Gardening

Growing food is a large part of our blueprint for sustainability. Ed is an ex-Master Gardener and Maggie has been raising vegetables in a 400-square foot urban plot for over 10 years. We now have plenty of room to scale up...

Last Ferment Of The Season?

Two Half Gallon Jars of Fermenting Cabbage and Kale and ... One of the remaining cabbage heads appeared to be going soft in the garden,...

Maggie

Aug 281 min read

Tomato Review - the Big 'uns

Here at the end of August, our large slicing and paste tomatoes are finally ripening. We took a little time to gather some to evaluate....

Aug 262 min read

Potato Harvest 2025

One and a Half (Plus) Crates of Potatoes In the past, we've never been successful growing potatoes. Having now grown potatoes somewhat...

Maggie

Aug 262 min read

Tomato Season - Early Tomatoes

The tomatoes have slowing been ramping up over the past couple of weeks, and have reached peak. This year, it seemed like it took a while...

Aug 193 min read

Corn Season

Growing corn in the garden has been hit or miss for us. If it grows at all, we find that racoons get to the ripe ears before we do. This...

Aug 61 min read

Allium Harvest

July was harvest month for our onions, garlic, and shallots. We unfortunately waited a little too long for onion harvest. Onions get...

Jul 262 min read

Summer Pizza

Several weeks ago, I was walking through an IKEA store and saw a shallow cast iron pizza pan. Rather than being simply a flat piece of...

Jul 191 min read

Summer Squash Starting

Like most gardeners, when conditions are right, we end up with a lot of summer squash. One would think we would learn from year to year...

Jul 161 min read

Canning Season Starts Now

Wild raspberries are in season, and we have been picking them from several patches for the past week. We end up with less than a pound...

Jul 71 min read

June Garden

With the lack of rain each of the past two growing seasons, especially the 2023 drought, gardening has recently been a challenge. While...

Jun 292 min read

Cherry Tree Now Has Cherries!

Four Year Old Cherry Tree With Cherries We planted this cherry tree about 4 years ago (maybe even 5 years ago; Ed would know for sure). ...

Maggie

Jun 241 min read

Fresh Salad

We have started to let our asparagus bed go to fronds, so the plants can recharge for next year. The garden has started to produce the...

Jun 151 min read

First Radishes - Woo Hoo

Fingerling Radishes on Counter They may not seem like much but they are a lot to me: our first radishes of the season (minus the one I...

Maggie

Jun 41 min read

Garden Officially Planted (and replanted)!

Newly Planated Garden With Hay Mulch It's official - our garden is now fully planted (mainly due to Ed's hard work). While I planted 3...

Maggie

May 312 min read

Lavender Update

As things started to green up this spring, I was anxious to see if the lavender I planted last year survived the winter. The good news...

May 271 min read

100 Sandbags

Like most gardeners, our spring and summer are spent fighting a wide variety of weeds. Over the years, we have employed several methods...

May 221 min read

Chicken Coop Cleanout

Spring usually brings two large jobs. One is fairly fun, which is getting the garden planted. The second, less enjoyable job, is mucking...

May 192 min read

May Gardening

Although it is still a little cool out, we have begun planting for the 2025 garden season. Last weekend, Maggie planted peas, carrots,...

May 42 min read

Do You See What I See? 1st Of the Season!

First Of The Season Asparagus Poking Through In The Garden Today is April 29th here in SE WI. I'm not sure we've ever had asparagus poke...

Maggie

Apr 291 min read

Some Of Our Seedlings Have Graduated To Upstairs

Older Seed Starts On Garden Shelves In Front of Window Some of our seed starts have gotten too big for their initial home. (We start our...

Maggie

Apr 271 min read

Mushroom Logs

One project that I was able to squeeze in was inoculating some logs for shiitake mushrooms. I cut these logs back in December, so I only...

Apr 241 min read

More Garden Mulch - Last Year's Hay

Four Bales of Last Year's Hay (Grass Really) - No Chemicals While we did get woodchips delivered last fall for the garden, I've been...

Maggie

Apr 211 min read

Gardening Season Starts Now

Although we had snow today, we have begun our garden for the year! One of the challenges of gardening year after year is that the chores...

Mar 52 min read

Garden Planning 2025

With the new year comes a new garden plan. We have reached the point where the scars, trials, and tribulations from last year's garden...

Jan 112 min read

Garden Put to Bed

We finally completed one of the hardest tasks of the year, which is getting the gardens ready for winter. Usually, we have this completed...

Nov 3, 20242 min read

The Year of Perennials In Review

We are at the mid-point of closing down the garden for winter. We are spreading a giant piles of woodchips across the beds, mucking out...

Oct 13, 20243 min read

Lavender Update

As summer winds down, we will be taking stock of our Year of the Perennials. First up is our attempt at growing lavender. Like many of...

Sep 27, 20241 min read

My Neighbor's Tomatoes Are So Large!

My neighbor gave me some tomatoes today and I'm looking forward to making tomato sandwiches as my main sustenance for the next week or so....

Maggie

Sep 10, 20241 min read

A Dump Truck Full of Wood Chips - Woo Hoo!

"Back to Eden" gardening is the long-term goal for our garden (my perspective). The purported benefits of the gardening method almost...

Maggie

Aug 20, 20242 min read

Gardening with Chickens

Last week, we harvested our garlic. We succession-plant bush beans, which was one of this weekend's tasks. The variety we plant mature in...

Jul 28, 20242 min read