Like the song goes, “Summertime, and the living is easy.” Here on the home farm, we’ve been enjoying the pleasant mid-summer days and long evenings, as well as garden fresh salads and veggies. After staying committed to maintaining designated flower and medicinal herb patches for a few seasons, the sections are well established and we […]
Down and Dirty
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Creating Community with Gardens
As we slip into summer, here on the home farm we are enjoying the sunshine. The combination of late spring rains followed by a heat wave gave our plants the message to grow like crazy. It’s good timing because we’ve increased our ranks. Our labor force has suddenly tripled and we’re ecstatic. More hands and […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
A Creative Mess
A creative mess is better than tidy idleness,” stated a neatly typed sign on the door to our grandmother’s art room. Inside were shelves overflowing with art supplies, canvases stacked on every wall and boxes and boxes of wrapping paper, and forgotten Christmas presents. Here on the home farm, we’ve been inspired by Grandma’s wisdom, […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Hardy Vegetables and Fragrant Flowers
As springtime sunshine beckons us outdoors, here on the home farm we are rolling up our sleeves and heading out for some serious time in the garden. Daylight hours grow and the mercury is rising. It’s prime time to develop garden fever. Lush winter rains combined with fall and spring fertilizing and mulching created primo […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
The Particulars of Pruning
With the mercury hovering in the frost zone, here on the home farm we’re enjoying the rush of chilly temperatures. An essential but often overlooked element of successful home farming is the downtime of the winter months. We use this time to put up our feet and drink some hot homegrown tea by the fire. […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Fruit Trees and Mint Patches
As winter wraps us in her chilly embrace, here on the home farm we are totally jazzed about the winter planting season. Cold weather brings plants into dormancy, creating an opportunity to introduce new additions, such as fruit trees and edible shrubs in the mint family (Lamiacea). Winter rainfall generously irrigates and softens the ground […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
The Darkness Garden
As the first autumn rains soak into the earth, here on the home farm we are beginning our darkness gardening routine. As the growing season winds down, we tidy up the remnants of autumn harvests and prepare for the winter planning and planting season. Now is prime time for cultivating high-flavor culinary gems in the […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Medicine and Flowers
As the evenings become crisper and the days become shorter, here on the home farm we celebrate the end of another successful growing season. We’re pulling pumpkins from the pumpkin patch and picking our apples. This year marked an important milestone in home farming: The much awaited cannabis prohibition has at long last come to […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Vertebrate Management
Of any home farm management issue, vertebrates (animals with a backbone) can be the most challenging and expensive to deal with. Deer, bears, gophers, mice and rats all carry diseases that can be caught by humans and potentially threaten home farm harvests. Growing up in the walnut orchards of Central California, one of our biggest […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Flower Power
Whether a formal rose garden or a small patch of cheerful sunflowers, nothing makes a lush vegetable garden pop more than a backdrop of colorful flowers. Depending on the flower of choice, it can bring elegance and formality, country charm or enchantment. Wispy summer fog adds mystique. Similar to growing vegetables at home, growing flowers […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Greens Galore
I never realized how much growing up on the North Coast influenced my eating preferences until I traveled overseas to Belgium. In that part of the world, they eat salad as lettuce with mayonnaise, strawberries with white pepper and radishes dipped in salt. New flavor combinations made me appreciate garden delicacies in new ways. Many […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Summer Garden Bling
Hang on to your hats — the heat of the home garden season is on. As we continue to enjoy defrosted or canned pumpkin puree from last year’s Great Pumpkin in muffins, curries and pies, we are thinking ahead by planning our harvest for the fall to come. Longer, warmer days offer plenty of inspiration […]