Last summer, the state re-did the road in front of my house, in conjunction with a bridge project. As part of improving the drainage, the project had the unfortunate side-effect of emptying my well, which means a new (and much deeper!) well had to be installed. Every dark cloud has a silver lining though! Putting […]
Filed under: Cress, Seeds, Self-Sufficiency | Comments Off on Upland Cress: A Free Lunch!
The best time to get your beds ready for next year, or prepare beds for the first time, is in the fall. The reason is because MiniFarming relies on organic methods, and organic methods though superior in the long run, are slow. The additions made to beds — alfalfa meal for slow nitrogen, compost, dolomitic […]
Filed under: Self-Sufficiency, Vegetables | Comments Off on Fall is the Time to Get Ready!
Folks who read my blog know that just before last Christmas, I scattered parsnip and carrot seeds on some of my beds to see if they would take. The theory behind this is straightforward: if you duplicate what nature does, nature will lead the seed to sprout at exactly the right time for your area […]
Filed under: Carrots, Planting, Vegetables | Comments Off on And the Results are In!
Official inflation numbers don’t take the costs of food and energy into account. But the cost of food is rising fast as the following table demonstrates: Just LOOK at that! The price of potatoes has quadrupled and the prices of many other things have doubled or tripled. Crazy! No wonder people are feeling broke on […]
Filed under: Potatoes, Self-Sufficiency, Squash | Comments Off on Coping with Rampant Food Inflation
One benefit of having a website with a contact form is that I get a lot of feedback and questions. One question that has come up a few times is how to handle vining crops in raised beds. This is a good question because grown traditionally, a single acorn squash plant could take over an […]
Filed under: Squash, Uncategorized, Vegetables | Comments Off on Squash, cucumbers and Other Vines in Raised Beds
Corn is among the most difficult crops to grow on a small scale in the home garden. Put twenty seeds in the ground, five of them fail to sprout, and there is a good week’s difference in germination time between the first and last to emerge. Thus, the early sprouters can sometimes shade out those […]
Filed under: Corn, Planting, Self-Sufficiency, Vegetables | Comments Off on Planting Corn Seedlings Instead of Seeds
The traditional growing season up here in NH is only from Memorial Day to Veteran’s Day. And, sometimes we get frosts as long as a week after Memorial Day, as we had last year. If you limit yourself to planting broccoli (also cabbage, kale and brussel’s sprouts) only during that time frame, you will end […]
Filed under: Broccoli, Planting, Self-Sufficiency, Vegetables | Comments Off on Double Your Broccoli
Because of the prevalence of diabetes, a lot of folks are looking to inulin as an insoluble carbohydrate that adds delicious flavor without boosting blood sugar. That’s because it is indigestible. Jerusalem artichokes are high in inulin and if boiled and mashed like potatoes they are an excellent and amazingly delicious substitute. But the first […]
Filed under: Jerusalem Artichokes, Vegetables | Comments Off on Jerusalem Artichokes and the Porcelain God
