‘When Should I Pick It?’ — Harvesting Essentials For 12 Popular Vegetables

Written by: Kristen Duever  Every novice gardener has done it — picked too early or waited too long to harvest their vegetables. Even experienced gardeners have been known to let excitement get the better of them when they see that first tomato turning red on the vine. Since late summer and early fall is prime …

Preserve Your Harvest : Freezer Friendly Fruit & Veggies

Because we are homesteaders, we are always looking for: 1. Ways to Preserve Food and 2. Meal Time Savers! Here is a how to properly freeze your fruit and vegetables for use during the winter and when you are just to busy to do all that prep work. Freezer Friendly Fruit Prepare, peel and slice …

Growing Salad Year-Round: The Right Way To Do It

Written by: Kristen Duever Spring and summer bring a bounty of wonderful fresh vegetables to enjoy and for many, salad greens become a staple. But in the fall and winter, you might feel like you’re missing out if you can no longer enjoy fresh greens from your garden. For the most part, salad greens such …

20 Vertical Gardening Ideas for Turning a Small Space into a Big Harvest

Is acreage still but a dream for you?  Consider Vertical Gardening! Vertical gardening is nothing more than using vertical space to grow vegetables (or herbs, or flowers, even root crops), often using containers that hang on a sunny wall. Traditional gardeners have done similar things with climbing plants like squashes and beans for centuries by …

How an Egg is Formed

[reposted from my blog at Capper Farmer: http://www.cappersfarmer.com/farm-and-home/poultry/mommy-where-do-eggs-come-from.aspx%5D Laying an egg is triggered by receiving adequate sunlight through a receptor in your bird’s eye which triggers hormone production mainly in the pituitary gland. The average amount of light required to begin egg production is about 14 hours. This is why your hens produce more eggs …

Raising Heritage Breed Chickens for Meat

http://www.cappersfarmer.com/farm-and-home/poultry/raising-heritage-breed-chickens-for-meat.aspx (Capper's Farmer Repost) Raising Heritage Breed Chickens for Meat 10/7/2015 9:45:00 AM By Rachel Falco Tags: Chickens, raising heritage breeds, Rachel Falco Raising heritage breed chickens for meat is difficult for a farmer to gauge timing of harvest. Currently the industry harvests birds at about 6 through 8 weeks of age. These super-sized industrial …

Homestead To-Do List for October: Plant Garlic, Harvest Apples, Mulching, and More

By Aiyanna Sezak-Blatt, Wild Abundance As we wade into fall, the green of lush summer begins to fade around us. Now that we've passed the autumnal equinox, the days begin to withdraw their light, and a more perceptible darkening takes hold. It is a season ruled by ancestors, a time to save seed, to offer …