What Variety of Tomatoes to Grow

Variety of Cherry Tomato

Tomatoes are some of the easiest plants to grow.  They are delicious and it can cut down on your grocery bill to grow your own.  However, growing the right variety for your garden is difficult when you have no clue what will work.  There are so many to choose from. Here is what I found out from the experiment I did last year for tomatoes.

Peppers, Large Yield Crop Focus

In the past peppers were not treasured, but then I discovered restaurants and people who could cook.  The way a pepper is cooked makes 100% of the difference between, “I hate this!” and “I love this.”  While Dan can discuss dishes from a-z and the styles of cooking for each pepper;

I can help you understand what peppers need to grow.  Whatever culinary triumph or disasters you have it won’t be the peppers fault. :)

Grow the Best Sunflowers, Crop Focus

Sunflowers are captivating flowers. They are the topic of multi-million dollar art, the desire of small children looking for a snack, and fun addition to a garden. Homesteaders and livestock owners love sunflowers seeds for feed; dehulled sunflower seeds are 41% protein.*

Sunflowers are novice plants. There are many things you can do to encourage growth and a successful crop. However, sunflowers will grow less than desirable circumstances.*

For Farmers - Free Ebooks and Live Event

stateofthesoil.com

State of the Soil will be holding a five-day virtual event.   Free ebooks are offered now and you can register for the event.

Starting January 23rd speakers ranging from micro-farmers to large scale cross state producers will be talking the talk on their respective field of knowledge.  Subjects for growing methods include; aquaponics, hydroponics, permaculture, vertical farming and more.  Topics that concern the business side of farming will also be addressed: networking, positioning in the market, crop selection, social media, real estate, and even taxes.  Other topics include creating a support system, dealing with the potential woes of farming and having a farm/life balance.  Speakers range from coast to coast in North America.  For a full list of speakers and topics and their speakers click here.  Not only will farmers be presenting, but representatives of farm product such as Johnny's Seeds, and Grower's Supply.   Access is free and content is available up to 24 hours after streaming.  There are buy-ins for more material and access.

Safely Dispose of Hydroponics Reservoir Water

Avoid This

The first step to responsibly taking care of your hydroponics water starts before you have wastewater.  I am expanding to a second location this spring.  The large concern became how to rid myself of the wastewater from my hydroponics-reservoir, as I do not have several acres of prairie grass to broadcast over.  After some passionate input, I thought that I might have to scrap the entire location.  Then fact checking.  Relief. This Article.

Focus, Potatoes

With so many suggestions and little information on growing potatoes no wonder everyone is confused. I compiled this article as a concentrated amount of information. Please let us know if you have any tips, successes or information to add.

Aquaponic farming saves water, but can it feed the country?

Focus, Garlic

How Does It Grow

Garlic is delicious and staple.  It is a storable vegetable for year round enjoyment.  Also, garlic adds flavor to almost any dish.  Garlic dissuades several types of pests, so it is a great addition to any garden too.

With so much misinformation and scattered tips, I decided to collect data from reputable sources and compile it in this article.

Bring Home the Bacon for Less

My husband brought home the bacon today . . . but only because I didn’t go with him.  

Every year my family gets a pig.  Every year we get jipped on bacon. Bacon is difficult to make.  The butchers in the surrounding areas have a difficult time processing and curing bacon. We end up with side pork.  Sid pork is all well and good with a floured and peppered, but it isn’t bacon.  

This year a butcher-counter-clerk took pity on my bacon-loving-soul.  Bacon is on sale in the fall because that is when pigs are butchered.  When you order a 15 lb box from Smith’s Grocery(Krogers and Fry’s are part of the same grocery line) they take 20% off for a bulk purchase.  We had our most beloved-butcher-counter-clerk order a box of bacon.  It took a few days to come in.  The box comes in 3, 5 lb vacuum sealed packages.  The box contained a sheet of 10 label stickers.  Dan and I broke the packages down into single pounds.  We vacuum sealed, dated, and stickered the bacon.   Once, you add in the vacuum bag, we spent $3.45 per lb -for thick cut hickory smoked bacon.  Please do not confuse this bacon with the name-brand-less-satisfying-pre-packaged-6 oz-bacon.

Until we are able to process our own bacon this is a great way to save money to put towards our other projects.

Kratky Method - You Can Grow a Head of Lettuce for a Dime.

My First POC after 19 days

It -is all it's Kratkyed up to be.  No electricity, fancy equipment, or soil is needed.  You set up the “system” and leave it be.  You can grow a head of lettuce for a dime.

Using the Kratky method requires:

• A container
• Water
• Water soluble fertilizer
• A way to suspend and anchor the plant
• A plant with roots

Pollinating Your Garden

The thick and fuzz of it all is -insects do the job better than you. 

Recently, I grew cucumbers in a garden with no pollinators.  I was unaware of the lack of pollinators.  I had never run into such a problem.  I did not catch it in time to rectify; several, hundred blossoms died without fruiting.

I hand pollinated while I looked for a quick fix.  I concluded that quick fixes cost more than I could afford.  Hand pollinating only produced 1 fruit per 20 blossoms; this is hardly efficient.

I firmly believe mistakes are opportunities to grow.  It was later discovered that the surrounding neighbors used pesticide and the homeowner was using a weed killer.  This killed the native pollinators.  After a great deal of research, I found I was too late in the season.  Next year, however, I will be armed with knowledge and a small army of pollinators. (Avoid pesticide that kills pollinators by consulting The Xerces Society)

The Backyard Homestead

Knowledge is power.  The internet is a great form of power, but the old fashion written word is an older and strong power.  Unlike, sifting through, several, articles there is a greater concentration of knowledge in books.

I have a small library that contains books I often reference.  I have added The Backyard Homestead to my collection; a decision I do not regret. 

Layout included in book

Click to order

The 411 and Overview - When you are first starting a garden or your homestead it is difficult to know how much to grow.  The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan, is worth adding to your library of knowledge and references.  I had to ask a few experts about certain sections on the books; but, besides a few gloss overs and some miscategorization for animals, this information is accurate.  The book is filled with helpful illustrations, charts, and how-to-guides.  I'm very impressed with the organization and general overview of information.  This was a very easy read and a good-kind-of simple.

Battle Royal of Gardening Methods

I did a large amount of research on gardening methods.  Some claims seemed exaggerated.  Equipment costs are high investment.  I didn’t want to throw down, what is a months earnings, (for me) for a greenhouse or hydroponic system.  So, I did what any logical person would do.  I tried different methods with constants.

While, I did have a few conclusions of how the test results would turn out, I had no idea how small or large the differences would be.

Outside Protected Tomato

Greenhouse Soil Tomato

Hydroponic Tomato

Fort Bridger Rendezvous; Great Place to For Homestead Finds

Daniel, had never been to a Rendezvous. The Rendezvous is something I grew up with.  My uncle and aunt were participants and sometimes ran the Rendezvous, so it was a required family activity.  My aunt has been Knife Woman (winner of knife throwing in Women’s division) several, times; which proves, it is self preservation to not tick her off.  My uncle tells tall tales to children about getting stuck in a bear stomach.  He was only saved by his resistance to taking a bath more than once a year.  Hence, this was an adventure I wanted to share with my dearest.

Hand manufactured  by River Traders Knives

If you have never been to a Rendezvous, the word translates from french to 'meeting place'.  Which, sums up what it is.  Mountain Men and Indians would hunt and trap all spring and part of the winter.  Their pelts were a premium back east.  Eastern merchants, Indians, locals, and mountain men would meet at either a Fort or a town to trade goods.  These Rendezvous took place during the vogue of city-gentrified fur; between, 1824-1840.

Children's toys form Clear Creek Trading Co.

Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree, is Far Less Trippy and Far More Lazy

Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree, is far less trippy and far more lazy, than suspected.  I'm pretty sure the song is about a kid watching blossoms grow.

It is important to know the stages of tree blossoms.  At different stages of a blossom you will need to fertilize or prune.  You will note that one of the growth stages of a blossom is called popcorn . . . because it does look like popcorn.

The best simplification, with the most useful compilation of information I have found was done by Fairbanks University.

❂ Topics 

❂Planning

❂ Planting and fertilizing

❂ Irrigating

❂ Fruit thinning

❂ Harvest and handling

❂ Insect and disease management

❂ Pruning

Click here for the full article.

Fairbanks University has several useful studies in agriculture, husbandry and self sustainability.

Small Space Orchard; Dwarf Trees

Patio and Small Space Gardening

Small Space Gardening to Maximize Utility of Deck, Patio, or Window.

There are several reasons to grow a small amount of plants in or around your home.  Food prices rise every year.  With corporations continually cutting corners at the cost of quality; growing your own food make sense.

Other reasons for growing green:

• Increased oxygen (1)
• Create a micro climate (2) (keeps cool in the summer and warmer in the winter near plants)
• A useful hobby, that can pay for itself
• People are physically happier around plants (3)

Perfect Patio Plants

Diversity in a small space is difficult to accomplish; but not impossible.   These plants are diverse, have a high yield, and can be grown in small spaces.  I use Baker Creek Heirloom, Burpee, and Gurney for most of my seed needs.  I made the mistake of using ebay once; which I regretted, but that is a different article.  To keep it simple all of the below plants can be found at Baker Creek Heirloom, just click on the pictures to be redirected to their site.

It is important to understand that a plant's nutrient will be effected by: soil, fertilizer, pesticides, water, sun exposure and atmosphere.  Just like people their diet and environment will effect them.  Space is not the only thing that needs to be taken into consideration.  Keep in the minding the temperature, lighting, growing days, the growing method, and your own gardening abilities.  With those factors in mind here is the list:

How Now Brown Cow

You probably already realized There are several valid reasons for wanting to your own cow.  

Why use heirloom cows?  To realize why heirloom cows are a great idea, compare them to their modern counterparts.

• Easier to handle with size
• More docile and intelligent
• Not as susceptible to disease
• Higher quality meat
• More milk/meat for feed input.
• Forage for feed
• Lacks the A protein that causes bloating

 

Larger breeds are modern breeds; with the exception of  a few breeds breed for labor(1).  Mini cows were just cows, as late as, the 20th century.  Ranchers wanted to breed larger cows because it meant more money, come market time.  Larger stock meant breeding larger cows and bulls.  

Cost of Keeping a Miniature Cow

You need to know what it costs for a miniature cow.  It helps you make an educated decision about having a milk cow on your homestead.

Here is the link to this excel.  You will find the cow cost calculations on the second tab labeled, “Cow Production and Cost”.  Click the chart to enlarge the chart.

*Feed(1)  was estimated as a miniature cow eating 6,505 pounds of feed a year, with an daily average of 18.48 pounds.  This is an estimate as there are several variables: weight of the animal, whether the cow is lactating, age, nutritional value of the feed, ect.

This estimate is for dry food, with no foraging, during the estimated winter days. I estimated a growing season