Homestead
From our blog...
Aerial imaging for permaculture
A high resolution, up to date aerial image of the land is very useful for designing, implementing, and maintaining a permaculture system. That's even more so when using a GIS system, since the image will be the base layer for your project most of the time.Freely...
Spring recap
Summer is almost here and nature is doing its thing.Flowering: zinnia (left), sunflower (middle), butterfly bush (right)There's been a whirlwind of work, a lot of it focused on dealing with the wind and watering.Suffering from wind and/or thirst, but hanging on:...
The promise of Spring
Just last year, we kicked-off our reforestation project. Creating a food forest takes time. Not just to implement, in terms of hours of labour, but because Nature has its own rhythms. If you plant a fruit tree in the fall, you can't harvest its fruits the following...
Low stress, no waste sourdough starter maintenance
Baking sourdough bread necessarily involves obtaining and maintaining a starter culture. After experimenting with several ways of doing it, I settled on the lowest effort yet still effective one I found: the NMNF ("No Muss No Fuss") starter, courtesy of dabrownman on...
The wind: a new challenge
After a year and a half of living here, it feels like the wind never stops. Its temperature and intensity vary, but most of the time there is a noticeable breeze. And now, we're learning a new lesson: many of the young trees don't like it.March and April were warm and...
Making Milk Kefir
If you are looking for a recipe, you should get it right away. Milk Kefir benefits and background story are below the recipe. Enjoy!RecipeYou will need:1 liter of milk, preferably whole cow milk, pasteurized but not UHTMilk kefir grains1 jar with at least 1,2L...
Making Olive Leaf Powder
Olives are such special trees. They live long, are full of meaning (religious and not), they have character and make any plot look wonderful. Some people like to let them wild, others prune reasonably, while others are turning them into bonsai projects. In any case,...
Baking adventures
It began with a bread maker. We were happy with the fresh warm bread from Coop but I somehow got it into my mind that homemade would be better. The research for a good bread maker uncovered an intriguing tidbit: many people only ever use their bread maker a couple...
Getting ready for Spring
The Winter has been unexpectedly dry, but it has been cold, particularly at night, hovering 0ºC. Some plants are showing bugs and blossoms, or new leaves. The ground cover has taken on very well in some parts of the plot, although some areas still present a very...
(Not quite) Instant Garden to kick off the growing season
We are totally sold on no-tilling and avoid disturbing the soil as much as possible. We believe that it helps the soil life thrive and while we don't get fertility boosts, we benefit from a steady soil growth, season by season. To support this ongoing improvement, we...