Equipment for large-scale agriculture is too big or too expensive, and many home gardening tools don’t work efficiently on larger jobs or break easily. Tiny farming on plots up to two or three acres requires its own special gear…
Enjoying the flames and the slowly building heat from starting the wood stove for the night. Guess this is saying goodbye to the semblance of winter we’ve just had. Wood heat and tending the fire seems best enjoyed when it’s … Read the rest
It’s around noon, and an unseasonably, pleasantly warm 62°F/17°C. This cheap old plastic analog thermometer has been hanging in a doorway for at least the last 10 years. It’s a quick and reliable way to see how warm or cold … Read the rest
Wood heat has been the winter way around here for the last few years. The old wood stove, and stacks of firewood. In cold snaps, where it stays well below freezing, day and night, the fire is always burning. In … Read the rest
Kale and Brussels sprouts are tucked away under floating row cover (with straw-mulched garlic in the back). This is usually to protect them from flea beetles that can devour the seedlings. This year, unfortunately, it’s also a deterrent to the … Read the rest
Nothing like improving a way to keep organized! This may look like some sort of craft-y looking set-up, when in fact it’s my new, state-of-the-art seedling tracking system. For years, I’d print the variety and seeding the on these tiny … Read the rest
Plastic that looks like plastic adds its own surreal touch to any scene. I use sheets of food wrap to cover plugsheets trays until the seedlings push up above the surface. The plastic holds in heat and keeps the seedling … Read the rest
Floating row cover, weighed down and made semi-transparent by water, is all that stands between fine young brassica greens and the scourge of the flea beetle. The cover is placed right after seeding, weighed down by rocks every 12.5′ feet, … Read the rest