Starting seeds is something Nature does effortlessly… at least it looks like it from our garden bench doesn’t it?
Successful seed starting for us gardeners is about combining the right timing, light, seeds, and seed starting mixes all together. And when starting seed indoors, we control every element, including the seed starting mix.
For modern homestead gardeners, a high-quality seed starting mix creates the foundation for strong roots, healthy growth, and resilient seedlings when starting seeds indoors.
While it can be tempting to scoop soil straight from the garden or grab any bag labeled “potting mix,” but seed starting mixes are a category all their own. They’re designed to support early plant growth using sustainable gardening practices that protect seedlings during their most vulnerable stage.
Come learn, commune, or just love on local with me early in the year!
I have many other private gardening and homesteading classes scheduled for Local Garden Clubs and Master Gardeners as well. If you are interested in having me speak, I am taking reservations for next winter and spring now. Please email me at michellenbruhn@gmail.com if you’re interested.
You can also see a full list of my class topics HERE.
I love how my book collection keeps growing, just like my plant collection!
OK, so I have a thing for books…
Gardening “How To” books, Ecological Gardening books, Permaculture, No Dig, Companion Planting, Preserving, Homesteading… I’ve read a lot of books. And, not all of them earn a place on my bookshelf.
Nothing quite compares to flipping open to a page to find that bit of info, recipe or inspiration. Below are some of my most loved Garden and Local Food books.
Each of the books listed below would make great gifts, and a welcome addition to any gardener, homesteader, or foodie’s library!
Gardening, at its heart, is good for you AND the planet! But years of green washing and less than organic practices have made it a little confusing. But there are some basic tips I’ve learned to help you get gardening for sustainability.
Intensive companion planting and staggered succession planting creates a thriving vegetable garden and happy harvests!
Sustainable gardening is all about creating a living system that supports itself, nurtures the environment, and… actually gets easier for you over time. It’s the sweet spot where ecology meets practicality.
When you plan to manage each precious resource—from water, soil, sun, and plant matter—you’ll see the soil grow richer each year and the workload become more manageable. The garden will start to function like the ecosystem it is rather than feel like a chore.
For Minnesota gardeners and especially organic, permaculture-minded homesteaders, this mindset fits beautifully with our distinct seasons, rich glacial soils, and wildly resilient native species.
What “Gardening for Sustainability” Means
At its heart, a sustainable garden mimics natural ecological processes: nutrient cycling, water retention, biodiversity, and energy efficiency. Instead of relying on constant outside inputs—synthetic fertilizers, new soil and/or compost each spring, excessive watering—it becomes a semi-closed loop. You feed the soil, and it feeds everything else. It also means welcoming in beneficial insects to pollinate and organically manage pests in your garden.
You can look at sustainable gardening as having three pillars:
Environmentally Regenerative You build soil instead of depleting it, conserve water, support pollinators, and reduce waste. Ways to build soil include: compost, cover crops, companion planting, and no dig gardening methods. This is the most important step, so spend time getting to know how soil life works to grow great plants.
Personally Sustainable A garden becomes truly sustainable when you can keep up with it year after year without burning out. That means knowing your own limits and starting with right-sized beds, low-maintenance systems, and design choices that invite the garden do more of the work. Setting a goal or intention for your gardening helps some people feel accomplished.
Climate Conscious First, do no harm. Look at your space as part of nature, not separate from it. Growing foods adapted to your specific climate reduces inputs and increases resilience. For me it keeps gardening joyful in my Zone 4 roller-coaster weather. Using the right plant for the right place will grow healthier plants and save you from digging up fails after years of limping along.
Setting Up Your Garden
Plant in Zones: Think of your whole garden in terms of zones, the way Permaculture does. Zone 1 is closest to your home, where many people grow herbs and greens, plants that require regular tending and that your regularly want to harvest. Think in concentric circles moving out from there for how often you visit that part of the garden.
Plant Vertically: Maximize the crops you can grow by growing up. This makes the most of sunlight, soil, and reduces the space you have to tend.
Companion Plant: This kind of planting uses plants natural tendencies to support each other. This could by using different nutrients, having different roots depths or attracting or repelling beneficial or pest insects. Adding companion flowers and vegetables can be an organic gardener’s best friend!
Compost: Setting up a compost bin/area when you start your garden will enable you to replenish the nutrients that came out of the soil—and keep them recycling right on your property—eliminating or at least reducing the need to bring in more fertilizers. Plus you’re keeping organic matter out of landfills!
How to Keep the Garden Sustainable for YOU
Enthusiasm is a renewable resource… but only if you protect it. I encourage you to seek out and be mindful of what brings you joy in the garden. Is it the planning, the planting, tending, harvesting, or cooking with the foods you’ve harvested?
Here are a few reminders I’ve found help me stay excited season after season.
Only grow foods you (and your family) genuinely love
Take some time off over winter—follow nature’s lead and rest
Plant more perennials than annuals as the years go by
Automate when possible: seed starting timers, drip irrigation
Give yourself permission to scale up slowly, or not at all
Celebrate “good enough” rather than striving for perfection
REST and dream during the off season
A sustainable garden should be a joy, not a judgment.
And truly, there’s no magic formula or step by step plan—because each garden is a unique combination of the gardener and their goals and the location; including the soil, sun, and micro-climates.
How lucky are we that we get to work with whatever nature has in store for us and learn from it what will grow best outside our doors.
Cheers to more gardening for sustainability this season for all of us!
This is such a warming soup. I’ve made a few variations in the past but have settled on this as a family favorite. I recently made this for a recovering friend, and I think it’s a perfect hug in a jar.
I also recently harvested all of these main ingredients from our suburban homestead here in Minnesota. Yes, even the ginger. So this soup sums up my most recent fall harvests in one bowl.
And as with all soups, this recipe is a jumping off point. A half cup more or less of any of the main ingredients is not going to ruin this soup. It is lighter and brighter than the more common butternut squash soup, but it certainly looks like that other orange fall soup. I am always looking for ways to sneak in more protein, so of course I add white beans to this soup. Adding beans to any blended soup gives it a creamy, thicker consistency along with all the other health benefits.
How to Prep Your Fall Garden the Easy, Earth-Friendly Way
Fall is in the air. Cooler days brings the unmistakable shift in our gardens as the growing season winds down. It’s tempting to grab your rake, pull every plant out by the roots, and “tidy up” before winter hits.
But if you’re aiming for a healthier garden and less work next season, it’s time to embrace no dig garden clean-up. No dig gardening is more than just a trend—it’s a smarter, soil-loving way to garden. And when it comes to fall cleanup, the no dig method gives your garden a natural boost while cutting your workload. Win-win.
I started seed saving the year I got behind (way behind) on picking my pole beans. When I found a few (ok, lots) of bean pods that were swelling in their pods and starting to yellow I was in despair at a lost harvest.
But then a light bulb popped on.
These were not a waste—just a different stage of the plant.
I didn’t have to toss these overripe beans into the compost. I could leave these to grow and save them as dried beans. I could eat them or save them to plant for more beans next year.
It was a sublimely empowering moment. One I want you to have too!
I got lucky by stumbling onto starting with one of the easiest vegetable seeds to save. For the first few years I saved mostly bean varieties and native flowers. Over a decade later, I’m still experimenting with saving new seeds. Which is why I’m well suited to pass the torch: if I can do it—you can too!
Seed Saving is something that has made me a better gardener in so many ways. It requires us to be more aware of how our plants are progressing through the season. It makes you see more than just the ‘product’ you’re growing—you see the plant as a self-sustaining entity. It can reproduce itself! For all these reasons and more, seed saving connects you to your garden in new and beautiful ways.
Did you know that saving annual flower seeds is a simple and cost-saving skill to master in your garden? It doesn’t require any special equipment and gives you another ‘harvest’ from your gardens.
Saving seeds is another way gardening helps us work closer with nature. And we need to really pay attention to nature as she moves through the seasons in order to save the best seeds. And being ‘in the moment’ in our gardens is one of things that brings us the most joy, isn’t it!?
So, I’m sharing my favorite annual flower seeds to save. The flowers listed also make amazing companion plants in any vegetable garden, along with adding color to the beautiful bouquets I get to bring inside all season…
I am a Midwestern gal, through and through. And let me tell you, we take our corn seriously.
That coupled with the growing interest in preserving more of our foods brought about this article. I’ll share my family’s favorite ways to enjoy and preserve this beautiful bountiful crop.
