Search Results for: label/seeds

181 results

Roundin’ up the Summer Urban Homesteading Disasters

Mr. Homegrown
Bread, Food, Gardening, Mistakes, Vegetable Gardening
16 Comments
...I carefully propagated from seed and transplanted to richly amended vegetable beds, or the ones that sprouted randomly in compacted soil? You guessed it, the ones that grew on their own. Moral: nature knows best when to start seeds and where to plant them than us homo sapiens. Maybe there is something to that permaculture thing . . .  Our Hameau de la Reine This summer the garden generally looked like hell. It thrives during our mild winter and...

Continue reading…

We sometimes make mistakes . . .

Mr. Homegrown
Seeds
RLeave a comment
Some time ago we printed the wrong email address for Franchi seed distributor Craig Ruggless. His correct email address is: franchiseeds@sbcglobal.net. Send him a note and he’ll send you a catalog. Check out Craig’s blog here or drop by his booth at the Sierra Madre farmer’s market on Wednesdays. We’ve been using Franchi seeds for years and have been consistently impressed with the results....

Continue reading…

Tomato Report: Blush

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Tomatoes, Vegetable Gardening
RLeave a comment
I think I’ve tasted my new favorite tomato variety: Blush. I got to tuck into a box of these delicious tomatoes at the farm of Shu and Debbie Takikawa near Los Olivos. Yellow with red streaks, Blush tomatoes have the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. The blush tomato was developed by geneticist and tomato geek Fred Hempel and are available via Seeds of Change. Due to a series of gardening blunders that I’ll blog about at s...

Continue reading…

L’hamd markad – Preserved Salted Lemons

Mr. Homegrown
Fermentation, Food
2 Comments
...m until no space is left and lemon juice rises to the top. Lemons must be covered with juice at all times, so add lemon juice if necessary. Seal and set aside in dark place. Keep for 4 to 6 weeks before using. To use, discard seeds, and rinse lightly if necessary. Once opened, store in refrigerator where they will keep up to 6 months. In the photo you will see that we added some spices to our lemons. This is an optional thing. A traditonal spice...

Continue reading…

Why we love fennel

Mrs. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
10 Comments
...high, to say that we love it, because it is hardy and beautiful and grows with no water and no encouragement. Feral fennel bulbs aren’t as good as cultivated bulbs for eating, but we eat the flowers, the fronds and the seeds from these wild stands. But the real reason we let it grow is because fennel attracts more beneficial insects than any other plant, native or imported, that we’ve ever grown in our yard. It’s impossible to...

Continue reading…

Growing Greens Under Fruit Trees

Mr. Homegrown
Fruit Trees, Garden Design, Gardening, Permaculture, Vegetable Gardening
9 Comments
...  vetch calendula cabbage Except for the vetch, which helps build soil, all are edible and nutritious. It was grown with almost no supplemental water. Labor involved removing unwanted grasses in the first year and spreading seeds. And all of these plants readily reseed themselves. Depending on your climate, the plants you use for this strategy could vary, but the idea is the same: select hardy, reseeding greens that take little or no care. Wee...

Continue reading…

Injera

Mr. Homegrown
Bread, Fermentation, Food
2 Comments
...lled injera. Injera is made by fermenting overnight a mixture of sourdough starter, whole wheat flour, water, salt and teff flour. Teff is an extremely fine grain grown in Africa. It’s so tiny in fact that a handful of seeds is enough to plant a small farm. Teff is grown in the US by the Teff Company of Caldwell Idaho and is available (though somewhat expensive) at Whole Foods via Bob’s Red Mill. The teff growing folks claim that the...

Continue reading…

Fava Fava Fava

Mr. Homegrown
Gardening, Vegetable Gardening
8 Comments
Fava bean mania has descended upon the Homegrown Evolution compound this spring. I can’t say enough good things about fava beans (Vicia fava): they taste good, the plant fixes nitrogen into the soil, making it an ideal cover crop, and it’s attractive. If harvested small you can eat fava raw but I prefer to remove the skins and briefly boil the seeds (around five minutes). Once boiled, fava can be used in a variety of dishes from soup...

Continue reading…

Our Books

...ity dwellers, this copiously illustrated, two-color instruction book proposes a paradigm shift that will improve our lives, our community, and our planet. By growing our own food and harnessing natural energy, we are planting seeds for the future of our cities. What’s the difference between these books? We get this question a lot. The Urban Homestead has projects in it, but overall it is more of an inspirational book, a book to get you th...

Continue reading…

Native Plant Workshop

Mr. Homegrown
Events, Native Plants
3 Comments
...non-profit organization, the Green Beacon Foundation is hosting a native plant talk and demonstration conducted by Lisa Novick of the Theodore Payne Foundation. Theodore Payne is a great resource for finding native plants and seeds and, in Southern California, now is the time to get those natives in the ground. Here’s the 411 on the workshop: “The Green Beacon Foundation (GBF) located in historic Elysian Heights serves as a community...

Continue reading…