Foraging is the act and art of searching for, finding, and harvesting wild foods. Perhaps the most common foraged foods are mushrooms gathered in the woods, but foragers also enjoy wild greens, aquatic and marine plants, nuts, berries, seeds, sap, and more. The beauty of foraging is that edibles can be found almost everywhere, even in urban and suburban areas. Some of the most prolific plants - the most ubiquitous dandelion, for instance - have parts that are edible, once you know how to identify them safely. I’m a huge fan of foraging for a few reasons. First, foraging gets our family outdoors in all seasons, connecting to the natural world and its bounty. Second, foraging fills our … [Read more...]
7 Ways to Grow More Food in Less Space with Succession Planting
If you have a small garden, or even if you have a large garden but you like to grow year-round, you need to know how to maximize your food production by making use of every bit of garden space available. Today I'll share my top 7 tips to grow more food, even in a small space, with succession planting. What is Succession Planting? Very simply, it’s the action of following one plant with another. For instance, planting peas in the spring, pulling them out in the summer, and planting beets in that same bed for fall harvest. If this is as far as you get with succession planting, you’re still going to increase your harvests, but we’re going to dive deeper. For me, the push to grow more food … [Read more...]
Dandelion Soda Recipe :: Naturally Fermented with a Ginger Bug!
When dandelion season comes around, it hits with full force! Looking around my garden, it's hard to believe that only a few years ago there wasn't a single dandelion on our property! Now we have ample dandelions to leave some for the pollinators, and still have enough dandelion flowers and roots to make into recipes. This dandelion soda recipe requires a bit of effort in stripping the petals from the plant, but you will be deliciously rewarded! Whenever harvesting any wild edible, you want to pay attention to where and how you harvest. Is there any chance that herbicide may have been sprayed on or near the dandelions? If so, move on! Once you've found a chemical-free source of dandelion … [Read more...]
How to Make a Ginger Bug for Homemade Soda
A ginger bug is a really cool ferment with a fun name. It is essentially a starter culture, much like a sourdough starter is to bread, or a SCOBY is to kombucha. With a ginger bug, you can naturally ferment homemade soda, healthy ginger ale, root beer, and other healthy soda alternatives. Using three simple ingredients—organic ginger root, sugar, and water—a ginger bug will “capture” wild yeasts and bacteria that will eat the sugar and emit carbon dioxide as a “waste” product; hence the ability to give sodas a natural fizz of bubbles. A ginger bug has natural kid-appeal because of its name, and because the process requires “feeding” your ginger bug each day, much like a pet! And because … [Read more...]
Spring Pesto with Chickweed and Green Garlic
When you're craving the fresh, tangy flavors of spring, but are still waiting for almost everything in the garden to start growing, the solution is a spring pesto made with chickweed and green garlic. This spring pesto recipe is easy to make, packed with flavor, and the perfect topping for pizza, pasta, and more! Chickweed (Stellaria media) is an edible and medicinal plant, often thought of as a weed because it is so common! Here in Northeast Missouri, we often find it near creek bottoms in the deciduous forest. After a few years, it made its way into our garden, likely via purchased hay. It is recognizable by its white, star-shaped flowers (hence the Latin name Stellaria) and thin line … [Read more...]
Common Seed Starting Problems and How to Troubleshoot Them
Starting your own seedlings is a great way to save money in the garden and to select varieties that will work for your climate and food growing needs. However, starting seedlings is not always trouble-free! Here are a few common seed starting problems and suggestions on how to troubleshoot them so your seedlings look just as healthy and vigorous as ones from a plant nursery! Common Seed Starting Problems Dampening Off Disease Dampening off is a disease caused by a combination of fungi and mold that can cause a variety of undesirable symptoms in seedlings, such as root rot, weakened stems, failed germination, and wilted leaves. Entire trays of plants can be affected, particularly in cool, … [Read more...]
Planting a Native Edibles Food Forest
Before we even moved onto our land, when our tiny house, garden, and orchard were just plans on scraps of paper, we planted over 100 fruiting bushes, trees, and shrubs to create a native edibles food forest. Inspired by the quote, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now," we decided it was best to get our food forest started before our shelter was complete. Living in Missouri, we have access to an amazing resource, the George O. White State Nursery, which sells bare root trees and shrubs to Missouri residents to plant as wind breaks, erosion control, soil improvement, and wildlife habitat and food sources. Many of the plants offered by the nursery are … [Read more...]
How to Make Hard Cider in 5 Easy Steps
One of our most beloved Autumn traditions is pressing apple cider. Some we refrigerate to drink in its sweet, raw, unpasteurized form. The rest we ferment into hard apple cider. Today my husband Brian joins me to share how to make hard cider in just a few easy steps. Hard apple cider is just sweet apple cider that has had its sugars naturally fermented into alcohol. It is one most local drinks you can make since you don’t need to buy any imported ingredients like sugar. And, you are hearkening back to our American pioneer roots, when John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) walked the land, starting nurseries on the frontier, selling apple trees to the new settlers so that they could … [Read more...]
The BEST Fire-Roasted Jalapeño Fermented Hot Sauce Recipe
Tantalize your taste buds with this smoky fermented hot sauce recipe. This easy homemade hot sauce will be a table staple and makes for a creative food gift! One of our favorite ways to preserve hot peppers is to turn them into a lacto-fermented hot sauce. This condiment graces our table every night, and while I’m not the type to add hot sauce to my pasta and meatballs like my husband Brian, I appreciate a bit of spicy tang on my pork tacos and egg burritos! This year we decided to shake up our usual homemade hot sauce recipe and fire-roast the jalapeños before fermenting for a bit of smoky flavor. The results: Ah-mazing! Here is our fermented hot sauce recipe to make and to … [Read more...]
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