Choke Hold
It’s easy to understand why Native Americans cultivated Jerusalem artichokes* for centuries. These sunflowers are perennial, drought-tolerant, neglect-loving, and storage-friendly. The real puzzle is…
growing food
Label maker
What good’s a kicky wine without a kicky label, right? So after we bottled up our batch of peapod wine, I wanted to put something…
Peapod wine
“You’re trying to make what?” the nice man asks again. “Peapod wine,” I says. “Peapod wine. Never heard of it,” says the nice man, who…
Berry Bonds
For Brad’s birthday one year, I surprised him with a blackberry bush, wanting to give something that would bring happiness long after the day…
My name is loofah
This little guy germinated forever before suddenly bursting to life this week. Good friends gave us a loofah sponge and it had a handful…
Sweet secrets
Spring-like weekend weather had both of us racing outdoors for a little yard work. While rotating soil from old container plantings, I discovered a…
2013: Year in Review
With trepidation, I peeked back at this year’s goals — and was pleasantly surprised by how many were accomplished. Certainly not all, but it…
Start paring purple
This year marked our first attempt to grow sweet potatoes in containers on the wee homestead, an experiment to determine the smallest amount of…
Going medieval on pests
Just found our first horn worms of the year, chowing on our tomato plants. In October. This is the benefit of planting the tomatoes…