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, ...
The New Country Garden
Last year in November we purchased a 2-acre country property. We have not shared much about it yet for several reasons but wanted to update you on it over the winter months. Today we start with the new country garden update. Growing a garden away from home is not new to us. We have grown a ...
End of Season Garden Update 2022
We are looking back with gratitude to yet another productive gardening season this Thanksgiving weekend. It also happens to be our 15th anniversary of living in Canada. The beautiful fall weather we are enjoying reminds me of our first fall here. Back then we did not know how rare the warm Octobers ...
A Dozen Ways to Preserve Carrots
After sharing our bountiful harvest last week, the question arose about how to preserve carrots. That's a good question. Here are a dozen ways to preserve carrots. Most of them we are using or have used in the past. Storing carrots in the cellar Carrots are a root crop that stores very well ...
