The practice of making and planting seed bombs is not new. Native Americans had mud around corn seeds to protect them from birds. Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese farmer, and philosopher incorporated seed bombs into the world of sustainable agriculture. He called it ‘natural farming’. With seed bombs, ...
Growing Figs in Cold Climate
Figs are a sweet treat that is usually grown in a warm climate. As cold climate gardeners, figs usually do not even cross our minds until someone shares on social media something about their figs. Growing figs in a cold climate is possible. We get asked a lot about how we grow figs, so here we share ...
Starting a new no-till garden with tilling
This blog article is about starting a new no-till garden with tilling. We are sharing how we converted a pasture into a garden. We talked about methods to start an instant no-till garden, also how to convert the existing tilled garden into no-till. Today we are sharing yet another way to ...
Planting a Shelterbelt
On an open prairie property, planting a shelterbelt is (almost) a must. Even though I really love to be able to see miles and miles, the wind is serious. Letting the wind just blow is an option, but it brings a second challenge with it, it does blow the snow cover away. Without a snow cover, the ...
Growing Edible Pine Nut Trees
Ever since we learned about edible pine nut trees, we wanted to grow some for ourselves. Most edible pine trees get very tall, so I included them in my permaculture design as a dual-purpose tree. They are part of the shelterbelt, and also of the food supply. We were inspired by the book series ...
Permaculture Design Project
The Permaculture Design Project was my final project for the permaculture design course. I finished it in the spring of last year and got my Permaculture Design Certificate. Summer was busy realizing the design, and as promised we are finely sharing it here on the blog. My goal is to share ...
Gardening 101: Everything You Need to Know to Begin
The article is all about starting a garden to help especially new gardeners to a good start. If you are a new gardener or know someone who wants to learn more about growing food, please feel free to share it with them. "Gardening 101: Everything You Need to Know to Begin" is a collection of blog ...
8 Years of Year-Round Growing in Zone 3 Review
We started with growing a four-season garden before passive solar greenhouses for year-round growing became popular. Instead, we converted part of an old garage into a food production place and experimented with growing food year-round. Here is an honest 8 years of year-round growing in zone 3 ...
Four Season Greenhouse/Growing Room Review
8 years have passed since we started our adventure of building a four-season greenhouse/growing room at the back of our garage, and it's time for an honest review. If you are new here, welcome! Northern Homestead is in Alberta Canada, growing zone 3, 51 latitude parallel north. The ...
How To Grow and Use Ground Cherries (With Recipe)
How to grow and use ground cherries is an older popular blog article that is time to refresh. We included our favorite ground cherry piroshki recipe. Try it and let us know how you like it. Ground cherries, also known as cape gooseberries, are little orange fruits resembling tomatillos, ...
