Let’s turn your ideas into a clear vegetable garden design so you can harvest from your own garden this summer! A little planning can go a long way. To that end, I’ve created a step-by-step Garden Planning Guide for you.
First, let’s get clear on what YOUR garden goals are. Setting an intention up front (and knowing it will change with/in the seasons) can be a welcome guidepost later in the planning process. Try to not to compare your gardens or goals to anyone else’s.
Continue readingSoil blocks produce some of the best transplants from seed starting I’ve ever grown. This is my hands down favorite way to start tomatoes, peppers and my earliest cold hardy crops.
The method uses a metal ‘press’ that you fill with an oversaturated (think cement slop for the right consistency) seed starting mix. You get this mix packed into the ‘press’ and push a lever to pop out the cutest soil cubes you ever saw. And if the mix is done right, they stick together great, even though it seems like they’re defying the laws of gravity.
Continue readingAs an avid gardener and garden writer, let me tell you, I’ve listened to a lot of garden podcasts… and some are better than others.
I’ve also had the joy of being interviewed by over a dozen podcast hosts (you’ll see some of their names below).
There’s something soothing about listening to others who’ve ‘been there and done that’. I love listening as I work with my hands or out on walks. If you’re not a podcast listener, I have to say (even as a lover of the written word) you are missing out!
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A favorite festive recipe is Chai Tea!
This will not only warm your body and soul, but makes your home smell like the holidays along the way… once I start making this Hygge season has officially arrived on our homestead.
Simple and completely able to tailor to your tastes, this chai tea recipe lets you add more or less of ingredients as you like.
I adore how I start craving this tea right around the same time I harvest my ginger each year. I’ve got an in-depth article on growing ginger in the north.
Continue readingOne of my all-time favorite condiments has always been the slightly sweet, slightly vinegary and always crunchy pickled daikon + carrot ‘salad’. This is typical in Vietnamese dishes like Banh Mi and rice noodle salads. I’m also known to just eat this straight out of the jar.
I feel so lucky to have grown up around the Twin Cities where I’ve been able to savor all the flavors of the metro area. Growing up more on the east side of the metro, on the outskirts of St. Paul, I always had ample Vietnamese options. My dad used to work at the state capitol, and I would beg him to bring me to lunch at The Lagoon, an old school Vietnamese restaurant that used to be tucked in right there on University Avenue.
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A little crisp on the top layer, dense and perfectly spiced with chunks of warm apple throughout… This baked apple oatmeal recipe is so easy, uses a single bowl and can feel like a hearty breakfast or delicious dessert depending on how you dress it up!
I love the ‘idea’ of baked oatmeal but so many recipes can fall apart and feel like a good attempt gone wrong. This recipe teeters between baked oatmeal and oat cake/muffins, but I’m 100% comfortable with rocking the oat boat like this- because these are absolutely delicious!
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Seeds and centuries of gardening knowledge feed a community at Dream of Wild Health farm.
Inspired by the people it serves and centuries of gardening knowledge, Dream of Wild Health embodies working with nature. One of the oldest, continually operating Native American nonprofits in the Twin Cities, Dream of Wild Health’s intertribal working and teaching farm brings together the best of seed saving, Earth-focused farming practices and youth development. In short, this farm is flourishing.
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Fall temps can quite literally cool our northern garden jets once fall hits its stride and apple season arrives. But for those of us that enjoy those frost sweetened crops and don’t mind gardening into the cool of autumn, Season Extension opens another mini-season of gardening and harvesting!
For those just getting started on season extension, you may be wondering why we bother with this extra work?
For me the reason is clear: by keeping plants alive in the ground, it allows them to hold onto their nutrients, compared to if we harvested at the first sign of frost. Food loses around 30% of its nutrients within three days of harvest…
Practicing season extension can add weeks or even months of harvesting FRESH FOOD from your garden. And isn’t harvesting healthy food one of our main goals?
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If you love growing beautiful medicine that also attracts the pollinators, then let me introduce you to Aronia Berry, aka Chokeberry. Actually, you may have already met Aronia Berry while walking in the woods or edges of prairies in the Midwest of America.
Officially named Aronia melanocarpa, this cold hardy North American native woody shrub is worth adding to your landscape for its adaptability, form, fall color, and, of course, its fruits!
The aronia berry tends to stay around 8 feet tall (depending on variety) and is much less picky about soil as it has deeper roots than the elderberry. They are hardy to -40F or USDA Zone 3. They also don’t have any pest issues and are disease resistant.
Continue readingZucchini fritters are a healthy ‘fast food favorite’ in our home every summer! We all know how fast those zucchini can grow… so if you want a healthy + savory take on the good old pancake (and use up cups of shredded zucchini all at once) zucchini fritters are for you!
I love the two different versions of this recipe equally, it just depends on what flavors I’m craving more, and if I happen to have some potatoes around as to which I make.
You can use a variety of zucchini in this recipe, and even summer squash too, just be aware of the different moisture content in each variety. Patty Pan are one of the ‘meatiest’ and dense/driest types, while Fordhook + Golden varieties tend to be wetter. If you shred the zucchini and can see extra water in the bowl, squeeze some out so you don’t have too thin of fritters.
More information on Growing Zucchini + More Ways to enjoy them on another post, A Zillion Ways to Zucchini.
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Special Homesteading Bundle
Original price was: $59.97.$39.99Current price is: $39.99.
Special Homesteading Bundle
Original price was: $59.97.$39.99Current price is: $39.99.
On Demand Class: Vertical Gardening
$14.99
Vegetable Garden Design Class *Free*
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