep them. Here's how I do it.
Predicting Goat Kidding; or, Why My Goats Think I'm Nuts
Since Lulu and Belle had their kids, I'm now waiting on three more does to have their babies. Only, they aren't. So here is how the experts claim you can discover if your goat is going to kid. Only, it's really wishful thinking...
Raining (Goat) Kids
When it rains, it pours, when it comes to kidding goats.
Photo of the Week: Kid on the Farm
Play on the farm in this week's Photo of the Week. Remember to submit your own pictures, and you could be the next Photo of the Week!
On the Farm, a Tale of Sorrow and Hope
Confrontation with life and death situations are unavoidable when living on a farm. Seeing baby animals come into the world is beautiful, but sometimes these beautiful moments can be full of anxiety if things aren't going just right.
Available: Experienced Baby-Goat-Sitters
Cam babysits a baby goat for the weekend.
First Frost
A mysterious "ailment" brings our first frost to the goat pen.
Steam Engines And Narrow Gauge Railroads
Taking a ride on an old steam engine.
Win Herbal Products!
Looking for a way to boost your immune system naturally as the colder months settle in? Enter our latest sweepstakes to win immune-enhancing herbal products from Mountain Rose Herbs!
Lifestyle Choices - Need To Be Decided Carefully
Communication and honesty is essential to decide important issues like a complete lifestyle change.
Cat Calls: Recognizing Mountain Lion Vocalizations
A chirping predator may be an unexpected and unwanted visitor. Mountain lions do chirp and one set me on edge.
Goat Farming, Part 2: Bringing Your Goats Home
Safely bring a new goat herd home and getting them used to you and their new surroundings.
Could Medical Marijuana Rival Big Pharma?
Medical marijuana was a $1.7 billion industry last year--just shy of Viagra as pot-related businesses crop up across the country.
Five Tips on Gardening With a Living Safety Net
Tired of pests? Here are five tips for knocking 'em back without resorting to pesticides and toxic chemicals.
Discovering Chinese Water Chestnuts
Chinese water chestnuts are a delicious nutty root that are also easy to grow. Learn more in this article!
New Documentary about Car-Free Visionary Could Earn You a New Bicycle
Who the heck is Paul Goodman? The car-free visionary who inspired a new documentary and bicycle contest.
Summer Peach and Goat Cheese Sandwich
Fresh peaches and creamy goat cheese unite in the perfect summer sandwich.
How to Harvest and Prepare Sunflower Seeds
As fall nears, sunflowers are beginning to die off and it's time to harvest their seeds! In this post I bring you through the steps to harvest and prepare your sunflower seeds for eating!
Late-Summer Gardening
In July and August, it's time to start thinking about planting crops for fall. But how do you get good seed germination when the soil is so hot?
Growing Spider Milkweed Seed for Monarch Butterfly
A native southwestern milkweed seed is now available, thanks to the collaborative efforts of Terroir Seeds, The Xerces Society and Painted Lady Vineyard over the past 2 years.
Permaculture in Winter
A rundown of activities you can do in the winter to improve your homestead.
Try Puhwem 'Mother Corn,' a Revered Native American Variety
Puhwem Native American corn was the mother corn of native people. It's one of the best corns for making corn flour.
Welcome Spring to Your Homestead
Yes, spring is finally here. Time to start farming.
The Race Is on for the First Pea
In addition to my taste for shelling peas, I also want to get the first taste of the season to show off my gardening prowess.
Homesteading is a Messy Game
Cam describes how the seasons progress through one messy task after another at Sunflower Farm.
Navitas Naturals Adds Organic Hemp Seed to Leading Line of Superfoods
Hemp seed is a powerful source of protein, Omega-3, vitamins and minerals, and has a delicious nutty flavor!
Spring Fever Induces Seed Order Mania in Rural Idaho
The world of organic seed, delusional hope and insomniac online shopping collide.
Garlic Seed Sources
Find garlic seed stock for growing garlic.
Beat Tomato Diseases With Tomato Grafting
Consider grafting your favorite tomato varieties onto disease-resistant rootstock to foil soilborne diseases.
2013 Sources for Floriani Corn
Get Floriani Red Flint corn seed from Fedco Seeds, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, or Starke Round Barn.
Under the Covers with a Flashlight
The quiet low of January has broken, the promise of spring and its seedy optimism is evident in the pile of seed catalogs at my bedside.
Prevent Organic Seed Contamination: Comment on 'Coexistence' by March 4
The USDA has extended the comment period on agricultural "coexistence," which will determine how much protection organic farmers and seed breeders will have from GM seed contamination, until March 4.
Compost: The Trash That Is Really Treasure
Simran Sethi learns how to compost the right way and explores her composting options.
Just how big should a top bar hive be?
A quick essay regarding the "size" question of a top bar hive, from the bee's point of view - where it's all about the "volume"!
The Comfort of "Why"
It helps us feel better to know "why" things happen, but we don't always get to know that answer...
Make the Best Apple Pie to Chase the Blues and Grays Away
Baking the Great American Apple Pie chases away the blues and grays that sometimes afflict the homestead.
Already There
I've heard that the moment you plunk down a deposit for a vacation or buy yourself a plane ticket, a good chunk of you is already at the beach (or the mountains or the city . . . or wherever).
Taking the Steps We Can to Live More Sustainably
In most cases, we can't do all of the things we would like to live more sustainable lives — at least, not all right away. We can all do something, though, and making the choices and taking the steps that we can is an effective, satisfying way to make our lives more self-reliant and better for the planet every day.
Rest in Peace . . . or Get Your Piece?
I'm sitting on the deck of my room at the Northern Queen Inn in Nevada City, California, on a gorgeous spring day.
Do One Green Thing: Saving the Earth Through Simple, Everyday Choices
Mindy Pennybacker's new book, Do One Green Thing: Saving the Earth Through Simple, Everyday Choices, and her website, GreenerPenny.com, offer easy tips for daily green living.
Tips for Low-Cost Living
Share your simple living ideas to help those in need.
If I Knew Then What I Know Now
By making good plans and imagining the future with a positive outcome, you can be ready to take advantage of opportunities when they come your way.
2010 Predictions: Simpler, Greener Lifestyles
As a new year unfolds, Natural Home forecasts 2010 predictions—and it's good news—Americans will become smarter, greener consumers.
How to Save a Million Dollars With a Sustainable Lifestyle
Most American homes are codependent with a lifestyle-support-system of roads, wires, pipes, lines of credit, satellites, and a collective identity determined by the supply side. Yet just about any household budget offers continuing opportunities for creating a healthier, less expensive lifestyle that's also easier on the environment.
Flywheel Garlic Bearings
Crushing a truck, harvesting garlic, and fixing a broken flywheel shaft key are just a few of the things that got done over the last week at WaldenEffect.org complete with photos of all the juicy stuff.
Off Grid Homesteading and Cover Crops in a No-Till Garden
Launching Anna's new E book on cover crops in a no till garden and talking about the recent power failure that prompted us to do some Off Grid Homesteading which taught us a few lessons on using golf cart batteries for supplemental lighting.
Food is Love
Simran Sethi enjoys the fruits of late summer at a local farm dinner.
Can You Really Get Goats For Free?
Author Maggie Bonham recounts the various ways she's managed to obtain free goats, including Craigslist ads and trading for chickens.
Teat Dip: A Natural Approach
A chemical-free way to keep goats' teats clean and the milk pure.
Rudimentary Homesteading: Buying Our First Dairy Goat
A new homesteader commits some classic mistakes when buying her first goat.
21 Things You Should Know About Goats Before You Start a Goat Farm
21 things you should know or wish you had known before starting a goat farm.
Preparing for Goat-Kidding Season
One of the most exciting facets of raising goats is when kids are born on your farm. Knowing how to prepare for the grand event makes for a smoother and more successful kidding process.
Cold-Weather Goat Kidding
Hints for kidding in the very cold weather.
My Goats Have Green Thumbs
HOMEGROWN.org blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel of Dog Island Farm says keeping animals in the garden improves her soil and fights weeds and pests.
Goats: It's All In The Names
Often time choosing the right name for your kids is the most difficult part of kidding! Here is a little help on picking out names that are appropriate!
Mahmoud, Stone, Abraham and Isaac
The Africans showed up at our door on a sunny, chilly November afternoon. Two men introduced themselves as Stone and Abraham. In the background stood a young woman with a gregarious little boy, Henry, about 2 years old. They were looking for goats.
Goats: Why Having a Buck is a Great Idea!
Why keep a buck? Because they are wonderful, friendly, lovable creatures! Here are all the reasons why having bucks on your property is a good thing.
Raising a Pack Goat
Jenna gets a pack goat to help carry gear for hiking trips. Share her experience of buying a buck kid and raising him to be a pack goat.
Rude Goats
There are some goats you don't want, no matter if the price is right. In this case, the goat was free.
"Plant it Forward"(2)
This is a fun story about planting seeds for future generations and not recognizing a gift when it is blooming right in your face.
Farmers Sue Monsanto Over Seed Contamination
"Organic farmers have the right to raise our organic crops without the threat of invasion by Monsanto's genetic contamination and without harassment by a reckless polluter. Beginning today, America asserts her right to justice and pure food."
Homesteading Month Features Garden Therapy at In a Good Way Farm
Teddi Irwin sent us this great update on a Homesteading Education Month event held at IN A GOOD WAY, a training farm established to use therapeutic methods of farming to improve the lives of Native American men.
One Surefire Way to Create an Enjoyable, Fulfilling Life
Life is full of amazing things and remarkable people that make our lives richer and worthwhile. However, many of us hone in on what's wrong with life and others. Focusing on the good will bring great happiness to you. It will turn your life around.
Reader Challenge: Comment On Your Cooperative
Our experience with our local cooperative.
Considerations Before Adopting A Dog
How to select and find the right pet for you. Non professional guidelines.
Ft. Garland, Colorado - Part 5
Living in a community that has those who served in the armed forces and make good neighbors.
Antibiotic Resistant Superbugs: The Chicken That Threw Me a Change-Up
According to FDA data, the quantity of antibiotics sold for livestock use in this country continues to rise, topping 29 million pounds in 2011. This has a direct effect on the efficacy these same drugs will have on us. Sam Spitz has personal experience with a resistant illness and FamilyFarmed.org asked him to tell his story. It's a cautionary tale that should have us all making better food choices. Read how we can all influence the campaign to end the misuse of antibiotics in livestock and keep antibiotics working for us when we need them!
Saving A Creek And The Trout Habitat
The final result of a reporting a water violation and having a creek restored.
Rootstalk Festival A Success For Oregon Wolves
Mountain Rose Herbs hosted a three day benefit festival for Cascadia Wildlands in September of this year.
Adventures at King Arthur Flour, Part Two
This is part two of my visit to King Arthur Flour, the concluding blog of the four-day event.
The Animal Lover's Dilemma: A Quest for Sustainable Farming Techniques
Elizabeth Van Deventer has been on a quest to find the answer to sustainable farming and an ethical diet most of her life. Follow along as she discovers the impacts of producing tea, palm oil and fruit, and how she eventually settles on a lifestyle that is in tune with the earth and all of its creatures.
Finding Christmas in Simple Things
In the hollows of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this true Christmas celebration was simple, inexpensive and rich with tradition.
Reflection On A Mountain Top Or In a Swing In The Woods
Where we go to reflect on life and relax.
Find the Best Seeds and Tools for Your Garden
We have developed two customized search engines that make it easier to locate companies that offer specific varieties of seeds and plants, as well as organic garden products and tools.
Vintage Seed Packets Commemorative Forever Stamps
The United States Postal Service has released a collection of beautiful stamps modeled off vintage seed packets.
Landrace Gardening: Saving Landrace Seeds
Seed saving is an integral part of landrace gardening.
Coösauke Kale
The process of saving seed for next year begins while the growing season is still going strong
Save Your Seeds
Want to grow and save your own vegetable seeds? Meet Fruition Seeds. They produce regionally-adapted, organically-grown seeds. And they can show you how to do it too.
Landrace Gardening: Seed Swaps
Grow enough seed for yourself and a little extra for seed swaps and you may never have to pay for seeds again.
Survival Seed Banks, Part 1: What Seeds Are Available?
A market farmer's perspective on survival seed banks, evaluating current offerings.
Southeast Seed Savers Meet
Seed Savers Exchange members and friends in the southeast region of the U.S. gathered on September 8, 2013 in Louisa, VA. This event was facilitated by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and the Virginia Association for Biological Farming.
Gardening: A New Year's Resolution
Gardening is as easy as you want it to be!
How to Start Tiny Seeds for Fall Crops
Sowing tiny seeds for fall crops is easy with discarded plastic seedling trays and strips of fabric for lifting soil cubes.
Survival Seed Banks, Part 3: Seed Storage Common Problems
A landrace market farmer's perspective on survival seed banks. Part 3: Storing the seeds. With careful forethought, it is possible to store seeds in a manner that will allow them to avoid or survive common seed destroying events.
How To Get a Head Start on Your Tomatoes
Jump start your tomato harvest two months before everyone else with these simple instructions!
How to Store Seeds
Good storage conditions for your garden seeds are essential. These tips will help you learn how to store seeds.
Easy Tips for Starting Your Seeds Indoors
One way to get a jumpstart on the growing season is to start growing your seeds indoors. For most of you it's still cold outside. That doesn't mean that you can't get a headstart on getting your garden started for the new year.
The Art of Saving Heirloom Vegetable Seeds
Heirloom Vegetable Gardening (1997) by Willam Woys Weaver profiles 280 heirloom varieties, with growing advice and recipes. This introdution is the beginning of a series of excerpts to be posted from Weaver's book to walk gardeners through sowing, cooking recipes at harvest and saving heirloom seeds through the winter.
SunButter Sunflower Seed Butter Receives National Taste Test Award
SunButter Sunflower Seed Butter offers innovative and flavorful ingredient option for peanut-free products.
Improving Garden Soil: Milk and Molasses Magic
Do you know about the magic of milk and molasses in improving your garden? Yes, plain old milk of any kind – whole, 2%, raw, dried, skim or nonfat – is a miracle in the garden for plants, soil and compost. Molasses only boosts the benefits! Let's see how and why they work.
Homemade Tahini Paste Recipe
Make homemade tahini paste in your kitchen.
How to Buy Seeds
Deciding where to buy seeds can be a perplexing challenge. How does a conscientious gardener choose seeds that will grow well, look lovely and taste great, but also support sustainable seed farmers and healthy environments?
Gardening on a Budget: Seven Tips for Success
Don't let the cost of gardening keep you out of the dirt this year. Cheap gardening can be fun and easy. With these tips for gardening on a budget, you'll save on seeds, make your own fertilizer and impress your friends with your gardening know how.
Growing Peppers: One Month in 50 Seconds
Check out our time-lapse video of peppers growing from seed to sprout.
Become More Self-Sufficient by Saving Seeds
Learning to save seeds from one harvest to the next takes you a step further towards self-sufficiency and helps to save genetics of plants needed for the future.
It's Time to Start Those Veggie Gardens!
Barbara Pleasant offers a step-by-step plan to starting seeds.
Green Technology Stars at Consumer Electronics Show
Home energy management, electric cars and solar gadgets take starring roles at consumer electronics industry's biggest trade show.
The Ozarks Natural Beauty
Discover the Ozarks region's natural beauty and adventure hot spots as told by Mike McArthy of Photozarks.
Wabi-Sabi Wednesday: From Shakers to Shibui, Feeling Its Influence Through Time
Wabi-sabi has infused Western design for centuries—though its advocates rarely knew it. It's in the plain, efficient homes built by the Shakers, the unsentimental Arts and Crafts style, Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie houses and midcentury furniture.
Chevron: Cooking Goat Meat
How we prepared and ate all the meat of the goat Caleb raised and butchered.
Heritage Foods USA Launches Initiative to Support Goat Dairies
Fifteen family farms and over 50 restaurants have committed to participation in No Goat Left Behind, a new program developed by Heritage Foods USA.
Living HOMEGROWN: Goat Adventures -- Bottle Jaw?
Rachel gets a scare with Daisy the goat - is it bottle jaw or something else? A trip to the vet provides some lessons.
Drill Powered Plucking Onion Harvest
Describing how to look up tax maps, cutting carrots, and deleting problem tomato plants that only produce insipid fruit. The main attraction this week is our Power Plucker review and how awesome this new product is at saving time when plucking.
A Christmas Wish For All, from the honey bee...
A Christmas Wish for all, inspired by the magic of the honey bee.
Top Bar Hives -- It's All About the Wax!!!
This blog post by Christy Hemenway of Gold Star Honeybees describes some techniques for getting bees to draw straight comb in a top bar hive.
Winterizing Tips for Top Bar Hives
This post offers tips for winterizing a top bar hive - insulating, mouse guards, wrapping, closing entrances, protecting from wind. All things you can do to help get them through!
Making the Connection: Honeybees, Food, and You - a TED talk by Christy Hemenway of Gold Star Honeybees
A TED talk by Christy Hemenway of Gold Star Honeybees: Making the Connection: Honeybees, Food, and You.
My Journey to a Cabin in the Woods
Welcome to by blog "City to Country, One Step at a Time." Here's how I ended up as a modern homesteader on a little acreage in the Canadian West Coast bush.
What Is Your Small Farm?
If you are growing vegetables, making a few homemade wares here and there ... you are practicing good, old-fashioned homesteading techniques.
Choices - Remote Living
Many decisions go into remote living to decide if it is right for you.
Seed Swaps, Seed Saving and Abundant Winter Veggies
Host a community seed swap in honor of "National Seed Swap Day," plan to save your own seeds from the garden this year, and get inspired to cook creatively with winter vegetables.
Survival Seed Banks, Part 2: Types and Qualities of Seeds to Include
A landrace market farmer's perspective on survival seed banks. Part Two – Suggestions about the types and quantities of seeds to include in an emergency seed bank.
Indoor Seed-Starting Tips and Zone 6 Seed Starting Calendar
Tips for starting seeds indoors and a calendar for when to start your seeds indoors for a Zone 6 garden.
Get Your Sorghum Planted NOW!
Time to plant sorghum in the Ozarks. When do you plant sorghum in your neck of the woods?
Seed Libraries: Challenges and Opportunities
Seed libraries are meeting new challenges that point to the need for better education and understanding with the public, and with those charged with enforcing seed laws. Learn about the opportunities that are open in this evolving social movement.
Goats: Love is in the Air?
At breeding time, things aren't always what they seem. Sometimes things can really go awry!
The Whole Sordid Story of How a Goat Herder is Born
The cold, hard facts about how Annie Warmke, goat herder extraordinnaire, found her calling in a barn with Eleonore Rigby and her two tiny kids.
A Dairy Goat Homestead: Building Our Goat Barn
A homesteading family undertakes Extreme Home Makeover: Goat Edition at the possible expense of their sanity.
The Joys of Raising Dairy Goats
Raising dairy goats has benefits that extend beyond fresh milk and cheese.
Goat Farming, Part 1: Selecting a Goat Breed and Preparing for Arrival
This series of posts chronicles Betty Taylor's adventures in goat farming. This first post covers selecting a goat breed and breeder, costs, and preparing for arrival of my goats.
Applying for a USDA Grant: An Unforgettable Experience
The blog describes the experience of applying for a federal grant and shares some advice for others who might want to follow in those foot steps.
Goat Farming, Part 3: Tragedy and a Hard Lesson Learned
Describes the heartache that can come of now observing and working with nature when raising goats.
A Dairy Goat Homestead: Our First Breeding Season, Part 2
After a rocky start, the second half of breeding season ends happily for both goats and owners.
Cheap Effective Goat Feeder
How to make a cheap hay feeder for goats that cuts down on wasted hay.
Goat Midwifery
Ilene White Freedman's goat is in labor, reminding Ilene of her own natural childbirth experiences.
The Thankful Goat: A Micro-Farm Flourishes (With Recipe)
One woman's vision of a family farm comes to life in her back yard thanks to one friendly goat.
HOMEGROWN Life: "The Seasons Guide My Days Now"
HOMEGROWN Life blogger Dyan recalls how the seasons affected her childhood and how they guide her activities now on her Maine dairy farm.
HOMEGROWN Life: Milking with Frannie
If there's one thing I've learned in my short time of being a goat herder, it's that at breeding time, the goats are in charge.
Marriage and the Marks of Farm Life
Life with goats, sheep, cows, chickens and other livestock isn't all roses. Publisher Bryan Welch considers the value of finding and keeping the right partner for tackling life on the farm, goose poop and all.
HOMEGROWN Life: The Farmer's Truth About Keeping Goats
So, yes, I have become a lover of goats (and ducks have won me over, too). But the truth is, I can't wait to eat the boys.
Goats: Udders and Hand Milking
Hand milking and the ease of doing so, always lends itself to many questions. I try to answer some of the most commonly asked questions in this post.
A Buck In The Pen Is Worth Two In The Bush
A beginning farmer learns that keeping does and keeping bucks are two different things.
HOMEGROWN Life: A Change In Seasons
Dyan writes about the changing season at Bittersweet Farm, and introduces us to the newest member of the flock, a black sheep named Little Man.
The Goat Whisperer
Learn from the trials and tribulations of a beginning dairy goat owner!
Jack's New Home on the Goat Farm
Stony Knolls Farm has a new dog and getting him here was a wonderful, and amazing journey that is well worth sharing! Rescue dogs are so grateful for their new homes.
The Great Goat Rebellion
Even dairy goats can have self-esteem issues...
Building a Goat Shelter and Bedding
A basic overview of why shelter and bedding are must haves for your goat operation. Also, some of our personal experience with a few options.
KOR Launches Nava — The Bottled-Water Killer
KOR Water has announced the reusable Nava filtering water bottle.
Montana Radio Company Presents The Cool Green Home
Missoula, MT company awards home owners sustainable products.
The First Pea and the Last Tick
Noting the "firsts" and "lasts" occurring on the homestead at early summer.
Batten Down the Hatches, Sandy's Coming
The new metal roof was nailed down just hours before the storm hit.
Urban Homesteading – Think Local
Wherever you live, you can practice sustainability and share your successes with your neighbors.
Look to the East
We Westerners tend to think we've got it all going on when it comes to green living in general, and green building in particular.
Great Green Living Events
Enjoy visiting green living fairs, shows and workshops from Maine to Texas in every season of the year.
Small Homes: More Bang For Less Buck
Living luxuriously doesn't necessarily mean living large — at least not in these homes — and reducing a little waste doesn't hurt, either.
A Journey to Sustainable Living and a Self-Reliant Lifestyle
Luke Dinan, a young man from Toronto, Ontario, is forging his way towards sustainable living and a self-reliant lifestyle; a path we can appreciate, strive for and maybe contribute to.
Silence the Liar and Thief!
Many of us listen to negative internal messages about ourselves that drag us down, robbing us of happiness. To find happiness, you must change the dialogue inside your head. Focus on what is good in you and all that you do to brighten others' lives.
Ode to a Hand Saw
Ode to our hand saw...why we choose to live without power, and what we've accomplished by hand.
Nice Twist: The Dushanbe Teahouse's Orange Blossom Mojito
This mojito recipe from a surprising source--a Teahouse--is light, refreshing and not too sweet--perfect for a warm summer evening.
33rd Annual Seed Savers Exchange Conference and Campout: Learning, Good People, Good Times
Open to the public, the Seed Savers Exchange Conference and Campout is ideal for those interested in sharing seed-saving and gardening experience or learning from the more seasoned and those involved in current plant breeding and propagating research.
New Features Added to Garden Planning Tools
We have some exciting additions to announce about our award-winning Vegetable Garden Planner program and our new Grow Planner iPad app, including new seed company catalogs, a filter tool, a favorites button and an app update.
Growing Watermelons — Tips From Experts at Willhite Seed
Get tips on growing watermelons from the expert growers at Willhite Seed company, which offers dozens of unique watermelon varieties.
Siegers Seed Company Trying To Own All Pumpkins With Warts
Siegers Seed Company is attempting to patent and own a common cucurbit gene for warty pumpkins, and gardeners who know better are disappointed.
Understanding Seed Catalogs: 15 Features to Look For
Reading between the lines of the seed catalog variety descriptions is a science and an art. How not to get carried away by all the positive exclamations and miss some basic fact that would tell you this variety is not for your farm? This post provides tips.
Starting Seeds with Children
Starting seeds with children indoors is a project that extends into outdoor planting of the seedlings in spring and harvesting produce in the summer. It allows you to share success and satisfaction with children and makes it more likely they'll eat their vegetables!
Preparing for Seed Saving at Twin Oaks Seed Farm
Twin Oaks Seed Farm's focus has been producing seeds on contract for a handful of small seed companies. The author discusses involvement in starting a new cooperative retail seed project, Common Wealth Seed Growers.
Lessons Learned On a Seed Farm
Achieving real food independence means gaining the knowledge and skills to grow, harvest and store food. The best way to do this is working on a small, local farm.
The Garden Is In
The garden is 58 by 112 feet and it's planted!
Garden Layout for Seed Saving, Part 2: Nightshades
Peppers and tomatoes are some of the easier plants to save seed from. This post covers isolation distance and introduces basic seed saving techniques.
March Vegetable Garden Planner
Overview of the activities of a garden in March. How to prepare the soil for spring. What varieties I am planting this March in our Zone 6 garden.
What to Plant Now: Spring Seed-Starting for Midwest (Zone 6) Garden
What seeds to plant by month in a Zone 6, or Midwest, garden, plus seed-sowing times for spring and summer crops.
Aeroponic System Basics
Growing lettuce and other leafy greens indoors with an aeroponic system in a south-facing window seems like a wise move, especially during this long, snowy winter. Here I will explain the basics of growing greens with an aeroponic system, starting off with the initial expenses and moving on to pH and nutrient solution. Then I'll hope the sun provides enough life-giving rays long enough each day to grow some leafy greens.
Vegetable Transplant Growing Secrets of a Greenhouse Professional
This blog post takes a look at some of the methods we have developed over the last 25 years growing vegetable seedlings in our certified organic greenhouses. This time we take a look at the conditions required for healthy seedling growth.
How To Make A Soil Block
Learning how to make a soil block is a simple skill capable of permitting one to become involved within their local CSA or farm. It can also be a great way to meet local farmers, reduce CSA membership fees, and learn about organic gardening. Before each seed is sowed it must have a soil block to grow in. Being part of that initial step brings great joy.
Start the Seeds Already
Dragging my feet to get spring started, afraid to fail and making the decision to jump in an succeed or fail already!
Seed-Starting Secrets of a Greenhouse Professional
This blog post shares some of the simple techniques learned through many years of experience by someone who grows vegetable seedlings for a living.
Downy Mildew Variety Trials at Twin Oaks Seed Farm
We are trialing 135 varieties of cucumber, winter squash and muskmelon - with a focus on Downy Mildew resistance and fruit quality. An introduction to our trials and to the importance of variety trials in general.
King Arthur Flour Launches Flax Seed Products Online and in Supermarkets Nationwide
King Arthur Flour has added a new category to its line of premium baking products available in supermarkets nationwide: flax.
8,000 Square Feet in a Box
It wasn't many months ago the seed catalog for this year showed up, but at that point I had just, just, managed to finish off the garden season, slightly traumatized from all the work. To receive a catalog then seemed mostly like an ill-conceived joke, a way to rub it in; don't think you can relax too much.
Easy Newspaper Pots
One of the easiest ways to make your own newspaper pots.
Reuse and Recycle with Decoupage
Reuse old seed catalogs and recycle lumber scraps while creating one of a kind designer home decor.
Global Crop Diversity Threatened: Pavlovsk Experimental Station Facing Closure
The future of the Pavlovsk Station in Russia is in jeopardy due to a pending housing development project. Find out what you can do to help save the world's largest holding of rare berries and trees.
Seed-Starting Shelf
Make a shelf or table into a growing space for starting seedlings.
Mobile Egg House Breaks New Ground
Made from bamboo, wood and grass seed, this tiny house could be our future.
MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR Silent Auction Raises Thousands for the Organic Seed Alliance
A silent auction at the Mother Earth News Fair featuring hundreds of items raised $5,232 for the Organic Seed Alliance last weekend in Puyallup, Wash.
Starting Seeds For Spring
By starting seeds indoors, you get a jump start on spring garden planting.
How to Save Seeds From Dry-Seeded Crops
How you harvest and save seeds depends on whether a crop is dry-seeded or wet-seeded. Here are the steps for collecting and cleaning seed from a dry-seeded crop like chervil.
How to Save Seeds From Peppers
Saving seeds from peppers is easy. All you need is a pot of water, a drying screen, and peppers. And gloves if you're processing hot peppers...
Movie Review: The Seeds of Time
Modern, industrial agriculture as we know it today is running out of time, and it's much later than we think.
Fight Next Year's Blight Now with 5 Easy Steps
Every year gardens suffer from the "blight effect" on tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants. If left alone, the disease can prevent plants from flowering and maturing altogether. Here are 5 easy steps I encourage everyone to take before next year's garden even begins to sprout.
How to Extract Seeds
How to effectively remove seeds from vegetables, fruits, flowers or herbs isn't always obvious. Or easy. Sometimes you have to get creative.
It's a Perfect Day to Make Sacred Seed Bread
Sacred Seed Bread delivers the healing power of medicinal seeds in a delicious, homemade loaf.
About Honeybees and January… and April…
Ordering bees in January doesn't seem to make sense, until you understand that April is the cruelest month. Plus, if you order bees in January, and then you don't need them - that's just a reason to celebrate! Order early!
Defending the Country Stereotype
If you're the first of your friends to move to the country, get some chickens and plant an organic garden there will be some inevitable social fallout.
Massive Debt or No Debt At All: You Choose
Congress is about to pass legislation to ease the worry of homeowner debt, but it's also possible to build your dream home without a mortgage.
Who Am I?
Exploring our misconceptions of who we are when we are defined by our online presence.
Well Read
What does well read mean to you? Does the material you read and your personality traits determine how you view the world? This blog explores what well read means to me.
Cub Cadet Debuts RZT S ZERO Electric Zero-Turn Riding Mower
The all-new RZT S ZERO is available in select markets and will be headlining the Cub Cadet Test Drive Experience Tour.
When Is It Time to Homestead?
An article about when the best time is to start a new homestead.
Does a Green Home Make a Difference?
Many people perceive going green as an inconvenience and an unnecessary burden on their daily lives. What they don't realize is that they can take simple steps to help protect the environment without the disruption to their lifestyle, but save money as well.
Barebones Welcomes You to the Outdoors
Barebones strives to make the experience of outdoor recreation and hobbies a priority.
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Benefits of Living in a Tiny Home: Time, Money, Peace of Mind
Ryan Mitchell, founder of TheTinyLife.com, is saving up to pay cash for a 130-square-foot home on wheels in North Carolina. He's seeking per


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Alexander Werbickas
Industrial Design
Savannah, GA
Savannah, GA
Freelance Industrial designer seeking full time design opportunity. INDUSTRIAL.CONSUMER.MEDICAL DESIGN. I have captured a unique design process that is structured yet adaptable. Executing with precision births successful well rounded products. Focusing on user centered design where products spread knowledge through interaction and are more than just objects. For more work and information check out www.alexwerbickas.com Alexander Werbickas © copyright 2012 - 2013, All Rights Reserved, do not copy or reproduce without permission. firstname.lastname@example.com
alex werbickas design focuses on user centered design where products spread knowledge through interaction and are more than just objects. We are intrigued by human behavior and how the human mind works in it's powerful yet elegant rhythm. Offering research and concept development, ergonomic analysis, 3D CAD modeling, 2D drawings, digital rendering, 3d printing, rapid prototyping, and photography for consumer and industrial products. We believe in great service and have passion for quality design. Whether you are an inventor, small company, or a start-up businesses we can help you achieve your goal. By focusing on the needs of our clients, end users, marketing, and manufacturing experts we are able to deliver a well rounded solution. Contact me at: email@example.com
I am an architecturally inspired industrial designer who is intrigued by the elegant rhythm and beauty of the human mind.

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Gotta love Wes. I wouldn't say I necessarily "dislike" any of these. This is an order of preference.
All lists tagged 'in order'
- Wadjda
- Enough Said
- Stranger by the Lake
- Anna Karenina
- The Butler
- The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
- Rushmore
- The Royal Tenenbaums
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Moonrise Kingdom
- The Prestige
- Inception
- The Dark Knight
- Interstellar
- Memento
In Order: Christopher Nolan
Films directed by Nolan, ranked from favorite to least favorite. Mention: I like all of them.
- Zodiac
- Dead Ringers
- The Fly
- Mulholland Drive
- Eastern Promises
In Order: The 3 Davids
Films directed by Cronenberg, Fincher and Lynch ranked together from favorite to least favorite. This list will be heavily edited…
- Zodiac
- Se7en
- The Social Network
- Gone Girl
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
In Order: David Fincher
Films directed by David Fincher, ranked from favorite to least favorite. Mention: I like all of them.
- Vertigo
- Psycho
- Rear Window
- The Birds
- Shadow of a Doubt
RANKED - Alfred Hitchcock
I really, really love Hitchcock, I'm trying to watch more old films lately, so I thought I'd make this list.…
- Double Indemnity
- Sunset Boulevard
- The Apartment
- The Lost Weekend
- Some Like It Hot
RANKED - Billy Wilder
To get in the spirit of watching more old films than I'm used to I made another ranked list for…
- Hard Target
- Double Impact
- Kickboxer
- Bloodsport
- Sudden Death
In Order: Jean-Claude Van Damme
Van Damme's films (excluding some cameos and such), ranked from favorite to least favorite. Mention: I rank the films, not…
- Goodfellas
- Raging Bull
- Shutter Island
- The Departed
- After Hours
In Order: Martin Scorsese
Scoresese directed films, ranked from favorite to least favorite. I have to watch 4 of his earlier ones to complete…
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Rushmore
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Moonrise Kingdom
- The Darjeeling Limited
In Order: Wes Anderson
Feature length films directed by Wes Anderson, ranked from favorite to least favorite.
- Paranormal Activity
- Paranormal Activity 3
- Paranormal Activity 4
- Paranormal Activity 2
- Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
Paranormal Activity RANKED
Since it's like, one of my favorite series ever.
- Inglourious Basterds
- Django Unchained
- Jackie Brown
- Pulp Fiction
- Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Tarantino Ranked
Tarantino in the writing / directing seat. Still to be seen: True Romance


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Hunter In Dagobah by Dogsfather
There are times when I see a piece of art and I wish we had a billboard to showcase it to the geek world. Such art, so jedi, much predator by Dogsfather. Doge references aside, I really think you should support Dogsfather by visiting his page.
No author bio. End of line.
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