Archive for August, 2009
Homesteading Lifestyle: Preserving Vegetables
August 28th, 2009
It is time to prepare for Preserving Vegetables during the winter months.
Are you looking for a healthy option to your daily diet? Then homesteading and gardening is your answer. For a small outlay, you can reap handsome dividends in the form of health and wellness at low cost. Your backyard provides you with ample land to cultivate a garden of vegetables and raise livestock for a constant source of nutritious sustenance.
Since we are coming up on the Fall Harvest, in this post we are going to share some thoughts on…
Keeping Your Vegetables Fresh Through Winter.
You don’t have to waste your vegetables in winter. By following a few simple steps, you can make your vegetable crop last right through the cold period, even six months after you’ve picked them from your garden. Here’s what you should do:
- Cold storage. Pack your turnips, cabbage and carrots in a freezer. Keep them in cold storage just after you’ve harvested and washed them.
- Freeze or can. Summer squash and peas can be kept in your freezer. Beans and tomatoes are better canned. Make sure you’re careful with your tomatoes as they bruise easily.
An old refrigerator will be enough for storing crops harvested from a small garden. If you have a much larger harvest, you might want to consider building a root cellar. You can convert a section of your yard to a root cellar or you might consider building it under your house. To keep the frost out, you have to insulate the door properly. Your garden produce will remain fresh in the cold cellar throughout winter.
Check your crops carefully to make sure they’re not diseased or damaged. Cure your potatoes for two weeks at 70oF and pack them in partly wet sawdust. They keep well in temperatures below 40oF. For garlic and onions, spread them out on shelves in a place that’s at least 60% humid – perhaps in a chilly basement.
Adequately storing your garden produce can provide you with fresh vegetables throughout winter. And you’ll soon be brimming with health and vigor with hardly a dent in your pocket!
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Tuesday’s Tips to Homesteading: Start where you are
August 18th, 2009
Bloom where you're planted!
So, you dream of living in the country, living off the land, having small livestock and a serious spread of a garden. Life will be good then, and don’t we know it! For now, you’re in the suburbs though and there’s no sign of leaving any time soon. Can anything be done to start your homesteading journey? You’d better believe it!!
Homesteading in towns and inner cities are becoming not only trends, but growing vital branches of homesteading. Call them urban homesteaders or whatever you’d like; the truth is more people are bringing back the ‘old ways’ in the ‘new areas’.
Some tips to doing this are:
~ Window boxes, Indoor Grow Boxes.
~ Grow your own small, raised bed victory garden.
~ Join in a neighborhood community garden.
~ Compost yard clippings.
No matter where you are, you can begin to learn and develop skills that will and can be used when the eventual dream of homesteading comes to life for you!
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Tags: city, compost, country, garden, homesteader, inner cities, livestock, suburbs, urban | 
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Organic Gardening : Healthy, and Much Easier Than You May Think
August 14th, 2009
With so much in the news about the qualify and safety of our food supply, organic gardening has been steadily growing in popularity over the years. Now, you can find entire aisles of organic food in your local supermarket, and also visit a growing number of specialty stores dedicated to organically grown foods.
Part of this new popularity is obviously due to the concerns and better understanding of the dangers associated with synthetic and chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Growing organically generally means gardening without these potentially dangerous chemicals. There is a growing trend of small-scale backyard gardeners who are turning to organic methods as they realize how easy and effective organic growing can be.
Part of the reason chemical pesticides and fertilizers are so widely used is because they appear to work well in producing fast-growing crops. In deciding to use organic methods in your backyard garden, you first will need to accept the fact that you very likely will have to deal with greater pest damage and perhaps lower yields initially, than if you were using chemicals. Most organic gardeners are happy to make this trade-off in return for the opportunity to harvest chemical-free foods for themselves and their families.
There are several different approaches and techniques used in organic gardening. You may find that you are using some of them already. If you have selected cultivars that are resistant to pests or drought, you are involved in one form of organic gardening. If you put out a scarecrow or bars of hand soap to keep animals away, this too is organic gardening. Compost is an organic fertilizer. Organic techniques are around in many gardens already. By utilizing them more and moving away from chemicals, you can improve the environment and lead a healthier lifestyle.
There are different levels of organic gardening and different reasons why people choose organic methods. Some do it because they do not want to harm any animals, even aphids or cutworms. So they try to develop a system where they can cohabitate peacefully, keeping insects and other animals out when possible and removing them or learning to live with them when other options don’t work.
Some people are not opposed to pest control and extermination but they don’t want to add any more chemicals to the environment or to the food that they eat. Others go organic as a means of getting back to a more historic, natural, and even challenging way of gardening. You will need to decide which methods match your personal philosophies and reasons for going organic.
Pest control and fertilization are two of the key areas to focus on with organic gardening. In addition to using native, resistant plants, mulching, and practicing crop rotation, the use of other natural methods of pest control and of compost and manure as fertilizer can go a long way toward creating a more organic garden. Read the rest of this entry »
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Ideas for Better Homesteading and Gardening
August 11th, 2009
It’s satisfying to spread your table with your garden produce when you’re an avid homesteader and gardener. Your organically grown vegetables aid in enhancing your health and provide you with excellent nourishment. The following ideas can improve your homesteading and gardening:
1. Cultivate Potatoes in Barrels
Potatoes can be grown in plastic 50 gallon barrels, which are difficult for rodents to chew. Stack the barrels on a raised platform, then drill a few holes at the base for drainage purposes. Take a few potatoes, which have begun to sprout, and slice them into squares. Dry them out to prevent wet rot, then plant them in the barrels with some soil and compost. As the plant reaches the top of the barrel, plant horseradish or bush beans as a companion plant to ward off pests. When the potatoes are ripe for harvest, kick over the barrel and collect your crop.
2. Plant Herbs and Flowers with Your Garden Produce
You can attract pollinators to your vegetable garden by inter-planting your crop with a variety of herbs and flower species. Flowers in rich hues of blue and yellow lure bees, which encourage pollination. You’ll be assured of good crops in your harvest of tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. Herbs such as dill, fennel and parsley entice beneficial insects like ladybird beetles. These feed on the pollen and nectar of flowers and lay their eggs on the crops. The larvae will gorge on pests that threaten your vegetables.
3. Mulch Your Garden
You can prevent weeds from insidiously destroying your vegetables, and retain ground moisture, by mulching. Additionally, mulching permits you to moderate the temperature of the soil. It’s best to resort to material that decomposes, thereby adding organic matter to the soil. Your mulch material can range from shredded leaves to newspaper and cardboard:
- Shredded leaves. This nutrient-rich mulch is ideal for vegetables, flowerbeds and fruits. Shred the leaves with a lawn mower before covering the ground.
- Newspapers and cardboard. Smother the weeds around the pathways and plants with several layers of newsprint and cardboard. Blanket the material with shredded leaves or bark in a thick covering. Replace the paper as your garden grows.
- Tree bark. The most common form of mulching, you can obtain them by the bag from gardening stores. Take care that you purchase real bark. Then spread the pieces over the soil in your garden.
Adopt these recommendations for better homesteading and gardening, and observe your crops burgeon. Live happily off your land!
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Urban Homesteading and Gardening – Practical Strategies for Self Reliance
August 9th, 2009
Being an urban dweller, you’ve probably had to face a credit and financial squeeze, prevalent in these challenging economic times. You’ve gone on austerity drives to stretch your dollar and save your costs. But you’re not going to compromise on your health and wellness – you’re cognizant of the fact that what you eat defines your health. So you’re part of an increasing number of North Americans who have declined nutrient poor fast food in favor of the wholesome wellness of homesteading and gardening.
Tips for Urban Homesteading and Gardening
You can cut costs and save your dollars in the concrete jungle by adopting these practical strategies:
- Container gardening: Grow tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes and squash in pots, miniature barrels or oblong containers. Use hanging baskets to grow zucchini and strawberries. You don’t need a large greenhouse or plenty of acreage for your own supply of organic vegetables. With proper planning, your balcony could hold quite a few plants.
- Rearing fowl: You can hatch chicks from fertilized eggs by using an electric skillet on low, some water to moisten the air and a soft towel to cushion the eggs. You can then keep the hens in your backyard for a daily supply of eggs. Most US states will allow urban dwellers to raise a maximum of six hens.
- Using heirloom seeds: Your local farmers market will probably have hybrid, pest resistant tomatoes and squash plants. These are genetically modified plants that have been grafted to make them resistant to bugs, pests and drought. However, the vegetable will be seedless – which means that you won’t be able to re-plant any. I would strongly advise against any hybrid seeds! Buy heirloom seeds instead for growing your vegetables. Heirloom plants have retained their specific traits through open pollination and are suitably resistant to extremes in weather and bio-diseases. You’ll have plenty of seeds for frequent re-planting!
Getting Suitable Supplies
For city gardening, you can make do with containers that can be comfortably accommodated within your apartment. If you’re in the suburbs and have a nice backyard, then you can even erect a small 12×12 greenhouse to cultivate your plants.
Space constraints will dictate the variety and abundance of vegetables and greens that you can tend. You can utilize coffee grounds as organic fertilizer and obtain soil from the market. If you’re rearing chickens, the coops are best maintained in an airy space and cleaned regularly.
By embracing homesteading and gardening, you’ll take full advantage of spectacular reductions in your expenses and elevated levels of vigor, energy and vim. Maximize your intake of organic leafy greens and vegetables, and augment your health exponentially!
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