Once upon a time there was this guy...

                                                                                            Yep, he's  a tree hugger!

Today is my sweet husband’s birthday.

At the moment, he’s back home in The Valley making knives. This has been our life for the past six months or so. He heads over the mountains whenever he has knives to make.

Why You Should Grow Herbs

I love when I can walk through a garden and brush against herbs.

 I love the fragrance that wafts over everything and lingers on me even when I leave the garden; it makes me smile every time. 

But you know what I love even more?

 How awesome fresh herbs are.  Store bought cilantro and basil are only a shadow of the complex fresh flavor your fresh cut herbs will yield. The same is true of the home grown and dried herbs.

If you’ve been on the fence about growing herbs or adding to your herb garden I’m here to talk you into grown as many herbs as you can cram onto your place. 

Why? 

 Because they will make you happy. They will transform your simplest cheater meals into gourmet dishes. They make me smile and I think they will make you smile too.

 Those aren't herbs but I needed pictures, so just pretend "Armenian" is some kind of fancy basil.

They will be cheaper

Have you actually looked at how much herbs cost? 

Yikes! And if you want organic they cost double or even triple that. 

When you grow your own you will only have to buy them once a year, or once ever for many kinds. Let’s face it, eating real food can be expensive. 

Like crying-because-you-just-want-to-feed-your-family-well-but-can’t-afford-organic expensive. 

 These are the sorts of things you can easily do at home to stretch your food budget.

They will taste better

They will, and they will make your food taste better. When they taste better that also means that more of the health benefits are intact. Which is great in general but super important if you use herbs for home remedies.

They are easy to grow

I should maybe say instead that they are hard to kill. 

Alright, you have a black thumb? Buy already started plants and it will be even harder for you to kill them.

 Yes, there will always be something you can’t grow where you live but there will be lots of other things you can grow and you aren’t going to know what they are unless you get out there and experiment.   

Most herbs are relatively pest free meaning that growing them organically won’t be a struggle. Extra bonus.

Many are perennial or will self seed

You can plant tender perennials like rosemary in pots and bring them inside during the winter. There are plenty of other herbs that are tough as nails and will come back every year. Others, like cilantro and dill, will reseed themselves if you lightly cultivate the area they grew in the year before in the spring.  

What does this mean? 

If you mulch plants, save seed and plan a little you can avoid buying herbs or replacement plants for a very long time. Which will save you even more money. 

They can be great habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects.
You will notice right away how much the bees love your herbs.

 Many have lots of tiny nectar rich flowers that feed all your pollinators and lots of other beneficials you want hanging around your garden to help control pests.

 Oh, and those flowers make awesome edible garnish.

They will make you smile. The bees will thank you, your food will be awesome and you will save money. Alright I’m out of reasons.  Comment, share why you grow herbs!

This post is participating in the HomeAcre, Savory Saturdays, Green Thumb Thursday and From The Farm blog hops, check them out to find other great blogs like ours!

Using Free Soil To Start Seeds

 Nitty Gritty

~One 5 gallon bucket is enough to fill 2-3 standard 21 x 11.5 inch planting trays of 3.5 inch pots.
~300F for 15 minutes, add more time if soil is very wet or using deep dishes.

Just before we were first married, my husband and I were starting our first garden in western Washington. AJ was working in a greenhouse at his college and he had all he could want in the way of spent soil and compost. He wanted to save money and use it for starting our seeds instead of buying commercial starting mixes. I was leery of plant diseases since the compost pile hadn’t been maintained at a temperature to kill them. He assured me any diseased plants didn’t go into the pile. I was still resistant to the idea but he nagged and whined and poked until I finally decided he could have his way.

When he brought the soil home I noticed right away that there was a very healthy population of millipedes or centipedes, I don't remember the difference now, the itty bitty ones were what we had. I did some internet research and couldn’t find anything about them eating seeds or seedlings so I grudgingly used the soil.

Then I waited.
And waited.
Until I knew something was wrong because something should have sprouted by then.

Well my friends, those little demons do eat seeds. Most veraciously, and I’m very sure they would have happily munched on seedlings too. They would chew through a weak spot in the seed coat, usually were the radical (seed root) would immerge from and eat the seed from the inside out. 

I don’t think they are anything to worry about out in the garden, and beneficial in the compost pile, but in a seeding tray where all they have to eat are your precious seed and seedlings they are very much a problem. So I had to start everything over. It was painful, we were already late getting them started and now were even further behind and neither of us really had money to buy a starting mix since all my money was being funneled into the wedding and we were both poor college kids (um, we still are actually).

So, I got creative. I figured compost piles get pretty hot and heating the soil would kill the bugs. I decided to try it since the worst case scenario I could think of was totally killing all the soil bacteria.

The good news, It worked!

We didn’t have anymore millipede problems and our plants grew just fine.
This year I find myself with a place to have a garden that was totally unexpected, and broke. So very broke, that I’m once again making my own starting mix.

 Picking your starting soil


The best thing you can use is finished compost, otherwise a sandy soil will work fine, you will just need to feed your starts more or add compost to the soil. By "finished compost" I mean decomposed manure, bedding, plant matter that smells like soil and has a nice deep color and rich smell. If it's not finished it will be chunky and smelly.
 Starting with a soil that contains a lot of clay would probably turn into a disaster. Clay is the worst to try to start seeds in and heating it is liable to make weird pseudo-pottery. If you have a very dense soil and a little money buy some vermiculite to add to it, it will make the soil fluffier and a little bit goes a long way.

Try to gather your soil on a dry day. I know how impossible that can be, just know if its sopping wet you might have to  break up a lot of clumps or even lengthen the heating time to get the soil warm through.

Pick out large rocks, sticks and any worms or carabids (big black, sometimes iridescent, super beneficial beetles) and return them to the great outdoors to bless your garden later.
Preheat your oven to 300F. A lower temperature would probably work, but the numbers below 300 are rubbed off my toaster oven and at 300 I’ve still had a few critters come out alive. 

Fill whatever baking pans you’ve decided to use and pop them into the preheated oven. 15 minutes does the trick. I set a timer and have multiple pans going so I can get it done quickly. 
Poor your heated soil into a clean food grade bucket (we don’t want any BPA in our soil, now do we?)  or box without lots of holes. You can let it cool all the way before you use it or just enough that it’s not steaming anymore and you can comfortably run your hand through it. 

If you are trying to kill a specific disease you should look for information about what temperatures kill it and adjust the process if needed. 

 Break up clumps as you fill pots, toss any larger bits into the bottom of pots so you have an even soil surface.
 That's all there is to it folks, plant those seeds to your hearts content!

  
This post is participating in the HomeAcre, Savoring Saturdays and From The Farm blog hops, check them out to find other great blogs like ours! 

Candied Orange Peels

Words are unbelievably powerful.
~so are pictures, but that's another post for another time~
They can paint pictures, build bridges but more to the point, they can inspire.
Which is why I love this blogging thing so much.
I am tickled that I can take something mundane from my life and present it in a way that can be beautiful, useful, funny, and inspiring for all of you. I don’t think I will ever get tired of this and I am so thankful and touched by all the encouragement and appreciation you amazing folks show to me. 

10 Commandments of Good Animal Husbandry

In light of our recent rabbit misadventures I thought this would be the perfect time to talk about raising animals.  It can be a real struggle to find the right methods to make things work well and run smoothly.  That said, these are some of the things that hold true across species and situations. 
 Most people learn this stuff the hard way, I know I sure have!
 If you’re lucky, you learn these lessons as a kid when the stakes are much lower.

 If you find yourself venturing into animal husbandry as an adult you may be overwhelmed and rightfully so. There are a lot of costly mistakes you can make. Hopefully these commandments can help you avoid many of them. If you've kept animals from toddler-hood these are things that you can still always strive to do better in. 
Heck, sometimes we all need a little reminding!

Lemon Curd

Do you know if there’s a Lemon Curd Addicts Anonymous treatment group?

If not, we might have to start one.

Extend The Season: Freezing Citrus Juice and Zest

Come on, surely you’ve done this before?

If not, you should!
 Citrus has a peak season. Buying and freezing during it can save money since the fruit is cheaper then as well as better quality.

It’s really as easy as freezing ice cubes.