The Beginner's Guide to Planting Strawberries #strawberries #garden #gardening #beginnergardener #homesteading #fruit

Hey! Who is ready for some warm, ripe, juicy red strawberries??? Nothing better than to pop a sweet berry directly from the garden into your mouth! I thought I’d give you the lowdown on how to properly plant strawberries! Before we get started, let me give you a little lesson on strawberries…. There are two main types- June bearing and everbearing. June bearing strawberries will give you one giant crop in the spring (which for us is the end of May). Everbearing strawberries will give you a big crop in the spring and a smallerREAD MORE

Easiest Fruits and Veggies for Beginners| Beginning Gardener| Gardening| Gardening for Beginners

Hey guys! My sister and I were talking the other day about the easiest things to grow in the garden. And since everyone is in garden planning/planting mode right now, I thought this would be a timely post 🙂 Before I get started, let me just say, I live in southern Kansas in planting zone 6b.  This means that our last frost date is April 15 and our first frost date is October 15.  I have a pretty long growing season, but I also deal with lots of major heat in the summer!   Usually onceREAD MORE

Plant potatoes without digging! #potato #gardening

How to Plant Potatoes without Digging Love eating garden fresh potatoes, but hate the digging in the dirt process?  Yeah, me, too! Wish it was easier?  Me, too 😉 I’ve got the solution for you! So, years ago when I planted my first potato crop, I did it the very traditional way. I planted on St. Patrick’s Day (that’s the prevailing ideal day over here in southern Kansas), and I dug holes and hilled dirt on top. Guess what happened? It got cold and rainy and my seed potatoes rotted in the ground! The nextREAD MORE

weed free garden

Update for 2020: I still use this same method to expand my garden! If I skimp on steps (like no cardboard underneath), the weeds manage to find a way to grow! That being said- don’t beat yourself up if you don’t follow my method perfectly. Gardens are an evolving work in progress and should be enjoyed and celebrated 🙂 Are weeds getting the best of you and your garden?  Ever wondered if there was a way to get rid of them?  Is it truly possible to have a weed free garden? Yes, it is. ButREAD MORE

how to raise meat chickens raising broilers homesteading

Have you ever thought about raising your own meat chickens?  I’m here today to give you the lowdown and my personal experiences, both good and bad! *Update for 2020- I wrote this original post in 2017.  I learned yet even more last spring (2019) when we dealt with extreme flooding and thunderstorms for a month!  I lost half of my flock.  One thing I learned is that even after 10 years of raising my own meat chickens, I’ll discover something new about them every year, lol! Cooking and eating chicken that you raised yourself fromREAD MORE

Learn some surprising facts about chickens! #chickens #homesteading #farm #poultry

10 Things You May Not Know About Chickens I call chickens the gateway drug to farm animals! Almost everybody I know who moves out to the country for the first time gets chickens right away 🙂 I grew up on a former chicken farm (my grandpa had the largest egg laying farm in the state of Kansas in the 1950’s and 1960’s!) and we always had chickens in one of the old chicken houses.  We all had chicken chores at one time or another during our childhood. And…I hated it! What?  Me, who named myREAD MORE