What Is Alder

But farmers hold the unique qualities of embracing their callings, living them out passionately and always being true to the core of who they are. However, as most of the country experienced this year, the tough winter left many of her established plants...

You can start an epidemic. When I think about the most influential people in my life, they vary quite drastically in personality—some seem to have boundless energy while others approach each day with easy, pensive strides—but each has one characteristic...

A few weeks later in mid-spring, the soil in the huegelkultur beds was up to 78 degrees Fahrenheit, which is very warm for Seattle in April. Moisture Retention As cellulose- and lignin-eating fungi act upon the woody base material, the logs and branches...

(As did the giant pot of chili I made Monday night; my mother always said there was no better food in winter than a steaming bowl of soup.) Lo and behold, the polar vortex eventually gave way to “normal” January temperatures across the country—Lexington...

Complementary therapies are things like herbs, Reiki, massage, chiropractic adjustments and homeopathic remedies. Send me your question! Please keep in mind that I receive a lot of questions, so I won't always be able to answer each one immediately.

If pets have access to garden areas where winterberry is grown, consider removing branches that put fruit at their mouth level. Tolerance to caffeine is different for everyone, so amounts necessary to produce adverse symptoms vary from person to person.

Keep your eyes on hatchery catalogs, and before you know it, you'll be raising those Lakenvelders you always dreamed of. So, instead of feeling guilty the next time you catch yourself in an agricultural daydream as you're tilling the garden or mucking...

Angelica's Cousin Ashitaba, Angelica keiskei koidzumi is Japanese for “tomorrow's leaf,” and it's called this because it is such a fast grower that it can grow a new leaf overnight to replace the one you picked today.

While the leaf-footed bug family is composed of several closely related species, these insect pests all use their piercing sucking mouthparts to feed on our favorite foods, like tomatoes , a range of vegetables, nut crops, and several fruit species.

Soil that is ready for planting is easy to dig and yields to your shovel. Digging frozen soil is hard work and the minute you realize you are working way too hard just to turn up the soil is the time to put the shovel down and exercise some patience.There...

With a little TLC seed treatment, damping off will be a thing of the past. Infected plants often have sunken lesions on the stem at or below the soil line.Various practices may be helpful in reducing the amount of damping off infection.

Unless you make your own compost do you really know what your compost contains? Compost is often referred to as "Black Gold," and indeed it can play a key role in adding organic material and nutrients to the soil.

Another is to add some butter between the skin over the breast and the breast itself. Turkey is traditional holiday fare for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners in households across the U.S. and Canada, with over 280 million turkeys produced each year.

Moreover, dried laurel leaves don't have a short expiration date - about one to three years. Let me explain.In 1994, my husband and I had the opportunity to open a small grocery store at his grandparents' former house after they died.

Better known as Dracaena sanderiana, this plant is a fixture in many households.Connoisseurs agree that not all bamboo is created equally.Lucky bamboo, also known as "Belgian evergreen," is a woody shrub with shiny green leaves.

This is also true in the home garden, as demonstrated by the demise of photinia (Photinia x fraseri, USDA zones 8 through 9) and Leyland cypress (x Cupressocyparis leylandii, USDA zones 6 through 10).Gardeners know soil is more than the dirt beneath their...

By remaining unsown, the ground rests and fertility can be restored. Fields supported by chemical fertilizers were left in constant production, but soil health suffered. Each plant species leeches something from the soil while giving something else back.

Okoume lumber has little resistance to insect and fungal attack.Okoume accepts stain and glue very well but, even though soft, is only moderately easy to work by turning, carving, cutting or planing.

Or maybe I should just wait for a car with an open window to stop on our corner. I asked two farmer friends to take him in, and both kindly declined. The trouble is, he's starting to get a bit aggressive, and we've discovered that roosters and preschoolers...

When I was growing up, I was a pretty picky eater. —Robert South « More Farm Inspiration » Tags farm inspiration , food , Robert South quote , vegetables (By this point, it's doubtful that I'll ever come around to beets, fennel or especially coconuts.)...

Aphids on outdoor plants can be pesky as well. Locate it in full sun and in neutral, well-draining soil. Water sparingly and only at the base of the plant to prevent fungal diseases such as leaf spot and root rot.

Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is a base because in solution it dissolves to form Na+ and OH- ions.The pH scale was developed to provide an easy numerical description of acidity and alkalinity.

Cover crops are typically sown in the fall and turned under in the spring before planting. Get Mulching! Mulch should never touch the stems of plants as it can cause disease. Mulch Improves Diversity and Soil Health: It protects soil organisms , like...

« More Restore Farmhouse Order» Tags farmhouse , insulation Instead of choosing the cheapest company, we chose one priced middle of the road because it was both informative and flexible with our budget.

The difference between them should be obvious from the start. Tags Chicken Quarters When I ordered my most recent batch of chicks, I resized photos from My Pet Chicken (where my flock originated), and then I pasted chick photo next to the hen photo for...

If the top part of the sugar cane is cut but the roots remain intact, the plant will regrow from where it was cut. The leftover juice is sold as molasses.Along with making sugar, sugar cane roots and stems are used to treat skin and urinary tract infections.

The carefree vinca provides color all summer in flowerpots and the garden. Originating in Madagascar, this tropical plant will often naturalize in warm climate zones. If you want to fertilize your plant or plants, use a granular or water-soluble fertilizer...