Organic Gardening

September at Our Home

September 29, 2011

I can hardly believe that fall is upon us already, but the beautiful crimson leaves outside my window attest to the fact that it's true. I am always sad to see the summer go, especially since we had such a short season of truly warm summer weather here in the Pacific Northwest, and yet I [...]

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Gardening with Herbs 101: Preserving Your Herbs

September 14, 2011

Written by Meg Dickey, Contributing Writer
Last time we talked about how to harvest your herbs - now that you've harvested them, what are you going to do with them?
Here are my favorite ways to preserve herbs for out-of-season use:
Freezing
This method best preserves flavor.  Rinse the herbs and chop coarsely.  Place about 1-2 teaspoons in [...]

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Backyard Chicken Challenges

September 13, 2011

Written by Sharon Kaufman, Contributing Writer
It's been about about 2 1/2 years since my husband and I - inexperienced as we are - first took on the hobby of keeping backyard chickens; and what a joy it's been. But we've most certainly seen our fair share of chicken woes also. It's just bound to happen [...]

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Gardening with Herbs 101: Harvesting Your Herbs

September 8, 2011

Written by Meg Dickey, Contributing Writer
Our weather may not be showing signs of Autumn, but our plants and gardens are certainly indicating it is time for harvesting!
If you have been consistently using your herbs throughout the summer, you may not feel you have many to preserve for the winter season (my catnip has been well-used [...]

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Small Batch Dehydrating for the Summer Bounty

September 5, 2011

There's a woman who lives a few blocks down from me with this miraculous garden that seems to go from a freshly tilled plot to a wildly abundant gardener's delight in about one month flat (my husband keeps telling me not to be jealous because she probably uses Miracle-Gro or something of the chemical-sort).
She grows [...]

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The State of My Garden So Far (Challenges, Mistakes, Pests and All)

July 7, 2011

Challenges or not, I couldn't give up gardening if I tried. Watching my plants grow, from a tiny seed into delicious food is just so rewarding (like this brand new broccoli head above, which we'll be eating in a another week or two).
This marks our first full summer in our current home, and so far, [...]

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Gardening with Herbs 101: What to Grow

April 6, 2011

Written by Meg Dickey, Contributing Writer
This month at Keeper of the Home, we're discussing Gardening 101, and we're continuing this week with the second part of Gardening with Herbs 101.  Let's jump right in to my favorite part of gardening: what to grow!
First, consider your needs:
What herbs do you love the smell of?  What tastes do [...]

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How to Plan Your Garden, Part 2

March 31, 2011

Were you as inspired as I was by Shannon's post on Tuesday? I completely understand what she means about becoming more and more excited each year as she considers what she can grow and preserve. I feel the same way. Spring is positively pregnant with possibility when it comes to envisioning my garden and what [...]

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Plan & Plant Now for Sustainability, Freedom, and a Backyard Revolution

March 29, 2011

I am not an expert gardener and have only spent the last few years taking a stab at preserving what we eat and eating what we preserve. Every year, though, I grow more and more excited because every year we are learning, producing, and preserving more.
I have learned that amazing things can happen when you [...]

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How to Plan Your Garden

March 21, 2011

In our Gardening 101 series, we’ve talked about a lot of different things so far... how to select seeds for better success, growing herbs, gardening based on where you live, square foot gardening.
I know that the process of planning what and how much and when and where to plant everything can be one of the [...]

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