Raising Chicks: Starting my first flock

I caught the fever. I now have chickens (for almost a year now). Though I am a bit behind in writing about this, believe me- it was an incredibly busy year last year... between my new endeavor and battling out a summer long drought in the garden. So where to begin...

How to Save Tomato Seeds

Give a friend a tomato and feed them for a salad, but teach them how to save seeds and you feed them for a lifetime.

After talking with a friend who runs their own CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), and realizing that they were not saving their own seeds, I was inspired to write this post. I've been saving my tomato seeds for so many years that I don't even really know when I began. It's fun, actually pretty easy, and is super fulfilling when you sprout new plants from them next spring... and the year after that... and the year after... etc. You gain the power to turn one plant into a thousand plants if you so desired. However, there is a process you must follow- you aren't just scooping out seeds and letting them dry. You actually have to turn it into a wet fermenting science project first, as you will see why.

I hope this information is helpful to you all.

Building Houses for Wrens

Success!

Every spring I enjoy watching the diversity of bird species that visit my yard. For years I've been contemplating building some bird houses. Finally, this year I broke down and tried my hand at building birdhouses for House Wrens.

Making a Garden Gate

Nothing lasts forever- especially this gate to my garden. I started gardening here in 2009, and the gate went up almost as soon as the garden fence. I'm actually surprised it lasted this long, but it's finally time for an update. Time to put up a new one!

Starting seeds indoors

What is a seedling? I think it's one of the cutest words. It merely describes a young plant that was started from seed and according to the Merriam-Webster definition, one that has not been transplanted. Basically baby plants!

Here I will briefly shoot through a few steps that I take when I start seeds indoors- tomatoes in this case.

An April Fools joke from Nature

For the past couple weeks we have been bustling around the backyard getting ready for the growing season. But Nature was planning a 'winter weather advisory' as an April Fools joke for us.