You guys are in for a treat today! I'm interviewing Karl Treen creator of the Food Forest card game and founder of Permaculture Providence. I happened upon Karl on instagram (@foodforestcardgame) and I have been enjoying his informative and often humorous posts ever since. 

How many of you stick with a crop rotation schedule? Think it is too complicated? Not worth it? It's not and it is sooo worth it! Crop rotation greatly decreases your chances depleting your soil of vital nutrients and limits disease and pests problems. Very worth it!

Today I'm going to show you a simple 4 group crop rotation plan that is very doable for even the small scale home gardener. I've even included and handy dandy printable so you can keep the information on hand for easy reference! So let's get started!

I am so honored to introduce to you Blake Cothron and Peaceful Heritage Permaculture Nursery! Seriously, I wanted to hug him after reading the responses to the interview. That may seem like a little much to some of you but it is not often that we run into someone up here in western ND who is so passionate about ethical growing practices and and how they affect the people they touch and the planet we all share. 

Neonicotinoids are becoming a hot topic. But what are they? What is so harmful about them? Do Neonicotinoids harm beneficial insects? Could you have Neonicotinoids in your garden? Today we are going to go over everything you need to know about Neonicotinoids so you can makes the best decisions when planning, growing, and maintaining your garden and landscapes.

Are you like me? Do you read countless Amazon reviews before making a purchase? Maybe not all the little ones but what about appliances, large or small? Printers, vacuums, food processors, cooking ware... you know, stuff like that? 

But then you get stuck on one bad review out of many good reviews. Probably it was just some freak thing and it won't happen to you. Or maybe it will. Maybe they won't return it.... 

There really isn't much in the world of raising, preserving, and cooking your own food that is easy, quick or even clean. There is no getting around it, it is a lot of work. Worth every bit of it but still, any little thing that can aid in any of these areas is greatly apreciated! 

And that is what I have for you today. A simple little adjustment that will do all three. This is the easiest, quickest and cleanest way to blanch vegetables. ​

With canning and processing the harvest comes much chopping of vegetables and fruit. It is the most time consuming part of the entire process. So what are our options?

Well, we can stick to doing it by hand. This is great if you don't have much to do. Why dirty a bunch of equipment for a samll amount of produce? Purchase a good knife (we really like are Rada cutlery), keep it sharp, and your good to go!

If you have larger quantities a food processor is very handy. They are effective and produce   nice even results. The largest capacity food processor I've ever seen was a 12 cup kitchen aid. It sounds like a lot but when you are producing bushels of produce at a time it still takes hours to get everything chopped.

For the canner who processes the largest quantities of food, it's time for the meat processor. Oh boy, does this do the trick! This is definitely the fastest way to chop vegetables. With a meat grinder you can feed the vegetables continually, never stopping to empty one batch and refill. Nope, just keep on feeding the grinder and watch it come out the other end perfectly chopped. We are never going back people. This has changed canning season for good and in such a good way! 

Choosing the right plants for your pollinator garden can be quite the task. It is recommended that you have a minimum of 5 blooming plants but preferably 20 in bloom for the duration of your season, early spring thru fall. It doesn't seem to bad but then you start thinking of the bees and think "NO, I need 20! I got to feed those pollinators!" Well, I do anyways. But the reality is that I have a lot of square feet to cover. It's going to take some time. 

We can't save the pollinators in one day yet they will appreciate any and all of our efforts. So let's give ourselves a break and do what we can now, knowing that it is a work in progress. Every year will get better, more plants can be added and spaces can be enlarged!

A guide to choosing the right plants for your circumstances can be found below as well as planning worksheets. The planning worksheets got my efforts organized and helped me to see clearly where I need to feel in with more varieties.

​Have you heard me talk about Kiwi before? If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram you know the she is our little Lowline Jersey cross. She's a tiny little thing- definitely a mini! 

It is sad that so much knowledge has been lost with our ancestors. Technology has taken over and many skills have been long forgotten. Skills that are still very valuable especially on the homestead! I'm grateful that there is an emerging trend to re-learn these skills. One such being how to make a pectin free jam and preserving other homegrown foods!. 

There is still one thing that baffles me, the copious amounts of sugar. Surely our ancestors did not use this much sugar! One recipe we looked at called for 6-7 cups of sugar to 5 cups of fruit! That much sugar surely erases all the health benefits of the fruit!