The air is crisp and the leaves are hanging tenuously on the branches. Even the weeds are starting to fade as the chill of fall sends its first tentative tendrils through the air to caress away the faded heat of summer. In some places - my condolences if I describe your home state - the weather is already freezing. Here in North Florida there's been a positive change from … [Read more...] about Gardening Tasks for Fall
How To Compost
Gardening On A Compost Pile
When I threw pumpkin guts on top of my compost pile last fall I wasn't planning ahead. I also wasn't expecting anything more than soil improvement. For the last year I've rotated my compost pile from garden bed to garden bed, rather than dumping it elsewhere and then carting it to my garden. The idea came about after one of our beds simply refused to grow good crops. Maybe it … [Read more...] about Gardening On A Compost Pile
Gardening in the Swamp
Let's face it: almost no one has an ideal location for growing food. California has great soil... and terrible droughts. Florida has a year-round climate... and lousy sand. Parts of Minnesota have rich glacial soils... and a long frosty winter. Some locations are tough... and some are really tough. One of the least attractive places for gardening is in swampy areas. I've had … [Read more...] about Gardening in the Swamp
Put Your Chickens To Work With a Simple Chicken Tractor!
Chickens aren't just for meat and eggs. If you're used to buying bland, factory-farmed eggs squeezed out of sick, de-beaked chickens in tiny cages, the price of good eggs can be a bit startling. If you're used to buying big, gross bags of cheap Tyson bird parts from Walmart, the price of good pastured chicken meat is definitely startling. There are many reasons why homesteaders … [Read more...] about Put Your Chickens To Work With a Simple Chicken Tractor!
Adding Fungi To Your Garden
Among gardeners, fungi don't get a lot of love. They usually range in a gardener's mind from being a minor curiosity ("hey, look at that weird slime mold!") to being a threat ("what the heck is making these things rot???"). Rare is the gardener who raises his own mushrooms. Rarer still is the gardener who sees the ground beneath his feet as a vast network of teeming fungal … [Read more...] about Adding Fungi To Your Garden