We got some great questions to go over today! The first is from the Metropolitan Homestead:I’d like to ask how you got started with milking goats and how much daily work they really need. Our girls Daisy (front) and Bella (back) We had been thinking for quite awhile about getting goats but at first we…
We moved into our place in late December, 2008. In January we raced to get in vegetable beds. I used one of those home soil test kits to determine what we needed to do to the soil. According to the tests our soils were slightly acidic but completely deficient in all macro-nutrients. Ok, I’ll buy…
You can definitely tell Fall is coming around here. The beds are slowly starting to get cleared out. Squash plants are dying back. The tomatillos are harvested and pulled out. Kale and lettuce are done. That opens up one entire bed for fall planting. The dry beans are done and will also be pulled out…
Every year I find it helpful to write about the things I’ve learned in the garden so that I can make sure I avoid the same mistakes next year. Plus it helps teach all of you the obstacles I’ve faced so that you can learn what to avoid. So here’s what I’ve learned this year…
Every gardener has a weed that they curse at. For me it used to be Bermuda grass. I hated it. Our last house had a backyard covered with the stuff. If you don’t pull it all up, any little bit would grow and spread like wildfire. But we were able to control it to a…
It’s Watermelon season so I figured now is a great time to teach you how to pick the perfect watermelon whether it’s at the store, farmers’ market or in your own backyard. Most people just grab one out of the bin and hope for the best. But nothing can be more disappointing than a lackluster…
I’m a huge proponent of heirloom and open pollinated (OP) seeds. The difference between them and F1 hybrid seeds is that heirlooms and OP seeds can be saved each year and the offspring will be consistent with the parent plants. F1 hybrids cannot produce similar offspring the following year. Heirloom and OP seeds help keep…
I sent this letter to the mayor, city planner, and city manager of Oak Park, Michigan. If you haven’t heard, the City of Oak Park is threatening Julie Bass with 93 days of jail time for having a very nicely maintained vegetable garden in her front yard instead of lawn. Mrs. Bass and her family…
I’ve got quite a few books on vegetable gardening, some are great, some I wish I had never bought. So to help other gardeners, especially those just starting out, I’ve decided to review some of my books. I’ve included a rating, but for some books, while they are great, they may have a low rating…
Brad from Highly Uncivilized has a fantastic post about making compost tea that he wants to share with us. We haven’t really gotten into making compost tea here because we use our animals as composters, but for those that do make regular compost sans animals this is a fanastic way to increase your soil fertility….
Dog Island Farm is a small urban farm in the San Francisco Bay Area.
