Growing garlic is one of the favorites on our homestead and it’s way easier than you might think. We will break down best methods for planting, harvesting, and curing garlic for storage. As a new gardener, growing garlic felt intimidating. Planting something in the fall to harvest in the spring was new territory and honestly…
Growing corn is a great addition to your homestead kitchen! Use it to feed animals. Turn it into many yummy and satisfying recipes. But shelling corn can be a tedious job on a small scale. Let’s look at how to shell corn efficiently—both by hand and using a mechanical corn sheller. What Is Shelling Corn?…
Few foods store better than homegrown potatoes. With the proper storage steps and conditions that is! We’ll break down how to store potatoes from the garden and the best tips and methods to keep them firm and fresh for months. Growing and Preserving Potatoes for the Whole Year When our family moved to our 5…
When your garden is overflowing with more kale than you could ever possibly know what to do with, what do you do? Our favorite thing is to turn all of those leafy greens into kale powder. We’ll walk you through step by step how to make kale powder, preserving all the nutrient dense goodness those…
Pesto is one of those magical foods that feels very fancy, yet is actually so simple to make. We will show you the easiest method to whip up your own pesto in a blender in no time. Several years ago, before we had even begun gardening at all, I had a friend invite me over…
When the warmer weather of spring comes, it’s nettle season! When nettle is in abundance, part of my morning routine is to harvest as much nettle as I can for cooking with and preserving to have on hand for the rest of the year. Unsure about nettle? We’ll fill you in on all of the…
If you’ve grown mint before, you know that it grows like crazy. While there’s nothing better than the crisp flavor of fresh peppermint or spearmint from the garden, figuring out what to do with all that mint can be a challenge. We love to preserve as much of that mint as possible for use all…
This past year was our first year on our 5-acre, self sufficient homestead and we dove deep into growing enough food to feed our family all year. We came a long way, supplying 80-90% of our own food with a basement full of storage crops, freezers full of meat and frozen fruit, and plenty of…