Tag Archives: Gardening

Fall Leaves are Free Garden Gifts

by

Every fall I see neighborhood streets lined with clear trash bags filled with garden GOLD (raked up leaves). They are just sitting there waiting to be picked up and hauled to a landfill. Organic material like leaves (and all those things you ought to be composting) do not break down in the landfill like they would in nature. Instead it decomposes without oxygen, which releases icky methane into the atmosphere.. So if you aren’t composting, START!
Anyway, that was a small tangent. Leaves. That’s what we are talking about. They are free gifts for your garden. The “browns” of the composting world. Don’t send them off to the landfill! Don’t leaf blow them back into the woods. USE THEM!
Have you seen the price of compost these days? (Or the price of ANYTHING?!) Make your own leaf compost with all those leaves in your yard and in your neighbors yard. Drive around and snag all those bags on the curb! 

When I first started researching compost I thought, “well this is too complicated for me! I would need a chemistry degree to understand all this!” The truth is, the basics aren’t all that hard to understand but there are definitely people out there who have WAY more knowledge than I do about the magic of compost. That being said, you got this. Nature does it all the time and Nature doesn’t have a chemistry degree either. If you search the internet for the perfect ratio of “browns” (carbon) and “greens” (nitrogen) for your compost and read more than one source, you will likely get confused pretty quickly. No one can agree. Really you just take those suggestions as a launching point and just jump in. No one is out there weighing and measuring their compost ingredients anyway. We basically eyeball it and keep on truckin. You learn what to look for and how to trouble shoot. What to do if it smells, what to do if it’s too dry, etc.


There are a few ways to make your own leaf compost and I will cover some of them. You just do what works for you.

I’ve seen people simply bag up chopped up leaves (maybe hit them with the mower first) in black trash bags and poke a bunch of holes in the bag to allow moisture to get in. Then store them behind a shed over the winter. The sun heats up the bag and the moisture gets to working to make you some yummy leaf compost for your garden. I personally don’t want a ton of plastic waste so I don’t use this method. 

You can also make a what I like to call a “leaf corral.” You can use some leftover fencing to make an enclosure for the leaves. Now you have a choice to make. You can simply let the leaves sit and they will break down over time. It may be a long time before you have compost to harvest. This may be ok with you. If you are in a hurry and you want to speed things up, you can add nitrogen and turn your compost. This is that “greens and browns” concept of composting. Greens can be veggie scraps, grass clipping etc. Now I’ll tell ya, I keep my composting with veggie scraps to an enclosed compost bin so I don’t attract rodents or other animals. One way you can add “greens” to your leaf compost without attracting rodents is to use coffee grinds. I know it’s not actually green but it counts as a “green” in the composting world. You can ask local coffee shops for their grinds. Turning your compost will speed things up. Compost will become hot. That’s how you know it’s working! 

Like I said before, I have an enclosed compost bin that I use for my veggie scraps. Throughout the year I always have tons of scraps to add but leaves only fall once a year. I like to keep my leaves stored in a “leaf corral” so that they are available when I need them to add to my enclosed compost bin. I also keep this “leaf corral” available so I can use them as mulch here and there. I don’t mulch the whole garden with it but I do use it around my onions and garlic over the winter. Some people use them in Lasagna Gardening which is just a no till method where you create layers on top of the ground. Leaves would be one of these layers. These layers will break down, composting in place, to create lovely soil for you to grow in.

So instead of being annoyed at the fall chore of raking leaves, be happy that these little gifts are just falling from the sky!

Get Composting and …

Happy Homesteading! 

Overwintering Peppers

by

If you live in zone 9 or warmer, you may not have to do anything to your pepper plants to enjoy them for several years. Pepper plants can live about 5 years and possibly longer. Many gardeners in colder areas grow them as annuals but you can overwinter them very easily!

Many of you are already passed your first frost date but we aren’t quite there yet. I have been eyeing the 14 day forecast and don’t expect that we have all that much longer before that frost comes to claim what’s left of the summer gardens. This morning I woke up to 39 degrees so I know I better get on overwintering these peppers before its too late.

This part is a little heartbreaking. The plants are so big and beautiful still with only a little cold damage. Their branches are still heavy with peppers. Deep breath. It will be worth it! 

So… This is actually my first time doing this but after watching multiple trusted youtubers assure me that it can easily be done, I decided it was ok to sacrifice some space in the greenhouse to try it. I can not wait to report back in the spring to let you know how it went. 

Since this is an experiment and I found some new pepper varieties I want to try next year (more on that later), I didn’t want to dig them ALL up. I did one of the jalapeños and two of my favorite sweet peppers. 

https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/new-items-2020/lesya-pepper

I picked the biggest and healthiest of the ones that were growing (and the ones with the straightest trunk. A few of mine were growing wonky and should have had some support.)

So how do you do it? Well, don’t look at me! This is my first time! Just kidding. I will tell you what I did. Often when I watch YouTube or consult various blogs about a gardening topic, I will get several different answers and I end up doing more research to figure out who’s advice I should follow. Overwintering peppers was not one of those things. They each did basically the same thing. This may be a first. It also gave me the confidence that it’s not that hard. 

First find which peppers you want to save for next year. Pick a good healthy one! 

Harvest all the peppers that are on the branches and set out to ripen if they aren’t yet. All of my Lesya peppers were still green but they will turn red on the counter. (You can eat them green but I HATE green peppers. I blame that on my first pregnancy where the smell of them made me sick)

After you have the peppers picked, go ahead and start choppin! You want clean shears as to not introduce disease to the plant and clean between each plant. I know some people aren’t as strict about this advice and I will admit I’m not either but I think I’m supposed to say it anyway. 

You don’t want to chop it all the way down you want to leave available several nodes where new growth will come form next year. The plants do sometimes die back some so make sure you account for a little of that. Make sure you take off all the leaves. You don’t want the plant focussing on that right now. 

I personally was generous with what I left at first and then went back and cut it some more after I got all those leaves out of my way and could see more. If you’ve done this before, you may tell me that I could have cut back even more but… I was scared haha. 

Now dig up your plant and shake off a good bit of dirt back into your garden bed. Im told that peppers don’t mind having their roots trimmed back some and even am assured that they like it. I trimmed the roots some and potted them up in some potting soil I have in the green house and gave it a good soaking.
While I was doing this, I unearthed some lovely hatched reptile eggs. The jury is out on who they belong to. Thoughts?

Stay tuned for the results of this experiment and for a list of all the peppers I want to try next year! I found some very interesting varieties including a COLD HARDY variety!! I am so excited! 

Gift Ideas From the Homestead

by

Every year I tell myself this year will be the year that I do not procrastinate. This year I will start my Christmas gift preps early. I will make a plan and get things done long before Thanksgiving. Well.. it IS before Thanksgiving but I wouldn’t say its “long before” Thanksgiving. Maybe I’m writing this to inspire myself to get on the ball and perhaps to help you to get on the ball if you haven’t made your plans yet.
This is the time of year that the big box stores have Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas decor out all at once. It is a big fat reminder that the last three months of the year just zip by in a blur. From costume parties, Thanksgiving dinners, and all the holiday parties that get crammed in December, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed trying to plan Christmas gifts especially if you’re trying to make homemade goodies for the people you love.
I find the best thing to do is to make a list of all the people you give gifts to and fill in with ideas for what kinds of home made goods you could make for them. Pinterest boards with gift ideas are a great way to help you sort through all your ideas. 

Homesteaders tend to come with an array of different skills from sewing and crocheting/knitting to wood working, soap making, home brewing and so much more.  Use the skills you already have! This might be a fun time to step outside the box and learn a new skill! Look around and see what kinds of things you can do with what you’ve got. If you have bees, obviously honey and beeswax products are a good place to start. Getting the kids involved is the best especially if the gift is for the grandparents!


Below is a list, in no particular order to help inspire some gift ideas. A launching point, if you will. Quite a few of these require some advanced planning times. You may have to add some of these to next years list. Thats ok! Get a head start on next year’s planning! There are so many more things that can be added to this list. Please feel free to comment on this post to help expand the list!

-DIY flower press (or gifts made with flowers you pressed) This is a fun gift for a child or adult so they can make their own pressed flowers. Out of the pressed flowers you can make all sorts of things from jewelry to stationary, magnets, sun catchers etc. 

-Rag rug. This may be one of those “learn a new skill” kinds of things.

-Homemade basket (wooden, rope, fabric, crocheted) 

-Woodworking and wood burning. The options here are endless. (Porch sign, wooden tray, noodle board, bird house or feeder)

-Grape vine wreath. If you have grape vines or access to wild vines, making wreaths are a fun way to use them.

-Gourd bird house or other gourd crafts. Put part of the garden to use in growing your own gifts! 

-Herbal tea blends

-Soaps 

-Crocheted or knitted items 

-Candles 

-Canned goodies (pickled items, jams etc)

-Baked goods 

-Baking mixes. Put together a baking mix into a jar with a cute label with instructions. Everything is better when it comes in a mason jar.  

-Soup mixes. Use your home grown beans and dehydrated veggies to put together soup mixes.

-Home made vanilla extract. This takes a little time to be ready but is super easy to make. 

-Infused vodkas. This one also takes a while before they are ready but its fun and easy to put together. I like to make a bunch of small ones so there’s a variety.

-Bath bombs

-Dehydrated food. Get creative with your dehydrated goods for the year. Veggies, fruits, herbs, you name it.

-Wood carved items (such as bowls or spoons) This may be another “learn a new skill” gift. It’s always fun to learn a new skill.  

-Grow Job’s tears to make jewelry (from these are a plant that produces “beads”). 

https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/grains-and-cover-crops/job-s-tears

-Body butter

-Lip balms 

-Luffa items packaged for bath or cleaning. Growing luffa has been super popular in recent years. Find ways to make them into gifts.  

-Home made beer

-Home made wine or mead

-Pottery 

-Homemade room sprays with essential oils 

-Seeds form your garden

-Propagated plants 

–Meat rubs 

-Herbed salts 

-Herbed or flavored sugar



Every year I try to make a few home made gifts for the people on my list. Here are a few I’ve remembered to take pictures of! 

What kind of home made gifts are on your to do list this year ?

Happy Homesteading!

But I Don’t Have Land!

by

Are you drooling over homesteading and gardening themed instagram posts and YouTube channels, dreaming of living the farm life, away from the hustle and bustle of the world but it’s just not in the cards right now? There’s no need to hold off on the dream. There are things you can do right now, in your current situation, that can help you become more self sufficient and start to take charge of your own food freedom.  If you are serious about wanting to be connected to your food source and provide food security to your family, you may need to get creative. Every homestead isn’t the same and practically none of them “do it all.” The homesteading community is… about COMMUNITY. Don’t get wrapped up in the idea that you have to do all of the things. Just because you don’t have 100 acres, doesn’t mean you can’t make some grand leaps toward achieving your goals and working with others to make things happen!

Below is a list of different ways you can incorporate outside sources in achieving your dreams of providing fresh, homegrown, healthy, local food and other products to your family.  

CSA

Community Supported Agriculture is an amazing way the community comes together to support a local farmer.  The community comes together before the growing season starts for the year with upfront payment to the farmer. This allows the farmer to run his/her farm for the year. In return, you go and pick up a box of goodies every week. We have been apart of CSAs in the past and it is an amazing supplement to your garden, especially if your garden is small. With a CSA, you often get incredible amounts of produce, eggs etc. that would retail for more than you paid. Many provide weekly recipes and suggestions as well as pick-your-own opportunities not available to the public. One of our favorite CSAs we have done in the past provided hundreds, if not close to a thousands dollars more worth of produce than the share originally cost. This is incredible! Buy a full share and get to preserving, spilt with a friend or buy a half share for a smaller family. 

This is an example of a weekly box from a CSA. Check out the bottom left for the total $ info. That CSA share originally cost $800 up front and the total value of goods distributed that year was 1,934.50!

Using land owned by someone else.

If you’ve reached the limitations of your current space, look next door. Do you have a neighbor willing to let you use their space? A friend or relative close by who would be ok with you planting or raising something on their land? Bees are a good one for this. They don’t need daily attention from you so having them “down the road” isn’t the daily inconvenience that other livestock would bring. It is somewhat of an inconvenience to hop in a vehicle and go check on your crops or animals. That being said.. We make time for what is important enough to us. If it’s not, we make excuses. Read that again. 
Farmers do this all the time. Many farmers in America rent land to do their farming. You may get lucky and be able to find free land to use but if not bartering is a good option. Are you keeping bees on their land? Offer a specific amount of honey to them per year and possibly wax products like candles etc. Do you have a fruit tree or garden planted there? Offering them a portion of that may keep everyone happy. Possibly offering a service to them such as taking over mowing their lawn in exchange for using their land. Renting land is a valid possibility. Get creative! 

These jalapeños are grown on my neighbors property. This gives me more room in my garden to grow other things.

Cow share/pig shares and milk shares


I see more and more of this and I simply love it. This is a similar concept as the CSA. The farmer gets up front payment (or sometimes a deposit or monthly payment) ensuring him/her that their product will be sold and allows them to focus on farming. Often you can buy a whole animal, half, or quarter of an animal. With milk shares, you pay a certain amount for a weekly pickup. Raw milk is not legal in many areas and this is one way that people get around it. It is legal for you to drink raw milk from your own animal so in owning a share, you own part of that animal. Not all homesteaders can have large livestock and this is a wonderful way for communities to help take care of each other. By participating in this you help your local community, your local economy and are able to provide your family with farm fresh, healthy, local food! 

Local Farm Markets and Local Farms

If you are unable to have a large garden, orchard, bees, or livestock, and you aren’t shopping from your local farms and farm markets, you are seriously missing the boat! I’m going to say the word COMMUNITY again! Catching the theme?! Relying solely on mono-crops shipped all over the world to grocery store chains by faceless farmers is not good for the land and it’s not good for community. It’s not great for the local economy. It is what it is, we don’t live in a perfect world and we love our farmers for feeding America but if you aren’t supporting your local agriculture, you need to! It is important to eat fresh, in season produce and locally raised meat and eggs, where you can meet the farmer and shake hands with the very person raising your food. People were meant to work together. 

Community Gardens

Community gardens are all over the world and are a great way for people, especially in more urban areas, to come together and grow food. At a community garden, you will rent a space that is yours to grow in. There are typically volunteer days to maintain the grounds and manage mulching paths and compost etc. They often have community outreach days and fundraisers as well. Again.. community. Connect with your food and your community.  Find your local community garden and see how you can get involved. Can’t find one? Start one. Don’t wait for someone to do the work for you! 

Purchasing Land 

Maybe you’re happy where you live but wish it had more land. Consider buying land close by. If you’re willing to hop in the car and go, you can raise and grow all your food down the road. 

But I’m not done talking about your own current situation. You may think your space is too small. You may think your home isn’t cut out for providing food to your family but I would like to challenge you to dig deep and be honest with yourself. Your current situation is likely capable of more than you are giving it credit for. When I lived in Hawaii, I noticed how small everyones property was. So many apartments and homes with small yards. Their balconies were overflowing with plants. Many of them were edible some even had cages with quail or rabbits. You don’t need a huge plot of land to grow your own food! Balcony gardens can still rock. Look into hydroponics indoors and micro greens!
Have an HOA? Quail could be the answer. Go to Pinterest and look for ideas on how to “hide” veggie plants in your landscaping if your HOA prohibits vegetable gardens (and then petition your neighbors to help change that ridiculous policy). Also, many medicinal herbs are beautiful and would fit in those flower beds nicely. 

Someone recently gave me some advice.

 He told me to make a list of everything I would love to do. Everything, no matter how unachievable I thought it might be. Just write it all down. Then make two categories. The first one is things that I can immediately do without having to ruffle my life too much. An example for me might be micro greens. I have room here for that. I cold do that. Just a little money to set up and it could be done. Then in the next category you put the things that you would really have to work around some obstacles to achieve. Instead of marking these things off the list because of the obstacles in the way, you go down the line and work out what it would take to make each of those things happen. Not everything on your list is going to come to fruition. You have to prioritize. 

If your dream is to build a life where you are as self sufficient as you can be, where you are connected to your food source, and where community comes together to provide sustainable, healthy, local food, then work out the kinks and make it happen. Find your niche and find your angle. It’s there if you work for it. I have a list a mile long and I am constantly evaluating and reevaluating what things my family is willing to do to make our dreams a reality. 

Happy Homesteading!

Planting a Gift to the Future

by

  • My mother on the tractor and my great grandfather
  • My grandmother and great grandfather
  • My grandmother with her pigs

My great grandfather was a hunter, fisherman, and a farmer and lived in a time where people raised and grew their own food. At least some of it and you were better off if you could grow and raise most of it. They had chickens and a garden of course. There were pigs too. As time went on, those things faded away. They got older and could no longer farm and keep up with chickens and pigs etc. Modern ways snuck into their lives bit by bit.  Now when you walk that property there’s no evidence of many of those things. I couldn’t tell you where the chicken coop was kept or where their garden was. I don’t know where they kept the pigs. (When I was a young child, there were pigs managed my him and my grandfather in a separate location. That I do remember)  What IS left though is the gift he planted for the future. 

When my great grandfather buried 3 pecans in the dirt and nurtured 3 small pecan trees into full grown producing trees, I wonder if he was imagining his great great grandchildren running around in the fall and picking them up off the ground. Could he fathom how special it would be one day when his great great granddaughter would help pick all the pecans out of the shells so her 9 year old brother could make a pecan pie from scratch for Thanksgiving with his family by himself?  When he planted all the blueberry bushes, the apple trees, and the figs, did he picture his great granddaughter in her kitchen furiously canning, and freezing and dehydrating those very fruits he planted? He planted other fruit trees as well but some didn’t make it through various hurricanes etc.

My son with with homemade pecan pie and my daughter with her pumpkin pie from our pumpkins we grew.

This is the time of year, we go up and see how many pecans we can pick up. It normally takes several trips to gather them.  My grandfathers “pecan picker upper” (that’s the technical name isn’t it?) was left in his garage and I just think using it is kind of special. His apple picker was in there too and I grabbed both so nothing would happen to them! 

As a kid I remember the extra freezer in my great grandmothers house was full of blueberries and pecans. My grandfather would sit on the back porch and crack pecans all winter. He would sometimes do it in the kitchen when it was too cold and my grandmother would get frustrated by the mess he’d leave. I’m certain that he would be proud of us and our evolving little homestead. I’m sure that it would touch his heart to know that generations later, his hard work is appreciated.

The one thing I have really dropped the ball on at this property is planting fruit trees, nut trees, and bushes. I just haven’t committed to the spaces to put them. I need to just pull the trigger and do it. “They say” the best time to plant a fruit tree is 5 years ago. As we come up on 4 years here I think, “Man!! How big our trees would already be if I had just done it then!” And then I think about my kids growing up and picking fruit from our trees and bushes that I plant and possibly their children and so on and I know I need to just get them in the ground! You don’t always know who the gift is for down the line but go ahead and plant that tree. It will bring joy on another day.. to you, to your family, and to the unknown. It is said that a planting a garden is faith that tomorrow will come. Planting a tree is putting faith in the long term future.


So for now, this year, we will enjoy what we have and enjoy what was given to us. Appreciating what has been provided by the past. The gift to the future that my great grandfather gave us. These pecans are here because my great grandfather was providing food security to the future. 

What’s stopping you from planting that tree?

Happy Homesteading!

My great grandfather and me.

Egyptian Walking Onions

by
Egyptian walking onion bulbils

Who doesn’t love food they only have to plant once? Perennial vegetables and fruit are the gift that keeps on giving. I love planning my annual gardens but I love the security of knowing those plant-once-and-I’m-done varieties are out there year after year, growing, spreading and producing food with little oversight from me. 

Between the perennial herbs, the asparagus that’s finally really gotten going, the rhubarb, the strawberries, the pecans, the blueberries, the figs, grapes, all the forage worthy weeds and whatever else I’m forgetting, I know we have SOMETHING to eat… even before I start planning the annual garden each year. 

The Egyptian walking onion is one that I wouldn’t go without! A perennial onion! I can harvest it here year round. 

Egyptian walking onions

I grew up in a home where onions weren’t preferred by my parents so I didn’t see a lot of them in their cooking. When I moved out and learned to cook, I fell in love with onions! Naturally, I grow them in the garden now. It was amazing discovering a perennial option that I didn’t have to cure and store and baby sit, watching for any going bad, getting frustrated when they would start to sprout before I had another crop ready. Now I still plant “regular” onions, I just don’t stress as much about making sure I have a whole years supply. Variety in a garden is important. Also, can I just say, they are so fun to watch grow! Everyone who has visited the garden has thought their Dr Seuss-like appearance is just so interesting. I find myself out there taking pictures of them because I’m ever amazed at their growing habits.

These perennial onions go by a few names. Egyptian walking onion, top set onions, tree onions, and winter onions.  They are said to have been native originally to Pakistan or India and later brought to Europe by Romans. They are a cross between the cultivated onion and the Welsh onion. Being cold and heat hardy, they grow well in zones 3-10 and grow best in full sun but can tolerate partial shade. 

Typically you would plant these in the fall, though I’ve planted them throughout the spring and summer seasons just fine. They do take a little longer to get going but it’s of course worth it.
All parts of the plant are edible. You can harvest the tops like scallions or chives and there are bulbs below the ground as well as small ones that sprout out of the top.
They produce a top set called bulbils. These are just a cluster of onion bulbs. You can eat these or plant more. Before long, you will be asking your friends and neighbors if they want any of your extra tops sets to plant! 

They get their name from their tendency to “walk.” The cluster of bulbils will become heavy and fall over to the ground where they will root and grow more. To keep them in control, you simply just harvest them. You can replant them where you want or bring them in for dinner. I have a couple growing in my pathways right now I need to go tend to. 

I snagged these in a local gardening group and split the bag wit a friend. Now we both have a lifetime supply of perennial food!

To plant them you just separate the bulbs and plant not more than an inch deep, pointy end up, 4-6 inches apart. 

You can divide up the clumps of established onions to harvest or replant and use the top sets for eating or planting. 

Over the winter they may die back depending on how cold you get but will return with all its glory in the spring.  Here they don’t die back much and I can continue to enjoy them throughout the winter months. 

The bulbils will last in your dark pantry or root cellar stored for a few months after curing. Just watch them and pull out any that are going bad. They aren’t the best for storage but they do ok. Never store potatoes with onions. 

If you’re looking for more perennials to add to your garden, you should definitely consider finding a little corner… or a BIG corner… for the Egyptian Walking Onion!

Having trouble finding them to order? Contact me and I just may be able to set you up with some!

Happy Homesteading!

Planting Onions in the Fall

by

Every spring, all the big box stores are loaded up with all you could want for your spring and summer garden. They are over flowing with bulbs and flowers and asparagus crowns and seed potatoes and onion sets. They have overflowing shelves of grape, raspberry, and blackberry vines, blueberry bushes, fruit trees and TONS of veggie and herb starts. After winter, we are more than eager to get out there, get our hands dirty, and feel the warmth of the sun. We dream of counters full of fresh produce from our gardens and fantasize about all the canning we will do.

Summer comes. It’s hot. There’s bugs. There’s weeds. Maybe parts of our gardens didn’t go as planned. Pests, disease, and low yields have us frustrated but we have other huge successes and pantry shelves full of home canned veggies and jams and mason jars filled with ferments and dehydrated goodies. Freezers stocked full of vacuum sealed produce. We’ve spent countless evenings washing and chopping and dicing and preparing canning jars. We’ve worked our butts off ya’ll! We are sunburned and tired.

Fall arrives and you could take a break. You could rip out that summer garden, put it to bed and just sit back. You could and that would be ok. BUT you would be missing out on so much!  Unless you live in some of the coldest regions, there is a huge opportunity to make that garden work for you even longer! Many of those things you planted for your spring garden can be planted again for the fall!

For some reason, those big box stores don’t seem to show the same enthusiasm for fall gardening as they do in the spring. Those same shelves that were overflowing in the spring now look more like an afterthought. A few racks of brassicas and no more seed packets to be found… maybe a little rack with some flower bulbs for spring. They have to make room for those giant Halloween and Christmas inflatables!

So skip those stores and head to a local nursery (that’s where you ought to be spending your dollars anyway!) Yes, they will be full of pumpkins and mums, but you’re going to find all that you need for a great fall garden as well!

I stopped in a local (ok it’s still kind of a hike from where I live) nursery in VA beach the other day and got a truckload of dirt to fill raised beds I just made and am getting ready for spring when I saw tons of onion sets!

Onion sets are just small onion bulbs about the size of a large marble that were grown from seed in the previous season. Onion sets provide the easiest way to grow full sized onions.
Onion sets are easily found in the spring at every nursery including those big box stores but you don’t always see them for fall gardening.
I grabbed a bunch of yellow and red onion sets and headed home to find a row to plant them in!

Planting Onions

You can plant onions just about any time of year especially if you are growing for green onions but I plant mine around the same time as the garlic.
Prepare your soil by making sure its loose and weed free. Amend your soil with compost and/or your fertilizer of choice. I sprinkle in some blood and bone meal just like I do the garlic and plant 4-6 inches apart to give them room to grow into big onions. This takes about 14 weeks for spring planting but will take a bit longer for fall planting. Bury them only 1-2 inches deep, pointy end up, and mulch them lightly with straw, pine straw, fallen leaves, etc. This will help them hold in moisture, insulate them from the cold, and help prevent weeds.
Now you can sit back and wait. Onions are on their way.

Long Day and Short Day Onions
You may have heard the term ‘long day’ and ‘short day’ onions before. Which do I get? Onions are sensitive to the amount of daylight they get. Different varieties of onions have been bred for different parts of the country. The farther north you live, the longer the days are in the summer. If you draw an imaginary line between North and South Carolina across the country to San Francisco and you fall above that line, go ahead and plant long day onions. Plant short day onions if you fall below that line. If you’re right on that line, you may be able to get away with either. Experiment and see what works best for you.

Day-Neutral Did you know there was such thing?

There are also varieties that grow well regardless of the day length. These varieties are sometimes referred to as Indeterminate.

Which Onions varieties keep well?

Yellow, white, and Red Onions are your best keeper varieties. They have a lower water content than sweeter varieties and a higher sulfur content (that’s the stuff that gets you cryin’ when you’re cuttin’)
These varieties store well long term but don’t limit yourself to only these varieties! If you choose to grow onions that don’t store well long term, simply use those first before using your keeper onions or don’t plant as many. 

Most storage onions can keep at least 8 months but can last up to a year in the right conditions. Keep them dry, out of light, and away from potatoes. Potatoes and onions each emit a gas that makes the other go bad faster. Also keep the onions out of the fridge. Inspect the onions regularly and pull out any that are starting to get soft or go bad. One bad onion will start to spoil the rest pretty quickly.

Now go plant some onions and…
Happy Homesteading! 

Leather Britches

by

In the fall, just before it starts getting really cold, those green beans tend to go nuts one last time. They had a great run in the heat of summer then they putter out for a while but they like to go out with a bang at the end. When I plan it right, I have tons of beans in the fall. And truth be told, this year isn’t actually that year. I do have them steadily rolling in but it’s definitely shy of being a bumper crop.

My family loves green beans and we grow a few different varieties. I ALWAYS grow Purple Podded Pole Beans (try saying that fast a few times) and this year we also grew Thai Soldier Beans. This year the Thai Soldier Beans was more of an after thought. I just squeezed a few into a spot I had available. They really ran with that spot and are producing more than I thought I’d get.

In addition to canning green beans and freezing green beans and fermenting green beans,  I like to DEHYDRATE green beans! They take up less space that way and are lighter, easier to store and I don’t have to worry about losing them in the freezer if the power were to go out. I have a run-of-the-mill dehydrator that I use regularly in the summer to dehydrate all kinds of things. And yes, I do have a fancy 9 tray Excalibur dehydrator siting in my wish list… one day… But sometimes you gotta go back to the “good ole days.” Long before modern day canning was a “thing” (which really didn’t take off until the late 1800s early 1900s) people dehydrated and fermented a lot of their food. Dehydration doesn’t have to require fancy machines. In fact, they don’t need much at all!

Have you heard the term Leather Britches? It’s the Appalachian method of air drying your garden beans. You simply use a needle and thread to string them similar to stringing popcorn garland.

How to make Leather Britches 

What you will need:

Sturdy string or unwaxed dentil floss pieces cut to 2 or 3 foot 

Large sewing needle 

And a whole pile of green beens

Steps:

-Wash up those beans and dry them on a towel. (Can I just take a moment to tell you guys how much I’m loving the Turkish towels?! Seriously they are amazing!)

-Pick out any with bug nibbles or bad spots.

-Snap the ends of the beans (specifically the blossom end but I always snap both ends). 

-Remove any strings from the beans.

-Break the beans either in half or, if you have a long bean variety, break into pieces about 2-3 inches long. I often have help from little ones in my house and they don’t always end up in the uniform sizes I would do if I was doing it by myself but it’s important to let them help. So I will cherish the too big and too small pieces for now. 

Now for the fun part! The stringin’

-Thread your needle and tie a knot at the end of the thread. (If you’re concerned that your thread might not be strong enough, double the thread over)

-String that first bean on and wrap it and tie it off well. You want to make sure that the whole string of beans stays on the thread and doesn’t slip off.

-Now you just get to stringing! 

-Once you’ve gotten all the beans that you can fit on a thread, leave room to tie it off. I make a loop so that I can hang it.

The goal is to have one string contain about the amount you would want to use for one meal. If you have a large family, you’ll need multiple strings for sure.
To hang these, you will want them in a dark dry place and don’t squeeze them together. You want air flow around the beans or they will mold. A closet or a pantry works fine. It takes a few weeks or so to dry out and can last a year or so dried.

Cook em up!

Now that you’ve got your leather britches strung and dried, how do you prepare them?

Pull them off the string and soak them overnight. The next day you will cook them for several hours low and slow, traditionally with pork (ham hock, fat back, whatever you want) You also can skip that and do in a veggie stock if you want a vegetarian option. The best part is, they don’t get mushy like green beans can get from over cooking. They maintain a nice chewy texture. 

These beans go by the name Leather Britches but also have been called Shucky beans depending on where you come from. Either way, they are delicious and easy so we are going to continue to add them to our food storage.

Get out to that garden, grab those beens, and get to stringin!

Happy Homesteading!


What is a Homesteader?

by


I recently attended the Homesteaders Of America conference of 2021 in Front Royal Virginia and I must say I left inspired! If you have an opportunity to attend, I assure you, you will leave eager to expand your homesteading endeavors! I met people from all over the country, from all walks of life, with various homesteading scenarios. Some were suburban gardeners, some had hundreds of acres and some were just starting their journey. Multiple times while chatting with people, I was asked “do you homestead?” On one hand I thought, well, I suppose so! I mean, after all, this blog and my Instagram profile IS called Butterfly Homesteader but I also couldn’t help but feel like doubling down. Compared to some of these people, I’m just a backyard gardener with a few chickens and big dreams.

As the conference went on, I met more and more people and listened to more and more speakers all tell very different stories about their homesteading journeys. Though they were all varied, there were some common themes. They all wanted to feel connected to their food source. They wanted a natural and healthy lifestyle. They wanted food security and safety. They wanted to be self sufficient and sustainable. They wanted to be stewards of the land and give more than they take. They wanted to be able to provide for their family without so much reliance on the stores. They wanted their children to know that food doesn’t have to come wrapped in plastic at the supermarket. They wanted skills to take care of themselves and raise their children to have those same skills. They wanted an escape from the hustle and bustle of the world and live a more simple life where Family is the center. On a political note, many of them worried about the future regardless of their Left or Right leaning opinions. They wanted to live a lifestyle they hope will prepare them and their family for uncertain times ahead. While each of them and their stories were all similar AND different, at the end, we all just came together with the same common goals. 




So what is homesteading? Well, to put it simply, it’s a way of life. A self sufficient lifestyle where we are constantly planning what needs to be done to be prepared for the future. Homesteading is a “start right where you are” kind of thing. You can start right on your balcony in pots, raised beds in your yard, or bigger if you can. Don’t sell yourself short assuming you must have it all and do it all. You are enough. What you can do right now is still valid and important. Every step you take to assure safety and security for your family is essential to a homesteading lifestyle. If you are constantly on the move learning all you can about being self reliant and sustainable with what you have.. then, my friend… you might be a homesteader. Homesteading is also about community. You don’t have to do it all on your own. Find your village. Create your village.
Homesteading doesn’t always look like Pinterest perfect lives or hilarious IG reels/tiktok videos and stunning IG posts. It’s not beautifully edited YouTube channels and you don’t even need to be an authority on any particular subject. In fact, we are always learning and growing and figuring out new ways to pivot and adapt to the ever changing weather and ways of the world. Homesteading isn’t an all or nothing label where you must grow all your own food and build your own house by hand and raise all the different livestock animals to get in the club. Can I tell you a secret? I’ve never made sourdough bread before! Gasp! I know! I’ll lose my “homesteading membership” for that one I’m sure! There’s tons skills homesteaders seek to acquire and I encourage you to ask yourself what skills you have, what skills you seek and what skills you can teach others. At the end of the day, your family, your food security, and your health, is YOUR responsibility! Happy Homesteading!