Suddenly it’s the middle of summer and we’re still very close to home. So, while you’re in – quarantining, recuperating, or simply being – may we suggest a project or three, to keep you feeling calm and productive as you maintain your little island of...
One thing that is overlooked by gardeners is when to harvest vegetables. Obviously, we should wait wait until the vegetable is ripe, but that means different things to different people. Take squash for example. When is squash ready to pick? A yellow squash is ripe...
As the month winds down, there’s still plenty of summer’s high humidity than usual due to an abundance of rain and 90-plus temperatures. That’s music to the tiny little ears of ticks. They are active any time the weather is above freezing, but are really...
SOURCE: Flickr It’s been an interesting learning experience, examining the viability of growing a basement garden. I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey with me and have been inspired as I’ve been. This Basement Garden series has gone through the whats...
What is it? Compost, affectionately referred to as “black gold” by gardeners, is another word for a material called Humus. (not Hummus—but you can make that too once you get your soil right…) Basically, it is a dark brown spongy material that can be produced through...
Ok, so I was supposed to be writing about something else but this caught my eye and hey, I’m all about what to do with your backyard harvest so happy National Hot Breakfast Month! Seriously. Not sure who came up with it, but, every month has some food designation and...
I first heard of Cub Cadet in the 1990’s, when visiting rich relatives who had a sprawling spread of land that was used for recreation as well as for income. The “farm” as they called it, included fishing and recreational ponds, hunting grounds,...
Chamomile has been valued since ancient times for its many beneficial properties and delicate scent (the name comes from ancient Greek, meaning ‘ground apple’). There are different types of chamomile but one, Chamaemelum nobile treneague – Roman chamomile, aka...
In maintaining a 40 gallon aquarium, I find it maddening to have to keep buying filter packets for the standard aquarium filter that hangs on the back of the tank. The filter pads need to be changed every couple of weeks and not only is this wasteful, but it is...
I recently called my local trash / garbage pick-up company and told them to cancel my service. They asked if I was moving or found a better rate through their competitor. I replied that I no longer generate any trash! I don’t think they believed me. The truth...
I don’t remember if they were there when we moved in, but the shrubs – Thujas – have been around a long time. One article describes their shape as narrow like a pyramid. I guess ours didn’t get that memo. They were wide, rotund almost. And at the...
Backyard Farming sounds crazy at first. Urban Farming or Urban Homesteading does not sound much better. We don’t want to be these people: It’s SO Tedious Yet, more and more people are beginning to see that there is a real benefit to growing our own food...
In this article, we will make a really luxurious homemade dog shampoo. Using some simple ingredients, one can craft a very high quality dog shampoo that smells wonderful, cleans effectively, and moisturizes your dog to cut down on itching. You will want to use it on...
In the winter, we like to make hard candy, and we like it to be sour. In this article, we’ll discuss an easy way to make delicious hard candy at home that and consider ways to dial up the flavors and sourness of your homemade hard candy! {Of course, if you...
The September 2018 issue of Mother Earth Living highlighted a novel way to donate food beyond the annual end-of-year holiday food drives. If you’re growing food, you have the opportunity to combat food insecurity. Better than cash donations, backyard farmers,...
Raised garden beds are extremely popular these days, however, some beginning gardeners ask themselves why they need raised beds at all. At first glance, they do not seem to offer much advantage over planting directly into the ground. If one conducts a quick search on...
I miss our backyard garden – the battle with the red clay, the monster zucchinis and tomatoes, plentiful peppers, and even the dispirited cantaloupe. The last remnants of it were wiped away when the yard was re-graded a few years back. So there’s this large backyard...
The Holz Hausen firewood stack is a method used in Europe that is becoming popular in the United States. In Germany, they might refer to it as a Holzmiete. In the United States it is also known as a round house, a beehive stack, or “stacking in the round.”...
As mentioned in my previous rant on Instant Coffee, I wanted to put together an article about how to easily brew bistro quality coffee using very basic equipment. So here it is! This thing is, you don’t need to have fancy equipment to make some of the best...
Tips and Methods of Growing, Caring for, and Harvesting Sweet Corn Sweet corn is a rewarding crop that comes with many benefits. It can be served as a healthy snack, a salad side dish, or be used for medicinal purposes. If you enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables, corn...
A wood burning stove can be a wonderful addition to the home during the winter, but it can be difficult and time consuming to start the fire and to keep the sucker burning, and burning efficiently to boot. I’ll discuss how to keep a wood stove fire burning for...
At Try Backyard Farming, we routinely discuss, in depth, ways to maintain your urban and suburban property using permaculture techniques that work along with nature, rather than trying to fight against it. And much of what we discuss is converting unused lawn sections...
This past week while visiting the little town of Kersey, PA as part of a volunteer ministry outreach, a trip to the local super Wal-Mart highlighted an annual conundrum – what to do with all those many pumpkins between one holiday and the next. Not that the end...
This article contains affiliate links. source: Flickr By some estimates, 30 percent of materials going into U.S. landfills could be repurposed. I don’t mean boxes and containers. I’m talking about living things. Or, more accurately, once living...
