Home Life

One fo my favorite resources is www.pathtofreedom.com It’s a journal, blog, information archive, etc. of a city homestead and all of these great things they do to help and teach others that they can homestead no matter where they live.  A lot of their information is coming in handy now that we live in the city - though our property is much smaller than theirs, I’d like to think we can follow many of the same ideas.  I started getting my garden plot together (better late than never, right?  Hey - at least I started a lot of my plants early this year and have been eating fresh green beans and peas for a few months now from my container plants).

Anyway, this ‘100 foot diet challenge’ is a challenge to all households, starting once a week, to eat a meal prepared from totally home-grown and home-made ingredients.  I try to prepare every meal for my family in this way, however not having any livestock it’s really hard to provide home grown meat

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/01/06/100-foot-diet-challenge-launch/ is your information page. 

Who will be joining this challenge with me?  We need to band together and fight what this world is coming to.  one household at a time, we can make a difference together.

For many, a garden of any size is practical.  If you live in an apartment, container gardens (indoors or out) is an option.  For those with homes, an in-ground garden (and/or container gardens) are an option.  For most of us, however, growing our own meats, dairy and eggs can be a bit of a challenge.  I’ll venture to say that most in an apartment setting probably can’t do this.  Buy local if you can, to support those who are able to raise meat locally for other locals to eat.  If you have a backyard then you have more options - goats for milk, chickens for meat and eggs, rabbits for meat - all are great small space livestock.  I’m entertaining the idea of each of those for our city backyard but I really, really have to do some thinking.  I know they won’t take up too much space but I do have to share my backyard with my kids, our boat, another vehicle when we get one, and my garden!

Boy it seems all I’m doing these days is posting links instead of explaining things myself.  But I’m finding so many great links I am hoping you’re all enjoying them.

I came across a neat site with gardening projects for kids, and also easy instructions to make your own newspaper pots. http://www.global-garden.com.au/gardenkids.htm is the link, which gives you a bunch of great educational activities AND projects to make useful stuff.   Want to make a barometer?  Garden pond?  What about a scarecrow?  Autumn leaf wrapping paper?  I’m going to have a fun time planning some activities for the kids from this site!  We homeschool and I bet you can figure out what our main focus is this time of the year! 

If you enjoy gardening in the summer and harvesting fresh vegetables, you can also enjoy fresh vegetables in the off season from an indoor container garden.

 I’ve already begun my green beans and peas indoors for a early harvest, and will continue to grow them starting indoors again in summer and will continue year-round.  I’m considering taking out two shelves in my greenhouse to keep a few tomato plants over the winter

You’ll need to be sure you have proper lighting, adequate watering, proper containers, and know how to pollinate by hand, if necessary.  Some plants like beans, peas and tomatoes are self pollinating meaning you don’d need to do anything to help the process.  Others you will need to do by hand, with a paint brush, cotton swab, or other small object to transfer pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers.  When properly done, you should only have to do this once.  

Here are step by step instructions

More information on growing vegetables indoors year round

Information on Pollination

A list of veggies and how they’re pollinated and saving seed.  List is on 2nd page.

From my site, Heart & Soul Homestead 

This article is focused on vegetable and herb gardens - I don’t do flowers except to line my garden with marigolds which supposedly keep wildlife away.  I haven’t had too many problems!

If this is your first year of gardening, the best time to plan is during the winter because some varieties of vegetables (like tomatoes and lettuce) must be started early spring.  I believe in most areas of the US, if not all, you can garden year-round (different crops for different temperatures - some vegetables must go through a winter before they germinate in the spring, and others fair well in cold temperatures).  You’ll need to decide (use a calendar!) what to start when (and if it’ll be started in a container or cold frame or directly into the ground), when to transplant them outside.  You can also do succession planting - planting your vegetables several times through the season so that you can harvest more fresh and ripe vegetables through the season rather than more or less all at once.  This will require a lot of planning and preparing though, so keep good notes and a well marked calendar so you get everything planted on time.

The first thing I do when I plan my garden is to decide what I want to grow, how much and figure out if I have enough space.  You don’t want to overcrowd your garden!  My goal is to grow a garden plentiful enough to provide vegetables for my family year round (freeze, dry, or can the excess for the winter).  In order to decide how much I need to grow, I take a look at the past months meal planning to decide what we need a lot of.  Then I decide if I have enough space or if I need to turn over a new plot.

You also need to consider how tall your garden varieties will grow and plan wisely to prevent some vegetables from shading others out.  I made the mistake of growing my sunflowers on the west side of my garden and my tomatoes on the north side of my garden - the sunflowers became so tall and leafy that my tomatoes didn’t get the sun they needed and as a result were very, very slow to produce and ripen.  Next year my sunflowers will go on the north end of my garden, then my tomatoes, then the next smallest vegetable, etc. 

Also take into consideration if your plants need full sun or partial shade.  Study your garden area for a few days to decide what areas get full sun through the day and what other areas become shady and how soon they become shady.  Take note and match these spots up with the plants that need ‘em.  You learn a lot by trial and error though - my first year I paid no attention to how much sun something needed (until my tomatoes were lacking!).  You can also create your garden in a way that provides partial shade for some plants by mid-day and plant these plants next to taller plants that will offer them the shade they need.

Consider how WIDE your vegetables will get.  Squash, while not tall, spread all over the place.  You either need to contain them with stakes, or plan a plot just for them.  I’ll be doing this in 2008 - the squash I’ll grow will NOT be in my main garden! 

How will you manage weed control?  Weeds were overtaking my garden until I spread mulch over everything - that really helped keep the weeds at bay!  There are other options you can try also.

Now it’s time to go shopping!  Decide where you want to buy your seeds and order.  Typically, one packet of seeds is more than enough for a home garden.

I just found this new resource, “You Grow Girl” which is a very informative website on gardening and the things you can do with what you grow.  I stumbled upon her post about how to make your own seed starting mix.  Judging by how many big bags I have to buy each season, this may turn out to be a better option!  I think I’m set this season, but the next time I’m at the right store I’ll try to find and price these materials, and report back

See it here: http://www.yougrowgirl.com/thedirt/2008/02/14/mix-up-your-own-seed-starting-mix/#more-1213

I started some of my seeds last week.  As I planned out which would go in what tray, I didn’t take into consideration how long some seeds can take to sprout!  So, I bought the trays that include the clear cover to keep over the top until the plants are too tall to keep it on.  I have some plants that are several inches long already, and some that haven’t even sprouted at all  because they’ll sprout in 14-21 days.   if I keep the cover off, they’ll get too cold and won’t sprout well (if at all).  Press and seal came to the rescue, as I can seal in their specific little pods on my tray until they’re ready.

Next year i”ll have to remember to take into consideration sprouting times and keep the slow starters together so I don’t have this issue again

It’s live!  Finally!  I’ve gotten around to creating a resource website on the things my family and I do to ‘work with the land’ and save money.  It’s no where near done - I have a ton of articles I am still working on but felt I had enough content to put the site up.

http://www.motherhoodnaturally.com/homestead/home.htm is the link.  Bookmark it and check back often.  As I go through my day I keep getting reminded of things that might be helpful to add to there, so I add it to my list and when I have a few minutes to write it up, I will!

Let me know what you think!

I heard a pretty neat idea this evening - when breaking your eggs for meals, break the shell in half and use the little halves as little starter pods.  When you go to transplant your starter outdoors, gently crush the shell and insert the whole thing.

I do wonder, would you still need to poke holds for drainage?

Here is a little list of online seed sources you can use to start planning your garden.

* www.seedstrust.org
* www.seedsavers.org
* www.seedsave.org
* www.humeseeds.com/openpol.htm
* www.victoryseeds.com
* www.bountifulgardens.org
* http://tinyurl.com/25c34b (Nichols Garden Nursery–Heirlooms)
* www.vegetableseedwarehouse.com
* www.organicaseedco.com

I would prefer to shop locallyhowever, if there are sources for organic, quality seeds.  Does anyone know of any?

If you haven’t yet tried to, roast your acorn squash seeds the same way you do your pumpkin seeds - they taste the same!