Chickens – Part 1: Building the Coop

Continue ReadingChickens – Part 1: Building the Coop

In an effort to expand our garden ecosystem, we've gone the way of the farmer, adding backyard chickens to our list of on-site resources. This is the story of how we got started. We intend to share the process in hopes of making it easier for others who plan to do the same.

We spent two years researching and being skittish about getting them, while everyone with chickens kept saying, "Just get them!"  2012 rolled around, as did ...

How to Know if it’s GMO?

Continue ReadingHow to Know if it’s GMO?

"Dear Gardenerd,

How do we know if our seeds are genetically Modified?"


Excellent question! I have answers for you.

The good news
is that GMO seeds are widely available to the commercial agriculture industry, but the push to sell them to home gardeners is not yet popular (and most likely not lucrative).    The bad news is that farmers growing non-GMO crops for seed are having a harder time isolating themselves from farms that ...

Ask Gardenerd: When is it Organic?

Continue ReadingAsk Gardenerd: When is it Organic?

A very thoughtful question came into Ask Gardenerd this week:

"I'm new here. So far my big challenge is getting started. I do have a question. I do want to eat organic. Let's say I get a small plant, like an herb, from Home Depot or a similar store, I plant it and grow it organically with no man-made chemicals are pesticides. Does that make the plant organic? Is it kind of organic? If I keep it growing year-after-year and grow it organically, will ...

Tasty Cabbage Season

Continue ReadingTasty Cabbage Season

It's time to harvest those cabbages that have been growing over winter. As readers may remember, we planted a newly discovered variety of open pollinated Vertus savoy cabbage from Bountiful Gardens this past fall, and now we're reaping the benefits. It's hard to find an open pollinated or heirloom variety of savoy cabbage, so we were very excited to test this one out.

The results are in, and they ...

Homesteading: Making Yogurt…Again

Continue ReadingHomesteading: Making Yogurt…Again

After seeing Vegucated, the vegan documentary that shows the underside of our country's meat and dairy industry, I was highly motivated to find organic milk products from truly trustworthy suppliers. Many of our organic dairy manufacturers like Horizon and Organic Valley still utilize confined feedlot techniques and, without going in to details, they don't treat their cows very well. I wanted control over my dairy ASAP.

I did ...

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