Autumn gives you almost everything you need to start a compost heap for free. Fallen leaves, spent vegetable plants, grass clippings, and kitchen peelings are all useful ingredients. The trick is mixing them properly instead of tipping everything into a bin and hoping for the best. I always prefer a compost system that’s easy to
Start an Autumn Compost Heap With What Your Garden Already Gives You Read More »
Butternut squash is one of those crops I want to get every possible meal from. After months of growing and keeping an eye on the vines, the last thing you want is to lose your harvest to an overnight frost or find a rotten squash at the bottom of a storage box in December. The
Before the First Frost: How to Harvest, Cure and Store Butternut Squash Read More »
Fallen leaves are one of the best free resources your garden gets all year, and I hate seeing them stuffed into bags and hauled away. Some are best left exactly where they fall. Others are worth moving onto bare beds, chopping up with the mower, or turning into beautiful, crumbly leaf mold. You don’t have
Which Autumn Leaves Should You Leave, Shred or Turn Into Leaf Mould? Read More »
Every December, my house smells like pine needles, gingerbread, and old stories. And a surprising number of those stories came from yard sales and thrift stores. Forgotten ornaments in dusty boxes, heavy glass baubles from the ‘50s, old tin Santas that used to hang over somebody else’s fireplace. Weird creepy plastic Santas and those adorable
15 Tips for Finding Vintage Christmas Decor at Yard Sales and Thrift Stores Read More »
Every year I swear I won’t buy any more junky holiday decor. And then I’m standing in the living room at 10 p.m. in December, holding a dead string of lights and a crumpled plastic wreath, wondering why I did this to myself again. Here’s the secret: most of the cheap stuff isn’t actually cheap.
I’m a day late, but I’m putting out my roundup of this week’s best ALDI Finds food deals, and they are peak Christmas season deliciousness! Panettone, brioche Christmas trees, party bites, hot cocoa everything. I went through the current “This Week’s ALDI Finds” and pulled out 30 food deals that are actually worth tossing in
30 Bargain ALDI Food Deals for Dec 3 to Dec 12 Read More »
There’s nothing like opening the old ornament box and getting hit with that mix of cardboard, dust, and memory. The glass birds with half-rubbed tails. The faded pink balls. The one slightly creepy Santa who’s been on every tree since before you were born. They’re not just decorations. They’re family history hanging on a bit
How To Care For Your Grandma’s Vintage Christmas Ornaments So They Last For Generations Read More »
By the time December rolls around, most gardens look sleepy and done. But under all that quiet, you’ve still got a lot of power to shape how next year goes. I’m a master gardener who specializes in organic growing and permaculture. It’s how I keep my garden and the environemnt around me healhy and safe,
12 Winter Garden Tasks You Should Finish Before January Read More »
Christmas doesn’t sneak up.The prices do. Once the holiday rush starts, demand spikes and so do a lot of prices, especially on food, toys, shipping, and anything “gift-y.” Retailers lean on dynamic pricing and seasonal markups, while carriers add peak surcharges on parcels and raise base rates. Food-at-home prices are still creeping up year over
50 things to stock up on now, before the Christmas price hikes Read More »
I don’t normally write posts like this, but today is different. Building multiple revenue streams is super-important to me, because I firmly believe that a huge part of preparedness and self-reliance is resiliency. And that includes financial resilience. I want to know that if I lose one income stream tomorrow, my family will be okay
You know those dusty cardboard boxes in the attic that you inherited and you swear you’ll “go through next year”? Some of that old Christmas junk might actually be paying your winter heating bill. Or a chunk of your mortgage. Or at least your holiday grocery run. I have mixed feelings. Reselling or flipping thrift
18 Pieces of Vintage Christmas Décor That Could Be Worth a Bundle Read More »
Keeping it cozy, seasonal, and doable, these Thanksgiving treats lean on pumpkin, apples, cranberries, sweet potato, and plenty of warm spice. Perfect for a real-life, make-it-work kitchen (aka yours), whether you’re baking ahead or bringing “just dessert.” 1. Apple Spice Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting Soft, spiced, and topped with creamy buttercream, these apple cupcakes taste
15 Cozy Thanksgiving Desserts to Sweeten the Season Read More »
