Adventures of an urban homesteader growing greens, preserving the harvest and tending a backyard barnyard
There are those people in the world that dutifully mark their planted seeds with little signs, either from the plant start or home-made, that clearly label what is growing where. I generally consider myself anti-plant tag when it comes to my own backyard. However, this season might be a good example of why those come in handy. For several weeks this spring/summer I had a
I was at an extended family function this past weekend and there were lots of curious relatives asking about those backyard chickens of mine. One aunt in particular has been mulling over the idea of bringing in a small backyard flock, but she started worrying about the maintenance and upkeep. There isn’t a whole lot to backyard chicken maintenance, but I thought it would be
The backyard food forest has been taking off the last month or so. The seeds planted in late June have been growing rapidly, which is exciting. I have some great examples of simple permaculture methods on display out back. The runner beans are climbing through the fruit tree branches for support, while they give back to the trees by fixing the nitrogen in the soil.
Having a small backyard flock of urban chickens seems like such a normal, everyday thing for me now that I haven’t really posted a lot about “the girls”. But some of my readers have asked that I share more stories on the blog about the latest chic news. Now that I think of it, there is usually some funny urban chicken musing I have to
RED!!! We let out a huge sigh of relief when we saw the first coat of red go on – it was exactly what we were hoping for. And it was the color with the biggest votes on this blog! Thanks everyone for your input. Little by little, we are leaving our thumb print on this house of ours. This fall we are planning to
I heard a sad statistic on NPR the other day that of all the farmers markets popping up across the nation each year, only half actually succeed after the first few years. Those that make it become incredibly successful, but still many aren’t getting to that point. Portland has many examples of the success stories: Wednesday downtown at the Park blocks, Thursdays in the Pearl
Are you ready for your mind to be blown my friend? Get ready, cause here it comes. I built rain barrels! Actually I built four of them and it was so easy to do! I actually spent more time in the hardware store buying the supplies than I actually spent putting everything together. I would say it took about 30 minutes per barrel, plus the
My sister sent me this in an email and I’m intrigued. Since many of the readers here have their own blogs, are living in Portland, are to some degree interested in gardening, or any combination thereof… maybe you should consider this as well? Click this HERE to go to their site and see all the details. I am thinking about applying, but not quite sure.
I’ve been a member of a wonderful little art studio space for about 3 years now called Radius Studio. My discovery of the studio had perfect timing – Jay and I just returned from a year living in Barcelona, I was looking around for new friends/hobbies, and this studio popped up just a block away. I have long adored ceramics, gently packing them back from
My favorite gardeners in Portland are ones that can just shove plants in the ground without worry and turn random objects into garden art. My Aunt Teri seems to have that knack. She’s not slaving away outside, yet her backyard has this English cottage feel where everything thrives in this simply elegant way. She also has a knack for finding little treasures at estate sales
