Incorporating a rain garden into our homestead allows us to weave natural processes into our backyard. We can still grow lots of food, keep chickens and bees – all the fun homestead-y stuff – but we can also devote a little space to help protect our urban watershed. Portland receives a lot of rain for nine months of the year and downspouts connected to the
2020 Vegetable Garden Plan
This is the most well-thought through vegetable garden I’ve ever created. Take a look at the plan I created, get tips to make your own, and get a jump on the season while we’re all cooped up at home. 1. My Garden Goal My primary goal is to feed my family over as long of a growing season as possible. That means I’m choosing kid-friendly
Homesteading with Kids
This is what homesteading with children looks like. Fox, now a toddler, picked these precious San Marzano tomatoes, which he’s been doing periodically all summer. And, yes, it drives me I.N.S.A.N.E. But the alternative is to keep the kids out of the garden or, worse, stop gardening altogether out of frustration. And then everyone loses. Let me tell you why. Continuing to homestead on our
One More Seat
It turns out there was one more seat at our family table. We get to welcome a baby boy into the world in early October, just as summer is fading into fall. Although I am not blogging regularly anymore, the news just feels too big to not share. Life feels very full, but somehow I just knew we weren’t quite done with our family. Juniper
Roasting Chanterelle Mushrooms
I spend a good chunk of the fall foraging for wild mushrooms, specifically chanterelles, around the forests of the Pacific Northwest. As I’ve gotten better, my harvests have gotten bigger and bigger – leaving me with the dilemma of how to process and preserve so many in a short period of time. After years of experimentation, I finally discovered the perfect preservation method: roasting, then freezing
Homestead Tour
Check out before-and-after photos, garden plans and lots of pretty photos of our homesteads. See how our current home is in the process of transforming into a productive homestead after just two years. Or view images from our original homestead where we planted roots for eight lively years.
Slowing Down
I have been chronicling my journey through modern homesteading for nearly a decade, and many of you have been with me for much of that time. This website began as a place to show everyday folks like you and me what homesteading on a small, urban lot could look like. There were very few resources at that time for urban homesteading or small-scale permaculture, but times
May Homestead Chores
Spring is turning into summer in a blink this year and the homestead is in full swing. Here is a rundown of some seasonal chores we do every year in mid-Spring to prepare for the warm months on the horizon. A little extra time spent now will keep your garden so much more manageable this growing year. Livestock Care Twice a year we do a
What Makes a Homestead
“What makes a homestead?” is a question I have been asked a lot over the years. Most definitions have a common theme: it’s a home attached to the land. My belief is that your perception is what makes your home into a homestead. Here are some examples of how our home life is integrated into the land we sit upon. Sense the seasons I don’t
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 8
- Next Page »