BACKYARD GARDENING
WITHOUT THE BACKACHE
The garden tools I need to have in my shed
The planting of seeds by humans is believed to date back tens of thousands of years. Even before that, people cultivated food forests by protecting useful plants and eliminating those which provided them with no benefits.
In ancient times, a hole might be dug with a stone or stick, and water carried from a river in an animal bladder.
All that to say, it’s not the tools that make the garden. In the past, I have gardened quite happily with one shovel and a hand cultivator/hoe, but there’s no denying that having the right tool for the job makes the work of gardening easier and more enjoyable.
Easy Vegan Applesauce Recipe
WHY GO APPLE PICKING?
Aside from experiencing the perfect day, why go apple picking at a farm instead of buying apples at the grocery store? Taste is one reason. An apple from the grocery store is likely to be a year old.
Store-bought apples last so long because waxes and chemicals are applied by producers. Insecticides and fungicides are put on the apples to protect them from insects and bad bacteria, allowing the apples to stay ‘fresh’ when kept in cold storage.
In contrast, an apple picked from a tree on a sunny, cool day is a food unto itself.
DIY Biodegradable Leaf Confetti Craft Project
My favorite thing to do during the fall season is to find different ways to celebrate this transitionary season through leaves. Although leaves can feel like a celebration all on their own as they sprinkle down from above, I love a good DIY craft project, so I wanted to take it one step further and create some DIY biodegradable leaf confetti!
Stovetop Pumpkin Oatmeal Recipe
Now that you’ve grown some delicious pumpkins, harvested and cured them. What can you do with a sugar pumpkin besides make the classic pumpkin pie? Pumpkin puree is infinitely useful in baking, but for a simple recipe you can make on your stovetop, let's make some pumpkin oatmeal
Bat Houses You Can Build Or Buy
When I was young, we had a playroom in our attic. One afternoon, we noticed there were bats hanging upside-down on one of the window screens. There were two big bats, and a little baby bat.
With the glass between us, we were able to safely look them over, and we learned something unexpected – bats are cute!
They stayed quite a while, sleeping all day and disappearing at night. We actually felt a little sad when they left for good, and so we bought a bat house kit.
Who can benefit from Calendula infused oil? [recipe]
If you’re looking to dip your toes into herbal remedies, calendula infused oil is a safe and fun place to start. Calendula is related to marigolds and is sometimes called pot marigold - it has no toxic look-a-likes and is safe even in large doses, so you really can’t mess this up! We grow calendula in our garden as a border and it serves multiple purposes for us - it adds beauty and color, traps unwanted pests who might overwise eat our food crop, feeds the pollinators and provides a useful herb for drying that we can then make into a salve. Calendula is an annual but it readily self-seeds so you really only need to buy one packet and the next year they will come back all on their own, helping you to establish your garden beds and provide a resource for neighboring insects who you share your garden with.