We lucked into a raspberry patch at our place, that much is for sure. Such a welcome surprise to discover! Not only has it given us wonderful berries for the past couple of months, but it has also provided us with medicinal leaves that we have been drying and storing for use throughout the coming…
Grow
Growing your own food and medicine is one of the most rewarding and self sufficient things you can do for yourself and your family! I’m here to help you learn the benefits of growing your own vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers, and how to get started.
You will also find information on permaculture, forest gardens, and other regenerative gardening techniques.
How to Build a Permaculture Swale Planting Bed
Hello my gardening friends! As I alluded to in my recent updates post, I have a really cool project to share with you today. If you’ve been reading my blog for a little while then you know that I’m big into permaculture, and my husband Joel is even more so than me. He has taken…
Growing and Foraging for Lemon Balm
You have probably seen lemon balm growing whether you knew it or not. In the mint family, lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is a perennial herb that spreads rapidly and has become a fairly common “wild” plant. When I’m out foraging and I see what looks like a plant in the mint family it is more…
Growing and Foraging for Comfrey
If you’ve done any reading on the subject of permaculture, then you have for sure heard of comfrey. This plant has become the permaculturists darling for good reason, as it has a multitude of benefits including, but not limited to, natural fertilizer, dynamic accumulator, living mulch, companion plant, compost activator, and numerous medicinal uses. Unfortunately…
Tropical Permaculture
Hello! As you may have seen in my Updates and Recent Happenings: Costa Rica! post, Joel and I have recently returned from the wonderful Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. Even though we were there on our honeymoon, we still couldn’t resist the urge to learn as much as possible about all of the awesome tropical…
How to Ditch Your Lawn and Grow Food
Grow Food Not Lawns! This is my new mantra. While lawns can be nice for playing soccer, rolling around on, or as a place for your dog to poop (don’t roll on it after that), all of those tasks can be done elsewhere. Beyond that, with the drought that we’re having out west, why would…
How to Grow Potatoes
When is the last time you ate a potato? I bet it was somewhat recently. I have to admit that, even though it’s unusual for me, I had a handful of potato chips this afternoon! Not the healthiest option, but sometimes that’s how life goes. But, the real question is, have you ever had a…
How to Make a Rain Barrel
Spring is coming! I know that this is when a lot of you out there get torrential downpours. April showers bring May flowers, right? When I was growing up in the Portland area I coined the term April showers bring May showers! It’s true, although thankfully here in Southern Oregon it’s not quite as dismal…
Permaculture 101: Zones
This is Part 2 in our Permaculture 101 series, check out Part 1: The Basics and Part 3: Forest Gardens! Here we are, on to the second part of our Permaculture series. This one is all about the different zones in a Permaculture landscape, and how you should try (as best as possible) to design…
Permaculture 101: The Basics
This is Part 1 in our Permaculture 101 series, check out Part 2: Zones and Part 3: Forest Gardens! I’m sure many of you have wondered, “What is this Permaculture I’ve been hearing about, anyways?” It’s a good question and today I’m going to hand this topic over to Joel (my other half) who has…
