Piping Hot Coffee and Chicken Poop Tea

Cocka-Doodle what? I don't have a rooster! Oh, it's Dirtybird, she's my alpha hen. Apparently, if there's no rooster the dominant hen will take the lead and so kindly tell me at 6:46 AM , they want out! I quickly jump out of bed , pull on my overalls ( yep, I got overalls!), put on my warm sweater( it's a brisk 59 degrees, on this late October morning, in Orange,CA), grab a cup of coffee( French press, of course)and run out to let the…

Growing Healthy Plants starts with Buying Healthy Plants

That sounds like a pretty straight forward statement but it is the simple truth. If you do not grow your vegetable and garden plants from seed, then you are more than likely buying your plants or seedlings online or at a nursery.  It is quite an overwhelming task to scour the nursery for the healthy seedlings and plants that you want to fill your garden with. You poke, you turn, you sniff and yes you may even take a…

Visit HERE to learn about the new suspense novel, POISONED SOIL.

This week's hour long podcast is now live. You can listen/subscribe directly here, or at iTunes here. If you prefer to just hear this week's episode click here to listen right here, right now.

Also, Tim and Liz will discuss what you want to discuss. Go…

This is a guest post and entry in Round 2 of the Farm Dreams writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

Door #1: A Travel Royal Berkey Walter Purification system from Directive 21. Valued at $228!

Door #2: Two…

This is a guest post and entry in Round 2 of the Farm Dreams writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

Door #1: A Travel Royal Berkey Walter Purification system from Directive 21. Valued at $228!

Door #2: Two…

The Happy Homesteader

Well, for most of us gardeners, around this time of year we begin to include the daily garden chore of bug hunting. For me it includes a small bucket with a couple of inches of soapy water in the bottom and my gardening gloves because I hate touching bugs! I go out first thing in the morning because that is when I can find the most pests. I go down the veggie garden and each time I see a bug that is bothering my…

The Practical Prepper

As promised in last week's post, we back with another five vegetables that are easy to grow, no matter if you're planning a traditional, larger garden or doing some …

The Practical Prepper

Whether you're planning a traditional, larger garden or doing some container gardening, deciding what to grow might be challenging, especially if you're new to gardening. Here's a list of ten things that are pretty easy for newer…

Before I started gardening I was able to close my eyes and picture a beautifully landscaped garden which was overflowing in vegetables.  For some reason the gardens I pictured were always quaint, inviting, and very decorative.  When I thought about growing home vegetables I didn't picture straight rows or mono-crops.  Instead there were flowers and trees interplanted with veggies, pathways, and garden statues placed around.  Little did I know that my instincts were right!  A "vegetable"…

Not much to show this week. The cool days and freezing nights are not helping my plants grow very fast. Unfortunately, the only window I have for the starts doesn't get sun until 3pm, 4pm to reach the back of the trays and we don't have grow lights.

Usually the days are warm enough to set them all outside in the morning for some sun, then bring them indoors for sun and warmer temps in the afternoon. This week they have spent a number of days inside, but they had a few good…

The Practical Prepper

An important way to improve your self-reliance and preparedness is to grow your own food. As a kid, we planted and maintained a very large vegetable garden, mainly because our family had the space and number of people to do so in a very cost-effective way.…

The Happy Homesteader Blog

Well, it's time again for me to reconsider growing tomatoes.  If you live in the deep south then you may have already put your tomatoes in the ground and up north your tomato days are still months away.  For us however, it's time to start the seeds.  Once again, we will try something different this year!  Every year that we grow tomatoes we learn a new lesson and we have yet to get it exactly right.  Growing tomatoes is one of those things that…

This is a guest post and entry in Round 1 of the Farm Dreams writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A $300 gift certificate toward any purchase of Featherman Poultry Processing Equipment, including pluckers, knives and more!

Second Prize: A 164' roll of electric…

During the winter time, we always "try" to get more rest and more reading done.  It is way too cold to move outside, let alone do many projects requiring hand movement.  We have subscriptions to various magazines, watch a few documentaries and tend to add more books to our collection during this time.  One magazine in particular, "Acres USA", has been a wealth of information for me.  I probably look…