Composting is like nature's recycling program, but it has a bit of a love-hate relationship with winter. You see, compost needs heat to do its magic. If it's not steaming hot before the temperature drops below freezing, your composting materials will just freeze. In that case, we're not composting ...
Do food growers need nutritional supplements?
Northern Homestead focuses on growing, preserving, and preparing nutritious food. Despite our cold climate and short growing season, we strive to have homegrown food year-round. We do not claim to be self-sufficient; instead, we enhance our diet with high-quality food in ways we can. A ...
Preparing Fruit Trees for Winter in a Cold Climate
Preparing fruit trees for winter in a cold climate is essential. We cultivate cold-hardy fruit trees in our cold climate (Zone 3). However, young trees may not have experienced a true cold winter yet, depending on their origin. We cover what qualifies as a cold-hardy tree and provide some reliable ...
End-of-Season Garden Update for 2024
The year 2024 has likely been the most challenging yet. While the gardening season in 2023 was difficult due to rough weather, 2024 has posed health challenges. I wasn't even sure if we would have a garden in the spring. Looking back, I think we should have kept our gardening efforts to a minimum. ...
Preparing the Garden for Winter in a Cold Climate
Preparing the garden for winter in a cold climate is essential for the soil and perennial plants. Since we are in Zone 3, winter temperatures can drop to -40 degrees. Although this extreme cold doesn't happen often in our area, it can occur after a warm spell when most snow melts. Therefore, ...
Repairing a Geodesic Dome Greenhouse
One advantage of a geodesic dome greenhouse is that it can be easily constructed. However, this also comes with a weakness: It requires regular maintenance and repairs. The dome is built using struts that are typically 1-2 inches thick and 2-4 inches wide, which can be susceptible to rot. Like other ...
Using rocks to build raised beds and borders in the garden
Building raised garden beds and creating pathways and borders helps us to get the most out of a small urban garden space. There are many different materials to choose from. Today, we are looking into the pros and cons of using rocks to build raised beds and borders in the garden. Why use ...
Growing Aronia and Goji Berries in an Urban Garden
Growing berries in an urban cold-climate garden is a great idea, we have grown many of them. When it comes to the antioxidant scale, two stand out as superberries, scoring up to 10 times higher than the rest of the delicious berries that can be grown. These two are Aronia and Goji Berries. If space ...
Ten Years Yard-to-Garden Initiative Update
After ten years of our yard-to-garden initiative, we are evaluating what has been successful and what may need to be changed. We are discussing an urban yard in Alberta, Canada, which is in growing zone 3. We are applying permaculture principles, cultivating annuals and perennials in a somewhat wild ...
Simple DIY Solar Food Dehydrator
Dehydrating food is a great method for preserving it, especially in our sunny climate, where it makes sense to utilize solar energy for this purpose. A simple DIY solar food dehydrator does the job beautifully. In this blog article, we share how we built one. Material needed A recycled window (in ...
