One of my favorite times to hang out in a garden is at night. There’s a magical element there that isn’t necessarily present during the day. The beauty is less in-your-face and more subtle and nuanced. For the night owls among you, consider building a moon garden!
Wouldn’t it be nice to have fresh fruits, veggies, and herbs available right in your yard? If you embrace edible landscaping, you can enjoy this experience practically year-round and save money to boot. Veteran Edible Farmer Rosalind Creasy shares that while these types of gardens do require an initial investment of time and money, they offer significant savings on produce costs—for example, in 2008, the value of the vegetables she grew in a 100-square-foot garden totaled more than $675.
“The health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security. Food is about to demand your attention.” -Michael Pollan, Farmer in Chief
Raising rabbits for their fiber, or wool, isn't hard to do. We have raised a large herd of French Angoras for their wool, and have loved every minute of it. They are soft, cute, and even very friendly, but they do need a few additional steps in their care.
If you’re a conscious consumer, this is probably going to sound familiar to you:
Shedding the overalls
For those of us with a penchant for a green thumb, the soil can become a rather moody and mysterious being that flips out of control and destroys our work. To really get the best produce, you have got to decode soil, piece by piece…
We as a species evolved with the planet. The way we eat, the way our metabolic processes function, even the way our brains work in relation to our eco-cultural environment. The human race has a habit called anthropomorphism: to apply human characteristics to things that are not. At first glance this seems a little arrogant, certainly, an egocentrically asserted assumption, but…is it really? How can you shame a habit maintained by an entire species that just wants to understand.
Back to the Roots is a Bay Area company founded in 2009 by then college seniors Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora. They chose to decline corporate job offers and initiate their startup after enjoying learning how to grow mushrooms from coffee grounds.
Adding chickens to a small homestead is a very common way to get started with self-sufficiency. They are easy to take care of, will do bug patrol, and turn your kitchen scraps into garden gold. On top of that, you get fresh eggs daily! So, why would you consider adding in ducks?