A Small Space Yields a Big Crop of Garlic
By Howard Tuckey
Issue #131 • September/October, 2011
In less than an hour last fall, I tilled up a 4x8 foot garden bed and planted 250 seed cloves of Chesnok and Russian Red garlic. I've been...
Put Your Garden to Bed for the Winter
By Jackie Clay
Issue #95 • September/October, 2005
During the crispy fall afternoons, we listen often and intently to the weather forecasts. "It's going to be clear tonight," I'd tell my late husband, Bob, and my...
Green or Yellow: Grow Your Best Bush Beans Ever
By Lisa LaFreniere
Issue #62 • March/April, 2000
Bush Beans, or snap beans as they're sometimes referred to, are a growing favorite among many gardeners, and with good reason. Beans are high in vitamins A, C...
Blueberry Cash Crop
By Ed Mashburn
Issue #130 • July/August, 2011
My almost two-year-old grandson loves blueberries. Put a bowl of those round blue jewels in front of him, and he's a happy little man. He's not alone. Many...
Nut Trees on Your Homestead
By Jackie Clay-Atkinson
Issue #149 • September/October, 2014
While growing up in Detroit, we had no nut trees in our yard (though we did have seedlings before I left home). That didn't stop my parents, though....
Companion Planting
By Beverly Mettot
Issue #81 • May/June, 2003
Companion planting is nothing new, and yet in recent years it has made an extraordinary comeback, not only in fooling those pesky pests who thrive on fruits and...
Gleaning — An Old Tradition Made New
By Daniel Furtney
Issue #147 • May/June, 2014
Gleaning. You may remember the term from Sunday School or your Bible studies. In the book of Ruth, "gleaning" refers to poor people being allowed to follow a...
A Child’s Garden — More than Child’s Play
By Jackie Clay
Issue #69 • May/June, 2001
There are many things parents can give their children, other than plastic toys or a few bucks to play video games at the mall. And one of the...
Grow Your Own Dishrags
By Alice B. Yeager
Photos by James O. Yeager
Issue #85 • January/February, 2004
Some of us are thrifty beyond measure, even growing our own dishrags. None of those flimsy, store bought cotton things for us. Our...
Garden Spaces for Small Places
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #116 • March/April, 2009
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden.
Minnie Aumonier
Yes, and if your budget is lean and you want something green, there's...
Testing Soil
By Tom Kovach
Issue #119 • September/October, 2009
Testing the soil content of a garden is very important and is quite easy to do. Soil tests are needed because some plants prefer slightly acidic soil, while...
Garden Seeds — A Great Winter Pastime
By Jackie Clay
Issue #67 • January/February, 2001
Start your garden this year while the snow is still on the ground. I start all of my own plants from seeds. One of my favorite winter pastimes...
Secure and Economical Livestock Feed
By Sherry Willis
Issue #145 • January/February, 2014
The recent droughts in the midwest have meant hard times for many livestock owners. Areas without irrigation saw parched earth without a scrap of green anywhere. Corn withered...
Tracing a bean
By Wren Everett
The beans came to me as an accident.
In the early spring of 2023, I was scouring The Exchange (exchange.seedsavers.org/home) — an online seed-savers trading post of sorts — looking for squash seeds....
Fermenting Chicken Feed
By Melissa Souza
Issue #174 • November/December, 2018
On our homestead, we eat yogurt, kombucha (fermented tea), sauerkraut, and kimchi to add probiotics to our diet. These beneficial bacteria promote good digestive health, strengthen the immune...
Solar-Powered Electric Fencing
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #147 • May/June, 2014
A new electric fence attached to older traditional wood fencing
More and more people are turning to electric fences as the cost of standard metal and wood...































