My Vertical Garden Victory: Tomatoes and Strawberries in a GreenStalk Planter
Tomato season is in full swing, and this year’s harvest is looking fantastic! My secret to success? The 5-Tier GreenStalk Original Vertical Planter....
The Farm Blog
All 80 articles, recipes, sourdough experiments, and gardening guides
The Ultimate Oklahoma “Desperation-Style” Pecan Pie
My in-laws recently gifted me a generous pile of home-grown pecans from their orchard in Oklahoma. There’s something special about baking with...
From My Kitchen to Yours: The Ultimate Homemade Birria Tacos
There are some recipes that feel like an event. They take a little time, fill your home with the most incredible aromas, and deliver a meal that...
The Absolute Best Thai Yellow Curry: A Kitchen Project for a Rainy Day
Hey there, fellow food lovers and homesteaders! There are some recipes that are quick and easy weeknight wins. This is not one of them. This is a...
Indulge in Gigantic, Bakery-Style Cinnamon Rolls at Home (Bread Machine Dough!)
Are you ready to elevate your breakfast or brunch game? Forget those sad, small cinnamon rolls! We’re talking about massive, incredibly fluffy, and...
Black Forest Magic: A “Creeping Crust” Cobbler for Summer Nights
There are some recipes that feel like pure magic, and this, my friends, is one of them. It’s the height of summer here on the farm, the air is warm,...
A Gardener’s Guide to Spring in the Pacific Northwest
If you garden in the Pacific Northwest, you know the feeling. After a long, gray winter, there’s a shift. The rain feels a little warmer, the days...
Sourdough Starter from scratch
A Comprehensive Guide to Creating a Sourdough Starter from Scratch: The Sandor Katz Inspired Method Sourdough starter, also known as a “mother” or...
Protecting Spring Bulbs from a Late PNW Frost
The Pacific Northwest weather keeps teasing us lately. This morning it was 29 degrees. I have the hyacinths covered with bell jars to keep them...
Coexisting with Wildlife on a PNW Homestead: Friends & Foes
One of the greatest joys of living on our piece of land in the Pacific Northwest is sharing it with the local wildlife. From the birds in the trees...
Meet the Farm Cats of A Hippie Farmer
Beyond the garden beds and chicken coops, a homestead’s heart can often be found in its animals-and for us, that includes our cats. Whether they are...
A Tour of Our May Garden in the Pacific Northwest
There’s a popular saying that “April showers bring May flowers,” and here in the Pacific Northwest, that couldn’t be more true. After a long, damp...
Cranberry Pecan Brie in Puff Pastry
The Ultimate Cranberry Pecan Baked Brie Every holiday season needs that one perfect appetizer. The one that’s impressive yet secretly simple,...
Easy Homemade Cranberry Jam (The Perfect Holiday Spread)
Every year, as the holidays approach, I find myself reaching for the classic flavors of the season. This Easy Homemade Cranberry Jam started as a...
Why is My Aloe Plant Growing a Flower? (A Rare Blooming Event)
We have had this aloe vera plant for years, moving it from house to house, and it has always been a reliable, steady friend. But it never flowered....
Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii)
Every summer, our Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii) explodes into a beautiful display of purple flowers, and just as its name promises, it becomes a...
Why Do My Plant Leaves Have Water Droplets? Guttation vs. Dew
Have you ever walked through your garden on a cool morning and seen perfect, tiny beads of water hanging from the edges of a leaf, even when it...
Finding Beauty in the Quiet Season: A PNW Fall
As a gardener, it’s easy to feel a little sad as fall arrives in the Pacific Northwest. The flurry of summer harvesting is over, the tomato vines are...
How to Make Fermented Salsa (A Probiotic-Rich Recipe)
If you’ve ever had a mountain of ripe tomatoes from the garden, you know that fresh salsa is a must. But have you ever tried fermenting it? Fermented...
What “Bubbling” Means in Fermentation (A Simple Pickle Recipe)
As the Pacific Northwest gardening season winds down, our focus shifts from the garden beds to the kitchen counter. The harvest is in, and now the...
Our Favorite Fermented Dill Pickle Recipe (The Perfect Crunchy Pickle)
Some years, the garden just decides to give you a gift. This year, for us, that gift was cucumbers. And more cucumbers. Thanks to a perfect PNW...
A Must-Use Resource for Pacific Northwest Gardeners
As gardeners in the Pacific Northwest (specifically Zone 8b), we know that our growing conditions can be unique. Finding advice tailored to our cool...
Embracing the Slow Season: Winding Down the PNW Homestead
Here in the Pacific Northwest, the shift from summer to fall can feel incredibly abrupt. One moment we’re harvesting daily, and the next, the...
Canning Lids 101: A Guide to Finding and Safely Using Your Supplies
If you’re a home canner, you know the feeling. The garden is overflowing, your countertops are piled high with beautiful produce, and you go to the...
Deliciousness in Fruit Form
This week I was able to get 20 pounds each of Elephant Heart Plums and Freestone Peaches. This has made for a busy weekend of processing and canning....
Our Favorite Bread and Butter Pickles (Sweet, Tangy, and Crunchy)
When you have a garden that gifts you with a mountain of cucumbers, you learn to get creative! While we love our classic fermented dill pickles, this...
No-Waste Recipe: How to Make Kimchi from Beet Greens
A large glass jar filled with vibrant, red beet green kimchi, fermenting on a kitchen counter.
Beauty in the Garden
A little break from the busy gardening season to enjoy this beauty that bloomed today. Never thought I could grow things I have only seen in floral...
A Wise Man Once Said…
“We can’t solve all the world’s problems, but we can solve some” – Joel Salatin http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ Check out his appearance on the Joe...
Hello Beautiful!
Look what I found in the garden today. These are so pretty I have to classify them as flowers AND vegetables. These are the Spring Blush Tendril...
Front Yard Garden
Today we started the first bed in the front yard area. This marks the first in ground area we have started at this house. We have had the bed...
Pickled Asparagus
This week we had the opportunity to get asparagus from the group that is driving to eastern Washington to get excess produce that would otherwise go...
Pickled Onions
We are still working our way through the 50 pound bag of onions that I got. Seemed like an awesome deal until you have to do something with all of...
Bearded Irises Make Their Appearance
I found these irises in the side yard of the house after we had lived here a year. They never bloomed because they were in the shade under a cherry...
ONIONS!!
We have a local couple that has decided to help us all support the farmers on the east side of Washington that have a surplus of produce that they...
Garden Update – 04.24.2020
Today I had a helper in the garden so we took advantage of a break in the rain to get some root crops planted. We planted Parsnips, Carrots and Beets...
Garden Update – 04.20.2020
Updated Garden Layout including the recent additions of Asparagus(which will take 3-4 years to actually product any that we can eat), and...
Kamut Sourdough
This weekend I tried a new recipe for sourdough using a combination with Kamut Flour. I wasn’t sure it was going to work as it didn’t look like it...
Water for the Garden
We are saving some of the spring rains for the garden. Since putting on the new metal roof it is easier to get cleaner water to save. So I ordered...
Garden Update – 03.28.2020
Today I set out the first round of onion starts that I grew from seed in the grow tent. Anxious to see how they do instead of buying starts. Also...
Time at Home due to COVID-19/Coronavirus
Due to the current conditions with COVID-19/Coronavirus we are spending all of our time at home these days. Since we don’t have to leave for work or...
Garden 2020 – Beginnings
With about 4 weeks left before last frost date, I can actually start to plant some things outside. So we start with Peas. First ones are Spring...
Plant Starts Are Growing
It was time to give the plant starts more growing room so everyone got a new home yesterday to allow them to keep thriving until it is time to move...
Project Time – Greenhouse
With the short growing season but mild winters of the Pacific Northwest we have decided that we can extend our growing season to almost year round by...
Seed Starts
Exiting time on the farm, we are about 8 weeks out from the last frost date and it’s time to get the first little seed starts going. This year we are...
Sourdough – Take 2
Today was sourdough – take 2. This one is a higher hydration dough (80%) than the first one with higher oven temperatures and the end result is...
Sourdough Experiment
Sourdough has long seemed like an unobtainable goal for me on the bread front. It seemed like a lot of work from babysitting the starter, the long...
Bread!
With the shorter, colder days ahead, here’s some Ciabatta bread we made today! I was intrigued and challenged with the article by William Rubel in...
Spider Season!
It’s that time of year again! The spiders are out in full force. I managed to get a couple of shots of one right outside the window!
Busy Summer Continues
The busy summer continues here in the Pacific Northwest. As other parts of the US are winding down in the garden department we are just now going...
Berkeley Tie Dye Tomato
The Berkeley Tie Dye variety of tomato is finally putting off large, ripe fruit! We can’t wait to sample a pile of these!
Mid July in the Garden
The last month in the garden has been eventful with everything really starting to grow and put on fruit. Really excited about all of the different...
Garden Tour – June 23, 2019
It is the time of year that I see changes daily in the garden. The newest development is the Cucamelons, the tiny baby ones are on there although...
Garden Highlights 06/14/2019
The garden changes everyday and I really start to notice the subtle changes that will lead to amazing things in the coming weeks. The baby tomatoes,...
Garden Watering
We have run drip irrigation to all of our garden beds and mulched them all to try to get water to the right places and keep it from evaporating too...
Garden Tour 06/10/2019
Lots of things are happening in the garden this time of year. It is a very exciting time with changes every day. The squash are starting to put on...
Rhododendrons
Rhododendrons grow extremely well here in the Pacific Northwest. They come in several different colors and also grow wild in the forest everywhere...
Radish Harvest
Tonight’s Radish Harvest was awesome. I didn’t realize we had so many that were ready until I started looking around. I planted them too close...
Radishes
First baby radishes from the garden yesterday! They are very tasty, can’t wait for all the ways we will use the crop this year! #Radishes #Gardening...
Artichoke Update
So far the artichoke seems to be thriving, we think we are just going to let it bloom this year and see what happens since there are only 2...
Variegated Plants
I have recently been turned onto variegated plants by videos from Roots and Refuge Farm. The first one that I have found available locally was a...
Garden Update 05/19/2019
Lots of things happening in the garden. We have added another set of raised beds with trellising for additional tomatoes, cucumbers and another crop...
Irises for Mother’s Day
What a beautiful surprise to wake up to on Mother’s Day. I didn’t even plant these irises they were my gift from the last homeowner and return every...
5 Reasons Tomatoes Are the Perfect Plant for Beginners
If you ask me what single plant every new gardener should try to grow, my answer is always the same: tomatoes. There is simply nothing that compares...
Everything is so GREEN!
Things in the Pacific Northwest continue to amaze. The strawberries, comfrey, and lavender are perennials here and come back every year without any...
Garden Tour – Things Are Happening
Things are starting to happen in the garden. First planting are getting bigger and new seeds are sprouting. Very exciting time in the garden! ...
Weck Jars
For anyone who grew up canning and preserving, the classic metal-lidded Mason jar is an iconic sight. For years, it was the only system I knew. But...
Dandelion Jelly
Made Dandelion Jelly after seeing a recipe for it in Can It & Ferment It by Stephanie Thurow. Not going to say it was easy to open up all of the...
#Artichokes
I have never considered trying to grow my own artichokes since they seemed like something that was a little more exotic and probably hard to grow. ...
Garlic Success
Much to my surprise my garlic survived. I planted it in this area last fall before we decided to clear the area for raised beds. After the area was...
Our DIY Tomato Trellis: A Sturdy, Affordable Farm Store Hack
If you’ve ever grown indeterminate tomatoes, you know the struggle. Those flimsy, cone-shaped cages from the big box stores just can’t handle a...
Comfrey Returns
The Comfrey has returned this spring as I had hoped it would. Last year was the first year for it and I had hopes that it would over winter and show...
Peppers Are Planted!
The selections so far this season are: Jalapeno Serrano Red Bell Pepper Cayenne
Soil
Our Soil is here! Thank you KP Landscaping for the delivery. www.kp-landscaping.com
Pickles
A new batch of pickles is brewing. These are the best pickles we have ever made and this method has turned out great each and every time. 5.6 % salt...
Fermentation
We have dabbled with fermentation for several years, starting with a referral to the book by Sandor Katz – Wild Fermentation. We continue to learn...
Excited for Spring
This winter was an interesting one with a lot more snow than normal. Needless to say I am ready for all of the spring blooms that are starting to...
New Garden Area Takes Shape
We have carved out a new area with southern exposure for a full sun area for the tomatoes, peppers, etc. Stay tuned as this area takes shape.