Modern Rustic: The Complete Homesteading Guide

(5 Books in 1)

1. Starting a Homestead

2. Raising Chickens, Goats and Pigs

3. Self-Sufficiency Skills

4. Gardening and Greenhouses

5. Starting an Orchard

(Bonus Book)

Growing and Cooking Your Own Herbs

Eric Beuning

Copyright 2014 Stephen McDonald

Table of Contents

Book 1:  Starting a Homestead

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Finding the right place for you

Where to look

Planning your budget

Existing house on a developed property versus raw land

Chapter 2 – What to look for

Slope and elevation

Available water

Chapter 3 –Amenities

Waste Disposal

Outhouse

Septic system

Power

Backup generator

Running power to raw land

Going off the grid

Entertainment, phone and internet

Chapter 4 – Heating options

Fireplace

Fuel oil

Electric heat

Propane or natural gas

Wood heat

Wood stove

Wood burning furnace

Outdoor wood boiler

Conclusion

Book 2:  Raising Animals for Self-Sufficiency

Introduction

Chapter 1 –Chickens

The Value of Raising Chickens

A chicken’s value in eggs

A chicken’s value in manure

A chicken’s value as meat

Total value of a single chicken

Raising Chickens

Sourcing chicks

Incubating

Brooding

Feeding and watering

Heat

Understanding a chicken coop

Butchering a chicken

Chapter 2 – Raising Goats

Milk Goats

Milk Goat Breeds

Keeping Milk Goats

How to milk a goat

The value of keeping a milk goat

Cost to keep a milk goat

Meat Goats

Breeding Goats

Butchering a goat

Chapter 3 – Raising Pigs

The Cost of Raising a Pig

The Value of Raising a Pig

Raising and Butchering Pigs

Fencing and shelter

Butchering

Conclusion

Book 3:  Homesteading and Self-Sufficiency Skills and Equipment

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Vehicles and equipment

Wheelbarrow

Handcart (dolly)

Sled

Lawnmowers

Snow blower

ATV

4-wheel drive truck

Finding the right plow

Skid loader or Bobcat

Chapter 2 – Firewood

Cutting wood

How to sharpen a chain

Logging the trunk

Splitting wood

The proper swing

Stacking wood

Making charcoal

Chapter 3 – Composting

Compost materials

Building a compost bin

Chapter 4 – Fencing

How not to build a fence

Choosing fencing tools and materials

Founding a wooden fence post

Installing a metal fence post

Installing a snow fence

Installing a garden fence

Chapter 5 – Making a rain barrel

Chapter 6 – Using important homesteading appliances

Chest freezer

Meat grinder

Sausage stuffer

Dehydrator

Canning equipment

Chapter 7 – Paying the bills

Conclusion

Book 4:  Greenhouses and Gardening

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Choosing the Right Greenhouse

Cold frame

Hoop house

Attached or lean-to greenhouse

Free standing greenhouse

Heating

Calculating your heating needs

Heating methods

Water

Ventilation

Screening and shades

Choosing between polycarbonate or glass

Should I buy or build myself?

Chapter 2 – Greenhouse Pests and Potential Problems

Chapter 3 – Setting up Your Seedlings

Seed Starting Kits

Location

Choosing, installing and using grow lights

Preparing and planting your seed plugs

Seedling Pots

Size

Potting Soil

Chapter 4 – Preparing the Garden and Planting

Testing the soil

Improving the soil

Planting and preparing your plants for life outside

Chapter 5 – Understanding Heirloom Seeds

Chapter 6 – Heirloom Vegetable Recommendations

Beans

Beets

Cabbage

Carrots

Corn

Cucumber

Garlic

Lettuce and salad greens

Onions

Peppers

Potatoes

Squash

Tomatoes

Chapter 7 – Conclusion

Book 5:  Starting an Orchard

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Planning your new orchard

Sun

Drainage

pH

Chapter 2 – Picking what you want to plant

Size matters

Pollination needs consideration

Plan for harvest time

Chapter 3 – Finding quality plants

Bareroot

Container grown

Chapter 4 – Caring for your plants

Watering

Pruning

Training

Chapter 5 – Dealing with diseases and common pests

Preventing insect pests

Dealing with animal problems

Chapter 6 – Berries and grapes

Blackberries

Blueberries

Elderberries

Gooseberries and currants

Raspberries

Strawberries

Grapes

Chapter 7 – Fruit trees

Apples

Cherries

Pawpaw

Peaches and Nectarines

Pears

Plums

Chapter 8 – Nut trees

Chestnuts

Hazelnuts

Walnuts and Butternuts

Conclusion

What would I recommend you buy?

Final thoughts

Bonus Book:  Growing and Cooking Your Own Herbs

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Choosing the right equipment

Chapter 2 – Get ready, set grow

Chapter 3 – Beloved Basil

Chapter 4 – Cherish the Chives

Chapter 5 – Save room for Cilantro

Chapter 6 – Don’t forget about Dill

Chapter 7 – Be mindful of Mint

Chapter 8 – The olfactory magic of Oregano

Chapter 9 – Parsley is the perfect partner

Chapter 10 – Get rambunctious with Rosemary

Chapter 11 – Seduced by Sage

Chapter 12 – Don’t be timid about Tarragon

Chapter 13 – Tempted by Thyme

Chapter 14 – Conclusion

Book 1:
Starting a Homestead

A Guide to Buying Property and Moving Toward Self-Sufficiency

Eric Beuning

Introduction

I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them. And work which one hopes may be of some use. Then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor. Such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children perhaps. What more can the heart of a man desire?   -Leo Tolstoy

In the wake of the great recession the “do-it-yourself” ethic has grown in popularity. At the core of the DIY ethic is the idea that an individual is capable of doing many jobs without the need of a specialist. For some people this is a cost savings measure that helps make ends meet in lean times. For example, why spend 10 dollars at a car wash when you can clean your car at home for free?

For some people this idea is expanded from just a simple way to meet your needs on the cheap. They look out at a grocery store filled with processed foods, genetically modified produce, farm raised fish dripping with antibiotics and meats that have been enhanced with injected fluids from animals that spent their lives pumped full of industrial strength hormones.  They see this nightmare and long for a way to defy it.

For some people this itch is scratched by keeping a small garden out back and a deft eye for organically grown produce at the farmer’s market. Still others might take up hunting, fishing or trapping as a hobby. For all of these people, learning new skills and developing new experiences becomes a passion.

There are some, like myself, who find there is a thing in the blood which calls us to forsake the city and seek out a new future for ourselves in the wide open skies of the country. We are enticed to explore a lifestyle made by our own hands. We long to breathe easy in rural life.

This trend of people moving from life in the city to life in the country has recently adopted the term Homesteading. This is a little bit of a misnomer, in that homesteading usually refers to people who have claimed a property under the now defunct Homestead Act. The Homestead Act originally started in 1862 as an extension of Manifest Destiny. It allowed settlers to claim tracts of land to farm as they saw fit. Usually the land was purchased from the public domain for only a tiny sum of money.  So long as you lived and worked on the land it was yours. The Homestead Act officially ended in 1976 when property values started their rise towards the ridiculous heights of the real estate bubble.

Now homesteading has come to identify a way of life that combines subsistence farming with other aspects such as hunting and animal husbandry in a way that reduces or removes one’s dependence on the fickle supply systems of the modern world.

The dependency footprint

There are a lot of news and science programs on TV that talk about how each of us has a carbon footprint. The idea behind a carbon footprint is that each of us consumes products made from fossil fuels and this emits a certain amount of carbon into the atmosphere or soil. When you add all of this up it creates your personal carbon footprint.

There are some people who are concerned about their carbon footprint. They do things to reduce their personal carbon footprint such as driving hybrid cars, installing solar panels and recycling as much as possible. They create a network of ideas and practices that reduce their carbon consumer need.

In my mind the dependency footprint is essentially a larger version of the carbon footprint. The more you depend on the convenient systems of the civilized world for meat, vegetables, energy and infrastructure, the larger your dependency footprint.

The reality is we live in a country where the average person is more dependent on the system for their way of life than a heroin addict is on the milk of the poppy.  Food travels an average of 1400 miles across America before it finds its way to your grocery store, restaurant or kitchen table.

Think about that the next time you tuck into a hamburger. The meat probably came from the central southern states like Texas or Oklahoma before reaching a processor who broke it down into the primal cuts. Those cuts were then cryo-bagged before being loaded onto refrigerated rail cars or trailers to be shipped across the face of the continent. Still farther away that meat could have arrived here on freighter ships from rainforest slashed pastures in South America.

The system for grains and produce in America is even more stressed than the long term shipping problems that inflate the prices of meat. Most produce in America comes from the Central Valley of California, the Emerald Valley of Southern California or the Mid-Atlantic states.  All three of these areas are under stress from successive seasonal droughts or are dependent on river systems that struggle to meet irrigation needs.

Even more disturbing is the modern state of grain in America.  Much of the grain grown in the United States comes from the Midwest. These fields are irrigated by the rivers and tributaries of the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers. All three of these river systems struggle against annual drought conditions and the demands of population growth. 

Worse still is the state of the Ogallala Aquifer which spans from central South Dakota covering, Nebraska, Kansas and all the way down to Northern Texas. This aquifer irrigates a large number of grain fields and cattle stock yards. The water in the aquifer is a onetime gift of the glaciers. Every year we pump more water out of these aquifers than even record rain fall can ever hope to replenish.

Now you might hear these things and think that I’m spreading doom and gloom. You might think that any minute now I’ll put on a tinfoil hat, stock up my basement with ramen noodles and load up my Burt Gummer arsenal to prepare for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to paint a picture of a world where you wake up tomorrow to find the streets full of the undead wandering around carrying overpriced cans of spam and sacks of half rotten peaches as they scour the barren Earth.

The bottom line reality is that before World War II and the Great Depression we were a nation that fed itself largely through localized agriculture. Sure meats and produce were still driven from southern regions to feed northern cities, but the degree to which the population was exclusively dependent on these sources was much smaller than it is today.

We now face an over complicated system of food and transportation infrastructure that is becoming ever more expensive to produce and maintain. While at the same time the increasing cost of oil and gas drive up the transportation prices of these goods.

Eventually these issues will grow larger and larger in the political arena. How they are dealt with on a government scale is yet to be seen and isn’t germane to the topic of homesteading. The more people depend on themselves to provide their food, goods and services, the smaller their dependency footprint becomes. As everyone’s dependency footprint becomes smaller, the less stress there will be on those food, water and transportation systems. In theory this means the cost to produce these goods will go down, which reduces prices and improves quality of life.

Self-dependence is the core philosophy of the new homesteading lifestyle. While it’s hard to be completely self-dependent, it is a simple truth that the more you do for yourself, the more you have for yourself.

In the chapters to come we will look at how to choose the right property for your needs as well as heating, waste and power needs to consider.

Chapter 1 – Finding the right place for you

I love my property. I got a great deal on a fully remodeled house deep in the country in Northern Minnesota. The house was fully finished and came with heat, water and septic already in place. The 10 acres of land has a stand of oaks and pine along with several mature fruit trees. There was already a small barn and modest garden with ample space for me to expand. However, this sort of a setup doesn’t usually happen overnight.

Moving forward we will assume that you want to build completely from raw land. While this might not be the case it will none-the-less help you identify certain things that help clarify your vision for the ideal property.

I live in Northern Minnesota, so please understand that my advice and perspective comes from my experiences with four distinct seasons. While this will offer a well-rounded approach, you should be mindful of your own regional climate.

Where to look

The first question you have to ask yourself is how far out do you really want to be? Sure there is this romantic notion of a guy living off the land deep in the wilderness. You could sit around all day in your fortress of solitude, watching the vegetables ripen as you read the collective works of the world’s greatest poets and philosophers.  This is all fine and good, until you have to back pack out and drive three hours to get to a dentist. God help you if you snap a fan belt on the truck a half hour before sundown!

The reality is you cannot ever possibly be prepared for everything and there are always going to be specific requirements like adequate medical care that factor in. 

In my opinion you want to be within a 30 to 60 minute drive of a town with a quality hospital, a hardware store with reasonably priced lumber, a basic auto parts store and a vibrant farmer’s market or basic grocery store. These are the four stores that are your most likely destinations for what my wife and I call “A Town Run.”

If you can keep yourself within reasonable range of health care, tools, parts, lumber and food items you can’t grow yourself, then you can pretty much improvise the rest.  With all of the fancy mapping software available on the internet these days you should be able narrow down your search.

If you are planning to have children or already have school age children you might also want to factor in the quality of nearby schools or do a thorough investigation of your state’s homeschooling requirements.

Planning your budget

Now I can’t simply assume you’ve got a goose that lays golden eggs and a captive Leprechaun stashed in your back closet. Realistically your budget is a big deal. Banks honestly aren’t looking to offer easy financing to someone who wants to use the property to live off the land.

Of course every real estate market is different. So I can’t just tell you what a certain feature is worth in your area.  What I can do is point out certain things that can either help or hinder your efforts. In some cases it’s simply a matter of dedicating a little more money from the budget to allow for some creative problems solving.

Existing house on a developed property versus raw land

This can be a lot to wrap your head around. The advantage of buying a piece of property that has been developed with a house already standing on it is that you will achieve a smaller dependency footprint sooner than if you clear the land and build a house. It unfortunately means you are going to have to accept someone else’s choices in how the land was developed and what kind of amenities the house and barn have.

The advantage of buying a piece of raw land is that, so long as you have the finances to do it, you can develop your property to match your vision. As a general rule of thumb you should assume that it will take you five years of busting your butt black and blue to develop a piece of raw land before you see your vision begin to bear fruit.

Let’s take a look at the land. I have a 10 acre property. Of those 10 acres 5 are heavily wooded, 2 acres are lightly wooded with burr oak and fruit trees. The rest is garden, open orchard, driveway and barn. In my case the heavy woods is actually on the border of a much larger public forest which expands out from a state preserve, giving me extended hunting range.  It also gives me access to a large amount of native wildlife and educational nature hikes with my daughter. For me hunting plays an important role in my homesteading lifestyle. I understand that this is a controversial topic for some people. If you are not someone who intends to hunt, a property with available hunting land might not fit your vision.

If I was not interested in hunting and forested nature walks with my daughter I would suggest seeking more open land for a fruit orchard. Once established, orchards require only a modest amount of maintenance for a large yield.

I have a friend who purchased 30 acres of raw land at a great price per acre. The savings allowed him to build his dream home. The only hitch in the plan was how long it took him to get set up. He was wise enough to realize that it would take him an entire summer to clear the land for the house and barn.  So he factored in an extra $5,000 for a beat up old trailer house to be parked on the property.

The weather was kind to him that summer and he even managed to get the foundation for the house dug. He managed to pour the floor, block the walls and get a heavy covering of plywood over the foundation before the snow fell. All in all it was a productive first year for a guy who was working largely on his own, while still holding down a day job!

While I doubt he will ever admit it openly, I think that first winter in the trailer was hard on him. We didn’t get a lot of snow that year, without the insulation of the snow on the ground the soil froze deep. There was a real threat that the deep freeze could damage the young foundation. So he burned 5 days of vacation time to install a rudimentary wood stove in the foundation which he kept fed so it would be protected from the cracking that can arise from deep freeze.

The next year his prefabricated home arrived in sections shortly after the road weight restrictions were lifted. Since he is a ridiculously handy person he decided to save money and finish the interior himself.  This saved him something around $15,000.

It still turned out to be a lot more work than he expected. He ultimately spent an extra $3,000 by hiring laborers to help him finish the master bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. He was able to spend that second winter in relative comfort, working inside the house at his own pace to finish the interior.

His third year was all about the barn. His original plan was for a barn made of cordwood. The idea behind cord wood construction is that you use the split logs from fallen trees like bricks. The wood needs to come from rot resistant trees. In his case it was a stand of old cedar he had cleared. The wood needs to be seasoned, or dried, for at least two years in order to keep it from shrinking in the cement mortar.

This had been his genius plan from day one. It’s why he logged the cedars to the same 20 inch uniform width in every single log! He even tried to split them into perfect quarters so they would fit together with more visual appeal in the final wall. The only thing he didn’t account for was just how much wood he would need to burn through those first two winters. He ultimately had to steal from the cordwood barn pile in order to keep the house and foundation warm all that time.

His first ingenious solution was to use field stone for the walls. I mean in theory every farm field has a pile of old stones mounded in a corner of the field. They are generally of no use to the farmer. In theory you should be able to just grab as much as you want for free.

The unfortunate reality is that in the spring time any farmer worth his salt is busy and running around at a break neck pace getting fertilizing, plowing and planting from sun up until sundown. They’re pretty hard to get a hold of. This is right up until you start poking around their fields looking for rock piles that you can help yourself to. Then they start to show up with shotguns and angry looks.

After two weeks of random conversations with the local farmers, he secured for himself a few rock piles that could do the job. At that time he and I both drove the similar Ford F150 pickup trucks. On paper the maximum payload capacity of the rear leaf springs was 3,800 pounds.

While that might sound like a lot on paper, you also have to remember that rocks are really heavy. Loading the box up to 3,800 pounds flattens the rear leaf springs so that they are parallel to the curvature of the Earth. Every speed bump causes heart palpitations and your butt cheeks bite the seat if you’re foolish enough to drive into a small pot hole.

After that first load nearly put him in the cardiac ward, his loads started getting smaller and smaller. He was probably only averaging 2,000 pounds per load just to let him sleep at night. At the end of the endeavor it took him 27 trips with his pickup truck to amass a large enough mountain of field stone that could build the barn of his dreams.

At that point he was also 5 weeks behind his original time line. His body was physically beat to hell and he needed a solid week of sitting on the couch and sleeping in just to get his body back into fighting shape. During that six week span one of his neighbors had poured the footings and completely assembled the shell of a barn made from sheet tin and refurbished lumber.

In order to get back on track he had to dip into his now shallow slush fund to hire some general laborers. It ultimately set him back another $3,000 in pay checks and meals for four guys for four weeks in order to get the stone walls assembled and cured well enough that he could start work on the roof. While he’d never admit it, I suspect at this point he had some doubts about his vision starting to settle in. At that point he was too far in to pull out and his dream of a stone walled dairy barn was within sight!

Now my friend’s version of the homesteading lifestyle slants more towards something akin to the old fashioned dairy farm. He prefers to be the direct master of his meats and dairy products. This is a product of his concerns about hormones and antibiotics. He prefers to trade his surplus meat and milk for the vegetables he wants. He is also more willing to risk that his vegetables are treated with pesticides than his meat with hormones.

I base more of my vision towards fruits and vegetables, preferring to source meat from local ranches, country butchers and hunting. I am also an accomplished cook, making almost all of my family’s meals from scratch. Being able to grow my own fruits and vegetables allows me to grow unique items you can’t really find at a grocery store or farmer’s market.

At the end of the day it is six of one, a half dozen of the other.

The point to pay attention to here is that he had a vision, he had a plan and he was prepared to bust his butt for over two years. He still ended up behind and over budget. I’m not saying that he chose poorly or was unprepared in the least. Merely that this lifestyle is one based on resourcefulness and the ability to adapt to all of the random changes that appear along the way.

If you base your budget on the notion that you can plan everything perfectly and not have any surprises and you max out your credit, then chances are good that you will end up in a hole deeper than your check book can dig you out of.

Chapter 2 – What to look for

When looking the property over for the first time, be mindful of the local weather through the seasons and the effect it could have on the land as well as your lifestyle. For example, my current property has a very long driveway with a mature stand of pines on the east side and a wide open windswept field on the west. In Minnesota the harshest winds and weather strike from the west.

I knew from the first second I saw it that I was going to have problems with straight line winds in the summer and snow drifting issues in the winter. The property was such a good deal and such a rare opportunity that I convinced myself that an intelligently placed snow fence and a bit of luck would spare me some headaches.

The unfortunately reality is that it only takes 4 or 5 snow storms or ground blizzard events in the winter to bury the 4 foot snow fence. Once it reaches the top I spend the rest of the winter lamenting how a single inch of snow and a modest wind will roar across the field and seal the driveway shut.  In the summer straight line winds have killed two trees and damaged three others. 

Now I’m not saying that I should have passed on the property just because of this exposed driveway problem. It still stands that it was a great deal. It’s a beautiful piece of land that in most other ways meets my needs.

What I should have done, and what you should do, is consider how a situation like this will affect your budget. In my case I should have allowed for another $10,000 in my initial budget for a plow truck, a blade, the snow fence and some small pine trees for a buffer.

Slope and elevation

Another major thing to consider is the change in elevation across a property and what you intend to do with each area. This is a factor because cold air settles down hill. The Southwestern corner of my property is 50 feet higher than it is on the Northeastern corner. Luckily my 5,000 square foot, primary garden and my primary orchard are in this warmer Southwest corner. The center of the lot is at the same level as the garden. Then it drops down gradually allowing the house to be a lower level walk out.

At the base of what has become my daughter’s favorite sledding hill, is a stand of mature apple trees planted by the previous owner. These apple trees always flower a week later than their warmer contemporaries up the hill by the garden. If a freak cold snap comes through in late spring it usually has little impact on the fruit trees near the garden, but it always hits the apple trees at the bottom of the hill hard!

Still farther downhill past the stand of pines, there is a gorgeous clearing ringed by oaks, butternut, black walnut and sugar maple. All of these hardwoods are cold hardy and their pollination needs all happen in late spring. When I walk down there I can see the mistakes of a previous owner who saw this gorgeous sunny clearing as an ideal spot to grow fruit trees.

A series of narrow dead trunks stand as a silent testimony to some hard spring of years past. The fruit trees apparently died, while the late blooming strawberries and raspberries were left to fend for themselves. After a few years of allowing them to grow wild, I can now go down there and forage for sweet wild grown berries through half the summer. As much as I am tempted I fear that I will never be able to keep fruit trees down there.

Keeping the changes in elevation in mind will go a long way towards helping you choose what you are going to grow and at which locations on the property. Simply sticking trees in the ground or tilling up garden beds where the sun shines the most might ultimately cost you a lot in the failures of trial and error.

Available water

Whether you lean towards gardening, orchards, or raising livestock, you will need water.

One of the major advantages of buying a home on an already existing property is that the wells have already been drilled. You can find out how deep the water table is and most sellers are willing to have the water tested so you’ll know if there are any issues with biological or chemical contaminates.

Unless you are really going deep in the back woods, you are probably going to be looking at a property in an agricultural area. This means there is a chance of farm runoff. Before buying any property you should have the water tested for Bacterial Safety, Nitrate, Lead, Arsenic, Pesticides and Volatile Organic Chemicals.

At the same time you also shouldn’t assume that a piece of raw land has an ample water supply. Not all land owners will let you have test holes drilled or points driven. If I were to start over with a piece of raw land I personally would turn away from any tract of land where I didn’t have proof of water presence and how much is available.

I have a neighbor who bought his property assuming that the water table was shallow and would easily supply his needs. Looking at the property it wasn’t a wild assumption. The land was bordered on the north side by a wide, flowing stream and the Mississippi river on the west. He decided to drive a point in at a location that was convenient for him.

Driving a sand point for a well, by hand is not a walk in the park. It’s a butt busting endeavor as you pile drive with relentless fury. Unfortunately the water table that he assumed he’d find around 20 to 25 feet down ended up being 37 feet down.  Once he had everything established he started testing the volume, only to discover that it would barely produce enough water to keep his garden alive, let alone provide for the house.

What he discovered after talking to other neighbors around him is that deep down in the substrata there are contours in the bedrock which cause the water table on that side of the creek to have a wavy shape. In order to get the water volume he needed he was going to have to have to use psychic powers to pile drive a point into one of the troughs in the wavy aquifer.

From what I hear it took him three more points being driven down into the soil before he finally hit a deep enough part of the aquifer that would provide him with water for home and garden, even if we are stricken by the deepest drought. As for those three points. There are ways you can leverage them out of the ground again but getting them out is not a sure thing. Every foot of metal well shaft that you drive in might just be a foot of metal that will stay there jammed in the soil until three weeks after doomsday.

Of course driving a sand point isn’t the only method for acquiring well water. I actually have a drilled well that was bored into the ground in 1993.The well runs only 26 feet deep and hasn’t for a single second failed to provide ample water for the house, the gardens and the orchard. On a clear summer’s day if the wind blows just right I can see across the valley floor to my neighbor with the 4 sand points stuck in his yard and feel his envious glare.

A drilled well is a much more expensive thing. You basically cannot do it yourself. You need to contact a professional well drilling company. They will come out, survey the area and most will do their best to place the well in a location that works for you and your buildings. Cost can be a massive problem here.

I can’t quote you what to expect in regards to your budget, it all varies so wildly from region to region, company to company. I had a relative who recently purchased a piece of property at a great price out on the Columbian Plateau. He planned everything out perfectly in his budget, except for the 387 foot deep well shaft he needed just to give him a flow of 1.3 gallons per minute. This flow rate would just barely be strong enough to handle a garden and a modest house.

You might run into a situation where the aquifer on your property is only capable of handling the water needs for the house. All is not lost in situations like this for irrigating a modest size garden. Before running irrigation lines I actually watered my 5,000 square foot main garden with a series of rain barrels. They filled themselves directly from the drain water off the roof of my barn! It was only in the deepest of droughts that the storage in the rain barrels wasn’t enough and I had to take from the well that runs the house for a few weeks. In my case I was lucky to still have enough flow rate in those dry times to handle both.

The best advice I can give when it comes to water is to make a lot of calls, ask a lot of questions and check in with the county regarding water. Get a recommendation and an estimate from a local well driller before you make your final application for a loan.

Chapter 3 –Amenities

Waste Disposal

Once you’ve established your water needs and have a handle on your well location your next move is to consider your septic system. Back in the old days the rules were a little fast and loose on what could be done with raw sewage in the country.  Some of the older places you could just have a tube running out to a giant pit out back. If the old timers were smart they put that pit down wind and buried it every couple of years.

Outhouse

For proponents of outdoor plumbing we turn to the humble outhouse. I know some people who have lived their entire lives with outhouses as their primary toilet need. They actually find the notion of going to the bathroom under the same roof where you sleep and cook your meals to be disgusting.

Now I could probably tell you that if I wasn’t a family man with a lovely wife and daughter, I would be quite content to make the walk outside to go to the bathroom, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. I live in Northern Minnesota and last week the wind chill outside was colder than it is on the surface of Mars. To be honest, in these cases I am quite happy to be indoors flushing with reckless abandon.

An outhouse is certainly your cheapest option for dealing with your septic needs. You will of course need to find a source for any gray water coming from the house. Most states and counties consider gray water to be limited to water from the shower, laundry and kitchen sink. So as long as you don’t pee in the shower and you wash your clothes with eco-friendly soap you could legally divert all of these drains to a lowland area some 50 to 100 feet from the main house or barn.

In my county the only gray water which is allowed to flow onto the land is water from the laundry and floor drains in the mudrooms and garage. It was installed this way when I bought the house. If you are going to use any kind of run off system for your gray water you need to be mindful to screen it as well as keep the traps filled with the minimum amount of water. If you forgo screens and allow the traps to dry out it creates an instant highway for rodents sensitive to scent and heat to enter the house.

When digging an outhouse you want to be mindful of its relationship to your aquifer and well location. The rule of thumb is that you want to have it 100 feet from the well head and below grade. To be honest with you when you actually stand there and eye ball this minimum distance, I wouldn’t be comfortable with it. I can also say that I’ve seen people with cabins use a shorter distance than this without the slightest incident.

Regardless of the distance you choose, most counties require you to file a permit to dig one and they will know the distance regulations required to legally dig it.

The actual act of digging matters more than you might think. In theory a couple of guys with a case of beer and a couple of shovels can dig an outhouse pit in a single weekend. There is of course some skill involved as the walls of the pit need to be reinforced. Otherwise the pit needs a wide mouth and the outhouse will have to sit on a platform, which can over time be compromised by weight, weather and rot.

The last thing you want to do is go to use the outhouse only to have it all fall in on you!

Septic system

The most common method for human waste disposal is to use a septic tank. The system is actually more sophisticated than it may sound on first glance. The idea is the primary waste water from the house runs down to a tank which stores it.

The tank fills slowly over time. Solid waste tends to settle towards the bottom, while the liquids remain at the top. Once the level comes near the top it reaches a series of side drains which allow the liquid waste to slowly run off into a drain field. The drain field is actually a series of pipes that empty out into a field of various gravels or permeable stone. The contents of your drain field will vary depending on your region.

Even the best designed septic system will still require periodic pumping, inspection and maintenance. You will notice the first signs of a problem if your toilet starts flushing slowly. This will generally be followed by a warming in the ground around your drain field. In the winter time this might actually be enough to melt the snow over top of the drain field. You are in the worst case scenario if brown, smelly fluid begins to spread across the ground.

As a simple precaution you should have your septic tank pumped at least once every two years.

If you are buying a piece of raw land you should seek an estimate and include that amount in your loan application. If you are buying an existing home you should always request an inspection. Having to do maintenance on a septic system, especially if the drain field pipes are clogged can wreak a lot of havoc on your budget.

Power

When you live in the city electricity is a lot easier to manage than when you live in the country. This is especially true if you have aspirations of living off the grid. In the city, if your power goes out you simply call the power company and they rush someone from the local service depot out. Unless there is a major amount of storm damage the power is usually back on within 24 hours. When you live far out in the country the network of wires are far more spread out over greater distances and the service depots have a lot farther to go.

Also in the country there are far more mature trees than the modest saplings you find in the city. When there is a storm with strong straight line winds it can decimate massive stretches of power lines. This is made even worse since many of these power lines are on older poles which break or lean more easily than the newer, sturdier and well maintained poles you find in the city.

When there is a major event in the country, it can sometimes take 3 to 5 days before you see power again. In certain parts of the country major ice storms can knock the power out for weeks!

Even if we look past the snakebite luck of bad weather, the reality is that all across America the power grid is outdated and in decline.

Backup generator

The smart solution here is to have a generator on the property. Even if you are planning to go off the grid with alternative electricity like solar or wind, it is still a good idea to have a generator on hand in case something breaks down in the system.

If you are planning on developing raw land you will most likely need a generator in the early days.

Figuring out how big of a generator you need can be a tricky question. You need to pick a generator that meets your wattage needs. This means asking yourself just how many of the modern day conveniences you are willing to be without. What do you need and what do you want.

Right off the bat, if you are relying on hunting and/or animal husbandry for your meat supply that means you need to keep all of your chest freezers running. That meat is sacred and you’ll be kicking yourself the rest of the year if you let it thaw and spoil because you burned that wattage on TV and the internet.

You’ll also want enough wattage to handle running your water pump. In the dead heat of summer, air conditioning might be a factor. In the winter, running the furnace or the blower on your wood stove is also critical. I’m guessing the lady of the house will also vote for the hot water heater.

The oven and stove are a major point of debate as well. They are a major draw of electrical power. I have made it through several major power outages with nothing but a charcoal grill to keep me cooking. If you keep a French press in the house you can even use the charcoal grill to make coffee.

Every major appliance in your house will have a stamped metal plate or a printed sticker somewhere on it that tells you the wattage needs.  Once you have determined what you can and can’t live without for a modest amount of time, you can add these wattage needs up and use it as a guide to find the generator that is right for you.

You need to also be aware that once you buy the generator you will still need to have your main breaker box wired to accept it. If you pick a generator that only provides DC current, then you might also need to purchase a power inverter that can turn the power it generates into AC current.

Most state’s say in their building codes that this kind of wiring must be done by a licensed electrician or the home owner. Honestly, unless you are a licensed electrician I wouldn’t advise doing this kind of wiring work yourself.

Most reputable dealers can help you find the model of generator that best meets your needs. One of the things that really matters is the type of engine and the fuel it uses. There are two types of gasoline generators you can choose from.

Two-stroke models tend to be the cheapest. They are also loud, and the bigger they are the louder they are. Even a medium sized two-stroke generator sounds like a loud lawnmower. It really is not the sort of thing you want roaring beside your house while you sleep at night.

Also, most two-stroke engines require that you mix the oil with the gas in a perfect ratio with each tank. If you mix the gas too rich with oil it will gum up the carburetor over time. If you mix it too lean, meaning there is not enough oil, it can actually cause the piston to seize up in after just a single tank. While mixing oil to gas at a proper ratio is rather easy, it’s not exactly the kind of thing you want to be doing at 3:30 in the morning, with a flash light, when you’re already feeling rough around the edges.

Four-stroke generators can cost a little more but they are quieter. Some can even be fitted with after-market mufflers to reduce noise further. Four-stroke generators also deliver the oil to the engine the same way a car does. All you have to do is make sure you monitor the oil level. Also, because they are a cleaner running engine they tend to be more efficient so you get more out of each tank.

Diesel generators are by far the most efficient type of engine. While diesel can cost more per gallon, they are also 30 to 35 percent more efficient. Over time this can save you money. If you are the type of person who is trained in chemistry you can also make your own bio-diesel from vegetable oils, for even more cost savings.  Just be mindful that unless your diesel comes from a treated and refined source it will begin to gel on you once the outside temperatures dip below 40 degrees.

One of the big disadvantages of diesel is that it is also rather loud. While it’s still not as loud as the roar or a big two-stroke motor, it is also not the sort of noise you want right outside your bedroom window. Larger, stationary diesel generators sometimes come with noise shielding to reduce this problem. However, I have never seen a portable diesel generator with any shielding.

Running power to raw land

It is a common misconception that the power company is responsible for running electricity to your home, barn or job site. The reality is that you incur all of the costs required to run the power lines to a post or a meter. This cost is usually based on the distance.

In years past the common practice was to run power lines through the property. Unfortunately this also means having to maintain the poles and the risk associated with storm damage. The new and perhaps cheaper way to run power to your property from the main lines is to run it underground. If you check with the power company first, they are usually content to let you dig the trench to run the utility line, so long as you follow certain regulations. In the end the entire project will require inspection before a single foot of power line is laid.

Make absolutely sure you get a cost estimate from the power company and factor that amount into your budget.

Going off the grid

The phrase “Going off the Grid” gets thrown around a lot these days. You might even hear people talk about how they installed a solar or wind system while still being on the grid, so their meter turns backwards. The reality is that going completely off the grid calls for a rather sizeable upfront investment.

You might hear these claims while looking at the prices of solar panels and small wind fans at the retail hardware store. Looking at some of the price tags makes a solar or wind system seem within reach. Unfortunately, you will be rather disappointed when you start doing the math. The number of Kilowatts a retail level solar panel can generate is meant more for keeping your RV charged up than it is running all of the power needs for your house.

The array of solar panels you would need to charge the batteries to power an entire house would be staggering. Even if you were to develop an array large enough to handle all of your needs, these panels at best come with a limited warranty and a short lifespan. Most are also vulnerable to hail damage from summer storms.

In theory a small farm of retail level wind fans could provide enough charge, so long as you had a modest 10 mile per hour breeze. With weather often being fickle, wind is more of a supplemental alternative energy source. I would not advise relying on it exclusively to meet your electrical needs.

The reality is that if you are going to truly go off the grid with your electrical needs, then it means you will need to look into commercial grade solar panels. The cost of these units is much higher than at the retail level but so long as you are mindful of your electric needs they will be able to keep you properly supplied.

Most dealers will have a service department that can answer your questions. Most can help you with installation of the panels, batteries and inverters. Commercial units are built to last and often come with long term warranties that will allow you to recoup your investment in energy savings.

While the classic image of solar power is one of a house that has a roof lined with solar panels, newer systems use servo motors to turn panels on an array so that they can capture the light as the sun tracks across the sky.

These solar units store power in a large battery system inside the house where it can be held in reserve and used to power the house. Most are efficient enough to store enough electricity in a single day to power a modest home for 2 to 3 days.

While prices change as technology continues to improve, you are still looking at a pretty hefty price tag. The low end units can run you as little as $25,000. Some of the high end units can cost up to $90,000. These numbers are also before you apply any incentives. Depending on your personal and political feelings on the subject of tax credits, there are federal tax credits that can help offset the cost. Certain states and communities might also have tax credits which can additionally offset the cost.

In 2009 I did the math based on my state’s incentives, federal tax credits and utility costs, compared against the price of a $25,000 unit. The unit I used for a base comparison had an expected lifespan of 25 years and came with a complete service warranty. Using my numbers and incentives at that time it would have taken 13 years and 5 months to recoup the upfront costs. After that I would enjoy a theoretical 12 years of free electricity.

On the surface it sounds like it is worth it. I mean 12 years of free electricity is a nice pot of gold at the end of a long rainbow. The biggest reason I didn’t pull the trigger on it at that time was because of how fast solar technology is changing.

Right now solar power technology is just crawling out of its infancy, learning to take its first steps in the practical world. I was deeply afraid that investing in that $25,000 unit would be to solar power technology what expensive laser disk technology was in the early 90’s before evolving into inexpensive DVD.

I didn’t want to sink a giant investment into something that I would need to keep the full 25 years in order to make the most of it, only to have something better come along a few years later. Right now if you want to get completely off the grid and the initial investment is feasible, then there probably are some entry level solar panels that will take care of you for around $25,000 to $50,000.

Entertainment, phone and internet

Communication and Television become a big issue the farther out you go from the city. It is pretty easy to get a land-line phone run to your house along the same utility lines as your power. It will at the very least keep you connected to the world through things like phone, fax and dial up internet. However, it is slow, crackly and often prone to outages caused by storms.

I know it might sound strange, but almost everyone I know who is living as far out as I am has a cell phone. In fact most of them have smart phones! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not walking around the field checking my Facebook every 5 minutes with 4 blazing bars of signal. Even in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees, about half of the property has zero bars of signal. The other half has 1 bar of signal and there are a couple of places where I get 2 bars of signal. There is only one spot, located on top of the largest anthill known to man, where I can get 3 bars of signal!

It is still more convenient for me when I’m working a long day in the field or the barn to have the phone tucked in a pocket. I’ve developed a habit where I stop when I walk through an area with good signal just to let the phone catch up to the tower.  The phone goes off with all of its alerts, bings, bongs and dings. I can quickly check through to see if any of it is important and change the plan of my day.

I can imagine some of you might read that and think it’s hypocritical to talk about getting off the grid, living off the land and then have a smartphone in my pocket half the day. The reality is that sometimes my wife needs to get ahold of me. Sometimes my daughter needs to run to the doctor. I make a supplemental living as a freelance writer and sometimes my clients need to get ahold of me. Case in point, the publisher of this book e-mailed me the proposal for this very book while I was clearing my driveway of ice gravel so my wife could take my daughter to the doctor.

If you decide to sell what you grow and raise, the pace of modern day life will also demand of you a faster response than simply coming into the house and checking the answering machine each night.

When it comes to internet reception you can settle for dial up. In some locations DSL might even be available. It’s pretty rare for cable television and internet to find its way deep into the countryside. The best two options are satellite internet or cellular internet from your own WIFI hot spot. 

Most cellular carriers have package deals that allow you to bundle your phone and internet together. Since you are probably already going to have a cell phone, this package makes sense. The only problem is that your billing is based on data usage. If you go over the monthly amount of data they nail you with quite unfriendly penalty charges. Most of the time, basic web browsing, texting and sending photos won’t drive your usage up. Video however, devours data faster than Cookie Monster left alone with a box of fresh baked cookies. You will never download a viral video again without sweat pouring down your brow.

Satellite internet has its own pros and cons. On a clear day the speeds are the same or even better than cellular internet. You do have a data usage allowance, but it is usually 5 to 10 times more than cellular internet at the same price. The big problem with satellite internet is that modest rains, heavy snow and full tree cover can slow or even interrupt service.

When it comes to television you can actually get decent reception from the new digital antenna boxes if they have enough height over the surrounding area. Unfortunately, I have a glacial drumlin, which is a long tall hill of gravel left behind by the retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet, immediately to the west of me which blocks most antenna reception.

Most of the time, the better option is to go with satellite television. Depending on where you live there are a handful of different providers. It is important to be aware that most of these companies have introductory packages where they offer you basic service for dirt cheap. Over time though, their rates rise. So make sure you read the fine print.

Just like satellite internet service, satellite television can be knocked out by strong rain and snow. While it is a minor inconvenience, it is still nice to be able to take an hour out at the end of a long day to just relax. This is why a lot of country homesteads have big DVD collections.

The larger issue here of course is that without proper communication technology you can be caught unawares if a storm system is taking a severe turn in your area. My suggestion is that each level of your house has a weather alert radio. These units work on radio signals. They are tuned into the local regional alerts and warnings. They come with battery backups so they will work even when the power is down.

Most of the time they just sit on a shelf idly collecting dust. When an alert goes off for your area they come on and inform you. This is a great way to know if a tornado is bearing down on you in the middle of the night or during a power outage.

Chapter 4 – Heating options

If you live in the Sunbelt, then heating is only a minor concern for you. If however you live in the northern latitudes such as I do, where at times the winter wind chill can get colder than the surface of Mars, then heating is a critical concern.

Fireplace

While it is a classic vignette, a roaring fireplace is not really a very efficient or effective means of heating your house. Even with the flue tuned perfectly to the draft of the fire you still end up with a large amount of the heat generated by the fire going up the chimney. There are admittedly new design changes in fireplaces that make them more efficient but they still pale in comparison to installing a furnace.

Fuel oil

Before the oil crisis of the 1970’s when the American oil supply went beyond peak production, fuel oil was a common fuel for furnaces. One of my back up furnaces is a fuel oil furnace. A fuel oil furnace operates by spraying the fuel oil into a combustion chamber. The atomized fuel oil is then ignited by an electric spark. As it burns it heats up the air in the chamber. Once it reaches an appropriate temperature the blower sends the heated air into the ventilation system which distributes it through the house.

Since the price per gallon of fuel oil fluctuates, the cost to heat your house can flex. I have had some tanks that I’ve purchased where fuel oil was cheaper than any other fuel except wood. I’ve also had tanks that I purchased where it was twice as expensive. There are websites out there which track local fuel prices. Finding one and being keen on the trends will help you save a dime here and there. Still if your tank is running low you can rarely afford to sit around and wait if it’s your sole source of heating.

Also, fuel oil that is allowed to sit stagnant for a long time can begin to degrade. I use it as a backup heating system as well as for rapid heating when I turn up the thermostat on cold winter mornings. Using it this way I go through roughly 200 gallons in the course of a harsh Minnesota winter.

Electric heat

Electric heating is a relatively new alternative to fuel oil. One of the furnaces I use to maintain my heat during the day is an electric forced air model. It works a little bit like a large space heater. The electric elements are essentially just large resistors which heat up a plenum. The blower fan then blows air over the heated plenum which forces air into the vents.

When electric rates are low, electric heating is a nice way to maintain the day time heat in your house. However the furnace tends to run a lot in the early hours of the morning, which can over load the element. This often leads to having to reset the high end limiter or one of the breakers which keep the unit from shorting out. Speaking from firsthand experience this is not the kind of thing you want to be doing at 5:30 am, when you wake up to a basement that has cooled to 48 degrees.

Propane or natural gas

Propane and natural gas gained in popularity as the price of fuel oil has gone up. Many people think they are the same thing, but in fact they are not. Both gases are naturally odorless and require foul smelling additives to make it easier to detect any potential gas leaks. Both make a similar blue flame and can be used for the heating the house, the water heater and the stove top range.

Propane is actually a byproduct of other fuels. Much of the propane available for sale in America actually comes from a process of refining crude oil into gasoline. For decades refineries would actually burn off propane until they learned to store and use it properly. As a result the price of propane is often influenced by the crude oil market.

Propane is a popular option for rural homesteads.  Just like fuel oil there are many service providers who will come out and fill your external tank for a reasonable rate, so long as the tank is conveniently accessible. Propane has over twice the energy content of natural gas.

Natural gas is cheaper than propane and is extracted from the ground. The United States has a lot of available untapped natural gas. As extraction, refining and compression technology improves it means that the price of natural gas should continue to go down. At the same time the price of propane, should continue to go up over the long term.

The biggest drawback to natural gas is that at this time there is little to no infrastructure supporting its transport and dispensing it into remote tanks. This means that natural gas is only really available if you are on the community grid.

If you decide to buy a house and it runs on propane or natural gas, I wouldn’t give up on it. Propane is still a vibrant industry with a strong infrastructure. It will take decades before propane goes the way of fuel oil in popularity.

If you are thinking of developing raw land and building a house on it, then I would turn to wood heat.

Wood heat

Wood heat is one of the most popular forms of heating your home, so long as you live in a part of the country where firewood is readily available. If your property is already forested with mature trees, you can heat your home for the cost of some chainsaw gas and a few weekends of hard labor.

When it comes to heating with wood you have a couple of different options depending on the size of the house, your budget and the insurance regulations for your area.

Wood stove

A pot-belly cast iron woodstove sitting in the middle of a cabin is the iconic image of wood heat.  A woodstove like this really is more suited for heating a cabin than it is an entire home.

It is important to note that a woodstove that is improperly installed is a dangerous thing.

It should be installed in a central location well away from any walls. If you do need to install it near a wall, it should not be closer than 36 inches. Anything closer than 36 inches will require you to heat shield that wall with cement board heat shielding and fiberglass insulation.

Before the wood stove is installed it needs to have a fire brick or rated fire tile floor installed under it. Over time the wood floor under a woodstove can become extremely dry and flammable. A single ember that falls from the wood stove when you are reloading and goes unnoticed does indeed have the potential to burn the entire structure down.

Of equal concern is the chimney. The ideal scenario is one where the woodstove’s smoke runs directly into a brick and mortar chimney. In fact there are a few units on the market that have been designed to sit inside of old outdated fireplaces.

If you do not have a functioning brick and mortar chimney you will have to choose between going out an external wall or through the ceiling. While going through an external wall sounds easier on paper, not all wood stoves are designed to handle this kind of chimney.

A woodstove requires adequate airflow or draft. The fire and smoke are actually dragged towards the draft of the chimney. Adjusting the damper on the front of the woodstove’s firebox allows you to control how much air from the room is allowed to enter the fire box to complete the process of combustion.  If the woodstove does not have adequate draft to pull the load of the smoke and fire, then it will inevitably back up through the damper and pour smoke into the room.

Without adequate draft the fire in the wood stove will smolder and sulk rather than burn through the cycle efficiently. If you intend to draft the chimney out of a side wall, you should first consult the manufacturer to make sure the woodstove is designed to handle it.

The easiest way to provide adequate draft is to go through the ceiling. While the first few feet of chimney can just be basic stovepipe crimped together and sealed with pipe dope, the final few feet where it passes through the ceiling needs to be Class A chimney pipe. The internal area should also be heat shielded and insulated with fire rated fiberglass. A reputable dealer will be able to provide the proper specifications for you regarding pipe length, insulation and heat shield requirements for your wood stove.

The general rule of thumb is that the Class A chimney pipe should start 3 feet before it reaches the ceiling and continue until it is 3 feet above the roof.

Some units come with small blower fans that keep the air circulating. Without some kind of circulation the heat from a wood stove stratifies so that the hot air holds by the ceiling while the cool air pools by the floor.

My fish house camper uses a standalone woodstove. With a single small blower it can keep an even 80 to 90 degree heat throughout the entire 112 square foot space. I did have a time when it was -20 outside and the blower unit died for some unknown reason.  Within 2 hours the heat stratified in the fish house so that it was 120 degrees at the ceiling, yet 6 feet below on the floor it was only 31 degrees.

A quality wood stove eventually pays for itself. Cheap wood stoves tend to suffer from metal fatigue and fire box burn out much sooner than their higher quality cousins. Pouring two inches of sand in the bottom under the coal grate will help reduce the time before the bottom of the fire box begins to suffer from burnout.

One common problem with a wood stove is that it tends to burn through a single load of wood inconsistently. It tends to take a while to get going. Then it roars to life flooding the room with deep penetrating heat only to dissipate slowly. The common logic is to grab another log and toss it on the coals when they are still good and hot. The log catches and roars to life again.

If you’re not careful it is easy to get the room ridiculously warm. One way to help mitigate the heat loss of a dying coal bed is to include fire rated bricks above the sand floor of the firebox. These cannot be just any old bricks. They need to be rated fire bricks! Standard chimney brick is very porous and latent moisture inside the bricks can cause them to shatter under extreme heat. This could damage the firebox as well as cause personal injury. Firebricks are made from a nonporous material which can withstand high heat. They absorb heat load directly from the coals and reradiate it back into the air space of the firebox. This gives you time to reload the firebox with new wood and the fire can get hot again, without you having to suffer the roller coaster in temperatures.

One of the added advantages of a wood stove is that you can also cook on it. While high heat is usually not the best idea, you can usually use the hot surface to simmer a stew, percolate coffee or toast a Panini. 

If you are using a wood stove to heat your cabin and it is also your sole means of cooking, then with some ingenuity and a pair of welding gloves you can use the burning coals just like a grill or cooking over a campfire. In fact, I have spent many nights in the fish house. There have been many nights where supper was two hot dogs roasted over an open fire followed by s'mores for dessert.

An important tip to remember about a woodstove is that the relationship between the damper and the draft of chimney is a two way street. When you are done burning in a woodstove you need to seal the damper in some way. Usually this can be accomplished by placing tinfoil in the gap of the damper and tightening it down. If you allow the fire to burn out completely then breezes from the outside world can and will blow down the chimney forcing ash and unpleasant odors into the room.

Wood burning furnace

The next step up from a wood stove is an indoor wood burning furnace. There are a lot of different takes on this type of furnace, depending on the area you want to heat. Most wood burning furnaces are not hot to the touch. They may be warm but they will not have enough heat for basic cooking.

Instead the heat they generate is directed into an air chamber which is isolated from the smoke that heads up the chimney. A large blower fan similar to the one you would find in a propane or fuel oil furnace then blows the hot air into the house’s ventilation system.

At the retail level you will find some salesmen who might try to sell you on the idea that you can install a wood furnace yourself using basic instructions. I often think these salesmen are driven by the desire to earn a commission off you rather than make sure your home is provided with safe and reliable wood heat. Personally unless you have some basic training in this sort of thing I would seek the advice and services of a trained and certified technician. 

While this adds to the upfront cost, it also means you can sleep easy at night knowing there is a fire burning down below that has been put in by someone who knows what they are doing. Assuming you have reasonable access to fire wood, a wood burning furnace quickly pays for itself.

There are three drawbacks to an indoor wood furnace or woodstove. The first is the mess that it can create in your house. In order to heat the house for a long cold winter you essentially need to have a wood room in the house, near the furnace. At the very least you need to keep a significant wood pile near the house. This means you’re hauling wood into the house, bringing in dirt, slush and mess. Every couple of days you have to clean out the ash pans putting dust in the air and bits of ash on the floor.

The second drawback of an indoor wood furnace is that you are still dependent on electricity to heat your house. The blower motor required to move the hot air through your house will generally use between 500 and 1,000 watts in an hour. You need to factor this into your budget for your backup generator as well as any off the grid solar or wind array.

The third drawback of an indoor wood furnace or wood stove is that most insurance companies will raise the rates on your home owners insurance by 25 to 50 percent each year. It’s important to factor this amount into you budget when you compare your rates against the cost of heating your house on the grid.

Outdoor wood boiler

I’ve saved discussing outdoor wood boilers until last for a reason. In my opinion this is the ideal heating system for the homesteading lifestyle. An outdoor wood boiler is essentially a very large woodstove that is surrounded by a large metal jacket filled with water and anti-freeze.  The fire box heats the water in the surrounding jacket. The heated water then runs through insulated underground pipes, into the house.

If you are building a house with an outdoor wood boiler in mind you can design the house so that the pipes run under the floor. The heat from the floor then rises through the house. Otherwise the hot water pipes run into heat exchanger in the furnace where it blows hot air through the vents like any other furnace. As the pipes return the water to the wood boiler they can pass through another heat exchanger in your water heat to give you hot water essentially for free.

In a house that was designed and built with an outdoor wood boiler in mind, to employ in-floor heating requires only a small amount of electricity. A small four stroke generator would be able to meet the small electrical demands the wood boiler needs to move the hot water from the water jacket to the house and return.

If you are buying an already standing house which was not built with an outdoor wood boiler in mind, yet you want to have one installed, there are options at your disposal. There are some wood boiler retailers that will try to sell you in the idea of raising your floor several inches to run in-floor lines. I have only seen this tried twice before. My impression of their experience was that it ended up being a lot more work, money and headaches then they expected going in.

The more practical way to adapt a wood boiler to your house is to run the lines into a heat exchanger in the existing furnace. The standard blower fan then sends it through the traditional ventilation. Of course running the blower fan has a higher energy demand than ambient in-floor heating.

If you wanted to go completely off the grid with your heating and electrical needs, you could employ a commercial grade solar array to power the house, blower and wood boiler.

An additional benefit of a wood boiler is that you can designate a set of lines or the return line from the house to heat the floor of your greenhouse.

Since an outdoor wood boiler keeps the fire outside of the house your home owner’s insurance premium is unaffected.

Not all wood boilers are made the same. Even smaller units have large fireboxes and even larger water jackets. The fire contained within can reach immense temperatures. Over a long period of time this can have an effect on the metal of the firebox.

However what tends to kill an outdoor wood boiler is corrosion from inside the water jacket. Water is of course the universal solvent. If you give water enough time it will eventually corrode the metal in the water jacket chamber.

Most people swear that the solution to this is to buy a quality boiler made with a stainless steel water jacket. While it is certainly true that stainless steel resists corrosion better than all other grades of steel it is also the most difficult to weld and repair when something goes wrong. Of course when something does go wrong it is almost always during the coldest parts of the year when you are running it the hardest.

Mild steel is another grade of steel used for the boiler. It handles the high heat better and is easier to repair when something goes wrong. However the boiler chamber usually suffers from corrosion sooner.

Understanding which one is right for you, stainless or mild steel, really comes down to some of the finer points of the boiler’s design. Mild steel handles high heat better and is easier to repair. Stainless steel is more likely to develop hairline cracks from high heat but the water jacket of the boiler is very corrosion resistant. It’s also worth noting that the stainless steel usually costs $1,500 to $2,000 more.

The thing that contributes to corrosion the most is the development of sediment in the boiler. Unless you fill the massive boiler with pure distilled water and antifreeze you are always going to have sediment build up. Water will always carry excess minerals with it. The constant heating and cooling accelerates the rate at which these minerals fall out of solution with the water.

If you do decide to go with a boiler that is not made from stainless steel then you want to be mindful to ask questions about the interior of the boiler or water jacket. Units that are designed with fancy features like baffles and water filters ultimately invite sediment and corrosion. If you are going to buy a wood boiler with a mild metal water jacket, you should look for one that has a drain feature which allows you to flush it out. Flushing once or twice a year to remove sediment from the boiler, along with thoughtful cleaning of the fire box ash, should give you a superior lifespan to a stainless steel unit, while also saving you some of the upfront cost.

There has been some talk in political circles about new EPA regulations on wood boiler emissions. While nothing significant has been passed, manufacturers have started to respond with new efficient technology. Wood boilers that employ wood gasification are more efficient and have lower emissions than standard boilers. They employ a dual chamber system where the top chamber starts to burn the wood. Then the gasses produced are forced downward into the coal bed. This produces a large enough amount of heat to burn many of the flammable particles in the smoke. While you do pay more for a wood gasification wood boiler, you will make up that money in savings at the wood pile.

Chimney height is another key concern for an outdoor wood boiler. Each state tends to have its own regulations related to chimney height. On a practical level, the issue with chimney height usually relates to the smoke blowing back at the house or annoying the neighbors. Most insurance companies require a minimum distance of 12 feet between the house and the boiler unit. This relates almost exclusively to fire safety.  This drives many people to place their boiler 12 feet from the house with the standard basic chimney. Since the standard chimney on a wood boiler is rarely more than 10 feet, it means an inclement wind can drive the smoke back at the house. Of course smoke has a knack for sneaking in through every little crevice and gap in the weather stripping.

The general rule of thumb to keep smoke out of your house is to spend the additional money to raise the chimney to 10 feet higher than the roof line. The farther you move the boiler from the house the lower the chimney can be. It should never dip below level with the roof line.

Conclusion

Making the move from the suburbs to the rural, homesteading lifestyle can be a challenge. There are a lot of skills you need to learn along the way. The key is to arm yourself with research, insight and patience to allow your hard work to bear fruit.

Climbing the mountain of challenges can be slow at first. Over time your dependency footprint will get smaller and smaller as your ability to provide for yourself grows.

Of course this book can’t give you all the answers you’ll need to know. Finding your comfort zone in this life is a personal journey through authentic experience. If you are coming straight out of the convenient life offered by the city you will find a lot of things you miss.

Possibly the biggest ache you’ll find is a lack of restaurants. When you live in the city getting a pizza delivered is quick and easy. In the country you have to learn how to make yeast raised pizza dough, top it with venison pepperoni and garden grown onion before you bake it in the oven or on the grill.

Armed with a willingness to learn and grow, you will come to bask in the joy of a life lived by the power of your own hands.

Book 2:
Raising Animals for Self-Sufficiency

A Practical Guide to Raising Chickens, Goats and Pigs

Eric Beuning

Introduction

Animals and the ability to source animal protein is an important part of the homesteading lifestyle. Some people satisfy these needs through hunting and fishing alone. However, most people turn to some form of animal husbandry.

Dairy and beef cattle are viable options but really are a lot of work and deserve to have their own guidebook. Those people who are lucky enough to live near a proper body of water could possibly turn to aquaculture. In fact I know a man living in a suburb of Los Angeles that has converted his swimming pool into a fish farm where he grows Tilapia.

The purpose of this book, however, is to take a closer look at three of the most common and easy to raise animals in the homesteading lifestyle: chickens, goats and pigs.

It’s easy to foster a bucolic vision of scattering grain in front of a flock of free range chickens before harvesting their still warm eggs.  It’s easy to take this fantasy and add to it a pair of cantankerous goats causing no end of mischief while a lazy old pig chows on some half rotten slop and wallows in a pool of mud.

If you’ve gone so far as to take an interest in this book, then it means you realize there is more to raising healthy chickens. Goats are worth more than just the random hijinks. And here is a good chance that you can cleanly raise a pig that doesn’t just fester around in a wallow reeking of its own filth.

In this book we are going to take a realistic look at raising these three animals. This will include understanding the numbers. If you are going to raise an animal you should know how much it will cost you and how much added value it brings to the homestead. After all, at the heart of the homesteading lifestyle is a philosophy of self-reliance. The whole notion hardly holds water if it costs you more to raise a goat than you get back out of it!

At the end of each chapter we will also look at slaughtering and butchering the animal. This is a practice seen by some as brutal, while for other’s it is practical. If this information is more than you can stomach, please feel free to forward through those sections. Of course if you still want the meat but don’t want to get your hands dirty doing it, you can usually find a country butcher who offers a processing service.

Chapter 1 –Chickens

Chickens are the most commonly raised animal in the homesteading lifestyle. With proper care and resourcefulness a small flock of chickens enhances many other aspects of the homestead as well, while also more than paying for themselves. If left to randomly survive on their own, they can actually become a nuisance.

When I first moved out to my current property a friend of mine presented me with four laying hens as a house warming gift. I have to admit that I was in no way prepared to have an old pickup truck pull into the yard with four stressed out birds caged up in the back.  It had been well over 15 years since I had handled a bird. Even back then it was a closed coop with a sealed pen area.

My friend assured me that keeping chickens around the homestead was a great bane to the garden. They would pick the bugs off the plants while their poop would fertilize the garden to grow to record heights!

He took one look at the tall fences surrounding my main garden and concluded it would hold the chickens. He then unloaded a small coop which looked like a partially finished dog house made from pallet lumber and we set them loose to do their thing.

I have to admit the house warming party was in full force and in no way had I planned on taking several hours out to tend to some frightened chickens. My friend assured me that he kept chickens free range in his garden at the edge of the city and that they were smart enough to go into the shabby dog house if it rained.

We got back to the barbecue, opened some of my home brewed honey mead wine and forgot all about the chickens.

The next morning I woke up and took a stroll out to the garden where I found a thousand fox tracks, some feathers that looked suspiciously like they came off a hawk and four red blood stains of something formerly bird!

Clearly my friend’s hobby farm within sight of the suburbs didn’t have the predator population of my wild forests. If I was going to raise chickens I knew I was going to have to do my research to do it right.

The Value of Raising Chickens

A chicken’s value in eggs

If you’ve got it in your head that you want to raise chickens, then the first thing you have to figure out is if it’s worth it. This example breaks down the value of raising a laying hen for egg production. If you want to raise a meat breed bird you can simply apply the numbers to the price per pound or per cut at the meat counter window of your grocery store.

A recent study conducted by the University of Ohio sheds some light on the cost and value of raising chickens. The real value of a chicken is more in its eggs than it is the meat. The average laying hen produces an average of 200 to 250 eggs per year. So let’s call it a ball park average of around 19 dozen eggs per year, per chicken.

Of course you’re not going to raise just one chicken. Most people who keep chickens on the small scale keep around 6 to 12 birds at any one time. This way if one dies or becomes unproductive it’s not the end of the coop.

It’s probably smart to start out small and give yourself room to expand the flock in the future. So let’s assume you purchase 6 laying hens and a rooster.  This means on the average you’re staring at around 100 to 115 dozen eggs in a year.

Now in my family my wife, my daughter and I each eat 2 eggs a day. Even on the mornings when I might have a bowl of cereal for breakfast, there is still destined to be fresh pasta or a batch of cookies to keep up the egg quota. This means my family of 3 goes through an average of 182 dozen eggs in a year!

Take a moment and think about your family’s egg consumption. In my family we love eggs and have all kinds of ways to use them. If you only eat eggs from time to time and you decide to get a dozen laying hens then there are sure to be some grueling Sunday brunch sessions where you sit there forcing down bite after bite of omelets and frittatas!

Of course chickens do not eat for free. The average chicken consumes 84 pounds of grain per year. This number is lower depending on the chicken’s activity level and whether or not it is free-range. At the time of writing of this book the average price for grain is running around 35 cents per pound. This means it will cost you about $30 per year, per chicken in grain. If you want to only feed the birds organically grown grain, then this cost goes up.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average cost of a dozen eggs right now is around $2.10 per dozen.  So that 19 dozen eggs from a single bird in a year is worth just under $40. This means in egg cost alone you’re saving $10 per year, per bird. This doesn’t even take into account the cost of things like fences, building the coop and keeping it warm.

Okay, I admit when you put it that way it really lets the air out of the idea of raising chickens. There are people out there who are happy to wrap themselves in a blanket and extol the virtues of how much healthier the eggs are when you raise the bird yourself. While it is true that the eggs are better quality, the $10 a year savings doesn’t really stand up to the cold light of practicality that is at the heart of the homesteading lifestyle.

At the same time you also have to consider that eggs are not the only thing of value coming out of the back side of a chicken.

If you keep a large garden like I do, then chicken poop is worth its weight in gold as a fertilizer and compost additive. The reality is that a chicken’s digestive system is rather inefficient at digesting grain. Their bodies are designed by nature to eat bugs and selective greens. As a result the grain is only partially digested, while being saturated with the beneficial bacteria living in the chicken’s intestinal tract.

What comes out the other end is packed with high end soluble nitrogen and the bacterial chemistry needed to make amazing compost.

Now my friend who brought me the four doomed birds claimed that you could place the chickens in a high fenced garden and they would naturally poop throughout the day as they also helped pick off menacing bugs, both very good things.

From what I’ve found, if you make portable day-coops, say from a framed fence attached to a light weight structure like a pet carrier, you could rotate those coops around the garden carefully and attentively every single day. If you did this consistently, then yes this plan can indeed work to clear your garden of pests, while fertilizing it and saving money on chicken feed.

This is of course is an elaborate solution which will cost you time and labor. If you’re a chicken hobbyist with time on your hands, then it’s probably a great solution with just a few wrinkles. If you’re a hard working homesteader living off the land, tending gardens, keeping house, working fields, cutting firewood and managing a side hustle job for extra cash, then you probably don’t want to spend an hour or so each day moving portable chicken day-coops around the garden.

You could in theory leave the day-coops in place for several days at a shot. The problem with that plan is that the nitrogen content of the chicken’s poop is actually so high that the reactive bacteria will continue processing it and effectively start to burn the plants out.

The other problem you run into is that chickens tend to poop the most at night and early in the morning. They ultimately will do the majority of their manure production while they are inside the day-coop shelter box.

This is not to say that portable day-coops are a completely worthless idea. In fact one of my neighbors uses them in selective areas to kill nuisance weeds. While I spend all summer being pricked by sandburs he walks down wide open, weed free paths in his garden thanks to his chickens.

The reality is that the most efficient method of using chicken manure is to capture the night droppings in litter trays in a central coop. Instead of using the collected chicken manure as a fertilizer you spread directly on the garden, it is better to compost it with high carbon materials. This is especially helpful if you suspect an unfriendly pathogen has found its way into your chicken’s digestive system.

There is a small potential for one sick bird to cause a wild fire of problems if their droppings are spread directly onto certain plants like lettuce, spinach or beans. 

With a few thoughtful practices, composting chicken manure can be quick and easy. The first step is to use litter trays under the roosting locations of each bird. These trays should be changed out every day or two to insure that disease doesn’t spread.

Of course compost is more than just some rotting stuff you spread on the garden. It is actually a living breathing thing which relies on a balanced chemistry between carbon and nitrogen. The carbon content of a compost pile is what the beneficial microbes use as structure as they reproduce. The nitrogen content is the fuel that keeps them actively metabolizing organic matter so they can reproduce.

The beneficial microbes attack and eliminate harmful microbes. Over time, all of the questionable pathogens are destroyed, making the compost safe for spreading on your garden to bolster the soil the next year.

The easiest source of carbon to use is old leaves. The leaves from a dozen mature oak trees can be raked into cribs made from old pallet lumber and as long as they are covered and turned every month or two they will survive without molding. The thing you have to be mindful of when using leaves is that they need at least a year to leach out the wood chemicals inside them. Leaves that you rake up this October should not be used in your compost pile until next October.

If you don’t have mature trees, or you live in a pine forest there are other alternative carbon sources. Plain dried straw can often be found relatively cheaply during peak season. You can store it covered and use immediately.

Shredded newspaper is also another great source for the litter trays. The carbon content is a nearly perfect balance for chicken manure. Just be sure to call the local paper to confirm that they use soy based inks in their newsprint. You should never use glossy paper. After you are done reading the Sunday paper, you can simply run it through a standard office paper shredder. One Sunday paper is usually enough litter tray material for six chickens for a full week!

Each time you collect a litter tray, add it to your compost pile and turn the pile loosely with a hay fork to incorporate it. How long it takes for the compost to mature enough to be spread on your garden depends largely on your local weather and rain fall. The compost pile tends to shut down over the cold winter months as the microbes at the surface go dormant below 39 degrees. If the winter is mild enough and you keep the pile in a sheltered area it can stay active with proper turning.

Otherwise the general rule of thumb for a compost pile based on chicken manure is to spread it or sell it every 6 months.

A chicken’s value in manure

As we continue our explorations of the value of the bird we should take a look at the actual monetary value of chicken manure-based compost.

The average chicken produces between 8 to 11 pounds of manure in a single month. That pile of manure contains between 0.12 and 0.17 pounds of available nitrogen. The manure from 6 chickens in a single month is going to provide around 1 pound of nitrogen. The ideal ratio between carbon and nitrogen is around 30 to 1. This means you’ll need to combine the manure with about 30 pounds of carbon material to maximize the available nitrogen.  The mature compost will lose roughly 20 to 25% of its weight to evaporation. This will leave you with around 25 pounds of mature compost generated each month.

My neighbor bags his compost in breathable mesh bags that he portions out to weigh around 10 pounds each. He then sells it at $15 per bag or $10 per bag for anyone who buys 6 or more bags at a time. These prices are much cheaper than what you find chicken compost selling for at hardware stores.  This means he has repeat customers calling him every spring as they prepare their spring garden beds.

When we break this down into cost per unit, it means that a single chicken and a bunch of Sunday newspapers can provide you with mature compost that will sell for $1.50 per pound. You get 25 pounds of mature compost every six months, which is worth $37.50. When we divide this by 6 to give you the monthly value, you come out with $6.25 per month, per bird.

The compost generated in one month by a single bird will fertilize around a 50 foot square section of garden soil. If you double dig the planting beds and incorporate the mature compost in 2 inch thick layers it should provide the soil with enough nutrients for a full 5 month growing season. You can use a little left over chicken manure to ferment into compost tea for an augment fertilizer during the peak season.

A chicken’s value as meat

Of course every bird has a limited lifespan. The average laying hen makes it 1½ to 2 years. Usually after 2 years their egg production drops off or stops completely. Unless it died of a suspicious illness you’re probably going to slaughter and butcher the bird for the kitchen.

Now a 2 year old bird that has spent its life wandering about the garden pecking at bugs and grain while laying a half dozen or so eggs each week is not going to have the same supple tender young meat you find in the grocery store.

What the grocery store offers is a very young bird that hasn’t quite come into laying maturity yet. In most cases that bird has spent its entire life in a small cage that restricts activity. The more active a bird is the tougher its meat is. In fact these birds move so little that they have to be given antibiotics in order to stave off the diseases that come from living in such close quarters with other birds and their own poop.

Your bird that has lived its entire life prowling the great wide open is what’s called a stewing hen. This is a polite turn of phrase used in the poultry industry to describe a gnarly old bird that is about as tender as a wad of rubber bands. 

I was once dragooned into helping an old German farm wife run a kitchen at a country corn-boil turned family reunion. She was an absolute encyclopedia of classical country cooking, and her philosophy on how to use a stewing hen was straight forward and simple.

After slaughtering and plucking the bird, she removed the breasts. Since the average stewing hen weighs around 6 to 7 pounds, the breasts are massive. The breasts on a modern day chicken do very little work and they can be slow roasted, bone in and skin on, in a 325 degree oven for around an hour. Once they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees in the thickest part of the meat she would remove them and shred the meat for sandwiches.

The rest of the bird was unceremoniously plopped into a large stock pot full of water, with two quartered onions and two carrots to be simmered into chicken stock. She simmered the stock all day long. Before going to bed, she strained the stock and picked the meat from the bones, then put the stock pot in the refrigerator to cool overnight.

The next morning she removed the fat cap of schmaltz from the top of the pot. Wrapped in foil before placing it in a zip top bag, the schmaltz will keep in the freezer for 4 to 6 weeks before it inevitably picks up a freezer smell. Schmaltz is a corner stone of many Jewish dishes. It can essentially be used as a chicken flavored replacement for butter.

She would then slowly rewarm the semi gelatinous stock until it became a liquid broth again. With the addition of some vegetables and finishing with noodles she would have a vat of some of the best chicken noodle soup a human being can ever eat.

If you portion that soup into quart sized bags and freeze it, one bird will give you the equivalent of 10 cans of high end chicken noodle soup from the grocery store.

When you add up the breast meat, schmaltz and soup you find a grocery savings of around $40.

Total value of a single chicken

If we draw a line in the sand and say that a bird will only live for an average of 2 productive years, we can start to draw up a total on every penny that bird is worth in its life.

That one bird saves you $10 per year in eggs, which is $20 for its entire life.

One bird produces $37.50 worth of compost every six months, which is $150 for its entire life.

The final meat value of the bird when prepared frugally in the kitchen is around $40.

This means a single bird is worth $190 to you in sales and savings over the course of its life.

Raising Chickens

Congratulations! You’ve ran the numbers, thought through the costs and lifestyle changes required and you’ve decided to become the proud parent of your own flock of chickens.

The first thing you want to do is decide what breed of chicken you want to raise. Chickens break down into three different purposes related to breed.

Meat breeds are larger bodied birds. They are raised specifically for their meat. The faster they grow and the sooner you butcher them, the tenderer the meat will be. Meat breeds tend to be hardy and self-reliant so they take better to free range life than laying breeds. One potential disadvantage of raising meat breed chickens is that unless you raise a rooster and reserve some hens for laying, you will be ordering eggs every couple of months and starting your flock again from scratch after each slaughtering session.

Broilers and fryers are a size class of chicken named for their primary use. They are generally harvested around 4 to 5 pounds in weight. A roaster size bird is harvested around 7 to 8 pounds. Because roasters are allowed to grow longer their meat is a little tougher. Slow roasting them or stewing them for soup is the preferred method to cook them.

Cornish cross is a fast growing breed. They often reach a broiler fryer size at around 2 months of age.

Jersey giant is a breed known for growing large. It was developed during a time when the numbers of American Turkey were low. It was hoped the breed could replace the turkey over time. This breed of chicken is probably best reserved as a roaster.

New Hampshire is a meat breed which can also do well laying eggs to give you successive generations without needing to order more eggs for incubation. It is known for being a savvy forager and does well picking off bugs when allowed to free range in the garden.  Some people even claim that New Hampshire is one of the most family friendly breeds of chicken.

Laying breeds tend to be smaller bodied birds. They do not require as much grain as meat breeds and they tend to lay eggs for 2, possibly even 3 years. Laying breeds tend to be less hardy and less self-reliant so you will need to offer them a better coop and a closer eye than meat breeds.

Australorp is the unofficial chicken of Australia. The breed originally started out from an English breed called the Black Orpington. These birds are known to be prolific layers which can grow large enough to provide a meaty stewing hen at the end of its life. Australorp can be hard to find in America and you may have to turn to Black Orpington if they are not available.

Leghorn is a classic laying hen that originated in Italy during the middle of the 1800’s. It is perhaps the most prolific egg breed available in America today. It tends to produce medium sized eggs and lay between 250 and 300 eggs per year.

Barred Rock is a great breed for northern homesteaders. They are very cold tolerant. They handle confinement well and on average they lay 4 eggs per week. They are also known for being very docile and are a great breed if you have children.

Dual-Purpose breeds are chickens that can be raised as laying hens or as meat breeds. They tend to be large bodied and good at laying eggs. As you’d expect they tend to be average at each side of the coin. You won’t get as many eggs as a laying breed and a free range dual purpose chicken will have slightly tougher thigh and leg meat than a faster growing meat breed. Dual-purpose breeds are the classic backyard chicken.

English Orpington is a breed known for egg laying and good breast meat.

Plymouth Rock White, sometimes known as a White Rock, is a direct relative of the Barred Rock. They have most of the same traits as a Barred Rock. They are cold hardy, rather docile and will lay around 3 eggs per week. Probably the biggest difference between the two breeds is that White Rocks are a little larger for more meat and they do not tolerate confinement as well.

Houdan is a variety of French chicken known for its large feathered comb. They are not the best layers but they are considered to be very docile for a family friendly breed.

Sourcing chicks

If you have taken the time to get to know other people in the area, chances are good you can acquire enough eggs or chicks to get your flock started at the cost of some simple trading. Many farmers in my area are content to pass off some excess chicks in exchange for some firewood, a few bales of straw or a venison roast from the back of the freezer.

If you aren’t well connected or just can’t find a farmer with a breed you like then you can turn to a wealth of different hatcheries that will sell you eggs for a decent price. If you take this route you will also need to buy an incubator. While ordering eggs is cheaper, it is also a bit of a game of chance.

Even if you do everything right, statistically you will only see a hatch rate of around 50%. The eggs that do hatch have a 50% chance of being males. The reality is that your flock only needs one rooster. Multiple roosters have the potential to fight each other for dominion over the flock when they reach adulthood.

A better alternative is to purchase day old chicks that will be shipped to you overnight. Right before hatching the chicks absorb the yolk and this quick boost of nutrition will allow them to survive transport. Most hatcheries prefer to work with a minimum number of 15 chicks per order. If you look hard enough you can usually find a hatchery that is willing to ship you a smaller number of chicks at a premium price.

When it comes to sexing, you essentially have three different options, which affect price and influence your purpose. If you are raising chickens for meat then the sex of the chicken doesn’t matter very much.  Roosters do have a higher testosterone level and this means their meat is a little tougher. However, if you aren’t raising them free range and/or are intending to slaughter then between 16 and 20 weeks, then you shouldn’t notice a difference.

Straight run is a term that basically means the chicks hatch and they shove them in a box to ship out to you without checking the sex of the chicks. Since they skip the labor costs of sexing, it means you can get them at a cheaper price per chick.

If you are ordering meat chickens with the intent of slaughtering them before 20 weeks, then it isn’t really a problem.  Generally, roosters that are under 20 weeks old yield only slightly tougher meat than hens, so you won’t notice much difference in the meat. If you are planning on raising a flock of laying hens for eggs, this is a real problem, as it’s entirely possible you could order 15 chicks and end up with 10 roosters but only 5 hens.

Hens are absolutely critical for egg laying. In fact a hen doesn’t even need a rooster to lay eggs. The eggs just won’t be fertile. If you are raising free range chickens for meat or raising dual purpose birds that will be slaughtered after 20 weeks, then hens are probably the better way to go. Regardless of the breed you do usually pay a little more per chick for hens.

Roosters are completely unnecessary if you intend to raise non-free range laying hens. Hens raised in a coop will lay eggs without a rooster. Since the eggs are not fertilized they will never hatch. If you want to be able to propagate your flock by occasionally allowing the hens to sit on a nest of eggs you will still need a rooster. A rooster is a very handy thing to have it you want to raise free range hens as he will help keep them corralled and offer some protection from small nuisance animals.

The number of hens you have will determine the number of roosters you need. While there is much debate about the hen to rooster ratio, a good rule of thumb is 1 rooster for every 15 hens. If you have too many roosters they tend to fight each other and compete by over breeding the hens. This can harm the hens and even cause them to develop a condition known as bareback.

Incubating

If you decide that you want to try your hand at hatching eggs, if for no better reason than to watch the miracle of a life begin, then the first step is to find an incubator. While you can buy a cheap incubator for around $40 that will keep the eggs around 101 to 102 degrees for the 21 days they need to hatch, it is probably better to look for a forced air incubator in the $100 range. A forced air incubator uses a small fan to circulate the air and keeps the eggs around 99 degrees.

You want to look for an incubator with a precise and accurate thermostat. Eggs that are just kept generally warm have a much lower hatch rate.

Humidity is also a key factor in hatching eggs. The humidity in the room affects the air pocket that the chick uses for air exchange with the shell.  The drier the air is in the incubator the more fluid inside the egg is depleted. This causes the air pocket to grow and can keep the chick from hatching. The ideal situation is to have the humidity between 45 and 50% for the first 15 to 18 days. Then finish the hatching with the humidity around 60%.

Turning the eggs is also a critical consideration. The first day you get the eggs you should use a non-toxic marker to make a small black dot on one end. This mark will let you know which eggs have been turned and which haven’t. The last thing you want to do is to have a phone call half way through a turning session, only to come back and wonder where you were.

The eggs should be turned twice per day for the first 18 days and then allowed to rest the remaining time until they hatch. Keeping the incubator closed as much as possible during the last 3 to 4 days will help maintain the balanced temperature and humidity the chick needs to hatch without difficulty.

Brooding

Once your chicks hatch, or come in the mail, you will remove then immediately to a brooder. This is a small pen, heated by an overhead heat lamp. You want to set up the brooder somewhere in a non-living area that is free from drafts. A three season porch, work shop or an insulated storage shed will work. You could probably get away with using a room in your basement that is away from any living space as long as you’re willing to let it get a little dusty.

Whatever room you choose needs to have a door. As the chicks grow there will inevitably come a time when one or two of them manage to escape. Juvenile chickens running wild and pooping all over your basement will never be a ride at Disneyland!

You might be tempted to try your main garage as the brooding location. If you are brooding during the heat of summer this might work just fine. If there is any cold air outside though there is a huge chance of draft issues coming from the big garage doors opening and closing multiple times in the day. If you absolutely do insist on using your main garage then it’s probably a good idea to build a temporary enclosure to reduce the drafts.

The floor of the pen should be covered with fine wood shavings over a layer of cardboard. Placing the chicks on a smooth floor increases the chances they could slip, fall and injure their legs. The wood shavings are also absorbent. This makes it a little more convenient for replacing the litter when it is full of their droppings.

When you first take the chicks out of the box, carefully inspect each chick. Sometimes young chicks can suffer from a condition known as pasting up. Because their bowel muscles are very weak their poop can get matted into the soft fur near the vent or cloche. If this dried waste is not removed the chick will be unable to defecate and will die. Usually you can pick the pasted plug off with your fingers. If it doesn’t come easily you might have to use a wet wash cloth or even dunk the chick’s bottom in a small pan of warm water.

Some chicks might also have an umbilical cord still attached to their bottom in the same area. It will drop off naturally over time. Trying to remove it by force could severely injure the chick.

Feeding and watering

A watering station should be placed in the middle of the brooding pen on a platform that allows the droppings to pass through. This will help keep the water tray clear of any droppings. The easiest way to handle this is to make a simple square frame out of 1x2” lumber and cover it with welded wire mesh used for small scale concrete projects. The mesh is usually available at the hardware store in the same area as chicken wire.

A feeder tray needs to be big enough that each bird can get access to it while holding a day’s worth of feed in the hopper. The chicks have a tendency to use their beaks to rut out feed, so it’s best to use a feeder tray that has lip to catch any potential spillage.

Providing the chicks with roosting poles 4 or 5 inches off the floor of the brooder will usually help keep them from roosting on top of the feeder or hopper. This will also help prepare them for roosting during life in the coop.

For the first 8 weeks the chicks should be given a grade of feed known as “Starter Feed.” At some point after 8 weeks you can start putting them on “Grower Feed.” There is no hard and fast rule on when to make this switch, it all depends on the manufacturer. Different manufacturers create feed at different strengths. For this reason it is best to find one brand and stick to that brand according to the manufacturer’s specifications.

Grit is also an important consideration. Chickens lack teeth. While they can consume ground feed, they still need grit in their gizzard or crop. This is especially critical to help them process scraps, worms and bugs. Chances are the local feed store will have something available or you can supplement with bird gravels available at the pet store.

Heat

The chicks will need one or two overhead heat lamps depending on the size of the brooder. Heat is absolutely critical for the success of young chicks. The general rule of thumb is that they want to be kept at 90 degrees for the first week. The second week you should lower the heat to 85 degrees and continue decreasing the temperature by 5 degrees each week until you reach a base temperature around 70 degrees.

Raising and lowering the heat lamp is probably the easiest way to influence the heat of the brooder. Depending on the location you chose for the brooder, you might have to raise it during the day and lower it at night to maintain a consistent temp. The easiest way to check the temperature on the floor of the brooder is to use an infrared thermometer. It shoots a small red laser which reads the temperature of whatever you point it at.

However a little common sense will also get the job done. If the chicks are huddled together under the heat lamps, then they are too cold. If they are spread out to the edges of the brooder then they are too warm. Adjust accordingly and check back after 20 minutes to see if their behavior has changed.

After 4 to 5 weeks the chicks should be hardy enough to handle a 70 degree temp outdoors so long as they have the shelter of an insulated coop to return to.

Understanding a chicken coop

Whether you are raising free range meat chickens or laying hens, all chickens needs a coop for shelter against the dark of night and inclement weather.

Whatever location and type of coop you have in mind, the very first priority is making sure it is safe from predators. The noise and smell of the chickens alone will attract more raccoons and foxes to the area. While a fox can be thwarted by an intelligent fence with a few boards buried under the edge, a raccoon is a genius that will continue to test the coop vertically until he finds a way in.

Rodents are also a cause for concern as they will instantly be attracted to the smell of the chicken feed. While they are poor climbers, rodents are excellent burrowers. You will need a layer of fine mesh 12 inches up from the floor and buried 12 inches deep into the soil. Giving your coop a solid floor for the mesh to be secured into is also a good alternative.

Ventilation is also important. Chickens are prone to several different respiratory diseases. While you can stay ahead of this by frequently removing litter trays, you still want available air flow in the coop. This can be a real issue in the winter time if you live in the deep north like I do. In this case you will have to find a balance between adequate ventilation for air quality and the draft of cold air.

Nesting boxes are important if you plan to raise laying hens. They need to be in a dark location that is out of the way of the natural ruckus activity of the rest of the coop. Hens that are stressed out and wary of activity lay fewer eggs. While some people will tell you that you should have one nesting box per 5 birds I would make the effort to provide one nesting box per two birds if you live in a cold climate.

A nesting box should have an interior space measuring around 12” wide by 12” high by 16” long. You can usually save space by building the boxes into a cabinet with spacer walls slid in between each box unit. Make sure you give the box a sloped roof to discourage chickens from sleeping on top of it. Since chickens tend to defecate the most at night, a flat roof could lead to a serious mess!

Try to position the nesting boxes so they are a foot or two above the floor for easy access. You should also make sure that they are not higher than the roosting poles or the hens may prefer to sleep in them creating excess mess in the same box they are depositing the eggs you collect!

Size considerations

The size of your coop is going to be determined by the number of birds you intend to keep. In general you want 3 to 4 square feet of floor space per bird. If you live in a part of the country which experiences cold winters where the birds will be confined in the coop, then I would suggest more like 5 to 6 square feet per bird. If you are forced to keep the birds confined in a small coop try to give them some sort of fenced in and roofed exercise area to move around in.

Roosting poles are also an important consideration.  The chickens prefer to sleep on poles several feet above the ground. This is a natural response to defend themselves against predators. It is recommended to provide 12 inches of roost pole per bird. The quick and easy way to handle roosting poles is simply to mount a few closet poles above and away from the nesting boxes.

Every 4 or 5 days you’ll have to go out and change the bulk of the litter in the coop. While this might seem like the easy route it is arguably more work and more cost because you are removing and adding more material.

With a little extra time and energy up front you can install a droppings board under the roosting poles. Place a light layer of compostable litter on the droppings board. Since chickens poop the most at night and early morning you will be able to catch the most of it in one small area. It will speed up the process if you cover the board with an easy to remove organic litter, such as old leaves. Every 2 to 3 days you simply scrape the litter from the drippings board into a bucket. With a little luck you’ll only have to clear the floor litter every 2 weeks.

In cold weather locations it is better to use 2X4 lumber for the roosting poles, this will encourage the chickens to sit down and protect their legs during the coldest part of the night. It’s handy to attach joist hangers to the walls so you can slide the 2x4’s in and out. If a roosting pole gets too dirty in the winter you can simply remove and replace it with a clean board. This will spare you the pangs of trying to chisel frozen chicken poop in the dead of winter.

Additional notes for keeping chickens in cold climates

If you live in the north where extreme winter weather can strike for long periods of time then it is absolutely essential that you select a cold hardy breed of chickens. In theory, cold hardy breeds can indeed survive the northern winters in a coop with a window cracked for proper ventilation. At the same time surviving doesn’t always include egg production.

A stressed out bird or one that is not cold hardy will often cut back or stop egg production during the hardest parts of winter. Barred Rock, Buckeye, Australorp, Cornish, Leghorn, New Hampshire and Rhode Island Red are all good cold hardy breeds that will improve your chances of getting winter eggs. With a little looking online they shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Also consider their watering needs. Where I live in Northern Minnesota there have been week long stretches where the wind chill temperature outside has been colder than the surface of Mars. This makes a heated watering station essential.  While there are some people who talk about using a small solar panel to run the heater, I personally don’t trust it during the short days of winter. Not to mention the expense is rather high when you consider the gel batteries you need to run it. Personally I would rather run an independent electric line to the coop and let the same power grid from the house handle the watering station.

If you have a south facing window you can layer black bricks in the sunlight under the watering station. The bricks will take some of the heat load from the sun and thus reduce the draw of electric heat on the watering station.

Butchering a chicken

The taking of any animal’s life should be treated as a sacred act. It is after all another living thing that is providing up its life so that you can continue your life with a full belly. You should not take this duty lightly and you should make every effort to make the most out of the animal.

You should deny a chicken all grain for a full day before Slaughtering.

Equipment for Slaughtering

1 gallon plastic milk jug or killing cone

Ice pick

Hunting knife

A large stock pot of water held at 140 degrees

A welding glove

Procedure

Step 1: Cut the bottom off a plastic milk jug and widen the mouth just enough that you can get the birds head in.

Step 2: Grab the bird by the legs and hold it upside down for 2 or 3 minutes. The bird will eventually lull to sleep and will be much easier to work with.

Step 3: Insert the bird into the makeshift killing cone. Open its mouth and pierce its brain with an ice pick.

Step 4: Cut the chickens head off and allow the bird to bleed out. This could take as much as 10 minutes.

Step 5: Put on the welding glove and grab the bird by the feet. Dip it neck down into the pot of hot water and allow it to scald the bird for 1 minute. This will make plucking the feathers much easier.

Step 6: Lay the bird out on a wide board or table and pluck the feathers. Most people find it is easier to pluck the tail feathers and wings first.

Step 7: Cut off the feet.

Step 8: Wash the carcass thoroughly.

Step 9: Cut around the vent/anus and make a shallow slice up to the abdomen. Reach in and remove the entrails.

Step 10: Carefully remove the liver and gizzards before removing the heart, lungs and esophagus.

Step 11: Wash the carcass thoroughly inside and out using cold water.

Step 12: Place the chicken in a refrigerator for at least 1 day before using it. This will allow the meat to tenderize as the muscles release their final tension.

Chapter 2 – Raising Goats

Goats have a well-earned reputation for being cantankerous animals that wander through your farm raising havoc and laying waste to your prize possessions. Left to their own devices there is probably more fact that fiction behind many of these stories.  Just like any animal you raise the difference between trouble and triumph is won on the battlefield of attention and care.

There are two types of goat: a milk goat and a meat goat. While there are cross breeds, neither one is half as good at serving its purpose as purpose bred goats.

Milk Goats

Having a couple of milk goats on your homestead is a great way to save money on dairy costs. If you have the right skills and equipment in the kitchen you can also process goat milk into cheese, yogurt and ice cream. By no means is it a stretch of the imagination to say that a small healthy herd of milk goats can completely eliminate the need for cow’s milk for your entire family.

Milk Goat Breeds

Just like cows, goats have butterfat content to their milk. One major difference between the two is that in goat’s milk the fat molecule is much smaller. As a result the cream does not separate as easily, meaning you will have to drink the goats milk whole or spend the money on a fat separator device specifically calibrated for goat’s milk. You can usually find a decent one for around $200.

There are essentially 3 primary types of milk goat breeds, Swiss, African and American.

Swiss breeds such as Alpine Oberhasli, Saanen and Toggenburg are known for being cold hearty and they do well surviving through northern winters. Swiss goats are known for high milk production. In fact it is a Toggenburg goat that holds the world record for the most milk production in a single year.

African goats are known for being heat tolerant. They produce the highest butterfat content milk. Unfortunately they also produce the lowest volume of milk for all three types. They are known for having long ears and Roman noses, this is a product of their time spent in hot, dry conditions. If you live in a northern area and you want to kid your African goats in late winter or early spring, then you will need to give them a heated area for the first two months.

American goats tend to come from a Spanish origin. They tend to have high butterfat milk and can do well in hot or cold climates. They were originally brought to America as meat goats but over time they were selectively bred for milk production. American milk goats do the best job of also being used for meat once they have reached the end of their milk producing years.

Keeping Milk Goats

Of course one of the biggest advantages to having a couple of milk goats is that you know how the animals have been treated. You know what they’ve been fed, how they’ve been kept. You can provide the milk to your family knowing that it isn’t augmented with industrial strength antibiotics and artificial hormones.

When it comes to keeping goats there are a few devils in the details.

The first salient point to consider is that a doe (Female goat) doesn’t just reach a certain age and suddenly begins filling it’s utter with milk. A doe needs to be bred, give birth and then nurse her kid (Baby goat) exclusively for the first two weeks. Then you can slide her into a milking parlor or stanchion and continue her milk production.

On the average a doe that is treated properly, fed well, kept in a low stress environment and milked in a timely manner will continue to produce milk for 10 months out of the year. After that she needs to be bred again and the process starts all over again.

This also means that in order for you to have a continuous supply of milk you will need multiple milk goats and stagger their breeding times.

Probably the biggest commitment in raising milk goats is the act of milking. Goats need to be milked twice a day. They prefer milking sessions that are staggered 12 hours a part. Failing to meet these demands for a single day can cause the doe a great deal of distress. Over time it leads to resentful goats and potential health problems.

The amount of milk a single goat produces can vary a little bit by breed and this influences how long each milking session lasts. On average one goat produces a half gallon of milk per session. This session usually lasts 10 to 15 minutes.

In order to maintain a constant supply of milk through the course of a year you will need a minimum of two breeding age does. With staggered breeding cycles it means for 8 months out of the year you will spend a half hour in the morning and a half hour at night milking.

This means you’re going to have to take a half hour out of your morning ritual to go out and milk the goats. Then juggle your evening schedule for a half hour at night. On an average Tuesday this probably isn’t a big deal. When you factor in things like your kid’s school play, a spring break vacation or even just a day trip to the annual family reunion, the hassles start to pile up.

The cold hard reality is that if you’re going to keep goats then it needs to be family decision. If you have to cut wood on a spring evening, your wife will need to milk the goat. Of course you always have the option to dragoon your children into service.

How to milk a goat

Milking a goat is not as easy as you might think. Goats can be fidgety, stubborn animals. As a result there are a few tricks of the trade to help streamline the art of hand milking a goat.

Equipment

A milk bucket

A sack of grain

Leg shackles (optional)

Milking parlor or stanchion

A wet, warm wash cloth treated with a mild disinfectant.

Procedure

Step 1: Rinse the milk bucket to make sure it is clean. Prepare a small feeder bag with one pound of grain. Allowing the goat to feed on a little grain while you milk it will help keep the animal occupied. Some people also claim that it helps the goat’s milk to drop more thoroughly.

Step 2: Catch the goat you want to milk first. Remove her from the rest of the herd and bring her over to the milking parlor. Do not allow the other goats to follow as they could disrupt the milking process.

Step 3: Place the goat’s head in the stanchion and close it. The stanchion should be comfortably loose. Portion the grain into the stanchion feeder and allow the goat to start eating.

Step 4: Wash the utter with the warm wash cloth to make sure no dirt or debris get into the milk bucket. If you prefer to use shackles for the back legs this is the time to secure them.

Step 5: Place the milk bucket under her udder.

Step 6: Wrap your hand and thumb around the first teat. Use a firm grip to help trap the milk in the udder and stimulate the teat. This will help the milk to drop.

Step 7: Point the tip of the teat outside the bucket, just in case the first squirt contains dirt. Apply pressure with your fingers in succession from your pointer, middle, ring then pinky. Make sure when you are squeezing that the previous finger remains tight. You don’t want the pressure to force the milk back up into the udder.

Step 8: Once the milk is expressed from the tip of the teat, relax all the fingers except the pinky. This allows the teat to fill with milk again.

Step 9: Repeat the process of squeezing in succession. Over time you will get comfortable enough with the process that you can do both teats at the same time. Once you do, you can then alternate between the two allowing one teat to fill while you squeeze the other. This allows you to milk the goat in half the time!

Step 10: Stop milking when you notice the teats are becoming flaccid and the amount of milk per squeeze is decreasing. Note that the hind milk in the process is where the most milk fat comes from.

Step 11: It is better to take the milk and pour it directly into a bulk tank or storage container before moving on to the next goat. This decreases the chances that insects or dirt can get into the milk bucket.

The value of keeping a milk goat

So what is the practical savings here for one goat’s milk production?

While some people want to base the savings on the cost of Goat’s milk, I think the fair analysis is to look at it through the lens of the cost per gallon of cow’s milk. I mean that’s really what the goat’s milk is replacing. If you decided not to raise goats you would probably be purchasing cow’s milk from the store or local dairy co-op.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics the average cost of a gallon of whole milk is right around $3.45 per gallon.

A gallon of goat milk is a little harder to measure as the prices fluctuate by region. Goat milk also tends to be used more for cheese and yogurt. By law you can drink, process and use milk from an animal you own. However you need a special license and must follow FDA regulated procedures if you wish to sell the milk in any retail capacity. There might also be state and local regulations that apply. If you are interested in one day expanding you operation into a commercial dairy, you will want to call your county agricultural extension office.

If the average milk goat is providing you with half of a gallon of fresh milk per session, with two sessions per day, you should expect a gallon of daily production. This means that one doe is worth $3.45 per day. This means for the half an hour you are spending each day milking it, you are essentially making $6.90 per hour.

You can milk that single goat for around 300 days per year. Meaning that, before we account for the costs of feeding and breeding, you are saving $2,370 per year. While a single doe might live 12 to 15 years she is probably only going to be providing you with a productive milk supply for 8 to 10 years.  If we assume 8 years of peak milk production before you choose to butcher her then a single doe is worth $18,960.

While $19,000 for 8 to 10 years of labor is not the kind of thing that makes cash registers ring in your ears, it’s still not the kind of money to sneeze at. Factor in that you’ll probably have a minimum of two does at any one time and it basically means you can buy yourself a new pickup truck with the money you save. All while providing your family with quality healthy milk straight from your own hand.

Cost to keep a milk goat

The very first upfront cost of a dairy goat is the simple act of finding and buying it. Unlike sourcing baby chicks there really aren’t a lot of large breeders that allow you to just order up a little goat through their website and they ship it to you via express mail.

In a practical sense you have two options. The first is to find a neighbor who keeps goats and do some wheeling and dealing. Sometimes you can find a guy who will trade you a couple cords of firewood for the kid off one of his in-house cross breeds. You don’t usually get maximum milk production from these kinds of milk goats. However, if you don’t want to run a commercial dairy operation and you just want fresh, free milk for the family, then this isn’t a bad route to take.

If you want a pure bred goat meant for prime milk production, then you’ll probably have to seek out a local breeder somewhere in your state.  With a little poking around on the internet you can usually find a breeder or ranch that is selling kids, does and some even sell sire services.

If you are willing to be patient, and plan on doing the majority of your breeding in-house, then you can save a lot of money by purchasing kids. You could start with two does and a buck, get your feet wet and evaluate how you want to proceed from there. Prices can vary wildly. Right now in my area pure bred kids are going for between $250 and $300 per animal.

Another great alternative, if you can find a breeder with a sire that will accommodate you, is to buy two juvenile does that have just come into breeding age. Then negotiate the extra fee with the breeder to have them bred before you take them home. Once the kids are born you can reevaluate buying another buck for in-house breeding or work with the one you get.

It’s hard to pin down a number on this scenario as not all goat breeders are willing to send you down the road with two pregnant does. In general juvenile pure bred does in my area are going for around $700 each animal. I know a breeder who sells a sire service on occasion for $300. So you could figure around a $1,000 per animal.

For the sake of an easy example, let’s assume you’re able to work this out and your cost for two does runs you $1000 each.

Recently the University of Minnesota did a break down cost analysis for the feed and care of goats. According to their study you should expect the following expenses through the course of a year.

Hay: On average a goat consumes 5 pounds per day. At current hay prices that is $18.25 per year.

Grain: Goats eat different amounts when milking as opposed to the 2 months they spend dry. On average a single goat will consume $22.78 worth of grain per year.

Bedding straw: On average a goat will go through 10 bales of straw per year. At an average cost of $2.50 per bale that is $25 per year.

Veterinary care: The average cost of veterinary care for a single goat per years is estimated at $50 per goat.

Utilities: This includes things like power for lights, refrigeration for milk, repairs and upkeep on the pen. While prices vary, the average estimated cost is $34.70 per year, per goat.

When we add these operating costs up we find that the yearly cost to keep a goat is $150.73. If we don’t take into account the cost of breeding and general labor, this means general upkeep costs you $150.73 per year. This means the 8 year productive lifespan of the goat will cost you $1,205.84.

When we include the cost of the initial purchase you are spending $2,205.84. With a lifetime value of $18,960 in milk you are making a net $16,755 profit over the 8 year productive lifespan of the animal.

The minimum hours of labor each animal requires is estimated at 70 hours per animal per year. The reality is that goats are social animals and things are going to trip you up, so it’s fair to adjust that estimate to 100 hours per year. This means 800 hours over 8 years.

Meat Goats

Even though goat meat is slow to gain popularity in America it has been thoroughly embraced by many Asian, African, Caribbean and Latin cultures for several centuries. Goat meat is lean and has a flavor similar to lamb or farm raised venison. The biggest advantage of raising your own goats for their meat is that you have control of keeping their diet clean and healthy.

Of course, goat meat can be a little tougher than feed lot raised beef or pork. This is a product of the fact that goats live a more active and often free range lifestyle. The higher activity level develops connective tissue made of collagen. Collagen needs to be slow cooked in order to render it into succulent gelatin. When planning meals that use goats, think of soups, stews or even barbecue over quick grilling or pan frying.

There are 4 primary breeds of meat goat.

Spanish are a little on the small side. They were originally brought to the Americas where some of them were adapted into milk goats. They are known for being self-sufficient and free range easily. They are cold hardy and heat resistant. In fact their only real drawback is the fact that they are the smallest of the meat goats.

Boer goats are one of the most popular breeds of meat goat. They are known for being very large. Does can weigh up to 225 pounds, bucks can easily ring in around 300. There are even claims of Boer bucks that have made it up to 350 pounds!

While adults are relatively cold hardy, thanks to their size, Boer kids are not known for their cold tolerance. Kids that are born in late winter or early spring will need a heated area for the first month or two of life.

Kiko goats are a breed of goat hailing from New Zealand. They are slightly smaller than Boer, but their kids are cold hardy. If you live in a cold climate and you want to kid in the late winter or early spring it might be better to choose Kiko over Boer.

Savannah goats are a rather new breed of meat goat. They didn’t become popular in the United States until the mid-90s. They are smaller than Kiko and Boer but still larger than Spanish meat goats. Does weigh in around 175 pounds and can give birth to 2 or more kids. Bucks can weigh in around 225 pounds.

Breeding Goats

If you are well connected or know someone locally with a buck that is a suitable sire for your doe then you can possibly get away without having to keep a buck on the property. I recently helped a friend transport his doe to a buck being kept 15 miles away. I have to admit that while the idea sounds good on paper, it turned out to be quite a hassle. The doe ends up so stressed by transport that she needs to make an extended stay in order to be properly sired.

There are some breeders who will offer a sire service for a modest fee. This is a great way to ensure that you can keep a pure bred stock. Once again this means you have to go through prolonged transport.

In all reality it is probably easiest to keep a buck or two on the homestead. The problem here is that bucks cannot be kept permanently with a herd of does. Goats are also social animals. I suspect a large number of the fabled stories of cantankerous goats have an origin in bucks that have been left alone and unattended.

Instead it is better to give your sire buck a buddy to hang out with. If you put him with another complete buck there is a chance for competition and fighting between the two. Instead you should keep him with an altered, castrated male known as a wether.

I think one of the reasons that people are so hesitant to keep one or even two bucks is the perception that they are good for only one thing. You have to sometimes get creative in order to get the most out of a buck without finding him standing on the hood of your car.

With some intelligent use of chain and leash you can actually employ your bucks as lawn mowers and brush clearing machines. Free range goats have a voracious appetite and will happily chow down on anything green an interesting. So long as you are smart about how and where you stake them, a pair of hungry male goats can keep the lawn and the brush lines manicured all summer long!

When it comes to breeding it is better to bring the doe to the buck. Nature tends to take its course in a day or two. Keep in mind that it is a bad idea to breed a buck to his own daughters. Instead it is better over time to find another buck, or raise another complete buck from a separate blood line.

If you intend to try your hand at cross breeding a milk goat with a meat goat in hopes of creating a dual purpose goat, then it is better to breed a meat buck to a milk goat.

Butchering a goat

The taking of any animal’s life should be treated as a sacred act. It is, after all, another living thing that is providing up its life so that you can continue your life with a full belly. You should not take this duty lightly and you should make every effort to make the most out of the animal.

You should confine the animal for a week before you butcher. During this time keep the goat well fed. The day before you intend to butcher you should refrain from feeding and offer the goat only water. This will allow the bowels to clear and make cleaning the abdominal cavity a less messy affair.

Equipment

A 22 caliber loaded with a hollow point slug

Hunting knife

Hacksaw

Flensing knife

Tarp (optional)

Procedure

It should go without saying that if you are not experienced using a gun, take a gun safety class beforehand and follow proper gun safety procedures at all times when handling a gun.

Step 1: Place a bowl of feed in front of the goat. While it is distracted by the feed step behind it and aim the gun at a spot just under the ear. The idea is to shoot the animal in the brain, killing it quickly. A good initial shot will help the animal avoid any suffering and prevent you from having to shoot more than once.

Step 2: You want to slit the throat immediately after the animal drops.

Step 3: Hang the animal, head down so it bleeds out. You can use the same gambrel or hanger you would use for a deer. Cut a slit in the skin of the back legs between the tendon and bone. Insert the hanging hook into each slit and secure the carcass.

Step 4: Cut all four feet off at the hocks.

Step 5: Remove the goats head by cutting down to the neck. Sometimes you can cut through the vertebrae with just the serrations of your hunting knife. If not a hack saw or sharp hatchet may be required to separate one of the vertebrae before continuing your cut through the spine.

Step 6: Remove the digestive tract by making a thin slice in the genital area. Insert your two fingers into the skin and lift up. Continue cutting down the length of the abdomen with your fingers as a guide to help you keep from piercing the organs.

Step 7: Skin the goat by slitting the hind legs and pulling the skin back. Cut with one hand and pull back with the other. Continue this on all 4 legs then continue the slits until they meet up at the opening made in the belly. Pull the skin back and remove it from the animal.

Step 8: Cut off the anus from the lower bowel and tie the end off. Pull the rest of the entrails from the abdominal cavity and cut the esophagus. Wash the cavity.

Step 9: Hang the carcass in a cold place at a temperature around 35 degrees for up to a week before breaking it down into the primal cuts.

Chapter 3 – Raising Pigs

Unless you’re planning to breed them as companion animals or raise heritage breeds, pigs have a pretty straight forward role in the homesteading lifestyle. You’re not raising them for their milk, fur or eggs. Pigs are destined for the freezer and the kitchen. Of course, there is a lot that comes between the first day you bring the piglet home and the day you slice into a ham for Sunday supper.

Pork sometimes gets a bad rap because of the perception that pigs are these disgusting animals that roll around in their own filth and eat half rotted kitchen scraps out of a dirty old trough. The reality is that a pig lives the way you keep it.

You’ve probably also heard the terms pig and hog thrown around interchangeably. A hog is classified as a pig that has been allowed to grow over 120 pounds. Most of the bacon and Boston butt pork shoulders you are used to seeing in the grocery store actually come from hogs that have been allowed to grow big and fat.

Depending on its age and size a pig can actually be a rather lean animal. Most homesteaders prefer to raise hogs simply because you are putting more meat into the freezer. The only time you really slaughter a pig is if you’ve decided to breed several sows which gave you large litters. Eventually those piglets grow to become weaners. By the time they become pigs you have to choose between expanding your pens and harvesting the animal.

The Cost of Raising a Pig

Just like we did with goats and chickens, we’ll start by taking a look at the cost breakdown.

Assuming that you do not already have pigs on your homestead, you will have to source some original piglets. What you are actually looking for right off the bat is to find someone who is selling “weaners.” This is a term used to describe piglets that have just been weaned off of their sow’s milk.

The cost to buy a weaner pig can vary. You can usually find them for around $80 per animal. If you know someone who has a few sows with large litters about to crowd the pens you can usually get them cheaper. Like a lot of things in rural life, the more people you know the more money you can save.

For our purposes here, we will look at the cost to raise a weaner pig up to a 250 pound hog meant for slaughter. In general, you want to wait until 250 pounds to slaughter or else the hog will yield rather lean bacon and shoulders.

Hogs that are fed grain have a higher fat content, and in pigs fat equals flavor. That’s not to say you have to exclusively feed the hogs grain. They need other supplements and will also enjoy kitchen scraps and garden trimming. In fact, it’s a handy trick to let the hogs chow down on the last standing garden plants in the fall to save you some tilling.

The price per pound of pig feed varies from year to year. If you are well connected with a mill and willing to buy in bulk you can sometimes get a lower price. Currently, pig feed sells at 30 to 35 cents price per pound. 

It is estimated to take between 600 and 800 pounds of feed to raise a pig to a 250 pound hog. 

For our purposes let’s take the low end numbers, assuming that you’re going to supplement with kitchen scraps and garden trimmings. We’ll also assume that you’re savvy enough to find a good deal on feed.

This means 600 pounds of grain at 30 cents per pound will cost you $180 per animal.

The cost of veterinary care per animal is around $75.

You are probably going to want to include supplements, and depending on how and where you keep the pig you might also need antibiotics. We can ball park this at around $50 per animal.

When we don’t count the overhead costs for things like fencing, lights and maintenance, we come to ball park cost of around $385 per animal.

The Value of Raising a Pig

On the average a 250 pound hog when properly dressed and trimmed will yield around 180 pounds of meat.

According to the USDA the average retail cost of pork in 2013 was $3.61 per pound.

Of course this is the average of the whole pig based on what it sells for when broken down into the primal cuts. One thing that is often poorly accounted for is the trim meat being made into sausage. Most often this is simply accounted for as the value of ground pork. Ground pork runs an average of $2.49 per pound. However, artisanal, smoked ring sausage can retail as high as 5 or even $6 per pound.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture estimates that a 250 pound hog should provide 180 pounds of edible meat. This estimate does not include offal cuts from the internal organs such as heart, brains, liver, kidneys and glands. While there are some FDA restrictions on how these organ meats can be used at the retail level, there is nothing that says you can’t use these nutrient dense meats in sausage you make explicitly for your family!

As a general rule of thumb a 250 pound hog can be butchered down into the following primal cuts by weight.

28 to 30 pounds of hams such as: Fresh ham, cured & smoked ham, ham steaks and ham hocks.

20 to 23 pounds of loin cuts including: Country-style ribs, pork chops, center cut pork loin chops, center cut pork rib chops, boneless pork loin roast, pork tenderloins, boneless butterfly pork chops and baby back ribs.

20 to 23 pounds of side bacon including: Fresh side bacon, salt pork and traditional smoked bacon.

5 to 6 pounds of spare ribs.

10 to 12 pounds of pork shoulder which can be made into: Pork steak, Boston butt roast, smoked shoulder bacon or ground into sausage.

10 to 12 pounds of fresh picnic shoulder which includes: Fresh or smoked picnic shoulder and smoked hock.

3 to 4 pounds of feet, which can be pickled or the meat can be picked for sausage.

5 to 6 pounds of head meat, which is best simmered and processed into head cheese.

20 to 25 pounds of back fat, which can be rendered down into lard or wrapped in aluminum foil and vacuum sealed to be frozen in reserve for making venison sausage.

3 to 4 pounds of jowl meat that is best added to the trim meat.

9 to 12 pounds of miscellaneous trim meat leftover from all the different primal cuts which can be made into sausage.

If we ignore the added value of house made sausage and simply go with the USDA average price for pork it means this 180 pounds of meat will provide you with $649.80 cents of pork for the chest freezer. When we balance this against the $385 cost per animal you end up with a net savings of $264.80 for each hog.

Raising and Butchering Pigs

Once you have accounted for the cost of feed and veterinary care, the additional costs for raising a weaner pig into a market hog is pretty straight forward.

Fencing and shelter

You will need a sheltered pen where the hogs can live free from the ravages of weather. Pigs cannot sweat and are prone to getting sunburn. This means a roof over some section of the pen is important.

Hog panel are the most common and probably the cheapest way to fence in hogs. Hog panels are made from heavy duty 4 gauge steel. As long as your soil isn’t too sandy the hog panels can usually be held in place with basic wooden fence posts. The panels come in 16 foot sections. If you are simply raising two pigs to the size of market hogs you can get by with a 16 foot square pen for their common area.

You will find many different opinions when it comes to the use of a wallow. If you intend to have a pen with a shaded roof, then the pigs only really need to be hosed off in high heat. Giving them a wallow in the pen will inevitably lead them to poop in it. Pig manure in high heat will attract a lot of flies and give off an eye opening stench. This is usually what leads people to the perception that pigs are filthy animals.

If you pasture a pig and allow it to essentially live a free range lifestyle then it is easy to allow them several wallow locations in the pasture. So long as you keep their food away from the wallow locations you won’t risk the cross contamination. Also the smell will be far away from your main barns and the house. Offering multiple wallows in the pasture encourages the pigs to use more than one location. This reduces the impact of them pooping in the wallow and gives rain a chance to balance the system naturally.

If you intend to raise the hogs long enough to breed successive generations then you will want to have some sort of run that connects the pen to a sheltered barn when they can live out the four seasons. If you are simply raising feeder pigs, then it is possible to simply provide a roofed structure and perhaps a basic wallow.

Additional considerations

Pigs that are raised strictly on grain and green kitchen scraps can have their waste composted. Pigs have a far more thorough digestive system than chickens, horses and goats. However, there is still a risk of pathogens associated with pig manure. It is best to make sure you add it to your compost and allow it to mature for at least 6 months. Giving it this time will allow the beneficial microbes in the compost to attack and out-compete any pathogens that might be hiding in the pig’s digestive system.

Butchering

Finding a full service butcher who will take your hog from pen to freezer is not as easy as it might sound. The meat packing industry took a big hit during the real estate bubble when many old fashioned, full service butchers were priced out of their shops. As a result the only full service butchers left out there are ones that are family owned and own their building outright.

Sometimes the distance between your homestead pen and the full service butcher is prohibitive. The average full service butcher might also charge in the neighborhood of $150 to process a 250 pound hog. Add in the fuel and transportation costs to bring the hog to them and suddenly your modest $264 savings starts to go up in smoke.

Just like goats and deer it is entirely possible to slaughter, butcher and process the animal yourself.

As I have said before, the taking of any animal’s life should be treated as a sacred act. It is after all another living thing that is providing up its life so that you can continue your life with a full belly. You should not take this duty lightly and you should make every effort to make the most out of the animal.

Equipment

A 22 caliber loaded with a hollow point slug

Hunting knife

Hacksaw

Flensing knife

55 gallon barrel drum

½ cup of lye

Tarp (optional)

Procedure

Step 1: Confine the animal to its pen for two days before butchering. Deny it food for the last 24 hours, only allow it water. This will allow the digestive tract to clear and reduce the chances of contaminating the meat.

Step 2: When you are ready to slaughter, offer the hog a small dish of feed. When it dips its head into the feed shoot it point blank between the eyes.

Step 3: As soon as the animal drops roll it onto its back and stretch out the neck. Sever the main artery by inserting a knife into the skin under the chin. Insert the knife as deep as it will go and slit down the neck until you reach the breast bone.

Step 4: Hang the animal, head down. You can use the same gambrel or hanger you would use for a deer. Cut a slit in the skin of the back legs between the tendon and bone. Insert the hanging hook into each slit and secure the carcass.

Step 5: While the animal bleeds out you can begin heating the scalding tub of water.  The water in the scalding tub only needs to be 145 degrees. Usually you can accomplish this temperature by heating hot water on a stovetop in large stock pots. I have seen other people use campfires to boil small pots of water and add them to lukewarm water. However you choose to do it you will want to make sure you are adding the water gradually so as to not go over 145 degrees.  Once the water has come up to temp add in the half cup of lye.

Scalding the carcass will help release the skin, clean the body and make any hair removal easier.

Step 6: Slowly lower the head end of the carcass into the barrel of scalding water.  You probably won’t be able to get the entire carcass into the scalding water in one shot. Instead fit it as deep as you can. Submerge for 5 minutes.

Step 7: Turn the carcass over. Secure it to the gamble with the front legs and lower the back end of the carcass into the water. Try not to submerge it deeper than it was the first time. Allow it to scald for another 5 minutes.

Step 8: Lay the animal out on a flat surface. I find a picnic table covered with a tarp works best.

Step 9: Shave the carcass down with flensing knife or a dull long bladed knife. After you have shaved off the body hair you should take a fine mesh steel wool to scrub down any remaining dirt from the pores and folds of skin.

Step 10: Rehang the carcass by the hind legs. Dump out the scalding barrel and place it underneath.

Step 11: Make a deep cut through the center of the hind legs from the hock to the foot. Along the way you will find 3 tendons. At each joint try to expose them by using your fingers.

Step 12: Complete the cut from the breast bone through the abdomen. Once you reach the end of the rib cage slip your fingers into the skin. Lift the skin and subcutaneous fat with your fingers and continue a shallow slit all the way to the groin. Be careful not to puncture the stomach or intestines.

Step 13: Cut around the reproductive organs and anus being careful not to puncture them. Once the anus is cut free tie it off.

Step 14: Pull the anus out through the abdominal cavity. Gravity will help you drop the entrails into the scalding barrel. Cut the esophagus above the lungs and pull the heart and lungs out with the entrails.

Step 15: Hose out in the inside of the carcass. Reserve any loose hanging fatty bits to be rendered into lard.

Step 16: Use a hacksaw or bone saw to cut down each side of the back bone to create two sides of pork.

Step 17: Use your hunting knife to break the carcass down in to the select cuts of your choice. Chill the primal cuts in a refrigerator for a full day before you vacuum seal and freeze them.

Conclusion

Obviously this book can never cover every single thing you will ever need to know about raising chickens, goats and pigs. Just like becoming a parent, there is no single right answer for every situation, there is only information that can help point you in the right direction.

It is important to research each animal and every breed that captures your interest. Remember to run the numbers. Call local grain mills to ask about their prices. Many times the same places that sell grain can answer more than just questions about basic feed and they often carry supplements as well. Understanding the overhead costs of keeping an animal will go a long way to helping you decide if it really is worth your time, money and passion.

Whenever you have the chance, you should seek out knowledgeable locals. Not only do these old farmers have a wealth of information to share but they can also help you source animals. Don’t under estimate the value of doing a little horse trading to source local chicks, kids and weaner piglets. Trading things like excess firewood, bales of straw or other surplus items can make the difference between the animals dragging you into the red or putting you nicely into the black.

My personal opinion is to start small. 15 chickens are a great way to get your feet wet and learn key lessons. If you attempt to dive into a large scale operation in hopes of making better margins, then one small mistake might cost you big.

As you go, keep your eyes open for other money making opportunities. Selling compost from chicken or organically raised pig manure is a great way to make the animals pay for themselves. There are some communities out there that will rent bucks and wethers to help clear an area of invasive plants or clear brush. Bucks can also help pay for themselves as sires for your neighbor’s does.

All of these things are just the tip of an ice berg of creative ways to keep animals for the good of your homestead and make a little extra egg money on the side.

Hopefully this book has helped get you pointed in the right direction. Armed with the information from this book you should be able to build the authentic experience you need to find your own success keeping chickens, goats and pigs.

Book 3:
Homesteading and Self-Sufficiency Skills and Equipment

A How-to Skills and Idea Guide for Do-It-Yourself Homesteaders

Eric Beuning

Introduction

I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them. And work which one hopes may be of some use. Then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor. Such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children perhaps. What more can the heart of a man desire?   -Leo Tolstoy

In the wake of the great recession the “do-it-yourself” ethic has grown in popularity. At the core of the DIY ethic is the idea that an individual is capable of doing many jobs without the need of a specialist. For some people this is a cost savings measure that helps make ends meet in lean times. For example, why spend 10 dollars at a car wash when you can clean your car at home for free?

For some people this idea is expanded from just a simple way to meet your needs on the cheap. They look out at a grocery store filled with processed foods, genetically modified produce, farm raised fish dripping with antibiotics and meats that have been enhanced with injected fluids from animals that spent their lives pumped full of industrial strength hormones.  They see this nightmare and long for a way to defy it.

For some people this itch is scratched by keeping a small garden out back and a deft eye for organically grown produce at the farmer’s market. Still others might take up hunting, fishing or trapping as a hobby. For all of these people, learning new skills and developing new experiences becomes a passion.

If you’re reading this then it means you are at the very least curious about some of these self-sufficiency skills. Perhaps you are even thinking about taking the leap into the homesteading lifestyle. I have spent over a decade making the transition from a large lot in the suburbs to a 10 acre property deep in the country.  While I can’t give you all of the answers, this book and the series to follow will hopefully help you get enough authentic experience that you can make the transition yourself. Or if you already have, you can learn new skills for forging a better quality of life wherever you are on the journey.

In the chapters to come we will look at the tools, skills and philosophy involved in the homesteading lifestyle.

Chapter 1 – Vehicles and equipment

When you really start thinking about it, you almost need a fleet of vehicles in order to live the homesteading lifestyle and to spare you time and excess elbow grease. If you are focused on growing grain, you will need a different tractor than someone who is focused on raising cattle. In this chapter we’ll take a look at some of the more common options.

Wheelbarrow

While it might seem like I’m stating the obvious here, it’s important to note that not all wheel barrows are created equally. A good wheelbarrow is worth its weight in gold, while a bad wheelbarrow will cause you no end of trouble.

The basic purpose of a wheel barrow is to help you move loose materials like mulch, sand and grass clippings. A deeper bucket means you can move more materials per trip. For this reason alone a cheap shallow pan wheel barrow should be avoided. In general metal buckets are less expensive than plastic. However they have a knack for rusting around the bolt holes, eventually giving you a loose bucket.

The number of wheels is also a big factor. While you pay more for the frame and wheels on a two-wheeler, you also get a lot more added stability. Few things ruin your day faster than moving a load of manure in a one-wheeler and hitting a bump and spilling it. A two-wheeler is also nice for when you need to collect scattered things like sticks. Because it has the added stability up front, you can walk along guiding it with one hand, while picking things up with the other hand.

Handcart (dolly)

A handcart is one of those things that will sit in the garage for months doing nothing but collecting dust.  Just when you start thinking that you should sell it, you suddenly start finding uses for it. Much like a wheelbarrow, a good handcart will save you a ton of back ache. A cheap one tends to get you in trouble.

The cheap durable plastic models are light weight, but they are also very limited in their realistic carrying capacity. The plastic models are more for moving boxes than they are heavy objects. They tend to have poor traction tires which can be a very serious negative if you’re trying to take something upstairs.

A heavy duty handcart made from tubular steel will help you move appliances like refrigerators and washing machines. They usually come with quality, inflatable tires, which allow them to get full purchase when dragging them up a flight of stairs. A model with an adjustable slide and casters will help get you out of some of the strange situations you can get into when you are moving appliances.

A good quality handcart is extremely handy if you are heating your home with an indoor wood burning furnace. You can load the cart with a full day’s worth of firewood and then park it next to the furnace. This is especially nice in late winter when you usually have burned the sections of the wood pile closest to the door.

It is important to remember to strap down any heavy load. Unless you load is delicate or has an odd shape, you should use a ratchet strap rather than a bungee cord.

Sled

If you live in a part of the country which experiences snowy cold winters, a good quality gear sled is a must. In snowy conditions wheels tend to bite into the snowpack. A gear sled with a strong rope attached to it essentially becomes the winter version of the wheelbarrow. Look for a sled with a weight rating of at least 100 pounds. Runners on the underside will reduce the friction with the snow making for an easier drag. The best place to shop for a good deal on a gear sled is in the ice fishing section of the local hardware or sporting goods store.

Lawnmowers

Having a big lawn for kids and pets to play on is one of the added benefits of life in the country. It can also mean a lot of time cutting the grass. My friends in the city talk about how mowing the lawn with their push mower is a great way to get a little exercise. I look out at my 2.5 acre lawn mixed with mature oak trees and imagine it would take me all week to get it cut with a push mower.

Don’t get me wrong, there is still a place in the country for a push mower. Ditches, steep angles and landscaping beds are tedious, sometimes even dangerous to mow with a riding lawnmower.

However, a riding lawnmower is going to do the bulk of your grass cutting. There are a few features to keep in mind when you are shopping for a riding lawnmower. If you have a lot of trees or tight turns in the shape of the lawn, then a riding lawnmower with a zero degree turning circle will save you a lot of time. These riders do tend to cost a bit more but their ability to turn on a dime and cut close to objects saves you time and money in the long run.

There are a lot of different attachments you can buy for your riding lawnmower. The two I think you should put at the top of your wish list are the bagger attachment and leaf collector. In the summer your grass clippings can be bagged as you mow. Incorporating them into your compost pile or tilling them into mulch is a great way to boost your garden soil. However, I would not compost the grass clippings if you are chemically treating your lawn.

For people living in the city, a leaf blower is a wonder-tool that helps avoid a couple hours of raking. If you have a big yard in the country scattered with oak trees like I do, then a leaf blower is just a noisy toy that can’t keep up with the swirling autumn winds. A leaf collector that pulls behind your lawn mower will greatly reduce the time you spend on the lawn. This is especially handy because the fall tends to be a crazy time of year where you are making your final harvests, putting up cans and winterizing the house. Every hour that is saved by the leaf collector is another hour you can spend doing something else.

A riding lawnmower requires seasonal maintenance. In the spring all of the grease zerks need to be lubed with a grease gun, this includes the pulleys on the mowing deck, the wheel bearing and the steering. This is also a good time to change the oil, as well as replace the oil and air filters. I also like to sharpen or replace the old blades.

In the fall the gas tank should be treated with fuel stabilizer and antifreeze. I personally advocate removing the battery to be stored in a warm spot through the winter.

Snow blower

A snow blower is to a plow truck what a push mower is to a riding lawnmower. If you live in an area that sees the full extremes of winter snow, then chances are good you will make the investment in a plow truck or a tractor with bucket. These big beastly machines are great for moving large amounts of snow but can’t clean up sidewalks and small spaces.

Plow trucks also tend to be old trucks at the end of their life span. This means they are prone to breaking down. For this reason alone I prefer to keep a snow blower on hand that is at least capable of cutting a single lane trail down the driveway. I also have an old beat up snow blower stashed in the barn which I often scavenge for spare parts.

While it is not a fun experience, my snow blower is just big enough and strong enough to handle my 850 foot long driveway in the depths of the Minnesota winter. Dressed in layers I can clear a single driving lane in one hour with my 10 horse power motor and a 26 wide auger.

In my opinion an electric start is a must have feature in any snow blower. In sub-zero temperature it can take as many as 25 pulls to get the motor to fire once. With the electric start I can usually get it to fire inside of two minutes. I wouldn’t advise anything smaller than this.

I prefer a four stroke engine over a 2-stroke simply to save me time and hassle. Snow removal is always an additional burden to your schedule. You are usually doing it during the bitter cold winds that often follow the tail end of a storm. The days are short and you often find yourself finishing up with the snow blower in the dark of night. I like that I can just refill the tank and go, without having to mix the gas and oil.

Preparing your snow blower for storage

Step 1: Drain all the gas and run the motor until it coughs and runs dry.

Step 2: Carefully remove the spark plug. Place it in a zip top bag. Label the bag and store it in a cool dry place.

Step 3: Run a little motor oil on your pinky finger and wipe it down on the sides of the piston. This will help resist corrosion effects from summer humidity.

Step 4: Store the snow blower in a location that will not get wet from summer storms. You should also cover it. While you can buy a pre-shaped cover at the dealership you can do just as well with a modest size tarp and the creative use of a couple of bungee cords. The goal is to make sure it is preserved against summer dust and pollen getting into the controls, carburetor or air filter.

Preparing your snow blower for winter use

I find it is best to prepare the snow blower for the hard winter in late fall before there is any snow in the forecast. The one year that we were hit by a freak early snow also was the year the snow blower didn’t start the first time and I was dealing with all kinds of mess through the season.

Step 1: Fill it with fresh, premium grade gas.

Step 2: Double check the spark plug to make sure it is not corroded. If you have any doubts about it, simply replace it.

Step 3: Drain the oil and replace it with fresh oil that meets the manufacturer’s specifications.

Step 4: Check the auger to make sure it doesn’t have any dents. Also be sure to check all of the shear pins. For some reason it seems like one always finds a way of falling out during storage.

Step 5: If your chute is controlled by a handle and a corkscrew driver, give it an aggressive hit of spray lubricant. This will help reduce it icing up during the wet snows that often fall in early winter.

Step 6: Start the snow blower and let it run for 10 minutes.

ATV

A lot of the commercials you see on television portray ATV’s as these amazing adventure machines that take you through swamps, forest and mountains or help you carry home big game. While a good ATV can be called upon to do those things for you, it is not its primary purpose for the homesteading lifestyle.

For a homesteader the ATV is a modern day horse. It provides you with transportation around the property, it can help haul materials either on the racks or towed behind in a small trailer. It can also be called upon to do some pulling for cutting down trees, ripping stumps or clearing ditches.

While many manufacturers sell snow plow attachments for large ATV’s, they are seldom of much use. Where I live in Northern Minnesota the winter snow pack from a single snow storm or ground blizzard can make piles of snow that an ATV with a plow would simply bounce off of. Unless you live somewhere that only gets light amounts of snow, it is best to save your money and forgo the plow attachment for your ATV.

You should buy an ATV with the same kind of patience and thoughtfulness you would put into buying a new car. It really is an investment that will be with you for many years. Make sure you consider all of your needs for right now as well as your plans for the future.

4-wheel drive truck

I can honestly say that my 4-wheel drive F-150 has saved the life of every single person in my family at least once. Whether it was breaking through snow drifts to get to the Emergency Room, pulling my wife out of the ditch or getting my daughter’s prescription medication. It pulls stumps, carries wood, hauls rock, salt, sand and soil as well as gets me to town and back. The one thing it does not do is plow snow.  Plowing snow tends to beat up a truck over time. Shoving giant piles of snow with a plow has a knack for bending and cracking frames, wearing out suspension systems and in general gives you absolutely putrid gas mileage.

For snow plowing I have a second old beat up F-150, which has seen such a hard life that it is barely capable of making it to the gas station and back. This beat up old truck moves snow in the winter time and moves manure and wood in summer time. Other than constantly attracting mouse nests and rust it has no other job.

It can take a little bit of shopping around to find a dirty work truck like this. Unless it comes with a fully functional plow already installed on it, the goal is to spend as little money as possible on the truck. Every penny you spend on the truck is one less penny you have towards getting yourself a good plow blade.

Here are a few criteria to consider when shopping for a truck you can install a plow on.

1. I advise looking for a truck that doesn’t already have a plow blade on it. Unless it was your neighbor’s truck and you know he treated it well, you should assume it has been beaten like a rented mule.

2. Make sure the truck is 4-wheel drive and all the hubs engage.

3. The truck needs to have a rear locking differential. A limited slip differential will have too much slip and play in the rear wheels causing it to break loose when you are pushing large piles.

4. Make sure the transmission, brake lines and fuel lines are all in working order.

5. Unless it looks pristine and the owner has the receipt, you should assume the battery is completely trashed and it needs all fluids flushed and filters replaced.

6. Find a reputable mechanic to install the plow.

Finding the right plow

A lot of people put a plow on the front of their truck for the first time and are tempted into the notion of plowing snow for a little side money. The reality is that making money plowing out your neighbors is more work and comes with more upfront costs than you would imagine. You might also need to get special insurance for those times when you obliterate someone’s mail box or slide across the ice into their garage door.

Before you make the leap to picking up plow contracts on the side look into the legal regulations and insurance regulations for your state.

If you are planning on plowing your own driveway, then a 7 or 7 ½ foot wide plow will get the job done.

Straight blades are less expensive than V-shaped plows. However if your driveway is narrow and long like mine then a straight blade plow can tend to pile up in front of you until the truck gets stuck.

V-shaped plows cost more but they cut into the snow and redirect it towards the ditch better. Many V-shaped plows have the ability to adjust their shape which allows you to direct the snow into piles better than straight blade plows. Also the V-shape cuts into frozen snow drifts much better.

There are essentially three different materials a plow can be made from. All three are strong enough to move snow. The major difference between them tends to be the relationship they form with snow as well as corrosion resistance.

Polycarbonate plow blades are rust resistant and the snow slips off of them quite easily. They are slightly heavier than steel plow blades but not prohibitively so. Polycarbonate plows are slowly taking over as the plow blade material of the future.

Mild steel is the classic standby material. A proper mild steel plow bad is Zink treated and painted. Over time the plow blade will still develop some rust. One of the issues with mild steel is that wet snow will slowly stick to it and build up. A handy trick to prevent this from happening is to mix equal parts of diesel with fuel oil. Then brush the mixture liberally onto the blade. This will keep the surface slick for the next 1-2 plowing sessions.

Stainless steel is in my opinion a waste of money if you have a gravel driveway. While stainless steel by its nature does not rust and looks good when new it also chips easily. Since rocks easily chip the blade it is not the plow blade material for plowing a long gravel driveway. Personally, the only way I would use a stainless steel plow blade is if it was given to me for free.

Skid loader or Bobcat

I have to admit I don’t own one of these, but I would love to. As luck would have it I have a neighbor who is happy to drive his Bobcat over to my house and do all manner of drift busting and random dirt work for $20 and a loaf of my fresh baked bread.

Owning one will eat up a massive part of your startup budget and I don’t know that it is necessary, unless you are planning to raise enough cattle that you need to buy round bales of hay. Instead I would do the leg work to find someone who will hire out for cheap or a place nearby that you can rent one.

Chapter 2 – Firewood

Cutting wood

Chances are strong, regardless of the heat source you choose, that if you buy wooded land you will need to drop a tree or ten. The world is full of guys who have watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre and they are convinced that trees are as easily hacked through as Hollywood stage props.

In reality if you underestimate the danger of a tree it is more likely than not to maim you, kill you, or obliterate your cherished truck or ATV. From the very first minute you decide to cut a tree until the moment it is a pile of split and stacked logs you should operate under the assumption that the tree is trying to kill you. For this reason alone you should always work with at least one other person to help keep you safe. Even if that person doesn’t contribute anything more than a second pair of eyes, it is still wise to have someone who can call for help should unforeseen harm come to you.

The ideal tree for logging is around 10 to 14 inches wide. Trees that are thinner than 10 inches tend to have less dense wood and burn up fast when dried. Trees that are thicker than 14 inches tend to make logs that are hard to move and a lot of work to split. They also tend to have massive canopies that can break off while you’re cutting them and drop deadly widow makers on your head.

Please note when you are cutting with a chainsaw it is not a direct flat cut. You are instead rocking the bar forward and back. This rocking motion allows the saw to bite into fresh wood without simply attempting to chew through the sawdust it makes. 

Never bury the end of the bar in the wood. This can cause it to kick back at you and cause potentially fatal injury. Never choose a tree that is thicker than your bar is long.

When operating a chainsaw you should always wear safety glasses, steel toed boots and thick leather gloves. A hardhat with a face shield and chaps designed specifically for chainsaw use are also important!

Step 1: Check over you chainsaw. Make sure the chain has been sharpened. Mix the oil and gas to the correct ratio. Test start the saw and make sure it is warmed up and ready to go.

Step 2: Walk up to the tree and rub noses with it. Stand at the base and look up as you carefully step around the tree. Make note of the gentle lean of the tree. Look for dead branches that might linger loosely overhead. Note the density of the upper branches. A tree that leans in one direction but has a dense upper canopy leaning the other direction is a threat to break off and drop branches on your head while you are cutting. Make sure the tree is alive and healthy. Dead and diseased trees can break in half or fall with even a slight disturbance and should only be cut by someone with a lot of experience.

Note: If you have any doubts about your ability to fell a tree safely, or about the tree’s structural integrity, DO NOT FELL THE TREE.  Practice on small, safe trees until you can do it confidently, or hire a professional who can do it safely.

Step 3: Look at the path where the tree will fall as well as an exit route you can move away from the back. When the tree begins to fall you want to be exiting the area at approximately a 90-120 degree angle to the line where it is falling. You obviously don’t want to go in front of the tree as you’ll be underneath it when it falls, but you don’t want to go straight behind the tree either. Sometimes a tree can fall and pieces of its canopy will fly directly backward.

Clear any dead fall or debris from the paths on either side of the tree. Be mindful to look for any holes or other changes in terrain. The last thing you want to have happen is for you to start hustling away as the tree is about to fall only to snap your ankle stepping in a woodchuck den!

Step 4: Felling the tree happens in two different cuts, the directional cut (or face cut) and the felling cut. The directional cut is a shallow V you cut into the face of the tree on the side where you want it to fall. Visualize it acting as a hinge that will drop the tree in the direction it is leaning.  While you can influence this lean somewhat to avoid objects in the felling path, I wouldn’t advise being cavalier. I do not recommend trying to fell a tree in the opposite direction from where it is leaning. Be mindful that the instant your saw blade cuts through the bark you are changing the integrity of the tree and the risk of upper branches falling off increases.

The directional cut consists of a horizontal cut 1/3 of the way into the tree followed by an angled cut that comes down and meets the horizontal cut precisely. When done correctly, this will cut a wedge of wood out of the tree which, when cut from the back, will cause it to want to fall in the direction of the V.

Step 5: Stand to the side and behind the tree and make the felling cut. The cut should be 3 to 6 inches above the directional cut. Do not cut all the way through the tree with the felling cut. You will leave some wood at the center of the tree between the two cuts. This “holding wood” is what acts like a hinge, keeping the tree attached to the stump as it makes a controlled fall in the intended direction. If you cut through the holding wood, the tree can spin off the stump and may fall in any direction, which is VERY dangerous to you.

Step 6: As you cut, watch for the tree to begin leaning towards the directional cut. This is a good time for your spotter, who is standing at least as far away as the tree is tall, to help you watch the top of the tree for movement, breaks in the trunk and falling limbs. Once it starts to fall, move quickly away at a 90-120 degree angle to the direction the tree is falling. Bring your chainsaw with you being careful of your footing and careful of the saw blade.

Once the tree is down, give the saw a few minutes to cool down. During this time you should remove the cover and use a plastic bristle or horse hair brush to clear any excess sawdust that might have built up. This is also a good time to top off your fuel and bar oil.

Limbing up and logging

Once the tree is down you will need to remove any excess limbs before you can cut the central trunk into logs. Some trees, such as hardwoods, will have limbs thick enough that you can cut them into logs as well. While it is tempting to cut these thick limbs into logs as you go, it is far safer to cut all the limbs from the main trunk, then return to brace the thicker limbs across the trunk for logging.

There is a common misconception out there that felling the tree is the most dangerous part of the job. The reality is, most accidents and injuries happen during the limbing and logging stage. Branches can whip back and hidden obstacles in the forest floor can trip you. The most dangerous aspect of this phase is the potential for kickbacks caused by over lapping branches or accidental contact between the saw blade and the ground.

You should begin the limbing process at the stump end of the log. You should stand on the left hand side of the tree, while cutting the branches on the right hand side of the tree. This puts the trunk between you and the saw blade. Always be sure to line up the saw blade to the right of your body so that if it does kick back, it will kick back over your right shoulder rather than kicking back into your face. Begin by cutting the underside of the limb. Cut a third of the way through the thickness of the limb before pulling the blade out and following through from the top.

When a left hand limb presents itself as an obstacle to you moving forward, the temptation is always to stand there and cut it. The wise move, even though it takes longer, is to move over to the other side of the trunk to make the cut. If possible step over or walk around the blocking limb. Standing and cutting the limb directly in front of you invites an accident.

As you cut you need to be mindful that you are altering the balance and support of the trunk. This increases the chances that the tree could roll over on you mid-cut.  Because of this fact, you should avoid cutting any branch that is in contact with the ground.

Limbs that are pointing straight up should be cut away from you. If they are large you can make a directional cut and a felling cut, just like it was a smaller version of the main trunk.

Once you have removed all of the limbs except the ones that are supporting the trunk on the ground, you can start logging any thick limbs. This really works best as a two man job. One man handles the limb, bucking it up over the main trunk while the other person cuts.

There is a certain temptation to cut willy-nilly until the wood becomes too thin to realistically log. When the chainsaw is in your hand, in the heat of the moment this seems to make sense. However if you don’t cut the logs to a consistent length you will end up with an ugly, disorganized and potentially dangerous wood pile.

A good rule of thumb for how long to cut each log is 4 inches shorter than the shortest dimension of your firebox. This will allow you to easily load the firebox while allowing for proper airflow during burning. Many chainsaws will actually come with a measuring rod you can pull out to use as a visual guide.

Once you have cut logs from the thicker limbs you can now turn to cutting logs from the main trunk. I personally take a long break before cutting into the trunk. I always keep a second sharp chain on hand. I usually take the old chain off and slide the new one on. This extended period of time lets the saw cool down. The last thing you want is an overheated saw with a dull blade when you are cutting logs from the hard wood of the trunk.

Learning how to sharpen a chain is an important skill to develop.  If you do not know how or feel you are still learning and don’t trust yourself to do a good job you should always carry a spare sharp chain or two. The reality is that professional loggers sharpen their chains once or twice a day!

How to sharpen a chain

Equipment

Flat file

Combination file gauge specific to your chain

Shop vice

Procedure

Each link of the chain has a Cutter and a Raker. The difference between the two allows each link to bite into and remove a minute amount of wood.

Step 1: Lay the file gauge on the chain in the direction of the chain’s rotation.

Step 2: File each cutter by pushing away from you with the flat file. File each tooth with 4 strokes.

Step 3: Lay the file gauge on the chain for the rakers. It will have an H for hardwood or an S for softwood. Use the appropriate gauge for the wood you are cutting. Note if you are cutting softwood trees in mid-to-late winter and the trees are still frozen, you should use the H gauge, since the trees will cut and behave like hardwood.

Step 4: File each raker by pushing away from you with the flat file. File each tooth with 3 strokes.

Logging the trunk

When logging the trunk I find it is best to start with the point rather than the butt log by the stump. However, it is always best to cut logs from the end of the tree that is pointed upward. The orientation of the trunk is a major factor that might require some muscle or maneuvering. Ideally the trunk should be pointed up at a slight angle. A trunk that is tilted at too much of a downward angle can pinch the bar severely, cause the chain to come off or damage it severely.

If possible it is best to stand on the uphill side of the tree. This way when you cut a log it rolls away from you. Keep in mind that since you are removing support limbs from the underside of the trunk that it is more and more likely to roll on you. Even if you are standing uphill from the tree it still could roll its weight toward you. Always watch for any obstacles on the forest floor and be prepared to step back at a moment’s notice.

If I am planning to split the wood using a splitting maul, I prefer to cut a section of the butt log a little longer than the others. This way I can stand it up on end to use as a platform for splitting the other logs on site. If you are planning to rent, or own a log splitter, then you can saw everything into the same uniform length logs.

Splitting wood

As long as you are felling the trees in late winter through early spring, it is always best to split the logs on site. This makes them much easier to move to the stacking location. If for some reason you felled the tree in summer, after it has come to full leaf, you may find hand splitting to be too much work. A wet log tends to grab hold of the head of your splitting maul, rather than give way on a fissure and split. Trying to split wet wood with a splitting maul is such exhausting work. I would rather just let it sit for a few months. Wood that is split and stacked intelligently in late winter will be seasoned for burning by the fall. Wood that is cut in the summer when it is wet, most likely will have to wait a full year to dry. 

There is an art to splitting logs by hand. The cliché image of a burly man dressed in a plaid shirt swinging a wood handled axe with an overhead chop at a log sitting on the ground; is actually the image of a man who is about to be exhausted, with a sore back and bloody shins.

First, let’s talk about the tools. While an axe will indeed split a thin or dry log rather easily, it is exhausting and often ineffective with thick fresh cut logs. It simply doesn’t have enough weight in the head to transfer power from the swing into the wood.  Also the head of an axe has very little taper to it. It tends to slice into the wood.

An 8 pound splitting maul has the weight and purchase to transfer the power from your swing into the wood. It also has a tapered head so when it goes into the log it applies additional force to the horizontal. This encourages the natural fissures in the wood to crack, allowing the head of the maul to transfer force even deeper.

Of course not all splitting mauls are made equally. Even with crackerjack aim and perfect form you are bound to have a few over and under swings. The neck of the handle hits the wood, which cracks and stings your hands. If you have a wood handle these incidents, over time will damage the handle and loosen the head.

Steel and fiberglass handles have a much longer lifespan. Each one comes with its own pros and cons. A splitting maul with a steel handle is nearly indestructible. At my friend’s family cabin there is a steel handled splitting maul his grandfather made. He put it together in a welding shop after he got back from World War II.  For almost 70 years it has been used as the only means of splitting wood at the cabin. To this day the handle has never been damaged and the head has never come off.

The downside of a steel handled maul is that it will wear you out. I am a strong backed 6-foot-5-inch, 265 pound man and I have to eat two cans of spinach while drawing strength from this yellow sun to use that maul for an hour. I couldn’t imagine a full day in the forest splitting wood with that monster maul.  The bottom line is that unless you are a retired bodybuilder with a masochistic streak, a steel handled splitting maul is best used for splitting a handful of logs around the campfire, not for putting in a full day’s work making wood.

Reinforced fiberglass handles are much lighter than steel, while still being more durable than a wood handle. Over time you can damage the neck of the handle with over swings. This causes the head to come loose. Once a head comes loose from a fiberglass handle, it can be repaired and reattached using an epoxy kit available at most hardware stores. However the head and handle are never quite as solid as they were when you bought it.

A rubber neck guard is a nice feature to look for in a fiberglass handle. The rubber acts as an additional buffer against damage caused by over swings and misses. I have a splitting maul with one of these guards and after 5 years and 15 cords of wood it finally wore away enough to expose the actual fiberglass of the neck.

Form matters when splitting wood. The Hollywood image of a man swinging an axe at a log just sitting on the ground is downright dangerous. I dare you to try to split a cord of wood that way and not come away with blood soaked shins!

The first thing you need is to raise the plane you are splitting at. The ideal is to cut a butt log, so that when it’s turned on end it comes up to the inseam of your pants. If you set the log you intend to split on the soft ground then a portion of the force transferred from the splitting maul to the log is then transferred to the soft ground. The ground effectively acts like a shock absorber, when what you are really trying to do is shock the wood into splitting and shattering apart. Using a base log not only gives you a hard solid base but it raises the log up for better ergonomics.

The other thing it does is improve the arc of motion the maul is swinging at. Visualize the circle of your swing. When the splitting maul stops it transfers the force into the log. The force then continues on in a similar direction in the log. If the splitting maul hits the log at an angle after passing parallel to the ground it is now directing the force in the log back towards your body!

Most of the time the flat plane and friction of the butt log is enough to keep the log being split from coming back at you. This is not the case 100 percent of the time. I would estimate out of 100 improper swings that 10 to 12 of them will come back at your shins, knees and genitals. In my book those numbers are just too high!

The proper swing

The most important part of a proper splitting maul swing starts with a butt log cut to the proper height. The ideal butt log should be cut so that when stood on end it comes to the inseam on the pants of the person who will be doing the splitting.

A long splitting session really does require two people, a splitter and a setter. Most decent sized logs need to be split into quarters to dry properly. At a bare minimum this calls for 2 powerful strokes from the splitter person. Splitting a log clean through on a single hit is possible about half of the time. However if you come across a knot, especially in a hardwood tree, it might take 3 to 5 swings before the maul gets the job done.

Considering that a mature oak tree can number over 100 logs and you are now looking at an awful lot of bending over and picking up logs after making a bunch of power swings. Having a setter who retrieves the split logs and sets them up solid on the butt log again spares the splitters back and also gives him time to catch his breath.

Also the more tired the splitter gets the more likely they are to over and under swing the maul. The reality is by splitting the job up between two people you actually get the job done 3 or 4 times faster.

On paper the form needed for splitting a log is as simple as lifting the maul overhead and bashing down on it with every last bit of rage, spite and vengeance your arms can muster. While this will work, it will also wear your arms and back out quickly.

The proper swing is a little bit reminiscent of a golf swing, in that everything happens in one fluid motion. The following instructions are based on the premise that the splitter is right handed. If you are left handed, adjust accordingly. During this entire process you should keep your back as rigid as possible.

Step 1: Hold the maul out in front of you so that the blade is lined up just short of the heartwood middle of the log. You should not over extend your reach. Instead your elbows should have the slightest bend in them. This gives you your aim and allows you to make sure the distance between you and the log is right.

Step 2: Stand, facing the log with your left foot, half a pace ahead of the right foot.

Step 3: Swing the maul in one continuous fluid motion by dropping it down and behind you. Rotate your torso with the natural arc of the maul. Let the momentum help you bring it overhead.

Step 4: Without pausing your swing, bring the maul overhead. As it comes over head rotate your torso so that you are once again square with the log.

Step 5: Continue your swing downward in a chopping motion. As the maul comes down bend your knees and squat down a little into the split. By lowering your center of gravity you increase the amount of power transferred from your body to the maul to the log.

The first couple of times you do this you will be inaccurate and double thinking your form and motion. As you continue splitting you will find that you are getting more accurate, more fluid and more powerful. It just takes your brain a little bit of time to adjust to moving around these unnatural forces into natural motion.

Stacking wood

Wood is stacked and sold in cords. A cord is defined as a wood pile 4 feet wide, 4 feet high and 8 feet long.

On paper you can just stack wood in any old random heap once it is split and eventually it will dry, or season over time. On a practical level stacking the wood properly will speed up the drying process. Properly stacked wood cut in late winter or early spring can be seasoned and ready to burn by fall.

How to stack a wood pile

Step 1: Split all logs into quarters. Small logs can be split in half but should be reserved for the top of the pile.

Step 2: Place the largest logs at the bottom of the pile with the split side pointed up. After this first layer all other logs will be stacked split side down.

Step 3: Load the next level onto the pile at a perpendicular to the bottom layer. This increased airspace will create better air circulation to help it dry during the hot days of summer.

Step 4: Continue putting down each layer perpendicular to the previous.

Step 5: You should stop stacking when the wood pile reaches 4 feet high. Wood piles that exceed 4 feet can become unstable.

This stacking method is meant for drying the wood quickly. Please note that if you intend to sell firewood by the cord that this wood pile is not considered standard and most savvy buyers will think you are trying to swindle them. In general wood stacked like this in a 4 foot by 4 foot by 8 foot pile will only be 75% of a tightly stacked standard cord.

Making charcoal

I admit it, I love to grill and I am passionate about grilling with charcoal. Every time I drop a hardwood tree for the wood pile I always select some of the thicker pieces of brush and odd knot wood logs to set aside for drying and later making into jumbo lump charcoal.

Jumbo lump is quite different from the cube briquettes you buy at the store. Briquettes tend to be waste products of saw dust and wood bits taken from cabinet shops and hardwood sawmills. Jumbo lump charcoal tends to burn hot and fast on the grill. It also provides more smoke and real wood flavor.

On paper charcoal is essentially just wood that is heated without the presence of oxygen. Commercial scale manufacturers use large metal chambers, often old shipping containers, which are filled with logs and then buried in a massive bonfire for a day. You can do this on a smaller scale at home with just about any hardwood you have left remaining.

It’s important to note that the dryer the wood is the faster it will convert into charcoal. Wood that has just been cut is a poor candidate for the process. I often set aside off cuts of brush and knot wood from the spring and then make several batches of charcoal in early fall.

Instructions for making jumbo lump charcoal at home

Equipment

A metal 55 gallon barrel drum

A shovel

18 fire rated bricks

Enough hardwood to fill the barrel

Enough spare brush and firewood to maintain a medium heat campfire for 6 hours

A fire ring with safety circle of rocks or steel

A small sheet of metal, big enough to cover the two air holes at the top of the barrel

Procedure

Step 1: Clear the floor of the fire so that you have a solid base

Step 2: Build two level stands with the fire bricks. With a 12 to 16 inch space between them.

Step 3: Set the barrel on top and load the space underneath with thick logs

Step 4: Load the barrel with off cuts of hardwood. It is important to put the larger pieces at the bottom of the barrel and smaller pieces on top.

Step 5: Put the lid on. Leave the air holes on the top of the lid uncovered.

Step 6: Build a small fire circling the barrel. The wood should just be touching the barrel but the fire should not be supported by it.

Step 7: Let the fire burn. For the first 2-3 hours the smoke coming out of the air holes will be white. The white smoke is actually steam from the water trapped inside the wood boiling off. Over time it will start to take on more and more of a blue tint.

Step 8: When the smoke is more than 50% blue, use the shovel to give it a few good whacks all the way around. This will cause the wood on the top to settle into the gaps formed by the drying wood below. A few minutes later the smoke will start to turn white again.

Step 9: Continue feeding the camp fire until the smoke again turns more than 50% blue.

Step 10: Lay the small piece of sheet metal over the air holes sealing it off. Feed the fire back to a full medium burn.

Step 11: Allow the campfire to completely burn out and the coal bed to turn cold. This can often take over night.

Step 12: In the morning turn the barrel out. If any pieces have caught fire you can grab them with a welding glove and dip them for one second in a bucket of water.

Step 13: Allow all pieces to dry. Store the charcoal in a tote bin.

Ideally the wood should have lost half of its total volume in the process. However the first few times you do this you are likely to have a fire start inside the barrel when you let the campfire get out of hand. After a few practice batches you will get a knack for keeping a balanced fire and how to correctly read what the smoke is telling you.

Chapter 3 – Composting

If you are going to keep any kind of garden, then you absolutely need a compost pile. A large vibrant compost pile is the lifeblood of a successful garden. It introduces fresh nutrients, mulch and water retention.

It is a common misconception that a compost pile is little more than a heap of vegetables rotting away in a bin at the corner of the garden. Compost is a living breathing thing. When done right and tended properly it is a collection of beneficial microbes, working in concert to consume carbon and nitrogen rich plant material. The completed compost when spread into your garden in the spring can increase the yield of the vegetables you grow by as much as 25%.

There are many different ways to cultivate a compost pile. Some gardeners advocate a hot-fast composting process referred to as active compost. Other gardeners prefer a cool-slow composting process referred to as passive compost.

The two different approaches are primarily influenced by the available resources. If you are generating a lot of nitrogen rich kitchen scraps and grass clippings through the course of a month an active compost pile will help you develop mature compost quickly for use as mulch. In fact if you are generating a lot of nitrogen rich material you might be forced to use the active compost method just to keep from being buried under the compost. Active composting requires more work since you have to turn it regularly.

If you generate few kitchen scraps and choose to mulch your grass clippings instead of bagging them, then a small, passive compost pile might work better for your needs. After all if you just have a 5 gallon pile of compost you might not need to turn often at all.

Regardless of whether you choose the active or passive method, the chemistry involved remains the same. Compost is formed when microbes have a proper balance between carbon and nitrogen.  The microbes use these two compounds to reproduce. As they reproduce they transform the chemistry of the pile into compost, rich with the nutrients that help plants thrive.

Carbon rich materials provide the microbes with the structure they need to reproduce. Carbon is essentially the lumber that builds the house of compost. Nitrogen provides the microbes with the energy they need for that reproduction. Nitrogen is essentially the construction workers who put in the elbow grease and long hours to build the house.

The ideal Carbon to Nitrogen ration is roughly 25 or 30 to 1. This means for every 1 gallon of nitrogen rich material you have you want 25 gallons of carbon rich material.

Compost materials

Here is a list of common composting materials and their carbon to nitrogen ratio, to consider for the composition of your pile.

Straw: When thoroughly dry has an 80:1 ratio. Freshly cut straw might have a ratio closer to 50:1

Pine straw: When pine needles drop to the forest floor, turn brown and are allowed to mature for approximately 12 months they have an 80:1 ratio. They also tend to have a higher acid content. Pine straw should not be used as a foundation material for your compost pile. Instead it should be seen as an additive you can use if the pH level of your soil tends to be too alkaline for the plants you intend to grow the next season.

Shredded newspaper: The only time you should use shredded newspaper is if it has been printed with soy based ink. While many newspapers are turning to soy based inks, not all use them in their printing process. You should be able to call the newspaper and request this information. You should never use glossy paper as it is treated with chemicals. When the paper is shredded in a standard office paper shredder it has enough surface area to provide a ration around 150:1

Hay: Hay is more nitrogen rich than straw. Fresh cut hay that has not been turned by a side rake and dried in the field has a ration around 9:1. Whereas dried hay has a ratio around 12:1. A few things to keep in mind with hay, is that it tends to carry a lot of perennial weed seeds mixed in. Once those seeds are in the mix they tend to survive the composting process and those seeds will start to show up in your garden soil.

If your pile is sulking and slow to mature because the ratio of the pile is too high in carbon, or the pile has dried out in a drought, then turning fresh cut or dried hay into it is a great way to kick start the composting process again.

Kitchen scraps: The carbon to nitrogen ratio of kitchen scraps can really vary depending on what you are cooking with at that time. For instance in midsummer when tomatoes and peppers in peak season in the garden, their nitrogen rich skins and tops frequent the scrap bucket. However in the fall when you are roasting squash and processing apple cores the scrap bucket might be rich with carbon. As a general rule of thumb kitchen scraps tend to be between 15 or 18:1.

It is important to note that you should only compost vegetable based kitchen scraps. Things like meat scraps can contain bad bacteria and nutrients which can interrupt the chemistry of the composting process leading to rot. One minor exception would be egg shells. Including crushed egg shells will help contribute additional calcium to the compost, which many plants need.

Grass clippings: Grass clippings are a great material for making up the bulk of your compost pile. When fresh cut and added to the pile they have a ratio of 20:1. It is important to note however that grass clippings can cause a problem if you are using the passive composting method.

In humid conditions grass clippings need to be turned frequently or they can develop dangerous mold spores, which when inhaled by children or the elderly can infect the lungs and make them very sick. If grass clippings make up the bulk of your pile then I advise turning the pile every 3 to 4 days.

Manure: I personally do not advise using fresh manure. It tends to have a lot of strong outgasses that can irritate the lungs. It also tends to have pH problems depending on the type of animal and how much urine is in the fresh manure. It is best to use mature manure that has been in a pile for at least 3 to 6 months. 

Also note that the animal the manure comes from can matter. Dairy cows and cattle tend to be able to digest weed seeds much better than horses. Horse manure needs to mature for a longer period of time if you don’t want an explosion of weeds in the garden. Pig manure should only be used if the pigs are being grain fed. Slop fed pigs tend to produce a manure that has the same effect as adding meat scraps to the pile and tends to cause rot rather than compost. These types of manure’s tend to have a ratio of 20:1.

Chicken manure tends to have a ratio of around 7:1.

Just in case you are curious, you should never use your own human manure in the compost pile. Even if you are a devout vegetarian, the human intestinal tract simply has too many bad bacterial elements and causes rot and contamination in the compost pile. There are exceptions here for people using composting outhouses but I cannot personally speak to their validity for use in the garden.

Additional materials to consider

Seafood shells: Nematodes are a common garden pest. They tend to attack all peppers with a voracious hunger. The shells of most crustaceans and mollusks carry modest amounts of chitinous bacteria. These bacteria will slowly bloom in a compost pile, so long as the pile is not allowed to dry out. When introduced to your soil along with mature compost, chitinous bacteria attack juvenile nematodes killing them before they can grow large enough to cause significant damage to garden plants.

Unless you are absolutely wild for seafood and can catch or source it locally it’s probably not feasible to build a strong concentration of chitinous bacteria in your main compost pile. Instead it is better to keep a modest side pile around 10 to 20 gallons in volume. Each time you have seafood such as crab, lobster, shell-on shrimp, mussels or clams, simply crush up the shells afterward and add them to an ice cream bucket of water with a half cup of sugar. After a week turn the contents of the bucket into the side pile and turn it with some kitchen scraps or grass clippings to give the bacteria added nitrogen to bloom.

Leaves are another material to consider for you compost, as well as for a mulching layer in the garden. However leaves should not be directly added to the compost pile or soil.

In the fall it is very tempting to look at that leaf pile and wonder if instead of burning it, if it could be used for compost.

The answer is a little complicated but if you are patient and willing to wait 12 months, this year’s leaf pile can be of great benefit to a future garden.

The leaves that fall off of the trees have a great deal of mineral value, carbon content and moisture retention.  However if you just rake them into your garden this year you will be unhappy with your garden’s production next year.  This is because the leaves are highly acidic and contain other chemicals that are not good for most vegetables.  At the same time leaves are also low in nitrogen content.  Since nitrogen is converted into the energy that microbes use to break down vegetable matter into compost it takes leaves a long time to become rich compost.

Here is the procedure I use every year.

Step 1: Rake all the leaves to the edge of where I want to compost them.

Step 2: Run them over multiple times with the lawn mower making sure the shoot is pointed towards the piles final resting place. You can use the bagger attachment on the mower but it tends to be a lot of stopping and emptying.

Step 3: Rake the chopped leaves into modest piles.

Step 4: If you have any recent grass clippings from the lawn, you should rake theses into the leaf pile and turn it to mix them in.  Grass clippings are high in nitrogen and will help get the composting process off to a good start.

Step 5: Let the pile sit over the winter and through the spring. You should notice it will have reduced to about half its original volume. When you mow the lawn for the first time in early summer, incorporate the grass clippings into the leaf pile by turning it with a shovel.  The fresh nitrogen from the grass clippings added to the pile and a good turn to create surface area, and the composting process will spark back to life.

Note: there is the potential for mold to have built up, so it’s wise to wear a mask when turning the pile.

Step 6: Let the piles sit until fall.  The rains of spring and summer will soak the pile leaching a lot of the acid content out of the leaves and allowing them to compost into rich mulch.

Step 7: At the end of summer spread it on the garden and till it in along with any stray weeds.

Step 8: Repeat the process with the next year’s leaves.

Step 9: In the spring test your soil with an inexpensive soil tester you can purchase at a hardware store.  If you find that the PH is a little low from residual acid in the leaves, amend it in your spring tilling with some lime.

Using this process each year will boost the mineral content and water retention of your garden soil while making productive use of leaves you would otherwise bag or burn.

Building a compost bin

Some people find the idea of a large pile of moldering compost in the corner of their garden, to be unappealing. Or maybe you already struggle with local animal pests like raccoons raiding the garden and simply don’t want to give them one more attractant.

The reality is that as long as you are willing to wheelbarrow the mature compost to the garden once or twice a year, then you can keep the pile just about anywhere. In general the farther out of sight it is the more likely it is to draw the attention of animals.

If you’re like me and you grow heirloom vegetables this can be an added problem. One year deer and rabbits raided a compost pile I kept outside of the main garden. Every day they would eat their fill of fresh vegetable scraps and seeds. Then they would return to their dens and beds deep in the forest. As they pooped along the way it scattered the seeds, which then germinated the next spring. As a result all the game trails in my 10 acre forest were littered with little stunted squash, tomato and cucumber plants!

A good solution for this is to build your own compost bin.

Now if you have a lot of carpentry skills or you just have it in your head to make a good looking compost bin from new lumber, then you can get pretty fancy with the bin you build. Something to keep in mind is that you don’t want the bin to be so deep that you can’t turn it with a spade shovel.

A great money saving option is to use simple shipping pallets. Most loading docks have a few ragged leftovers sitting around that you can take for free. Simply screw them together to make a crib. Line the walls with chicken wire for good measure against all but small rodents. I would suggest putting barn hinges and a barrel bolt on one section of pallet to act like a door. This will make it easier to turn the pile and shovel it out once it has matured.

When the microbes in the compost are actively consuming and reproducing they give off heat. This heat should increase shortly after each time you turn the pile. The composting process happens faster in moist, warm conditions so a pile that you start in early spring could be ready by mid-summer.

Spring is the best time to spread compost and till it into the soil to fortify beds. Because of this I usually let a pile mature through the year and add it to the beds as I prepare them for planting in the spring. If you are overcome by weeds in mid to late summer you can spread a 2 inch layer of compost around the base of plants to act like as mulch or weed block.  Just make sure that the compost has stopped generating heat and is fully mature. Compost that is still actively heating has the ability to burn plants out.

Chapter 4 – Fencing

Fences are an important part of life in the country. Fences are often used to define borders, keep animals in while keeping other animals out, or protect you from the buildup of massive snow drifts. Fences are made from many different materials; wood, metal, wire and plastic being the most common.

Regardless of the fence you are working on the very first step begins with understanding and installing a fence post. The two most common types of fence post are metal and wood. Metal posts are usually pounded deep into the ground, while wooden posts require that you dig a hole, set the post and then anchor it in some way.

How not to build a fence

On paper this is as simple as making a hole in the ground, shoving some rocks or concrete in the whole and walking away. In reality, it’s not quite that simple. I remember when I was about ten years old my mother took a cavalier approach to a fence line she was planning to build. She had found some rough cut pine fence posts at a local mom and pop lumber mill. They sold them to her for a dirt cheap price per post. Around the same time some instant concrete was on sale at the local hardware store for a buy-one-get-one free sale.

She saved so much money on materials that she could even afford to pay me a quarter for each posthole I dug! I remember the ground was very hard at that point in the dry summer. The old fashioned post hold digger, shaped like an upside down tongs could barely even scrape the soil. I earned my quarters the hard way digging the holes with a spade shovel, elbow grease and a gallon of Gatorade!

As each hole was dug we would mix up a bag of instant concrete mix and shovel it into the hole. Then I’d burry with the backfilled soil and stomp it down with the heel of my boot. The first post went in great. The second post was a little hard to get lined up. The third post seemed to insist it would lean. Eventually we got to the tenth post in the day and strung them altogether with high tension barbed wire.

I went to bed that night with blisters on top of my blisters and an aching back, with a sound sense of accomplishment for a job well done. That night a thunderstorm rolled through the area breaking the drought as it filled the air with the fresh smell of living soil.

The next morning when we woke up were greeted by the sights of a fence in total disaster. Each post was leaning in a different direction. Some sections of the wire had pulled loose from the sloppy fencing staples that held them. The whole works had twisted into a shape that cannot be described by our modern understanding of geometry.

So where had we gone wrong?

Obviously the weather was a factor that contributed to our little fencing disaster. A prolonged period of drought causes the soil to harden as it grows thirsty. The ideal soil isn’t damp, but you don’t want it so bone hard that it’s a labor to dig the post holes. When the dry ground rehydrates, from a rain event like we had, it tends to deform as the water seeps irregularly through cracks and fissures in the ground.

At the time, we wrote our failure off as the snakebite luck of bad weather. However, this fence would continue to be plagued by problems. Over the course of two years the fence posts began to list and eventually leaned over. Our quick excuse of logic was that we simply hadn’t used enough concrete to found the posts tightly.

For the price of another quarter per post my mother had me dig down to the concrete base of each post, mix up another bag of concrete and firm them all up. At the time I wrote off the dark stains on the concrete as mud staining the surface.

A year later while tightening up the fence line, I noticed that several of the posts seemed to be floating held up by the tension of the wire while they rotted off at the base.

The core of our fencing disaster was a combination of using cheap materials and using the materials in the wrong way. First off the posts were rough cut, untreated pine. This of course made them very susceptible to rotting in the soil. The use of concrete compounded this issue, because concrete actually keeps water from draining, while retaining water in all of the porous cracks at the base of the post. The concrete actually helped hold water near the vulnerable wood!

Concrete comes with the perception that it is a superior material for founding a fence post. On the surface it appears to be heavy, dense and strong. The reality is that its water retention abilities are only a minor problem compared to its relationship with the soil. Concrete has a tendency to pitch and heave with the cycles of freeze-thaw through the season as well as wild swings in the weather. Installing a wire fence with tension on a post founded with concrete has a knack for slowly listing over time with each rain. You might not see it from one week to the next but if you took time lapse photos over the course of a rainy summer you would notice the posts pulling on each other in a chain.

Choosing fencing tools and materials

The best material for founding a fence post in the ground is a combination of rock, sand and gravel, packed tightly as it is tamped at each level. These amalgam materials are porous enough that they allow seasonal rain water to pass through them, keeping the base of the post from soaking. At the same time the materials flex as the stones and gravel grind on each other instead of acting like a floating wad. This gives the fence post some forgiveness with seasonal changes and the tension applied by wire.

The wood you choose for the fence post is also an important factor. Untreated pine is perhaps the worst choice you can make. While it might have saved us money up front, that savings was rotted away in a few short years. Seasoned white oak fence post is a viable option but it still will be prone to rot over time at the ground level.

When choosing a fence post you want to look for a wood that is treated or rot resistant. Green or brown treated pine is probably the easiest to get a hold of and depending on sale prices it might also be the cheapest. Cedar is another material to consider as it resists pests as well as rot. However cedar isn’t ideal if you plan on having tension in the fence wire as the attachment hardware can pull out over time. If you are going to use cedar for a tension wire fence, you should try to use seasoned cedar that has been allowed to dry for at least one season.

Cypress is an ideal material as it is rot resistant as well as hard enough to handle tension. However it is also rather rare in many parts of the country which makes it expensive. Redwood is sort of the middle ground between Cedar and cypress. It shares the best properties of each. However, in recent years there have been many laws put in place against the harvest of redwood. This means buying it new can cost you a pretty penny. In some part of the country redwood was used for building barns, whether it was in siding or as central posts.

Old barn wood is an interesting candidate. Depending on where you live in the country the barn might have redwood beams. In many old barns the beams, headers and studs are so aged and seasoned that they are rock hard. I have a friend with a century old barn who can’t even drive a nail into the beams. Keep an eye out on rural salvage websites and classified ads. Sometimes old farmers who are selling the family farm to pay for their stay at a senior home will post ads where if you tear down the barn you can choose your pick of the wood.

The first step in setting a wooden fence post is to dig a proper hole. The sides of the hole need to be as close to vertical as possible. A hole with sloped sides invites the post to lean over time, it also has a tendency to spread out the rocks and gravel when you’re tamping.

The classic posthole digger is a double handled spade shovel. You stab it down into the ground and spread the handles apart pinching off a chunk of earth. To be honest this really is one of the worst tools in the history of the world. It’s incredibly frustrating to work with because you never can seem to stab down more than a few inches with each thrust and then it only removes a couple of aggressive handfuls of soil.

A standard spade shovel will work better than a post hold digger but you have to careful with your technique. A spade shovel has a knack for making a hole with sloped sides if you simply stomp it into the soil and leverage the ground with your foot. It is better to use the spade to stab into the soil in the shape of the hole and remove smaller loads each time.

The ideal tool is a ground auger. This essentially looks like supersized corkscrew with a small gas powered motor on top. Unless you are installing a lot of wooden fence posts it is rarely cost affordable to drop the 4 or 5 hundred dollars to buy a quality one. In rural communities it is possible you could find an equipment rental that has one available to rent for a day.

Make sure the auger is spinning before you place it in the ground. Slowly work it into the soil about a foot or so then pull it back up. This will fling the overburden soil from the auger bit allowing you to make better headway. Repeat this method until you have reached the desired depth. It is handy to measure out the depth of the hole you want to dig and mark it with some yellow tape on the auger’s shaft. This is much faster than digging down to your best guess and measuring all the time.

The depth of the hole you make can be influenced by the height of the fence. For fences that are five feet tall or less, you can usually get away with a posthole that is 30 inches deep. For fences that are over 5 feet tall I find it is best to do a little extra math. As a general rule of thumb I find the hole should be 40% of the height above the ground. For example if the above ground height for a fence post is planned for 8 feet tall. You would want to dig the hole 38 inches deep and use a post that is around 134 inches tall.

A tamping tool is essentially a shovel handle mounted into a flat piece of metal. You basically load the hole with sand and gravel. Then you use some off cuts of wood as spacers, inserted into the hole and wail on it to pack things tight. To be honest with you this will work and give you a nice tight foundation for the fence post. However you can pack the foundation about 90% as tight with your hands, a three pound sledgehammer and the heel of your boot.

Founding a wooden fence post

This procedure list uses measurements for a fence post with a final height of approximately three and a half feet.

Equipment and materials

A spade shovel or a ground auger

Level

3 pound sledge

Off cuts of wood roughly 2 and 3 feet long

Gravel

Small rocks

6 foot tall fence post, made from a rot resistant material

Procedure

Step 1: Dig a hole 30 inches deep, and 12 inches in diameter, with steep sides. Keep the overburden dirt nearby.

Step 2: Set the end of the post in the center of the hole. Hit it 3 to 5 times with the sledge to get the end to bite into the soil. It should weakly stand upright on its own.

Step 3: Take two generous handfuls of small rocks and sprinkle them evenly in the bottom of the hole around the post. Cover with a light amount of gravel. Use your hands to work the gravel into any spaces between the rocks.

Step 4: Back fill about 2 shovel loads of soil back into the hole and spread it evenly. Pack the soil in place with your hands.

Step 5: Use the off cuts of wood as spacers. Stick them down in the hole and hit the wood with the sledgehammer. Be mindful that you are packing the soil, gravel and rocks together. You should simply be hitting the wood, not wailing on it as you live out your fantasies about being Thor.

Step 6: Repeat steps 3 through 5, using shorter off cuts of wood for your tamping spacers. Check the post for straightness with a level before tamping each new layer.

Step 7: Once the soil in the hole is 6 inches below ground level, cover it with 3 to 5 inches of small rocks. This will reduce how much it leans over time and is especially helpful for posts with a gate.

Step 8: Fill the remaining head room in the hole up to ground level with soil and press down with the heel of your boot 5 to 7 times on each side of the post. The soil around a properly tamped post should be back to level.

Installing a metal fence post

Metal fence posts are often faster and easier to install than wood. Also depending on how you install them they can be a little more dangerous. If you space the metal fence posts out too far they can lead to a catastrophic failure later on. Outside of cattle pens, where the posts need to be founded, the most common use for a metal fence post is to hold up a snow fence.

T-posts are the most common type of metal fence post. They are also the sort of thing where you get what you pay for. A cheap T-post can be half the price of a heavy duty one. It is also five times more likely to bend and fail. In fact the first snow fence I ever put up used cheap T-posts made of thin metal. A few weeks after I put the fence up a small herd of deer were spooked during a wind storm. The adults managed to jump the 5 foot fence easily, however one of the fawns failed to clear the top of the fence.

When he hit the fence one of the posts bent half way over. I had spaced the posts out at their maximum distance to save money on the 850 foot long stretch. This one small failure of a single post weakened the entire fence. The next big gust from the wind storm knocked down a third of the fence. Another gust knocked down half of it. A similar event happened to my neighbor’s snow fence but since he had ponied up the extra money for the heavy duty fence posts, he only suffered damage to one small section.

Installing the metal stakes for a snow fence can be done in one of two ways. The safest way is to buy or rent a pile driver. This is a metal hand tool which consists of a solid anvil inside a sleeve. It has two handles on each side of the sleeve for you to grab ahold of.

You slide the top of the metal fence post into the sleeve. Grab each handle and pump up and down bashing the metal post into the ground. If you plan to irrigate a field, this style of pile driver can also be used for driving well points into sandy soil. Other than these two jobs the hand pile driver really has a hard time paying for itself if you intend to buy one.

If you live in a rural area with an equipment rental you can usually find one to rent. However most rental places rarely have more than one in house and it is usually reserved in advance during the spring. So if you want to take the safe route for installing a metal fence post you may want to call in advance or plan on installing the posts in the fall.

The best alternative to renting a pile driver is to use your old buddy, the 3 pound mini sledgehammer. To be honest with you I have had a lot of trouble renting a pile driver when I needed it and have fallen back on using the mini sledge.

Of the two, the mini sledge is actually less exhausting while being just about as fast. On the other hand, it is also one of those things where a momentary lapse of concentration can lead to a mountain of medical bills. I have over swung just one time in some 200 posts I’ve driven and it took two weeks for the bruise on my wrist to go away. If you are going to take the unsafe route, then you should grip the stake a foot down from the top when you hold it in place.

Installing a snow fence

A snow fence is critical if you have an exposed area and live in a part of the country where snow and high winds assault the land for several months out of the year. It’s important to keep in mind that a snow fence is not meant to be an impassable wall that blocks all snow from drifting. The reality is if it stopped drifts completely then you would quickly end up with a mountain of snow pouring over the top of the fence within a few storms.

What a snow fence actually does is knock the snow particles down forming compacted snow piles, rather than long hard drifts. Over the course of a winter these piles grow taller and longer. As a result the distance from the area you are trying to protect from drifting is just as important as the height of the fence.

There are two types of snow fence you can choose from. The old classic snow fence is a wood lath fence that is bound together with heavy duty wire. Wood lathe snow fence is quickly falling by the wayside. Half of the time you can find piles of them in the corner of old farm fields. If you ask nicely or have something to swap, some farmers will even let you take them for free.

In all honesty, free is the only price I would pay for these things. They are heavy and almost always dirty. The lathe is so dried out that it becomes a fire hazard when you store it during the summer. This means it’s not a good idea to keep it in the barn. While it is completely fine to store it outside, it also makes an ideal home for rodents to build their dens. The wire often has sharp points and unless it is galvanized in some way it usually rusts.

Pulling a roll of wood lath snow fence out of storage is a great way to pull a muscle, get bit by a woodchuck and need to update your tetanus shot!

Plastic snow fence is fast gaining in popularity due to its light weight and low price point. It also rolls up smaller for better storage. Animals do not like to den up in it and if it ever gets too dirty you can easily spray it off with a hose. Since plastic does not rot, it easily lasts twice as long if not longer than wooden lath.

The height of the snow fence is directly related to the minimum distance it should be placed from the driveway, road or building you want to protect. Technically the snow fences should be setback at a distance 35 times greater than the height of the fence. The most common height for a plastic snow fence is 4 feet. This means that according to specifications you should place the fence 140 feet away from the area you are trying to protect from drifting. Of course this isn’t always possible. There are stretches of my driveway where I would have to place the fence deep into my neighbor’s field.  Most of the time this set back distance applies for the drifting events of late winter or the freak snow storms of early spring.

In my experience anything less than 5 times the fence height will do you no good. Living in Northern Minnesota I find that a 20 foot setback distance on a 4 foot high snow fence will get me through 3 to 4 months of an average winter before the fence is completely buried and the drifts push across my driveway like the sand dunes of the Sahara.

The minimum distance between posts is a huge factor in the success and failure of your fence. High winds in late fall and early winter can really beat up a plastic fence. If a wind hits it straight on, the broad plastic surfaces in between the porous ovals can act like a sail. When this happens the posts rely on each other to bear the total load of the wind. If they are spaced too far apart they can start to bend at the ground level. Once a single posts bends they tend to give up in a cascade failure extending far down the line.

There are several websites and manufacturers that claim you only need a distance of 6 or 8 feet between posts. In my personal experience 5 feet is the preferred rule of thumb. You can probably get away with 6 feet. I tried 8 feet for a small section of additional fencing by my garden and it failed miserably after the second wind event.

Spacing the posts out at 5 foot intervals is also handy since the end of one panel will be at the start of the next. The rolls of fence are generally 50 feet long.  If you set them at 6 or 8 feet apart you will inevitably end up having to do some math, or end up cutting and wasting fence.

Also keep in mind the other side of the exposed area. Let’s say for example that you are trying to protect your driveway from drifting over. You want to place the snow fence according to the minimum setback from the driveway. This will then knock the windblown snow down. This has stopped the first line of drifts. Your driveway is now the starting point for a new drift. The snow that falls on your driveway needs some where to go.

On the other side of the driveway you want to have an open clearing area for that new drift to blow across and pile up at a distance. If you don’t have this clearing area then the drifts will inevitably begin to back fill onto your driveway. In fact my barn is 10 feet from one section of my driveway and it is the worst area for drifting along the entire stretch simply because of this back filling effect. In my experience I personally advocate a 100 foot clearing area for the drifts to continue on without back filling.

How to install a snow fence

Equipment

3 pound mini sledge or pile driver

Heavy duty T-Posts, 6 feet tall

Plastic snow fence, 4 feet tall

6 inch zip ties

A 2” X 2” board cut to a 5 foot length

A 2” X 2” board cut to a 4 foot length

Spray paint, for marking

A flat head screw driver

Procedure

While it might call for a little more walking back and forth it is ultimately easier and will give you a straighter stronger fence if you put the fence up by doing all of one task before moving on to the next. Also getting one other person to help you will make the job go three times faster!

Personally I find it is easier to load all of the stakes into the box of my truck and simply move it forward a hundred feet or so at a time.

Step 1: Use the 5 foot long board to mark out the intervals where each stake should be. Then spray a marking on the ground where the stake will be pounded. Find a visual reference point like a tall tree or a rock to help you stay on a straight line. One person can mark and measure while the other person walks behind laying down stakes in the grass and pulling the truck forward when needed.

Step 2: Pound the stakes into the ground. For a 4 foot high fence you should use 6 foot tall posts. I personally recommend standing the 4 foot long board next to the post so you know you have pounded it to the proper depth. If you are using a mini sledge be sure to hold the post at least 12 inches down from the top. This will give you a little bit of grace for any potential over swing. Never place your thumb or any finger on top of the post. Pound all the posts in before moving on.

Chances are good that some of the anchor tabs on the posts will be bent in or painted over. I keep a flat head screw driver in my back pocket. After pounding each stake I look for any tabs that are not open and I pry them up so they are open to ¼ inch.

Step 3: Fix the first section of the fence to the first post. Note that the texture of the plastic fence is concave on one side and convex on the other. You want the place the bulging convex side so that it is pointing towards the prevailing wind. This will help knock down the snow particles easier while also reducing the force of the wind on the fence itself.

Start by hooking the very top of the plastic fence onto the top open tap. Move down the post to the first downward pointing tab. Pull the closest oval over it. With these two tabs resisting each other you can now hook the rest of the tabs into the ovals. Once they are hooked in zip tie the fence to the post. Place a zip tie at the top, middle and bottom.

Step 4: Move on to the next post. Pull the top of the fence over the top tab. It should be a tight fit, but not so tight that you’re bending the post in the ground. Repeat the procedure from step 3. Hook the tabs and zip tie.

Step 5: When you come to the end of a bundle roll you will need to start a new section. It might be hard to get the double thick section of fence onto the tabs. If this ends up being the case, simply spread them a little more with the flat head screw driver.

A properly installed snow fence should be able to withstand many winters. However the powerful straight line gusts of summer thunderstorms do have the ability to bend over even the strongest fence posts. I personally recommend taking the fence down in spring before the first storms of summer have a chance to cause you headaches.

Simply walk along each post cutting the zip ties and slipping the ovals off the tabs. Roll each section of fence so the convex side is facing out. Store them in single 50 foot rolls to make it more convenient.

Also note that plastic photo degrades. This means the more sun it is exposed to the shorter its total life will be. A roll of plastic snow fence that is stored outdoors in the sun will become brittle much faster than a roll that is stored in a cool dark place.

Installing a garden fence

Keeping animals out of your garden is absolutely critical to the homesteading life. The two most persistent animals you will run into problems with are woodchucks and rabbits. Both of these animals can be thwarted by a properly installed rabbit guard fence.

Generally rabbit guard fence comes in two different heights, 28 inches and 40 inches. In my personal experience the only one worth buying is the 40 inch height. The wires are more tightly packed in the lower half of the fence. This keeps rabbits from pushing through.

If you don’t bury some of the fence under the ground rabbits will simply burrow under it. Burying a 28 inch fence even just 12 inches down leaves too much exposed above ground for a desperate rabbit to jump and wriggle through.

Adding some old scrap wood to the bottom of the fence will go a long way towards adding an extra deterrent against desperate and determined rabbits. Old barn wood is an ideal source for scrap. If there is a cabinet shop near you can often find free off cuts. Also small scale lumber mills will often have off cuts and scrap wood available for cheap if not for free. Old pallet lumber is also another great source of scrap wood. Sometimes recycling centers and feed mills will have old pallets lying around on their loading docks which they will let you have for free!

While you can use wooden fence posts for a rabbit guard fence it is just as easily held up by metal T-posts. Since the wire of the rabbit guard fence doesn’t catch the wind the way plastic snow fence does you can easily space the posts 10 feet apart without worry.

Before you start, make sure you measure out the area of the fence and buy the appropriate amount. Any gap in the fence will be exploited. If you end up with too much fence leftover at the end you can simply cut it with a tin snips and use the sections as added protection around fruit trees in the winter. With some ingenuity and some stove pipe wire you could even turn them into cages for pepper plants and small tomatoes. When placed on an angled frame excess rabbit guard fence can also be used as a trellis for beans, peas or cucumbers.

Installing a rabbit guard fence around your garden

Equipment

A roll of 40 inch fencing

5 foot tall T-posts

3 pound mini sledgehammer or pile driver

Stove pipe wire

Tin snips

Flat head screw driver

Scrap wood (Optional)

Procedure

Step 1: Use the mini sledge or pile driver to pound all the T-posts 2 feet deep. Posts should not be farther than 10 feet apart. There should also be a post at each corner. If any of the tabs on the fence post are painted over or bent in, you should pull them out 3/8th of an inch with a flat head screw driver.

Step 2: Dig a trench along the fence line that is 12 inches deep, plus the thickness of the optional scrap wood.

Step 3: Attach the wire to the top and bottom tabs of the first post. Then attach the middle wires onto the post. Tie the fence to the post with stove pipe wire. Twist the wire to secure it. Snip off any excess wire with a tin snips.

Step 4: Roll the fence out past the second and third post. The third post will hold up the weight of the roll allowing you to pull the fence tight at the second pole. Attach it to the tabs and tie with stove pipe wire just like you did with the first post. Make sure the fence is at least 12 inches into the trench so that the wire will be buried when you are done.

Step 5: Continue to repeat step 4 from post to post until you have completed the circuit.

Step 6: Lay out all of the scrap wood boards throughout the length of the trench. The boards should be on the outside of the fence line so if a rabbit tries to dig deeper than 12 inches they won’t be able to scoot the board inside the fence.

Step 7: Use the mini sledge hammer to tap the boards into the soil at the bottom of the trench. The wood should just overlap the bottom of the wire.

Step 8: Back fill the hole with soil and pack it down with the heel of your boot.

For added defense you should consider planting winter squash. The spiny vines are an irritant for many common garden pests including raccoons and skunks!

Chapter 5 – Making a rain barrel

A rain barrel irrigation system is a cost efficient way to water your garden and fruit trees by tapping into the rain water which flows off your roof and gutters. The idea is that the rain falls on your roof, draining into your gutters into the down spouts which fill a barrel. A simple tap attached to the barrel will allow you to run a hose line to your garden.

Rain barrels can go for well over a hundred dollars in retail hardware stores. However in the homesteading lifestyle spending hundreds of dollars for a free water source is absurd. Building one yourself is rather easy. The key to building your own rain barrels comes down to sourcing the materials for as cheap as possible. It literally is a project where charisma and resourcefulness equal savings!

The hardware for the barrels is rather inexpensive. The real challenge is finding the 55 gallon barrel. The fastest and probably the most expensive method is to search the internet classified ads. You can usually find someone selling 55 gallon barrels for 10 to 20 dollars. This isn’t a bad price and if they are close enough to you, I’d consider pulling the trigger.

There are certain factories which have them available on their garbage and loading docks. Bread and tortilla factories usually have them left over after storing honey, molasses, vinegar or corn syrup. These food based products are far better choices to source from than barrels that have been used to hold industrial chemicals or petroleum products.

Note that many food grade barrels will have residual material inside. When combined with water, the sugars in these residuals will give a medium for wild yeast to bloom. Many strains of wild yeast metabolize sugar while producing alcohol. Alcohol is a powerful desiccant. If it gets into your irrigation system it can kill tender garden plants. Any barrel that has been used for a sugar based material needs to be thoroughly rinsed multiple times before using.

Equipment and tools

Large crescent wrench

Power drill with an adjustable clutch

1" Forstner bit

4" Hole saw with locking nut

Flat head screw driver

Drum plug wrench

Silicone Caulk

2" x 3" Flexible Downspout Adapter

1" Washer

3/4" Brass Hose Bib

3/4"MHT x 3/4"MIP x 1/2"MP Brass Adapter

3/4" Black Iron 90 Degree Elbow

Procedure

Step 1: Put the 1 inch forstner bit into the chuck of the drill. Mark a hole for the pilot point 4 inches above the sealed bottom of the barrel. Start to bore the hole slowly until all three points of the forstner bit have carved an outline in the plastic. Once a groove has been started you can give it the beans until it punches through.

Step 2: Flip the barrel over and make another hole 4 inches from the top of the barrel. This is the over flow that will allow excess water to run off.

Step 3: Screw in the brass overflow adapter into the hole.

Step 4: Fit the drill with the 4 inch hole saw and cut a hole in the top of the barrel.

Step 5: Spread silicone caulk on the washer. Place it on the hose bib so the caulk is holding it in place.

Step 6: Use the drum plug wrench to remove the plug from the top and insert the black iron elbow. Make sure the threads line up with the hole.

Step 7: Screw the hose bib spigot into place. As you crank it in place it will tighten. Hold the fittings on the back with the screw driver, while cranking the spigot into place. It should only take 2 or 3 full turns. If you over tighten it the threads could strip in the plastic. This will form a compression which will hold it in place. The seal will be completed by the silicone caulk.

Step 8: Use the drum plug wrench to put the plug back in.

Step 9: Insert the down spout adapter and position the barrel at the bottom of your gutters down spout.

Elevation is important. If your garden is higher than the spigot the water will pour out very slowly. One possible solution to this is to raise the barrel by placing bricks under it until the bottom of the spigot is higher than the garden.

The water pressure will probably never be good enough to get a spray effect out of the end of the hose. The kind of pressure you should expect will be better suited for a soaker hose.

Chapter 6 – Using important homesteading appliances

Chest freezer

One of the pillars of the homesteading lifestyle is sourcing meat. Whether it is through hunting, fishing, animal husbandry or buying in bulk, you are likely to do a lot of your own butchering, processing and storing of meat.

The first thing you have to consider is long term storage. Your available freezer space will directly dictate how much you should source, harvest or buy at any one time. A giant chest freezer is the classic solution. In general a 13 cubic foot model will hold an entire side of beef or two large deer processed and packed properly.

The problem is a freezer this size seldom fits down the basement stairs. If you want to have one in the basement of your house you need to plan to put it in during initial construction or hope the house comes with wide stairwells. More often than not you will have to install a giant freezer like this in a porch area or side hallway. It is exactly the sort of thing that ruins your hopes of having an office on the main floor of the house!

An alternative that might work better is to go with a pair of 7 cubic foot chest freezers. With a buddy to help you, a large amount of swearing and the loss of a small amount of skin from your knuckles you should be able to wrestle them down a flight of stairs.

One of the most common mistakes people make with chest freezers is to pack all the meat tight like bricks. Since chest freezers don’t come with blower fans, air space is critical for fast cooling. The longer it takes for a piece of meat to freeze the sooner it will start to freezer burn. When packing the freezer you should make it a point to pack the meat in blocks that are roughly the size of a milk carton. Then leave 6 to 8 inches between each of these blocks. After 24 hours the meat should be frozen rock solid and you can repack the freezer tighter.

Meat grinder

It is inevitable that you will end up with scraps of meat that you need to do something with. You might also choose to grind large primal chunks of meat to blend into your own sausage blends.

All meat grinders essentially use the same parts. The more metal there is involved in the machine the better. This is as much about quality as it is functionality. Cold meat and a cold grinder will produce a better end product.

A hopper holds chunks of meat in reserve as you are grinding. A metal hopper is better than a plastic hopper because you can chill it in the freezer for a half hour before grinding. This ambient cold will help keep the meat cold while you are grinding large batches.

The pusher is little more than a plunger which you can use to force the meat into the screw for grinding. The material the pusher is made out of doesn’t matter. It is nice to have a pusher you can pop the top off to store spare dies and tools inside.

The screw is an auger which helps rend the meat. It absolutely should be made from metal. I would never buy one made from plastic as it is prone to shattering and cannot be chilled.

The blade is a small cutting wheel attached to the end of the screw, it cuts sinew from the ground meat and also helps clear the back of the die.

Most meat grinders come with three or more dies. These are thick metal plates which control how coarse the ground meat will be.

How to grind meat

Step 1: Cut all the meat so that no piece is larger than 1 inch in any dimension.

Step 2: Place the meat and all of the metal grinder parts in the freezer for half an hour.

Step 3: Assemble the meat grinder according to the manufacturer’s specifications. Start with the coarsest die.

Step 4: Run the meat through the grinder in small batches.

Step 5: Install the medium die and run the coarse ground meat through it. Use a light hand to force the meat through.

Step 6: Pack the meat into 1 pound packages which you can then vacuum freeze.

Sausage stuffer

Making your own fresh sausage at home is one of the great joys of the homesteading kitchen. If you have the wrong sausage stuffer it is also one of the greatest pains in the butt you will ever experience.

There are essentially two different types of sausage stuffers. Plunger style sausage stuffers are basically a large tube with a plunger handle that allows you to apply leverage to force the meat into casings. My first sausage stuffer was a plunger style and it was no end of headache. When you push down it tends to force half as much meat backwards as it does forward. This also has the effect of smearing any texture from the meat of the sausage. After three years with this thing I threw it far into the forest where I left it to rust and corrode through rain, spite and hatred.

A vertical sausage stuffer that forces an interlay sealed piston from a screw handle is the best stuffer you can use. You pay more for this type but it is well worth the money. It will pay for itself in time savings alone.

How to stuff a sausage

Ingredients

Natural casing

Bowl of water

Ground and seasoned meat

Procedure

Step 1: The night before you plan to stuff the sausage place the natural casings in a bowl of water in the refrigerator. This will allow them to rehydrate and soften so they will stuff easier.

Step 2: Fill the reservoir inside the stuffer and seal it.

Step 3: Feed a length of natural casing onto the sausage spout.

Step 4: Slowly press down the handle or crank the screw to extrude the sausage. The goal is to do this as smoothly as possible. If you stop and start it will leave deformations in the sausage.

Step 5: Once you have filled a length of casing, make the links by pinching off the casing every hand width. Twist every other one to seal the ends.

Step 6: Place the sausage in butcher paper and freeze.

Dehydrator

Jerky is a great thing to have around the house. However you can dry more than just meat in a food dehydrator. Dehydrated fruits and vegetables are a great long term storage option for the bounties of the garden and orchard.

Where you live in the country can be a big factor, as is the seasonal weather. If you live in the dry parts of the Sun Belt, a cheap, weak food dehydrator is all you need. In fact many homesteaders that live in the southwestern United States simply use covered well aerated trays to dehydrate fruits, vegetables and meat. If you live in more humid parts of the country or an area that sees a harsh winter, then a high quality food dehydrator can pay for itself in just a few months.

Shelf and stackable varieties are the two most common types of food dehydrator. Both work on the same principle of moving warm air across the food. Stackable dehydrators have a fan in the bottom which blows warm air up through the vents in the trays. The biggest weakness of a stackable dehydrator is that it tends to dry the food at the bottom faster than the top. You can often get past this foible by placing the larger or wetter pieces of food at the bottom with thinner dryer stuff at the top.

Shelf style dehydrators have a fan and heating element at the back of the unit. This allows you more control over the heat and air flow of each tray. Still, larger or wetter pieces of food should be placed at the back.

Honestly between the two there probably is not a clear cut winner. Both designs have fans and detractors. If you are planning to do a lot of jerky then it is probably better to look for a shelf unit. Stackable dehydrators have a hole in the middle of the tray for airflow. The hole tends to cause trouble with laying out the meat evenly.

There are other key features to keep in mind when shopping for a food dehydrator.

I would personally avoid any unit that doesn’t have a fan. The air circulation really does speed up the process!

An adjustable thermostat is also a nice feature to have. Delicate things like herbs prefer a temperature around 95 to 100 degrees. Herbs will burn and lose many of their essential oils at the 125 degree temperature you use for vegetables. Vegetables will lose some of their flavor and nutrient value if you dry them at the 155 degrees needed for meat and jerky.

Shelf capacity is another factor to consider. If you’re a huge fan of venison jerky and you are planning to bag that big buck this fall, then it means you’re going to be making a lot of sausage and jerky out of his tough old gnarly carcass. A small counter top dehydrator will require multiple loads of meat over multiple days. After two weeks of tending a food dehydrator every morning and night you will likely get frustrated and you will wish you had the big unit.

If you’re looking to use a dehydrator to make dried fruit for the kids to snack on, then a small unit will handle that little batch without having to work a monster cabinet of a dehydrator.

Beef Jerky recipe and procedure

Equipment

Chef’s knife or meat slicer

Gallon sized zip top bag

Shelf style food dehydrator

Ingredients

Inside skirt or flank steak

½ Cup of Worcestershire sauce

½ Cup of soy sauce

1 Tablespoon of minced garlic

1 Tablespoon of onion powder

1 Tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper

¼ Cup of dry red wine

1 Tablespoon of salt

Procedure

Step 1: Trim any excess fat off the meat. Then slice the meat, with the grain into thin long strips.

Step 2: Combine all the other ingredients in a zip top bag.

Step 3: Add the meat to the bag and massage it to make sure all the strips are fully coated.

Step 4: Place the bag in the refrigerator overnight.

Step 5: The next day evenly layout the strips out on the trays. They should not overlap or touch each other.

Step 6: Set the thermostat on the dehydrator to 155 degrees.

Step 7: Allow the jerky to dry completely. Depending on your unit this might take anywhere from 24 to 72 hours.

Canning equipment

Putting up canned fruits and vegetables is the classic way to preserve the harvest from the orchards and garden. The process itself is very simple so long as you have the right equipment.

The first thing to consider is the jars. They come in three basic sizes, a small jelly jar, a standard pint and a quart size. Pint and quart size jars also come with standard and wide mouths. While the wide mouth jars, rings and lids do cost a little bit more they are by far the better jars for cleaning and packing food. For instance a jar full of pickle spears is an infuriating thing to pack and pull the spears out of again. A wide mouth jar allows you to do this with ease.

As long as the rings are not corroded, you can reuse them year after year. The lids however have a rubber seal which activates and bonds to the lip of the glass jar. Once they are heated in the water bath they will not make a reliable seal again.

A Canning pot is a huge help, but if you already own a large stock pot there is no need to make the added investment.

A jar lifter comes with most canning tool kits. This tool is designed to reach into the hot water and pull the can out. If you were to leave the can in the hot water the food would over-cook and the texture would turn to mush. While I am sure there are a million old grandmothers and a score of nuclear physicists who know how to use this tool quickly and reliably, I personally hate the thing!

I have a glass top stove and not a lot of time to waste during the summer. When canning a large batch the metal of the jar lifter inevitably heats up. It always finds a way to burn you. Sometimes the jars wobble in its jaws, making me fear for the glass top. Other times the jaws release the jars with the stubbornness of a dog letting go of his favorite chew toy.

Instead, I actually wedged a welding glove inside of a large rubber glove. This allows me to reach in and grab the tops of the jars with my own trusting hand.

Procedure for Canning Tomatoes

Step 1: Wash tomato and remove the greens.

Step 2: Use a paring knife to make an X in the skin on the blossom end of the tomato.

Step 3: Drop the tomato into a pot of boiling water and allow it to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

Step 4: Remove the tomato from the boiling water and place in an ice bath. This shocking and cooling with help split the skin and loosen it from the meat.

Step 5: Peel the skin from the tomato and you can use it immediately or place in a quart sized canning jar to be put up.

Step 6: Fill all canning jars and top with new lids and properly washed rings.

Step 7: Place the jars in a stock pot of boiling water so that they are covered by 2 inches of water.  Boil for 15 minutes and remove.

Step 8: Allow the jars to cool and make sure all lids have popped down before storing.

Store the jars in a cool, dry, dark place for up to two years.

See additional resources as well as food canning safety here.

Chapter 7 – Paying the bills

I’ll be honest with you here, most of the time living the homesteading lifestyle means being land rich and cash poor. So much of your equity is wrapped up in the land, the mortgage, animals, equipment, feed and fuel.

If you don’t already have some experience with farming, hunting and animal husbandry then you are likely to spend the first couple of years grabbing your ass, scratching your chin and running around like a rabid monkey trying to put out fires. You honestly shouldn’t plan on keeping the bank account stocked by selling your wares the first few years.

Even once you do have all of the edges smoothed out you are likely going to need some kind of side hustle to bring in money during the slow times. I make extra money as a freelance writer and cook. There is a metal sculptor and artist a mile down the road from me who pays half of all his bills each year by selling pieces he welds up in his old barn then sells them as corporate art. My neighbor makes money plowing snow and repairing furnaces.

Once you reach the point where you’ve got your feet under you and your gardens and/or animals are providing you with enough stocks for your own pantry and freezer, then you can start thinking about selling some of the surplus.

The first place to start is the local farmer’s market. You can usually rent a table for the season for around $50. People who live in small rural towns often rely on these farmer’s markets to get their fresh produce rather than drive a half hour to a big box grocery store. In the end you’ll make a little extra side cash, maybe enough each week to fill your truck with a tank of gas and take the family out to supper.

If you are willing to put on some extra miles you can make some more money by bringing your wares into the city and sell them at the farmer’s market there. If you jump through the hoops required by the FDA to be certified for growing organic produce and you put together an attractive booth display you can make some decent money six months out of the year.

You will do better if you sell high test culinary vegetables that draw in local restaurateurs and people who are willing to spring the extra money for organically grown heirloom vegetables. There are people who make their annual income from selling their high end wares at the farmer’s markets and green markets of major metropolitan areas.

This can be a hard pressed life with a lot of late nights. I knew a farmer who made a tidy living driving his heirloom wares into Minneapolis and St. Paul three times a week to sell at farmer’s markets while making special deliveries to high end restaurants. He eventually had to scale back his operation because after working his property all day long he would then have to load up his harvest, sleep for 3 or 4 hours and then drive 2 to 3 hours to the city for his deliveries.

Another option that is gaining in popularity is the CSA or Community Supported Agriculture. The premise is that you are your own little agricultural company of sorts. In the spring people invest in buying a share of your goods throughout the season. As the summer season goes on you can arrange to deliver or have them pick up the goods. At some point in the peak season a CSA puts on a special event such as a tour or picnic where members can come and see the operation first hand.

Most CSA farms try to offer packages based on their specialties. It is pretty hard to offer everything and the kitchen sink. Storms knock out apple trees, pigs get sick, and beetles chow down on potato plants. This lifestyle is loaded with unforeseen circumstances and people tend to remember the little failures.

Instead find the things you can do well and offer them weekly. A good idea for a package is something that offers a dozen eggs each week, strawberries in June, raspberries in July, tomatoes and peppers in August, apples in September, with squash and sugar pumpkins finishing off the month of October. Weekly deliveries like this you could potentially charge $2,000 a share for 10 shares and clear an extra $20,000 in the year!

Probably the biggest advantage of running a CSA is that you can spend the winter and spring marketing yourself to new and old clients. Then you can stay focused on all the work the farm demands of you in the spring, summer and fall.

Conclusion

Making the move from the suburbs to the rural, homesteading lifestyle can be a challenge. There are a lot of skills you need to learn along the way. The key is to arm yourself with research, insight and patience to allow your hard work to bear fruit.

Climbing the mountain of challenges can be slow at first. Over time your dependency footprint will get smaller and smaller as your ability to provide for yourself grows.

Of course this book can’t give you all the answers or teach you every skill you’ll need to know. Finding your comfort zone in this life is a personal journey through authentic experience. If you are coming straight out of the convenient life offered by the city you will find a lot of things you miss.

Possibly the biggest ache you’ll find is a lack of restaurants. When you live in the city getting a pizza delivered is quick and easy. In the country you have to learn how to make yeast raised pizza dough, top it with venison pepperoni and garden grown onion before you bake it in the oven or on the grill.

Armed with a willingness to learn and grow, you will come to bask in the joy of a life lived by the power of your own hands.

Book 4:
Greenhouses and Gardening

A homesteading guidebook for subsistence gardening, heirloom vegetables and greenhouse ideas

Eric Beuning

Introduction

I grew up in a time before the real estate bubble expanded out and paved over the family farm in favor of cookie cutter suburban developments and shopping malls. In fact the street I grew up was the line that divided the city limits from the countryside. If I walked 100 yards in one direction there was a strip mall with a gas station, a meat market and a pizza joint. If I walked 100 yards in the other direction there was an old woman who kept bees and goats. She would trade fresh vegetables for honey, candles and goat cheese.

These two worlds were a dichotomy, yet living in the narrow borderland that divided them I learned to appreciate the best that both had to offer.

Both of my parents were born at the end of the Great Depression, on their own little family farmsteads. Each side of the family came from countless generations of subsistence farming and wilderness survival.  Unfortunately the Great Depression and World War II caused the eventual collapse of both farms. This led my Grandparents to bring their families into the city, where inevitably my parents would meet.

While my parents have spent their entire adult lives in and around the city, the ache of the wild and the great wide openness of the country sky lives on in my blood. I suppose it was inevitable that while I would start out with a large garden in the suburbs, I would eventually end up deep in the country with my own little take on the modern day hobby farm.

The lessons I have learned across decades of gardening have been an exercise in trial and error.  The goal of this book is to share that authentic experience with you. Whether you want to make the most of your suburban garden plot or if you are like me and looking to make the leap to life in the country, this book will shine a light on the process of taking your seeds, and nurturing the seedlings until they are ready to be planted in the soil.

Subsistence gardening, sometimes referred to as subsistence farming, is the back bone of a homesteading lifestyle. In-season fresh vegetables are just as critical as canned and put up vegetables are in the winter.

It’s a common thing in the spring time to drive through the city and see a host of garden centers and pop-up plant nurseries selling garden seedlings and flowers. In all honesty if you have a small garden plot in the suburbs this isn’t a bad alternative. Most of what is offered in these nurseries are hybrid plants sold by uninformed teenagers working for minimum wage, with only some crib notes to help answer your questions.

Now my largest garden plot is over 5,000 square feet. If I were to shell out a couple of dollars for each plant the overhead cost of my garden would be astronomical. Then I would have to shell out that money year after year. The easy solution, for me is to start from seeds each year. At the end of the season, I select the best plants and save their seeds to be planted next year.

In this book we’ll take a look at selecting the right seeds, starting them indoors and getting them ready for life in the greenhouse or the garden. Along the way we’ll take a look at some of the modern conveniences and technology that can help improve your chances for success.

Chapter 1 – Choosing the Right Greenhouse

To the uninitiated a greenhouse is just a glass or plastic wrapped building where you can keep plants sheltered and warm. All you have to do is place the plants in it, water them regularly and somehow gap toothed leprechauns employ unicorn magic to make sure the plants turn out perfectly. If you’ve ever bought a greenhouse kit or built one by hand, then you know that a greenhouse can be a fickle mistress, fraught with little details that can carry big consequences.

A greenhouse can be built in many different styles, out of many different materials, for many different uses. Before you can design or pick out the greenhouse that is right for you, you are going to have to develop a vision for the role it will play, not just for this year, but for many years to come.

Maybe this year you are only looking for a greenhouse that will keep tender plants alive through the late winter and early spring. Giving seedlings a good head start in a greenhouse before planting them in the garden is probably the most common use and the easiest to maintain. I have one small greenhouse that does exactly this.  I really only use it for three months out of the year. In early summer after everything is planted in the garden, I remove the skin, drag it back into the barn and use it the rest of the year as a tool cabinet.

If you’re thinking about a large greenhouse you can use to grow herbs and potted fruit trees year round, then you’re going to want a free standing greenhouse. Depending on where you live in the country, this style of greenhouse will require heat, regulated ventilation and possibly grow lights. This type of greenhouse is a living, breathing ecosystem, which has a lot of delicate science behind it.

Another possible use for a free standing greenhouse is to get an early start for container grown plants in the spring and then extend the season through the fall. This type of greenhouse often requires some form of passive solar heating to keep the internal temperatures regulated, so that the plants don’t freeze at night or fry during the heat of the day.

Buying a greenhouse from the hardware store or through a commercial supplier is certainly a viable option. The nice thing is that they have already worked out a design that will help with ventilation, screening and solar capture. Store bought kits have less trial and error but the cost is often astronomical.

If you buy a cheap unit off the shelf you risk the chance that someone has not worked all the bugs out. Cheap units tend to do a good job of keeping the cold of night out but can trap too much of the heat of the day in. You come home from work after a sunny day in April to find that your plants have been cooked in high heat until they are wilted and dead.

If you are going to go through the process of buying a greenhouse instead of designing and building one for yourself, then it is best to shell out the extra money for a good one. It really is the sort of thing where half measures lead to half dead plants.

When you boil it down there are essentially four different types of greenhouses.

Cold frame

A cold frame isn’t technically even a greenhouse but it is a handy structure to have for your homestead garden. Typically a cold frame is a glass box built from old windows, hinges and hardware. You place the cold frame in the garden for a week or so to let the sun warm the soil. Then you place your tender plants inside.

The plants grow in relative safety, while the soil continues to warm up. This allows the plants to harden off and reduces the chances of transplant shock which seedlings can suffer from when planted into cold soil. It is important to note that a cold frame can get very hot, very quickly. So ventilation is always an issue. You’ll have to pay close attention to the weather each day to determine how far you should open the cold frame. If you leave the cold frame closed on a sunny day, there is every reason to believe it will overheat and kill the plants.

Hoop house

This is a very inexpensive style of greenhouse, often made of flexible PVC tubing covered by a durable skin of clip-on plastic. The frame is bent like a Quonset house. This type of greenhouse is meant for starting seedlings early and extending the season in the fall. A hoop house generally lacks the kind of ambient heating and insulation to handle overwintering plants. Many greenhouse supply companies sell hoop house kits of various sizes for reasonable prices.

Since the materials are cheap and the house is easy to erect, it is usually best to put it up in early spring to let the soil inside begin warming. Over the course of a week or so, the ambient heat of the hoop house should be built up to a level that will support young plants. It’s a wise idea to include a space heater with a thermostat, or an oil filled radiator for augment heating at night.

Once the plants have grown big enough and have been hardened for life in the garden, you can then take the hoop house down to protect the plastic skin from the damaging storms and hail of summer. In early fall you can then put the hoop house back up to extend the growing season for any container grown plants.

Attached or lean-to greenhouse

The attached greenhouse is a glass or polycarbonate structure with a southern exposure, with the north wall anchored to a building. Being attached to a building provides structure as well as easy access to utilities.

Usually this style of greenhouse is used for giving seedlings an early start in spring and then extending the season for container grown plants in the fall. While it is often easy to heat an attached greenhouse in the winter with a space heater or additional wood boiler lines it is inadvisable to use an indoor wood stove.

One problem with heating an attached greenhouse in winter is that they tend to have a cabinet style design where you usually gain access by large outer doors. While this is great in the spring time because it gives you direct access to the potting trays, it also means you are letting a massive amount of heat out when tending to the plants in the winter.

Many attached greenhouses employ some form of passive solar capture to provide heat. Reflecting shutters and black load stones are common methods of capturing the warmth of the sun. A new technique that has emerged in recent years that doesn’t require sunlight is the compost heater. The idea is to compost a bale of straw, mixed with grass clippings and kitchen greens.  As the microbes metabolize the organic material and reproduce they give off heat. When placed properly and turned regularly it provides enough ambient heat to keep the attached greenhouse warm.

I’ve only seen one compost heater and while it has a lot of promise, it also seems to have a lot of stink, fuss and bother. Assuming it is tended properly so that the microbes have the carbon and nitrogen they need to flourish it gives off a constant source of heat. This is great during the cold, dark night but on a warm sunny day the temperature in the greenhouse can skyrocket. If you are going to try a compost heater make sure you have a good plan for ventilating the heat out of the greenhouse.

When it comes to solar heating a small attached greenhouse, I have experimented with many different methods over the years. The method that works best for me is to use water as a natural heat sink. I took a row of 5 gallon buckets, painted them black and filled them with water. Then I placed them at the lowest level of the south face of the greenhouse.

Through the course of the day the sun beams on the buckets heating the water. On a sunny day in early May I’ve had the water in the buckets reach as high as 120 degrees. Just like the compost heater, this means you need to make sure you have adequate ventilation during the day. At night that heat is then released into the greenhouse. Since cold air sinks, it pools on the floor where it is absorbed by the warm water in the buckets. Before the cold can build high enough to frost burn the plants it must first freeze a skim ice on the top of the buckets.

A small problem to be mindful of is that over time the water in the buckets can develop algae. When I fill the buckets for the first time I use water that has been boiled. Starting with a sterile medium buys an average of two weeks before you see the first hint of algae developing in the water. Adding a small amount of algaecide to the water is also a cheap and easy solution.

Free standing greenhouse

A freestanding greenhouse is the archetype greenhouse most people think of. This is the iconic building of metal, wood and glass that stands defiantly against the weather as it shelters tender innocent plants. This is by far the most expensive type of greenhouse you can buy or build. It calls for using durable materials and insulated glass as well as the additional costs of supplying power and water.

The cost you have to invest in a freestanding greenhouse usually means you are probably going to be growing in it year round in order for it to pay for itself. Some plants like peppers and tomatoes require augment lighting in order to extend the length of the days to encourage flowering. This adds yet another expense to operating the green house in winter.

On the other hand, herbs and many types of salad greens are only mildly affected by day length. They prefer temperatures between 55 and 65 degrees, so it makes them amenable to the cool temperatures of winter.

Heating

How cold the winter is in your part of the country will determine your heating needs for the greenhouse. Of course this is also influenced by the insulation quality of the glass or polycarbonate you choose as well as the total internal volume of the greenhouse. A large freestanding greenhouse with low-quality glass will require a lot more heating in the winter than a modest sized greenhouse made of polycarbonate.

Keeping your greenhouse properly heated is more than simply shoving any old heater in there and hoping for the best. This is one of those rare opportunities in life where you will be haunted by the time you sat in your High School math class and said “When am I ever going to use this in real life?”

Calculating your heating needs

Heat is measured in BTU’s, which stands for British Thermal Units. In order to know how many BTU’s of heat you will need, you must first calculate the internal volume of the greenhouse.

The main body of the building is the easy part. Simply measure the length, width and depth, multiply them together and you will have the cubic footage. However the roof peak will take a little more figuring.

To find the volume of the roof peak the equation is 2 x (Height + Slope length) x Width.

Once you have this total calculated in cubic feet, simply add it to the volume of the main body of the building.

Next you will have to calculate the temperature difference between the average low for your area and the lowest temperature you want the greenhouse to be able to fall to. It should be an easy enough search on the internet using the key words “Average Low Temperature for…” and input your state or county. Find the number for the coldest month of the winter, which is usually January.

Take into account the lowest temperature you want your plants exposed to.  Since the chemistry of water causes it to slowly expand at 39 degrees, thus reducing a plants ability to draw nutrients from the roots, I would not advise a greenhouse temperature below 40 degrees for a prolonged period of time.

In this example then, we would look at the difference between the average low for your area and the minimum acceptable low temperature for your greenhouse. Let’s say the average low for your area is 2 degrees and the minimum temp for your greenhouse is 40.

Subtracting 2 from 40 gives us a difference of 38. To figure out how many BTU’s you will need you then multiply that difference by the cubic foot volume of your greenhouse. If your greenhouse was 1,000 cubic feet you would need 38,000 BTU’s of heat to keep it at 40 degrees during an average January.

The next thing you will need to factor in is the material you use to glaze or cover your greenhouse. Simple plastic rarely has the insulation quality needed to protect plants in winter in growing zone 5 or colder. Glass is the traditional material that most greenhouses used to be built from. In recent years it has been eclipsed by double walled polycarbonate. This is not to discount glass altogether. If you have a big enough bank account there are all kinds of thermal glass types available.

Each of these materials comes with its own heat savings. Each manufacturer has their little tweaks and takes on it, so you will want to do your research looking for the U-Value of the material you choose. Factoring in this number will reduce your BTU needs for the greenhouse.

For example a 4mm thick sheet of double walled polycarbonate, usually has a U-Value of .7.

In our example above your 1,000 cubic foot greenhouse needs 38,000 BTU’s.  If that area is skinned with 4mm polycarbonate you would take 38,000 multiplied by .7 this tells you that your greenhouse needs 26,600 BTU’s to keep it at 40 degrees during the average low for your region.

The heating method you choose, whether it is an array of space heaters, a wood boiler, or even propane heat will come with the BTU information direct from the manufacturer. Many post this information online with the specs for each appliance.

Heating methods

Regardless of the heating method you choose you must be mindful that hot air rises. This means you will need to employ fans both to circulate the air as well as keep cold air from pooling on the floor.

Electric heat is probably the easiest heating method you can choose. The best method I have found is to place oil filled radiators at opposite ends of the greenhouse. These radiators have a built in thermostat. The heating element inside senses the temperature of the surrounding air and turns on when needed. The oil heats up the outer case which then transfers that heat to the air. A small fan, set to low, positioned two feet above the radiator, pointed down at a 45 degree angle will improve circulation and keep the heat from building up near the ceiling. Giving it that 2 feet of spacing and the angle keeps the wind of the fan from directly cooling the case, which would cause the thermostat to turn on more than it needs to.

A space heater with a thermostat placed in the center of the greenhouse, set to the same temperature as the radiators will provide additional fast heating should you need it. This is especially handy for the deepest cold of night right before dawn. Or if a freak cold snap hits your area.

Unfortunately, using electric heat, in close proximity to water increases the danger as well as the cost.

Propane and natural gas heaters are probably the second most common heating method. The initial cost for the heaters can often be high. They also have specific venting requirements that are best handled by a skilled professional.

A woodstove installed in the center of the greenhouse with a simple blower box is a rather inexpensive heat source, after you absorb the initial cost of the stove. However it does take up more space than you might think. In order to keep the entire greenhouse around 60 degrees, it usually means there will be a bubble of air over 100 degrees around the actual firebox. Plants placed too close to the woodstove dry out or their leaves are damaged by the constant high heat.  Plants placed too far away can suffer frost damage if the fire is allowed to burn down.

My ice fishing camper is heated with a woodstove. I have used it as a life boat for seedlings during a nasty spring cold snaps. Every one of those instances I had a handful of plants damaged by the fickle swings of heat between the woodstove and the outside air.

Since most wood stoves have only a modest size fire box, the fire must constantly be tended through the course of a day in order to keep the heat consistent. Also many insurance companies will raise your rate by as much as 30% if any structure being covered is heated by an indoor woodstove. So you will want to check with your insurance agent before you commit to a woodstove as the primary heat source for your greenhouse.

If you heat your home with an outdoor wood boiler, it is a small expense to run another line to give your greenhouse in floor heating. This means you can heat the greenhouse from the same source you use to heat your home. A space heater with a thermostat or oil filled radiators can be a nice compliment to the in floor heating, especially if you want to try your hand at greenhouse growing warm weather plants like tomatoes or peppers in winter.

Since the wood stove and boiler are located outside of the structure most insurance companies will not penalize your rates. A wood boiler has a large fire box and only needs to be stocked once every 12 hours, which you are already doing to heat your house. In recent years wood boiler technology has advanced, creating high efficiency wood stoves that employ a process known as wood gasification. If you already have one of these wood boilers heating your home, then using it to also heat your greenhouse is practically free!

Water

Water access can also be a complex question. A large free standing greenhouse that is growing year round will have rather significant water needs. Carrying buckets of water out to the greenhouse every couple of days quickly turns into a chore. In the winter the freezing temperatures mean you can’t use an outside hose to fill those buckets. Running an underground water line is the most convenient solution. Just be mindful that the cost of pipes, fittings, faucets and pumps all adds up in a hurry.

Of course if you are running underground water lines then it’s the ideal opportunity to run power as well. Just make sure the two sets of lines are insulated from each other. The last thing you want is a frost heave causing damage five or ten years down the road and you’re stuck dealing with an underground short circuit.

Consult with a local electrician when it comes to determining the kind of lines you want to run. Lines and breakers should be appropriate for the kind of heating you are planning on using in the winter. Then the same outlets can be used in the summer to run the ventilation fans.

Ventilation

Inadequate ventilation actually kills and damages more greenhouse plants than freezing temperatures. A greenhouse is a massive heat sink which soaks up the sun’s energy all through the day. As the sun shines into the greenhouse hot air begins to rise. In the early hours of the day heat piles up at the ceiling. As the day goes on that heat starts to saturate lower and lower. If that heat is not allowed to escape it will dry out and damage a plant’s leaves. Eventually it will dry out the soil damaging the roots and killing the plant.

A small free standing greenhouse can usually get by with two ceiling vents on each side. Assuming the outside temperatures are above freezing, you can open the vents in the morning and it will help most of the excess heat to escape through the day. A large free standing greenhouse, on the other hand, usually needs a series of fans to blow the heat towards the ceiling vents. It may also require ceiling vents in the middle of the structure to allow you to evacuate heat quickly.

If it is going to be a particularly warm and sunny day you will probably want to deploy some form of screening.

Screening and shades

While it is smart for all greenhouses to employ screens or shade cloth to reduce the heating impact of sunlight, it is absolutely critical for a free standing greenhouse. A free standing greenhouse is usually a large structure, so it takes longer for the heat to build up to a damaging level. However, because it is so large and the air mass inside is so hard to move, it takes much longer to evacuate that heat to safe levels.

A shade cloth or screen will block a certain amount of light from entering. This limits catastrophic heating, while also protecting the leaves of tender seedling from sun scald.

Shade cloths come in different densities that block different amounts of light. A shade cloth with a 40 percent density, blocks 40 percent of the light. A shade cloth with a 60 percent density blocks 60 percent of the light. I personally prefer a white shade cloth with around a 40 percent density. If you are buying a free standing greenhouse as a kit from a greenhouse supply, they will usually recommend the correct shade cloth density needed for that particular design.

Choosing between polycarbonate or glass

I admit that by nature, I am as thrifty as I am resourceful. I start thinking about what I can salvage or repurpose long before I even consider going to the store to buy something new. For someone like me this makes glass a very attractive option. It’s not that hard to look through some local internet classified ads and find someone who is trying to get rid of some old windows.

In fact my first glass greenhouse was built entirely from old windows. All I had to do was remove them from a house that was having new windows installed. I brought them home, drew up a plan that wouldn’t look horrible, while still being functional. As you might expect from anything handmade there were some bugs. Still for the most part it did what I needed it to do. Four months later a hailstorm blew through, shattering or cracking almost every single window.

The new material on the scene these days is double walled polycarbonate sheeting. Polycarbonate sheeting is to a hail storm what Samsonite luggage is to an angry silverback gorilla. It is nearly indestructible while also having the same insulation properties as high end thermal glass.

Double walled polycarbonate is also ribbed, this helps diffuse strong sunlight, reducing sunscald on tender seedlings and helping to mitigate overheating problems. This means you can use a polycarbonate greenhouse with a lighter density sunshade.

There aren’t a lot of people who are looking to get rid of their polycarbonate for free in the classifieds. This means you’re going to have to shell out for new sheets and the special clips and hardware required for attaching them. If you watch the sales ads for the large box hardware stores in February and October you can usually find them on sale for 10 or 20 percent off per sheet.

Should I buy or build myself?

I have built a fair number of free standing and attached greenhouses over the years. Most were built from scavenged materials in the days before polycarbonate was widely available and affordable. If I was to start from scratch and had the money available, I would consider buying a free standing greenhouse premade from a manufacturer. I would then use the free standing greenhouse on an independent four season rotation.

I would also build a hoop house myself to prepare seedlings in spring. Then I would take it down during the harsh weather of summer, only to assemble it again in the fall to extend the season for container grown plants.

This way you keep from over loading the free standing greenhouse while also sparing it the risks of cross contamination.

Chapter 2 – Greenhouse Pests and Potential Problems

A properly tended greenhouse is essentially its own little ecosystem. On the one hand it’s handy that, compared to your garden, random bugs, fungal spores and soil borne diseases have a hard time getting in. Unfortunately once they do get in they tend to run wild in the greenhouse’s optimal conditions!

One of the easiest ways for things to get into your greenhouse is on your shoes or tools. This is especially true of soil borne fungus. There is a certain temptation when you have a greenhouse to also use it as a tool shed for your garden tools.

For example, let’s say on a fine sunny day in April you are working over a patch of soil where last year you had some tomatoes that suffered from early blight. After working over the soil and planting some beans in that same patch for crop rotation, you return to the greenhouse and hang up the hoe.

Now that hoe hanging on the wall and the mud from your boots on the floor has potentially introduced fungal spores to the greenhouse. These spores have now just been introduced to the ideal heat and humidity they need to bloom.

As a rule of thumb there should be one set of tools for the greenhouse and one set of tools for the garden. The two should never meet! When it comes to your boots, either you should use slip on galoshes or keep two boot cleaning mats available that you wash regularly. If you are like me and go barefoot 7 months out of the year I still recommend a shallow bin of water you can use to dip your feet in before wiping on a door mat.

Also remember that a crowded greenhouse increases the chance for fungal spores to breed. Proper spacing between plants is absolutely essential for keeping spores from breeding on young vulnerable seedlings. This is especially true if you are using misters for added humidity and watering.

Insects are another cause for concern. Mites and white flies are common pests that have a knack for finding their way into the greenhouse. In a three season greenhouse these pests often die off in the hard freeze of winter. In a four season greenhouse they can continue to breed through successive, generations to exponential numbers.

Vigilance is critical in these situations. Hanging fly traps is always helpful but you should be willing to turn to vacuuming and spraying organic insecticidal soaps the instant you see the slightest sign of infestation.

There are a lot of other insect pests that will try to find ways to invade your greenhouse with every open door opportunity. Often times insects find their way into your greenhouse when you bring container grown plants in from the garden in early fall. If you intend to bring a container grown plant into your greenhouse to extend the season, it is wise to give it a heavy dose of organic insecticidal soap a day or two in advance. At the same time Moths, Asian beetles and box elder bugs all have a knack for finding a chink in your greenhouse’s armor.

A person could go mad trying to kill every last one of them before they lay their eggs for the next generation. In fact in 2010 I had a greenhouse of glass and metal that was so infested with Asian beetles that I contemplated sterilizing it with a blow torch!

A less vengeful and more organic alternative is to employ the use of predatory insects. Luckily these days the internet is rife with suppliers of exotic insects that can be shipped to you in dormant egg cases. You merely need to place them in your greenhouse and make sure you read the directions to cover any incidental details in hatching them.

Green lacewings are a common predatory insect that inhabit many four season greenhouses. I personally prefer the praying mantis. If you hatch an egg case of praying mantises in your garden, the mantises will kill all other insects. Mantises operate without prejudice, killing pests as well as beneficial insects. Colorado potato beetles and honey bees taste the same to a praying mantis!

The good news is that any plants that live in your greenhouse through all four seasons will most likely be pollinated by hand. This means that all other insects are essentially pests in your greenhouse. The praying mantis is happy to oblige as he rips the head off and feasts on everything that creeps through the door.

Of course you also get the added bonus of getting to watch these master assassins grow to full size and do their work. While there is much urban and botanical legend associated with the mating practices of mantises ripping each other’s heads off after mating, they actually breed in captivity slightly worse than panda bears. After 12 to 16 months you’ll find a diminishing return in the breeding population so it’s best to simply order a new egg case or two every year. Luckily the current going price averages around 10 dollars for two eggs cases. A small price to pay for getting to watch master assassins clean up insect pests in your greenhouse!

Site selection

There are several key factors to site selection that hold true, regardless of the style of greenhouse you decide to build.

Sunlight is the most important factor. The common perception is that you want a greenhouse with crystal clear glass on a full southern exposure with light unimpeded by trees from the eastern horizon to the west. While I can’t confirm it, I’m guessing there is a special place in hell where Nazi war criminals are punished by trying to keep a greenhouse like this cool and properly ventilated in the heat of the summer.

In all honesty, the first greenhouse I designed and built 15 years ago was like this and it fried plants all day long!

Whether you are building a free standing four season greenhouse or simply a cold frame to start seedling in spring, you will need some form or shade or sun screening. Most greenhouses will employ a screen that can be raised and lowered to control the amount of solar heating that fills the greenhouse during the day. This screening also helps protect the tender leaves of young seedlings from sun scald.

If you opt not to use screening then you will want to make sure your greenhouse has some form of shade from trees or an attached structure during the mid to late afternoon. If you are using a plastic skin, then it is best to use something that is opaque.

Drainage is another important factor to consider. Your greenhouse needs to be protected from the run off of summer rains as well as the buildup of winter snow. The base of the greenhouse should always set at least one to two feet above the ground, with a floor at a slight pitch to let excess water runoff.

Durability is also something to consider for year round greenhouses. If you are designing and building a greenhouse yourself, you can really save a lot of money by using old windows. All it takes is a quick look through the internet classifieds and you can usually find someone looking to get rid of their old windows for cheap or even free. If you use these same windows for the roof of your greenhouse, they become a constant source of grief every time the weather forecast mentions the potential for hail.

Clear or opaque polycarbonate sheets can be laid over top of the glass roof, or used in place of glass for a modest price. If you closely watch the sales fliers, you can usually find a 2 foot by 8 foot sheet of polycarbonate on sale for around $25 per sheet. While this can really raise the price of your greenhouse, it eventually pays for itself in peace of mind.

Straight line winds are also a cause for concern when selecting a site. Most greenhouses are made from lightweight materials. Pipes, thin rails or 2 inch thick lumber are asked to hold big flat glass walls against strong buffeting winds. So you want to be mindful of where straight line winds come from in your part of the country.

Where I live in Northern Minnesota straight line winds are usually a product of a low pressure system passing through and causing the winds to shift from a south-easterly flow to a north or western flow. This quick shift often causes powerful gusts that can damage a fully exposed free standing greenhouse. As a result I’ve placed my greenhouse at the corner between my barn and the tack room. Being attached to the barn improves insulation from the north and also protects it from the prevailing winds.

If you do not have a structure you can use to help provide added shelter and security to the greenhouse, I would advise using guy-wires anchored to all four corners.

Chapter 3 – Setting up Your Seedlings

If you’ve read my book on growing and cooking herbs then a lot of this chapter will be familiar. While there are many differences in taking care of vegetable seedlings, a lot of the basic equipment and principles for starting vegetables from seed are the same as starting herbs from seed.

I admit that developing a green thumb is to a home gardener what finding your voice is for an aspiring writer. It doesn’t always come easy, it might take a little more forethought than you expect and you’re going to have to learn from your mistakes along the way.

Most vegetables are easy to start from seed. However, on a practical level, some vegetables are just easier to buy from the nursery. Later when we get to the specific vegetable entries I’ll include notes on sourcing seeds versus plants.

This chapter will focus on the basic set up you will need to start vegetables from seed indoors.

While each type of vegetable might have its own special needs through the course of the season, most will germinate with a little heat, water, light and peat moss.

Seed Starting Kits

A lot of stores these days begin offering seed starter kits, sometimes called heated miniature greenhouses, or heated potting trays, as early as January.

The kit comes with an electric warming mat resting in a protective base tray. Sitting on top of the heat mat is a domed potting tray full of small dehydrated peat moss seed plugs. When the peat moss plugs are properly rehydrated and the warming mat is plugged in it supplies a gentle heat to the soil.

The constant heat supply is set around 72 to 75 degrees. The removable domed top of the potting tray keeps moisture from evaporating away. When you set the unit under grow lights or the sunlight from a window with a southern exposure, the seeds will in optimal conditions for germination.

Most of the time when you buy the kit it is an all in one package that is already filled with dehydrated peat moss seed plugs in it. Every year you can buy new plugs and reuse the rest of the kit. Just speaking from my own experience they generally start to lose a little something in the heating element after six years of heavy use.

Different vegetables may have different start times before the season. So make sure you know how soon to start the seeds before the average last frost date for your region. If you don’t know the average last frost date for your area, you can usually find it by contacting or searching your state’s agricultural extension office.

While some vegetables, like cabbage and peas can survive temperatures down to twenty degrees, most vegetables seedlings will not tolerate even a light frost on their delicate leaves.

Location

While it’s true that you could stick your potting tray and grow lights in any old basement closet and have modest success, there are a few factors to consider that will improve your chances of having strong, healthy plants for your outdoor garden.

Once seedlings germinate they will crave light. Even a strong grow light placed too high overhead will encourage a plant to grow its stem too long, become leggy and fall over. So you will want a location that allows you to adjust the height of your grow lights so that the bulbs are always two to four inches above the highest leaves of the plant.

You also want to have an area available outside of the heated potting tray. While some herbs crave bottom heat on their roots and will thrive, others will begin to get leggy if heat is kept in the soil plug for more than a day or two after germination.

For non-heat loving herbs you will want to remove them from the potting tray within 24 hours of germinating. Then pot them up into whatever seedling pot you have chosen for them to grow in until it is time for them to be transplanted into the garden.

I have a 24 inch by 48 inch wire bakers rack with adjustable shelves that I use every spring for potting up seedlings. The wire shelves allow me to hook things on, adjust chains or store all the little odds and ends I need without cluttering up the main potting shelf.

Choosing, installing and using grow lights

These days there are a lot of options you can choose from when it comes to grow lights. There is more than enough science behind it to give you a nose bleed.

Here is a quick summary of your available options and what you need to know.

Plasma: This is a new form of grow light technology. It claims to have the best efficiency and best spectrum of light. From my initial research into the cost, energy usage and the amount of area a single average light can cover, these fall into more of a commercial grow light category.

LED: When LED grow lights first appeared in the marketplace a lot of technical promises were made that ultimately under delivered. While the technology, spectrum range and efficiency has improved rapidly in recent years LED lights can still be a pretty large upfront investment for something as simple as starting seedlings indoors.

High Intensity Discharge: This is probably the most common type of grow light. It is efficient and comes in two different options, Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium. For starting seedlings and over wintering herbs indoors you will want the Metal Halide Bulbs, which cast towards the blue end of the spectrum. High Pressure Sodium Lights tend to cast in the yellow end of the spectrum meant to mimic waning light of the fall season, which triggers flowering and fruiting plants to bloom. High pressure sodium lights tend to be used by people who grow vegetables indoors all year long.

Fluorescent: This is by far the cheapest and easiest of your grow light options. You will want to buy Full Spectrum Daylight bulbs, which cost around $10 each and from my experience they have an average lifespan of six years. Any standard 48 inch shop light fixture will hold the bulbs and costs between $15 and $20.The bulbs and the fixtures commonly go on sale in a lot of hardware stores in early February.

Personally I have been using a four fixture Fluorescent grow light system that I cobbled together years ago for $60. In the last seven years I have lost one fixture and one bulb, as a result of a spill while watering.

Window Box: In the spring of 2005 I planted more aggressively than my grow light space allowed. As a result I was forced to start and grow forty plants in a window with a great southern exposure. I can tell you from personal experience that it is possible to start and grow strong plants for a few weeks in a sunny window. In fact, only two plants died in the window box before planting day.

It is obviously the cheapest option available to you if you have a window with a good southern exposure. Ironically it is also the most labor intensive. Since young seedlings crave light, they will bend and reach for the strongest light source. If you don’t rotate each seedling at least once per day it will cause them to reach too far and become leggy. A leggy plant can easily die if allowed to lean for too long. Even if it survives, the weak stem can struggle against strong summer winds in the garden.

Placing a dozen or so plants on small trays or old cookie sheets is a fast option for rotating the plants.

If you do not have a window with a strong southern exposure you can get by with an eastern exposure. Seedlings will be most hungry for light in the morning. A pure western exposure encourages legging.

Preparing and planting your seed plugs

Once you’ve established where you want to keep your seed tray you will need to rehydrate the seed plugs. The seed plugs start out as little coins of peat moss that you have to soak in water and they will expand for planting.

There are essentially two different types of soil plugs you can choose from, netted or non-netted. I always choose the netted kind, which comes wrapped in a small mesh that expands when the plug is rehydrated. The fine holes expand easily for the roots to escape when the seedling is potted up to a larger planter. The non-netted kind can sometimes flake apart as the roots expand or can get wedged in the tray and break off when you try to pull them out.

Usually the instructions that come with the kit tell you to place the dehydrated peat moss coins into little slots and fill the tray with warm water. The peat moss coins will slowly expand into soil plugs that are held in place by the plastic slots. I’ve personally found that this can be a problem since sometimes the soil plugs don’t absorb all of the water in the tray. It can be a real pain to try to pour away or bail out the excess water.

What I prefer is to use a small pale or ice cream bucket filled with warm water.  I put the exact number of dried plugs in the water for the type of vegetable I’m planting at that time. Then I plant using the following procedure.

Step 1: The plugs will take five minutes to rehydrate. While they are expanding in the water, open your seed packet and dole out two to three times the desired number of seeds onto a sheet of white paper. I always plant at least double the number of seeds in case of germination failure. If all of them germinate I will later cull or remove the weaker plant by snipping it off where the root meets the stem.

Step 2: When the seed plugs are expanded place them in their spot in the potting tray. If you chose the mesh wrapped style of plugs gently use your fingers to fully open the mesh on top. Then use a tooth pick to rough up the top quarter inch of peat moss.

Step 3: Carefully place the seeds into the peat moss and lightly sink them into the plug. The general rule of thumb is to plant the seed three times deeper than the diameter of the seed. Rarely will you exceed a half inch.

Repeat these steps for each type of herb you are planting. Then cover the potting tray with the clear plastic dome and plug in the heat mat.

While the germination time for each type of vegetable can vary. Usually a seed in the starter kit will germinate in the first 7-14 days. I’ve had Aji Dulce peppers take as long as four weeks and I’ve had cherry tomatoes germinate in 3 days.

When a seedling first emerges it craves light, and since some seeds actually require light to germinate I will turn on the grow lights or place the kit in a window box immediately after planting. It’s a low feeling to come home from work and find that a little pepper sprouted only to fall over and die from a lack of light.

Seedling Pots

There are a lot of different options available when it comes to selecting the pot you want to grow your seedlings in. In a pinch I’ve even used a 22 ounce red drink cup with a couple of pin holes in the bottom!

The tender roots of young plants can be subject to transplant shock when removed from their seedling pot. A plastic seedling pot is a cheap option but it increases the chances of transplant shock during the plant’s first week in the garden. For some vegetables like cabbage and broccoli transplant shock is nearly a nonfactor. For tender root vegetables like squash and cucumbers transplant shock out of a plastic seed pot is a very strong possibility.

The ideal seed pot is one that biodegrades shortly after planting in the garden. There are several options available to you in the form of peat pots. These pots are made from dried and compressed peat moss.  When planted in the moist soil of the garden they begin to break up and allow the plant’s roots to grow through them within a week or so.

For the do-it-yourselfer there is the option of making your own pots from newspaper. The Newspaper option will indeed save you money but it will also cost you time and hassle. The basic premise is to find an object like a large tomato can or a wine bottle and wrap multiple layers of newspaper around it.  Then secure the seams with paper tape or organic white glue.

Paper mache is also an option for shaping and securing a pot made from newspaper and can be a fun way to dragoon your children into helping you. They get to feel like they are a part of the process and take part in watching their little plant grow. You get nimble little fingers that help save you time.

If you choose to make your own seedling pots from newspaper you will want to make sure the newspaper you source is printed with soy based inks and the tape or glue you use is biodegradable. Most non-glossy newsprint these days is made with inexpensive soy based inks but a quick call to the newspaper will confirm it for you.

Having worked with homemade newspaper pots in the past, they are not the ideal for herbs that will spend more than two to three weeks indoors. After successive watering the newspaper tends to break down and weaken.  It often splits at the seam or in the middle of the pot.

Since most vegetables need to be started six to ten weeks before planting, you will ultimately have to put a newspaper based pot inside of a plastic container in order to make up for the structural weakness. Or take the paper mache option.

Size

When it comes to selecting the size of seed pot you want to use, bigger is almost always better. As a good rule of thumb, I wouldn’t advise going smaller than a 4 inch diameter seed pot for any vegetable. If you’ve got the space, a six inch diameter pot would be even better! For some plants such as tomatoes a tall pot is preferable because potting deeper allows new roots to sprout from the stem.

Potting Soil

While the peat moss of soil plugs is the ideal medium of germinating plants and giving young tender roots something to grab a hold of, it is still low in nutrients. A sterile potting mix is preferable to using garden soil. Garden soil can hide fungus spores and pests that a young seedling lacks the strength to resist.

It is possible to mix garden soil with vermiculite and a little sand and sterilize it in small batches in a 180 degree oven. You don’t want to heat it over 180 degrees because it might damage the chemical structure of key soil nutrients. Test the temperature of the soil by inserting a meat probe into the middle of the batch. I can also tell you from experience that you should not expect a smile on their face when your spouse comes home to a house that stinks of burning dirt!

Chapter 4 – Preparing the Garden and Planting

For the casual home gardener preparing your garden for spring can be as simple as running a rotary tiller thru the dirt the day before you shove some plants in the ground. Honestly, simply loosening the soil before planting will yield a garden where most plants can grow.

For someone who’s lifestyle relies on subsistence gardening to both make it through the year as well as improve quality of life, this simplistic approach invites disaster.

Over the course of time, plants deplete the nutrients in the soil. Not only does this impact the plants, but it also reduces the number of beneficial microbes living in the soil. All of this leads to vegetables with stunted growth and opens the door for soil borne diseases.

If you want your plants to have a vigorous growing season, then it requires some elbow grease and a pile of compost.

The first step is to get a better understanding of the garden soil. Different plants have different requirements. Some plants deplete the soil of key minerals and nutrients in a single growing season! Knowing what your soil needs will not only help you understand how to amend it, it will also help you create a plan for how you want to rotate vegetables in the future.

Testing the soil

Fortunately, soil test kits are cheap and available in most hardware stores. A basic kit tests four important aspects of your soil.

The first test indicates pH of your soil. This is important because most popular garden plants prefer to grow in slightly acidic soil.

The next three tests are related to the key nutrients: Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Soluble Potash.

Nitrogen encourages growth in a plant’s leaves. Phosphorus encourages root growth as well as flower development. Soluble Potash in fruiting plants plumps and fortifies the fruit while also improving drought tolerance.

You should test the soil as soon as possible in order to give yourself time to amend any deficits as well as giving beneficial microbes the time they need to reproduce.

The first thing you should do is pull any lingering dead weeds as soon as you can turn the ground. After the bed has been cleared, follow the instructions on the soil test kit. Most kits advise sampling soil from four inches deep.

Improving the soil

The most organic way to improve the growing power of your soil is by adding multiple layers of compost to the 12 inches of soil. Since you are going to be doing a lot of digging and tilling its handy to walk out some measurements of the garden and draw up a rough plan of where you want to plant everything. After all there is no sense in amending the soil in a part of the garden that will essentially be a foot path!

Start by digging a12 inch deep trench through the planting bed. Since you will be backfilling multiple shallow layers of soil and compost it is best to reserve the old soil on the edge of the bed.

Compost has a high amount of nitrogen in it. If you have been using the same bed for the same plants over and over again without rotation, chances are it is low in Nitrogen. If your soil test indicated that the bed is low in nitrogen, you should lay down a 4 inch deep layer of compost. If the test indicated that you had adequate nitrogen, I would still lay down a 2 inch layer and feel confident that you won’t have to repeat the process next year.

If the test showed your soil is low in Phosphorus, a light application of bone meal should be scattered with each compost layer. Soluble Potash is more critical for fruiting plants such as tomatoes, peppers and squash than it is for flowers and herbs. Kelp meal is high in Soluble Potash and should be applied to each layer of compost if you are intending to plant fruiting vegetables.

After you have applied your compost layer, loosely backfill 4 inches of old soil on top. Do not tamp the soil. The increased aeration will help beneficial microbes to reproduce over time. Repeat the same steps twice, creating a total of three layers of compost, bone meal and kelp meal interwoven with basic soil.  When you are done the enriched bed should be a few inches higher than before.

After you have amended the soil it is best to leave it undisturbed for at least two weeks. Turning the soil and adding compost creates ideal conditions for beneficial microbes to bloom. Giving them time to develop undisturbed will allow them to come into balance in the soil.

Planting and preparing your plants for life outside

Young seedlings that have only known the windless warm world of life indoors can rarely handle direct transplanting into the garden soil. They usually require a two week period of hardening. Starting two weeks before your planned planting day you will want to put the plants outside each morning before you go to work and bring them inside each night before sundown.

If there is inclement weather or it is going to be unseasonably cold that day it is best to skip that day of hardening and leave the seedlings indoors. One rule of thumb is that if you leave for work early and the temperature outside is 34 degrees or below, you should skip that day of hardening. Another rule of thumb to follow is that seedlings should not be outside on a day when the forecasted high is 39 degrees or below. The physical properties of water begin to change at that temperature and this has the effect of poor nutrient up-take from the roots.

Preparation is your best friend when it comes to preparing for planting day. Even though you might have waited for the average last frost date for your region, there is still a chance of a freak frost. Make sure you check the advanced forecast for any potential frost. Any time you see the overnight low forecasted for 36 degrees or colder you should plan on covering the plants.

When you plant the seedling remember the soil needs to be kept loose. Only a very light amount of hand tamping near the base of the plant is required to help seat it in the hole. If you are concerned about the wind blowing it over you can drive a small wooden stake into the soil and lightly tie the plants stem to it using cotton twine. Water the plant thoroughly once it is planted, preferably with warm water.

If you suffer the misfortune of having planted all of your vegetables and a freak frost threatens the garden you will have to cover the plants the night before. Remember the coldest time will be the hours just before dawn. Let the plant capture the warm part of the sun the day before and then cover a few hours before sunset.

Watering the plant, especially with warm water will help protect the roots and allow the soil to help retain some heat energy overnight. When covering the plants an old sheet is a better insulator than a plastic tarp. Covering the plant with a 5 gallon bucket is also an option. Once in a moment of desperation when I had more plants in the ground than I had sheets and buckets, I did very well burying the plants inside mounds of fluffy straw. Admittedly, this made for a lot of work delicately removing the straw the next day.

Do not uncover the plants again until all threats of frost have passed. If there are back to back frost events in the forecast you can leave the plants covered for a full day and they will survive.

Chapter 5 – Understanding Heirloom Seeds

If you have read some of my earlier gardening books then this chapter will have some repeat information. I just wanted to make sure to include it for those who may not have read those books and are looking for these insights.

To the average person heirloom vegetables are a term often thrown around loosely to indicate quality. You rarely ever see heirloom vegetables in the grocery store and when you do it’s usually a display of tomatoes marked with a nose bleed price. If you gave in to the temptation to pick through the display, you probably found a motley assortment of bruised tomatoes that looked like they were two minutes away from turning bad.

If you had that kind of experience at the grocery store I would completely understand why you might be put off by the notion of heirloom vegetables

Hybrid vegetables, like the ones you can find year round in the grocery store, are manmade creations. Big agricultural companies make the seeds in controlled conditions. They combine two different phenotypes of a vegetable in order to create a seed which will grow a plant with a high yield, durability for mechanical picking and long shelf life. Flavor is a secondary consideration that often goes ignored or untapped. A lot of the aspects of a vegetable that are related to flavor, such as sugar content, are bad for shelf life.

Since hybrid seeds are effectively mules, they do not breed true. This means if you take that perfectly round, smooth tomato from the grocery store and save its seeds to plant for next year, you will not get the same thing. Roughly 20% of all hybrid seeds even germinate. The one’s that do germinate grow slow, twisted and weak. Most that make it to an adult age fail to flower or produce fruit.

Heirloom vegetables are technically open pollinators. An open pollinator is a plant that breeds true. Meaning you can save the seeds from one generation to the next and most of the time you will get exactly the same plant as the parent. The technical distinction for the term Heirloom refers to the fact that the plant has a history which dates back to before 1940. For our purposes going forward I’ll use the word heirloom as a short hand to describe all open pollinators.

While hybrid vegetables are made by seed companies and pollinated by interns wearing white lab coats in a sterile facility. Heirloom vegetables are the product of nature. They are pollinated by the magic of wind and bees.

Of course human beings still have a hand in the process. There is a certain organic art to the chaos of how genes carry from one plant to the next. I personally devised a tracking system that I use to select the best seeds from the best plants. So the hand of man is not free from the process. We do choose which traits go forward to the next generation.

Only a small percentage of heirloom vegetables are capable of surviving life in a large apathetic farm field. Most can’t handle being picked by a mechanized harvester, packed ten deep in a box and set out for a week in a grocery store display. Long story short, your best bet for finding heirloom vegetables is either at a Farmer’s Market during peak season or growing them yourself.

If you choose to grow your own, the good news is, finding a reputable vendor who sells heirloom seeds has never been easier. When I first started acquiring heirloom seeds in the late 90’s they were always a clandestine affair. It was always something where a friend of a friend knew a guy who was selling some really primo heirloom zucchini seeds. Then I’d end up at an abandoned barn somewhere meeting a farmer wearing overalls and no tee shirt, looking over his shoulder as if he was waiting for something to happen.

These days you can find a smattering of heirloom seeds in garden supply stores. If you go online there is an enormous variety of seed exchanges and co-op networks selling old classics as well as new cross pollinated varieties of seeds that will breed true.

When it comes to finding seeds, a quick flip through a seed catalog can excite the imagination. My suggestion is to pick one, maybe two vendors at the most to order from. There is sometimes as much as a 100% markup for a single pack of seeds.  After that most vendors go by weight, so often times you’ll pay the same amount in shipping cost for five packs of seeds as you would with one.

Chapter 6 – Heirloom Vegetable Recommendations

In early January seed catalogs begin flooding mailboxes as a world of opportunities and ideas explode into a gardener’s imagination. It’s easy to get excited while you thumb through hundreds of pages of lush green photography and gardening articles. Suddenly you look down at your note pad to find an impossibly long list of plants you want to grow.

I have to admit that more than once I have gotten myself in over my head by trying to grow too many plants in a greenhouse too small for all of my great ideas. I now start out every year making a garden plan.  I draw out my garden in scale on graph paper and sketch up several rough ideas before I even order the first packet of seeds. Coming up with a couple of rough drafts is a good way to get an idea of the number of plants you can grow without things getting out of hand.

This chapter will present a series of vegetables related to subsistence gardening or farming.  The options presented here are all heirloom varieties. This means with proper care at the end of the season you can save the seeds for next year.

This is not a compendium of all the vegetables in the world. Honestly if all you grew were the vegetables described below, it would be a somewhat boring garden. Instead you should think of what is presented here as heirloom staples that either provide well in-season or can be used for canning and long term storage.

Exotic vegetables like ornamental peppers, eggplant and even humble broccoli, all have a right to be in your garden. However, the things that will get you through the deep dark winter months and the pangs of early spring, must take priority.

The following are a couple of my best pick varieties of these staples for you to consider in each category.

Beans

There are many different varieties of beans but the most common varieties are either bush beans or pole beans. Personally I am a fan of the pole bean as it can be used in companion planting with corn. The bean plant climbs the stock and gathers nitrogen from the air to be deposited in the soil near the root. Corn is a heavy feeder that craves nitrogen more than a teenage boy craves pizza. So beans feed while the corn provides the structure. Beans can be allowed to vine out across a fence line to provide shade for other plants that might wither in full summer sun.

Beans are member of the legume family. As such they capture nitrogen from the air and deposit it in the soil through their roots. Beans can be used in crop rotation to rejuvenate the soil where heavy feeding plants like peppers and tomatoes were planted the year before.

Beans need warm soil to germinate and they sprout vigorously. Because of this they should be planted directly into garden once the soil temperatures have reached 60 degrees. If you are planning to companion plant the pole beans with corn or use them in a landscaping application along a fence or trellis you want to look for a variety to beans that is shade tolerant.

Pole beans should be planted 12 to 18 inches apart at a depth of 2 inches.

Pole bean recommendations

Kentucky wonder (Black bean)

84 days until harvest

While this bean takes longer to produce a pod than most other varieties of pole beans, it will germinate in cooler soil temperatures. This means you will get a longer period of peak production. I’ve actually had Kentucky wonder germinate in soil that was 49 degrees. This makes it a great option for northern gardeners.

McCaslan

65 days until harvest

This pole bean is an early producer. It can be used as a fresh picked snap bean, a dried bean or a shell bean. This is a very versatile bean but when picked fresh and cooked it is a little light on flavor.

Turkey craw

The story behind this bean is probably more of a rural folk tale than historical record. Supposedly a hunter shot a wild turkey and found the original bean wedged in the turkey’s throat. The hunter went on to plant the bean and discovered a plant which yielded a delicious snap bean that is also good for canning. The only weakness of the Turkey craw is that it loses a lot of its superior flavor when dried.

Beets

Beets prefer cool soil temperatures and sandy soil to produce a strong thick root. Beets can be planted a month before the average last frost date. Some varieties are dual purpose in that you can choose to harvest the tops for salad greens or allow them to grow into thick flavorful roots.

Beets are usually planted in rows. 2 to 3 weeks later the first beet greens should germinate. You will have to thin the excess roots to make room for others to grow to full size. These baby beets are perfect candidates for pickling in tarragon infused vinegar. Beets that are used exclusively for greens can be planted 6 inches apart. When thinning a row of beets to grow for root bulbs it is best to thin them so mature beets will be 12 inches apart.

Bull’s blood

35 days until harvest for salad greens

60 days until harvest for root beets

These beets are the perfect triple threat. You can harvest some for early salad greens, thin the small bulbs for pickling and let the last of the row develop to full size for roasting or long term storage in the root cellar.

Detroit red

60 days until harvest for root beets

Detroit red beets have exceptional flavor in the root bulb but are flat in flavor when you use the tops for salad greens. The baby beets are a great option for pickling in tarragon vinegar. The mature root bulbs are good for using fresh or in long term storage.

Early tall-top

35 days until harvest for salad greens

55 days until harvest for root beets

This is a very cold hearty beet that can be used for salad greens, pickling or prepared fresh. Early tall top can bolt to seed in high temperatures which retards the development of the root bulb. Because of this it is best to plant early tall-top in a location that gets good morning sun and dappled or full shade in the afternoon. When the root is harvested at full maturity, it does poorly in dry long term storage.

Cabbage

Cabbage is a member of the brassicas family, which includes vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. It prefers fertile, well-drained soil but because of its shallow roots it requires frequent watering. Mulching with a layer of straw and grass clippings will help with moisture retention. Cabbage prefers cooler soil temperatures and does better when it is planted in a location that receives good morning light and afternoon shade.

Cabbage will give you a better in-season yield if you start it indoors from seed 6 to 8 weeks before the average last frost date for your region. Plants should be hardened 3 to 4 weeks before the average last frost date. They can then be planted in the garden so long as the night time lows are not dipping below 20 degrees. If a freak cold snap comes through the area you should water the cabbage with warm water the night before and cover with an old bed sheet or a floating row cover.

Infrequent moisture can cause the head of the cabbage plant to split. A split head must be used immediately or it will invite insect pests to inhabit it. Once a head is harvested the plant will produce a sucker from which another head will eventually grow.

Cabbage comes in early and late varieties. Early varieties make small heads that have better flavor when eaten fresh. Late varieties keep longer in the root cellar or are fit for things like pickling and making sauerkraut.

Jersey Wakefield

65 days until harvest

This is a variety of early cabbage. It has good frost resistance for northern gardeners. It also has good flavor and can keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks after harvest. Since it makes small heads you can plant them 16 to 18 inches apart.

Flat Dutch

80 days until harvest

This is a late cabbage that grows very large heads. Each Flat Dutch plant will require more space than other cabbage varieties. I would suggest two feet between each plant.

Carrots

Carrots do best when planted in loose soil. Clay soil has a tendency to compact over time with the summer rains. This keeps the young carrots from develop a deep running tap root and stunts their size. Carrots need soil that is high in phosphorus and soluble potash for root growth. They should never be fertilized with nitrogen or mulched with green compost, as this will lead the plant to put its energy into developing the top greens instead of the root.

Carrots should be planted ¼ inch deep and thinned to a spacing of 2 inches between plants. They do better in cool soil temperatures and should be planted in a location that gets good morning sun, but dappled shade in the afternoon. Carrots seeds can be sown directly into the garden 3 to 4 weeks before the average last frost date for your region. Seedlings can survive down to the 20 degrees but if there is any chance of the temperatures dipping below that, or a chance for snow, you should consider covering the row.

Recommended carrots

Danvers

75 days until harvest

Danvers is a variety of carrot that handles clay soil better than most carrots. Danvers produces a root that is wide and short, growing only 5 to 6 inches long.

Imperator

75 days until harvest

Imperator is a variety of carrot that grows an 8 to 10 inch long root, with narrow shoulders. This makes it ideal for gardens with very sandy soil. The long root helps the carrot tap into the ambient moisture of the deeper soil.

Corn

Most of the corn grown by commercial farmers in America is hybrid BT corn. The BT relates to its resistance against the dreaded corn borer worm. When this pest gets into an ear of corn it does tremendous damage. The BT trait that agricultural science incorporates into the plant gives the ear a type of protein that is toxic to the borer. However since this type of corn is a hybrid it means you can’t save the seeds for the next generation. It also means that it has been bred for drought resistance and a long shelf life.

Most of the corn grown in American is actually Field corn or Dent corn. These ears create a hard kernel that can be ground into products like cornmeal, cornstarch and corn flour. Or it can be used to feed livestock. When mature the stalks of Field corn can be harvested and chopped into silage to feed cattle during the winter.

When we exclude hybrid varieties of corn, there are essentially three types you have to choose from, sweet corn, dent corn and popcorn. Sweet corn is what you think of for classic corn on the cob. It has a soft kernel that allows you to extract most of the nutrients when you eat it.

Heirloom popcorn is different from what you get in the movie theatre or that bag of microwave zippy-pop. Hybrid popcorn has been developed to produce large kernels that pop big when heated. However hybrid popcorn lacks in flavor. Heirloom popcorn has a smaller kernel that pops up to roughly half the size but have much more flavor as well as more available nutrients. Most heirloom popcorn requires a long growing season and may not be viable for northern gardeners in growing zone 4 or colder.

Dent corn, also known as field corn can be fed to livestock, or ground to make corn meal. If you don’t have livestock supplemented with corn or chopped silage, it is probably more applicable for you to simply go to town and stock up on inexpensive cornmeal.

If you do decide that you want to try your hand at growing Field corn in order to grind your own cornmeal, be sure to research the process of nixtamalization. The human digestive system cannot digest the thick starchy kernel of Field corn. It must first be processed in an alkaline liquid to soften the starch structures which will then release the nutrients in a way your digestive system can handle.

In fact, the cliché of Montezuma’s revenge does not refer to the water quality in modern Mexico. When the Spanish conquered the Aztecs they took Field corn back to Europe. They had seen the Aztecs simmering corn in water mixed with wood ash as some sort of primitive recipe. When the Europeans grew dent corn and ground it back in Europe they didn’t use nixtamalization. As a result many people contracted diseases and disorders associated with malnutrition.

Corn is a heavy feeding plant that requires warm, rich soil to be successful. Because corn depletes the soil through the course of a growing season you should consider companion planting it with a variety of shade tolerant pole bean or rotate between two fields every other year.

Corn requires a minimum soil temperature of 60 degrees to germinate. Because of the high starch and sugar content of the seed if you plant it in cool wet soil, it often rots before it can germinate. The old farmer’s rule of thumb is that corn should be planted directly into the soil when the oak leaves are the size of a squirrel’s ear. This soil temperature is also when the first lilac flowers begin to open.

Corn should be planted 1 inch deep, with 2 feet in between plants and 3 feet between rows.

If your area experiences an early, warm spring you can plant corn in succession. You can do this by planting a minimum of 5 rows of corn every two weeks for 6 weeks. This will stagger the time when they come ripe, giving you a longer peak season.

If you are planning to have a small corn patch and you are considering starting the plants indoors for an early crop, there are a few things to consider. Corn can be started indoors up to two weeks before you intend to plant. Trying to start corn indoors earlier than two weeks often causes the deep tap root to deform or become damaged, giving you a stunted plant in peak summer.

Corn has a poor survival rate when transplanted out of a seedling pot. Corn seedlings have delicate roots that break easily and can also suffer from transplant shock. Therefore any corn that is started indoors should be directly sown into a 4 inch peat pot, filled with quality potting soil and watered with warm water.

After two weeks the peat pot can be planted directly into the soil. Watering it with warm water for the first few days in the garden will help the roots to emerge through the walls of the peat pot to anchor the plant in the soil.

Corn is pollinated by the wind. If you are planting two different varieties of corn you will want to space the fields a minimum of 600 feet apart. If you plant them closer than this you risk a cross pollination event that will keep you from being able to save the seeds for next year.

If you are intending to have a small corn patch, the minimum size needed for proper pollination of all plants is 5 plants in 5 rows. While this is the bare minimum size for wind pollination, I would still advise hand pollinating through the season by picking tassels and dusting them thoroughly on the emerging silks of other stalks.

Sweet corn recommendations

Country Gentleman

90 days until harvest

This is widely considered to be one of the best tasting varieties of sweet corn. Stalks can grow 6 to 8 feet tall and bear an average of two ears per plant. The cobs have round kernels in an irregular pattern. One of the advantages of Country Gentleman is that the corn stays in the milk stage longer. This is nice during peak season when corn can sometimes ripen faster than you can eat it. A prolonged milk stage delays the transition of sugars into unpalatable starch.

Country Gentleman also freezes and processes into cream corn very well. This is nice if you are looking for long term storage options for a bumper crop.

Texas Honey June

95 days until harvest

This sweet corn is known for having a flavor reminiscent of honey. The plant grows to nearly 8 feet tall and is sturdy enough to handle companion planting with pole beans. Each stalk averages two cobs per plant. The cobs have square kernels in regular rows. Since it grows in such a tight husk the cobs tend to deter corn borer worms.

Texas Honey June takes 95 days until harvest and can sometimes be slow to germinate in soil that is below 65 degrees. As a result it is hard to make successive planting for northern gardeners who live in growing zone 5a or colder. Gardeners living in growing zone 4 will, usually only get one planting to harvest. Anyone living in growing zone 3 might not even get a ripe cob without an unseasonably warm spring.

Field corn recommendations

Blue Clarage

100 days until harvest

This dent corn produces only 1 ear per stalk. Each cob has tightly packed navy blue kernels in regular rows. Stalks grow 7 to 8 feet tall and are sturdy enough for companion planting with pole beans. The stalks themselves are high in protein, making them a superior choice for grinding into silage to feed cattle. Because it requires such a long growing season gardeners who are planning to grow it for use in the kitchen might get a very small yield if you suffer from a late spring or a below average cool summer.

The kernels are known to have high sugar content. When ground into cornmeal it makes white and blue speckled meals and flours. I have met several local farmers who claim this field corn when cracked and fed to chickens increases the egg production.

Popcorn recommendations

Pennsylvania Butter

102 days until harvest

This popcorn when dried and popped has a natural buttery flavor. It grows 2 to 3 ears per plant on 8 foot tall stalks that are sturdy enough to support companion planting with pole beans. It is a late maturing popcorn that might not do well in northern areas that experience a cooler than average summer. While I have produced this corn during a warm summer in growing zone 4, I was admittedly pushing my luck!

Dakota Black

90 days until harvest

This corn grows on 6 foot tall stalks and produces an average of two ears per plant. The stalks are only marginally sturdy enough to handle companion planting with pole beans. Often times the pole beans will exceed the height of the stalk. As they attempt to sprawl the top heavy stalk can tumble. This is more likely if your region experiences a lot of rain in late summer or early fall.

The kernels mature to a chocolate black color. When dried and popped the popcorn is snow white with sharp contrasting black centers. Since Dakota Black only takes 90 days to mature it is one of the best popcorns for northern gardeners in growing zone 4.

Cucumber

Cucumbers need warm soil and should be sown directly into the garden when soil temperatures reach 65 degrees. If you attempt to grow cucumber in a greenhouse you will want to make sure to select a variety with a strong vining trait so you can grow them on a trellis. Cucumbers are prone to mildew when they are grown in high humidity. This means a greenhouse grown cucumber will need plenty of spacing to insure adequate ventilation.

You can start cucumber seeds indoors in a heated potting tray two weeks before planting them in the garden. Just like corn, their roots are very tender and prone to transplant shock. After they have germinated you should plant them into 4 inch peat pots, which you can then plant directly into the garden soil. Watering them at first with warm water will help the roots to emerge through the walls of the peat pot and anchor the plant into the garden soil.

When sown directly into the garden it is best to plant three seeds in a mound, one inch deep. There should be at least 18 inches in between mounds. If you are growing a large number of cucumbers you can plant the mounds in rows that are spaced at least 3 feet apart.

A great way to save space in the garden is to grow cucumbers on trellises. If you plan to grow on a trellis you need to find a variety with a strong vining trait. This will allow the cucumber vine to fasten itself as it climbs while also being strong enough to keep the fruit from snapping off at the stem. For the best sun exposure, the trellis should be set to an angle equal to your latitude on the globe. While this isn’t a make it or break it rule for trellis growing, I have seen it improve the growth of plants through the changing angles of the summer sun.

Cucumbers are a great companion to plant with snap or snow peas. Since peas are planted as soon as you can turn the soil, they climb the trellis long before the cucumbers are even planted. The peas produce and die back just as the cucumbers start to climb. The added bonus is that peas are legumes and as such they acquire nitrogen from the air and feed it to beneficial bacteria living in the soil. If you are going to companion plant the two, make sure the peas are planted on the north side of the trellis so they don’t shade the cucumbers out during the few short weeks that they share the same space.

Cucumbers are distant members of the squash family and will cross pollinate with any other summer squash. While this will not affect the first year fruit, it can potentially ruin your chances of keeping seeds for next year. Yellow crookneck zucchini tends to cross pollinate with cucumber the easiest, creating some strange form of cukecchini in plants grown from the next year’s seed. As such if you intend to save the heirloom seeds for the next year then all summer squash and cucumbers should be planted at least 600 feet apart.

While there are many varieties of cucumber, they essentially break down into two different types.

Slicing cucumbers tend to be long and relatively straight. They plump up and grow quickly in high heat but also demand the most water. Most varieties of slicing cucumber do not take well to the pickling process as the seed core can develop a mushy texture.

Pickling cucumbers stay small early on and tend to have a crescent moon shape. If they are left too long on the vine, they will plump up and grow large. This happens faster if the weather is hot and wet during the time when the fruit first forms.

Cucumber recommendations

Arkansas little leaf

Days until harvest 55

This is a pickling cucumber that has a strong vining trait, making it a perfect candidate for growing on a trellis. It is also known for being resistant to mildew and many other common cucumber diseases which make it a good candidate for growing in a four season greenhouse. The small leaves also make it easier to find fruit. Since it is an early producer it gives you a better chance for a bumper crop.

Straight Eight

Days until harvest 57

This is the iconic slicing cucumber. It grows straight fruit up to 8 inches long. It is best grown in mounds on the ground as the weight of the large fruit can cause them to snap off from the vine. One advantage of the straight eight is that you can pick it when it is 5 to 6 inches long and when sliced it will make dill pickle chips.

Garlic

Garlic is planted by setting immature bulbs into the soil either in late fall or early spring. If you live in Growing Zone 5 or warmer you should plant garlic in early spring, as soon as you can till the soil. If you live in Growing Zone 4 or colder it is best to plant garlic in the late fall.

Garlic will do better the next year if you place the bulbs in the ground two to three weeks before the soil freezes. This will give the bulbs time to anchor their young roots before the soil hardens. With anchor roots they will be less likely to rise to the surface when the ground thaws and heaves in early spring.

Garlic absolutely must be planted in thoroughly drained, sandy soil. Soil that has heavy clay content will restrict the bulbs greatly during the peak growing season. This can potentially keep it from developing into a full cluster and you will just get one small mealy bulb of garlic.

Garlic also prefers cool soil temps and, like its sister the onion, will bolt to seed rather than develop its root in warm soil. As such it should be planted in a location that gets good morning sun and then partial to full shade in the afternoon.

There are two different types of garlic you can grow, hardneck and softneck. Hardneck garlic requires soil that has been enriched with additional phosphorus and soluble potash. While hardneck garlic does tend to do better in northern latitudes between growing zones 3 to 5, it also has a lower yield compared to soft neck garlic.

Another advantage of hardneck garlic is that you can use the dried stems in the mulching layers of strawberries. When added to the straw it helps deter insect pests from the strawberries the following season.

Softneck garlic is the garlic you most often find in the grocery store. It develops a stalk very much like its sister the yellow onion. Softneck garlic only requires a modest amount of phosphorus and soluble potash fertilizer. Nitrogen fertilizers and green mulches need to be avoided as nitrogen will cause the plant to invest its energy in the soft green stalk rather than developing the cluster.

Garlic recommendations - Hardneck garlics

Turkish Red

This garlic has a purple and red striped paper-husk. The flavor is strong and complex. It also stores for a very long time. However it is not as cold hearty as other hardneck garlic and might have limited results when overwintered in growing zone 3.

German Hardy

This garlic makes large cloves covered in a purple paper-husk. The flavor mellows quickly when cooked so it is best to use raw or add the garlic right at the end of cooking. German Hardy is very tolerant to the hard freeze of northern growing zones and overwinters well. It also stores nicely after harvest.

More Garlic Recommendations - Softneck, Italian

Lorz

This garlic is quite possibly the hottest garlic I’ve ever grown. The clusters form large cloves that can store for 8 to 10 months in proper cool, dry conditions. If you made me choose just one kind of garlic to grow, Lorz would be my first choice!

Lettuce and salad greens

I have to admit lettuce and salad greens aren’t must-have staples of subsistence farming. However most handle growing in cool soil conditions and temperatures down to 20 degrees. Also for those of us who live in the north, they are a welcomed early treat from the garden after a long hard winter. Lettuce has no real long term keeper value.

While lettuce and salad greens will survive temperatures down to 20 degrees, they actually germinate faster around 70 degrees. I prefer to start lettuce in the greenhouse in shallow totes filled with about 6 inches of sterilized potting soil. I drilled small holes in the bottom for drainage and reinforce the trays with a lumber frame so they are more rigid for carrying.

Once the seeds have germinated I allow the plants to grow in the greenhouse for one week. After that I take them out during the day, so long as the temperatures are forecasted above 20 degrees. Then I bring them into the greenhouse again at night. After two weeks of hardening I then move the trays outside and allow them to grow normally. This permanent move outside often coincides with the tomatoes and pepper seedlings coming into the attached greenhouse for the first time in the season.

I have also seen other gardeners who use a hoop house to start beds of lettuce and salad greens in the garden. Once the plants are two inches tall they move the hoop house to another location and allow the greens to live directly in the soil.

One of the biggest problems with growing lettuce and greens is that they will bolt to seed early if the soil becomes too warm. The plant senses the high soil temperatures and spends its energy on creating a seed stalk, rather than new tender leaves. I’ve found it is best to paint the soil trays and lumber white and once the plants are two inches tall I mulch with straw.  This helps to keep the soil cool and as long as they are watered regularly I can usually get them to make it all the way to the Fourth of July before they bolt.

When it comes to harvesting, lettuce should be harvested by cutting the head from the root with a sharp knife. Most salad greens, on the other hand, if you cut them with a scissors and leave an inch of the leaf, will regenerate in 10 to 14 days. Usually you can only get one harvest from a batch of greens but sometimes two is possible.

Lettuce recommendations

Cosmo Romaine

55 days until harvest

This lettuce produces a tall head with a crisp heart. This means you can use the leaves for salad and harvest the heart for salad spears and roasting. It also takes longer to bolt to seed than most other types of romaine

Buttercrunch

55 days until harvest

This is a type of Bibb lettuce that makes a loose leafy head. The leaves are dark green and the plants have a good bolt resistance.

Bronze arrow

60 days until harvest

This is a loose leaf lettuce with leaves shaped like oak or maple. The reddish tips of the leaves make it visually striking. This type of loose leaf lettuce can be cut, leaving an inch of the leaf and it will regenerate again.

Onions

It is easiest to grow onions from store bought sets of bulbs. Since onions are a cool weather crop it is best to plant the small bulbs as soon as you can turn the soil. If you like you can start them from seed in the greenhouse. You will need to plant the seeds in flats 8 to 10 weeks before the average last frost date for your area. Onion seeds prefer to germinate in soil that is around 70 to 75 degrees. Once they germinate they should be kept in soil that is kept around 50 to 55 degrees.

Once they are 2 to 3 inches tall, the seedlings should be thinned and potted up into 4 inch peat pots. Give them a half strength dose of a fertilizer rich in phosphorus to encourage root development. Nitrogen should be avoided at all costs as this will cause the young onions to spend their energy growing a green top instead of a hearty thick bulb.

As soon as you can turn the soil in your garden all bulbs should be planted.

Onions prefer sandy soil which allows the bulb to expand. Weeds are a major cause for concern as they tend to drain the soil of key nutrients that the onions need for root development. Since onions prefer to grow in cool soil temps it is best to plant them in a location that gets good morning light and full afternoon shade.

An onion bulb that is planted shallow will develop more of a bulb that can be used for long term storage. An onion bulb that is planted 2 to 3 inches deep will develop into a scallion, green onion or spring onion. These are best used fresh in salads or grilled. Scallions that are allowed to stay in the ground all season long develop small bulbs that can be pickled or used as pearl onions.

While there are a wide variety of exotic heirloom onions available to home gardeners, the most common types are Red, Yellow and White.

Red onions do best when planted shallow and allowed to grow into bulbs. They tend to do poorly when you plant them deep to use as scallions. A third of all the onions I grow in a year are red onions grown for their bulb.

White onions do very well when planted as scallions. When you plant them shallow they will form a medium sized bulb. In general white onion handles heat a little better than yellow and red. White onion bulbs that grow large can arguably lack in flavor compared to the other types.

Yellow onion does well when planted deep for scallions or planted shallow for bulbs. Two-thirds of all the onions I grow in a year are yellow. Half of all my yellow onions I plant as scallions and the other half are bulbs.

Onion companion plants well with carrots, beets and strawberries. When companioned with strawberries make sure the berry’s runners do not expand to disturb the onions roots. It is also important to note that while Onions companion well with strawberries and strawberries companion well with asparagus, onions and asparagus attract the same insect pests and should be separated by at least 40 feet in the garden.

Peppers

Peppers are one of those luxuries in a subsistence garden that, while you don’t need them, you really would miss them if you didn’t at least plant a few. Green bell peppers have very little use in long term storage. While they can indeed be pickled if you cut them into spears, they are best when used fresh.

While on the surface they are a luxury plant, it still a real treat to be able to eat them fresh or pop open a jar in January to punch up a salad or sandwich.

There are other types of peppers that have medicinal value or can be pickled whole. The capsaicin that makes peppers hot is also a treatment for certain types of arthritis. If you are not a fan of hot peppers there are many different types of sweet and seasoning peppers that do very well when picked and put up for the winter.

Peppers should be started from seed 8 to 10 weeks before the average last frost date for your region. Some peppers can take as long as four weeks to germinate. This is especially true if you don’t use a heated potting tray. However with a heated potting tray you should expect they will germinate within 10-14 days.

After removing them from the heated potting tray you should plant the seedlings in a larger pot, with the stem a half inch deeper in the new soil. After this you will never plant the stem of the pepper deeper again, unless you can see roots breaking the surface. If the roots do break the surface cover with another half inch of soil.

Pepper plants do still appreciate warm soil so you should water them with warm water. They should be planted in the garden when the ground is around 60 degrees. About the same time you plant the tomatoes.

Plant them in the garden after they are well hardened, in a sunny location. The fruit can suffer from sun scald. It is best to feed peppers heavily with nitrogen early in the season in order to help them develop lush foliage. The large additional leaves will later help shade the tender peppers. Once the plants begin flowering, you should use a fertilizer that is high in soluble pot ash.  This will help give the peppers more structure as they grow.

One of the largest problems with growing peppers is damage from nematodes. While there are organic insecticidal soaps that will help reduce an infestation, once they are in your soil they can be very hard to eliminate. One solution to consider is to use chitin compost.

Making chitin compost is easy. It starts with grinding up the shells leftover after eating shellfish such as lobster, crab legs, clams or mussels. Add these ground shells to a bucket of wet grass clippings. Each day turn the grass clippings and ground shells with a garden trowel while adding a tablespoon of sugar.

After a week of turning the material in the bucket the beneficial bacteria will have bloomed. Incorporate the material into a small section of your main compost pile. Remove this smaller section and allow it to continue composting for another 4 to 6 weeks. Apply the compost to the soil when you plant the pepper seedlings in late spring.

In my experience one to two gallons of chitin in 15 to 20 gallons of compost will give the beneficial bacteria enough food to last for a full growing season. These bacteria attack nematodes and other soil born garden pests that are the primary plague of pepper plants.

If anything else, it gives you an excellent opportunity to have a massive seafood feast in early spring!

Recommended Peppers

Pepperoncini

65 days until harvest

This is the quintessential Mediterranean pepper. Since it produces within 65 days after planting it will give you a good yield all season long. While these peppers can be used fresh they are traditionally pickled whole for long term storage. When you go to a franchise Italian restaurant to order the house salad, the random little pepper you get in the bowl is usually a pickled pepperoncini.

Carolina Wonder (Bell Pepper)

80 days until harvest

For all intents and purposes this is the classic bell pepper. You can harvest it while it’s green or allow it to ripen to full red. If you are ripening to red be mindful that the more red the pepper is the faster it can sunscald. The trait that makes Carolina Wonder a superior pepper is its nematode resistance. The less damaging pests there are available to attack the pepper the greater the yield you will see through the season.

Poblano

80 days until harvest

Sadly this pepper is not as common in the northern United States as it is in the southwest. It has a very mild heat that makes it good for sautéing fresh or stuffing with hearty fillings. You can also allow this pepper to ripen to red before drying and grinding it to make your own chili powder.

Hungarian Paprika

70 days until harvest

Paprika is a seasoning pepper. Paprika plants are heavy feeders and they need soil that has been augmented with additional calcium in the form of lime to avoid blossom end rot on early fruit. Also because their foliage is sparse and the peppers are thin walled, the fruit can suffer from sunscald. For this reason you should use weekly applications of a nitrogen rich fertilizer.  Tilling in a compost rich with fish mulch and grass clippings into a bed meant for paprika in early spring is a nice organic way to amend the soil.

Potatoes

There are a lot of interesting potato options to choose from. Exotic varieties like Kanabec, Yukon Gold, Russian Fingerlings and even purple potatoes are interesting, flavorful and fun to grow. However, the two most common and practical potatoes are still Reds and Russets.

Russet potatoes have brown skins and high starch content that breaks down. Russet potatoes most common use in America is in mashed potatoes. Red potatoes, sometimes called waxy potatoes hold their integrity better when cooked. In America red potatoes are commonly used in potato salad.

It’s an easy temptation to look at the bag of potatoes in your pantry with eyes bulging and think about using them to plant in the garden. While you can plant them and some will grow, the number of plants that emerge will generally be less than half and the yield at the end of the season will be low. This is because commercial growers often spray potatoes with anti-sprouting agents in order to improve shelf life. Since the chemical permeates the skin it can’t simply be washed off.

It is best to find a reputable dealer on line or source quality seed potatoes from your local greenhouse supply. Potatoes need loose sandy soil in order to develop quality tubers. You should plant potatoes in the early spring 2-3 weeks after the ground thaws. As soon as the ground begins to thaw set your seed potatoes in a sunny window, the light will help spur the sprouting eyes to life.

The type of potato you choose to plant is all about personal preference. The rule of thumb I use for my garden is that two-thirds of all the potatoes I plant are Red potatoes. Red potatoes can be selectively harvested in the middle of the season by lifting the plant a little with a hay fork and plucking a few of the baby potatoes. The plant can then be put down again, watered and allowed to produce large mature potatoes for the end of the season.

Most other types of potatoes either don’t take well to being pulled up like this, or their flavor tastes a little too green. I always plant heavy on Red potatoes for the sake of that midsummer half-harvest. Then I plant something else fun and unique for a great fall treat.

When planting potatoes, you can cut potatoes into thirds or halves so long as there are at least two eyes per planting.

Till the soil thoroughly so it is as loose as possible. Plant each eye potato 6 to 8 inches deep. As the potatoes emerge continue to mound them up to the base of the lowest leaves with rich compost. Stop mounding once the potatoes begin flowering.

Potatoes like to be properly watered but they do not want to be soaked or kept constantly wet. They also prefer cool soil so it is best to choose a location that gets good morning sun followed by afternoon shade.

Squash

There are essentially two types of squash, summer squash and winter squash.

Summer squash is meant to be eaten shortly after picking. Zucchini, yellow crookneck and pattypan are all examples of summer squash. Hard squash such as butternut, acorn and sugar pumpkin are all examples of winter squash. Most winter squash cannot be eaten fresh and need to be slow roasted. The advantage of winter squash is that when properly treated they can be stored for 6 to 10 months without any loss in nutrients or flavor.

All squash require warm soil temperatures around 60 to 65 degrees to germinate.

When it comes to planning the layout for your garden, there are a few things to consider when it comes choosing a location.

All squash are promiscuous pollinators within their own related species. This means that in order to keep seed you need to isolate related species from each other by at least 600 feet. There are four species of squash. Each species of squash has a common name as well as a Latin name.  Somewhere on the seed packet next to the common name you will find a Latin name like Cucurbita Pepo, Cucurbita Maxima, Cucurbita Moschata, Cucurbita Mixta.  Sometimes the word Cucurbita is abbreviated as just C.

For example Zucchini and Yellow Crookneck are both members of the C. Pepo species and must be separated by at least 600 feet. At the same time, Butternut squash is a winter squash from the C. Moschata species and could be planted just 10 feet away from a Zucchini.

If you want to hold true to the letter of the science behind pollination isolation, it does kind of force your hand.  Even my biggest garden plot which is 5,000 square feet couldn’t support a spacing of 600 feet between related plants.

Speaking anecdotally, in the last 12 years of keeping different types of heirloom squash I have loosely ignored these distances. In that span I’ve probably kept around 100 to 120 different squash plants, which I have allowed to cross pollinate with reckless abandon. As a result I’ve found two confirmed cross pollinations in my seed stocks. So in a practical sense we are talking about something in the neighborhood of a 2% chance of a seed stock failure.

The thing to keep in mind about these cross pollinations is that they have absolutely no effect on the squash you harvest this year. The problem is in the seeds that you would keep to be planted next year. If you are content to spend around 10 dollars each year on various squash seeds you can plant whatever you want, wherever you want, however you want and simply don’t save the seeds.

Another added advantage of squash is for use as a defensive border against many types of small animals. It is a common problem in rural areas for skunks and raccoons to raid your garden. Raccoons in particular can detect the smell of ripe sweet corn on the wind from a great distance. A single raccoon can tear down a dozen stalks in a night.

The sense of touch in a raccoon’s front paws means the same to him as the sense of smell in a dog or the sense of sight in an eagle. Squash, particularly winter squash have spiny vines. The spiny vines of winter squash are an assault to a raccoon’s senses. A raccoon will try diligently to get around squash vines but since I started ringing my garden with squash vines I have never had one go through! However, if there is any gap in a defensive border of squash, the raccoon will find it and exploit it.

Squash recommendations

Summer squash

Costa Romanesca

60 days until harvest

Costa Romanesca is arguably the most flavorful summer squash I have ever come across. Originally from Italy, there are some stories of it being kept as seed going back to the 1600’s. Meaning that for over 400 years Italians purposely appreciated the flavor and texture of Costa Romanesca so much that they went through the pangs year after year to grow it in pollination isolation.

The fruits are dark green with white ribs. While the fruits will plump to a length of 18 to 20 inches, they are best when picked around 8 to 12 inches. 

An added bonus of Costa Romanesca is that it will grow long hardy vines that can be planted with the winter squash, should you choose to plant squash as a garden border.

Winter Squash

Butterbush versus Waltham Butternut

85 days until harvest

The most common butternut squash is Waltham. Waltham makes a very large butternut squash, so big that when served in halves it practically has its own gravitational pull that dominates the plate. If you have a large family Waltham is great for putting up long term stocks.

If you have a small family I would recommend trying Butterbush. It is an heirloom version of butternut squash which has all the same flavor and nutrients. The only real difference is that while Waltham makes a small number of enormous squash, Butterbush makes a large number of small squash that when cut in half are the perfect serving size for a side dish.

Galeux D’Eysines (Pronounced: Gallow Day-Seen)

95 days until harvest

This is a French heirloom winter squash that early on looks like a cross between a sugar pumpkin and a butternut squash. As it matures it develops strange looking warts. The warts are a product of the squash’s high sugar content. This is one of the best tasting squashes I have ever come across. The flavor is close enough to a sugar pumpkin that I would argue it does a better job of making a scratch baked pumpkin pie.

One of the disadvantages of Galeux D’Eysines is that since it has a higher sugar content, it does not last as long in winter storage as Butternut or Sugar pumpkin. Like Acorn squash, you need to use it in late fall through early winter.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are the star of the summer garden. Over the last 20 years the marketplace has become flooded with such a diverse range of heirloom tomatoes it staggers the mind to choose which ones you want to grow.

When it comes to finding which heirloom tomatoes you want to grow, it is best to look at it from the perspective of what you are going to use them for.

I break it down into 4 different types of fruit: Early slicer tomatoes, late slicer tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and plum tomatoes.

Slicer tomatoes are the iconic big red globe often cut thin for salads and sandwiches. From a culinary stand point they are actually the least versatile. Their high water can make for thin sauces, while their relatively low sugar content puts them behind cherry tomatoes for snacking out of hand. At the same time, you cannot argue with a sandwich, especially a BLT that has been dressed with fresh-picked garden tomato.

Early slicer tomatoes arguably are a luxury tomato. You spend all winter biting back the cravings for a garden fresh tomato. You spend all spring growing the plants from seed, nurturing them in the greenhouse to finally tend them in the garden. So by the time that first green globe appears the anticipation practically makes your skin itch!

If all the stars of summer weather align an early slicer tomato offers itself up tenderly to that first sandwich somewhere in early to mid-July instead of August.

Late slicer tomatoes have more meat and more flavor. Simply put, this is a product of how long it takes for the tomato to develop and ripen. The complex starches in the tomato have had time to build up, so when they ripen they convert into a higher concentration of sugar and other assorted flavor compounds.

Cherry tomatoes are often thought of for their role in salads and eating out of hand. However Cherry tomatoes have a unique sweetness that lends itself to other culinary roles, chopped into chutney or even sautéed as a side dish.

Plum tomatoes are by far the most useful tomato from a culinary standpoint. They can be roasted, made into sauces or stewed. When it comes to subsistence gardening plum tomatoes are the tomato of choice for canning and putting up for the winter. Plum tomatoes are what you want filling your root cellar. Of the forty tomato plants I grow each year twenty-five of them are plum tomatoes.

Tomatoes come in determinate and indeterminate varieties. A determinate tomato has a trait that causes it to ripen fruit all at once. This is great if you are looking to spend a weekend in August pulling a massive canning session to put up tomatoes for the winter. If however you are interested in spreading your tomato harvest out over the long growing season, then indeterminate varieties are better.

Most home gardeners prefer to grow indeterminate plants to give them a long and full season of tomatoes.

Tomatoes are easy to grow from seed with a heated potting tray and grow lights. They should be started 8 to 10 weeks before the average last frost date for your area. Shortly after germinating the seedling should be potted up into a larger pot. Since tomatoes are technically a vine, the stem can be buried deeper and new roots will sprout from the buried section of the plant.

I find it is best to simply place the seedling plug in the bottom of a tall empty pot. Then begin adding potting soil until only an inch of the stem is exposed above the surface. When you first pot it up you should use warm water, this will reduce the chances of transplant shock. After that, water with regular room temperature water.

The seedlings should be placed 2 inches under the grow lights in order to give them maximum light for growth.

After 7 to 10 days the seedlings will begin to develop their first true leaves. Periodically add more soil to the pot burying the stem until the soil level is 1 to 2 inches below the lip of the pot. As the seedlings continue to grow above the pot they might need additional support. Long barbeque skewers can be used as stakes but tie them loosely as the stem will continue to thicken as the seedling grows.

If the seedlings develop a purple hue under the leaves it is a sign of low phosphorus in the soil. You can easily fix this by mixing a phosphorus rich fertilizer at half strength. If you notice yellow in the leaves in between green veins it is a sign of a mineral deficiency, usually due to over watering. You should skip the next watering then fertilize with water dissolved with Epsom salt.

Harden the seedlings off for two full weeks before transplanting them to the garden. Make sure the temperature of the soil is at least 60 degrees. This generally happens when lilacs are about to bloom.

When tomatoes form their fruit they tend to deplete the soil of calcium. As such it is best to amend the soil by adding a small amount of lime when you are tilling the bed before planting.

When you plant the tomatoes in the garden it is best to bury them to just below the bottom of the lowest leaves. Then mulch with an inch of straw to reduce the chance that watering and rain will spatter soil onto the plants leaves.

Tomatoes are very susceptible to the leaf fungus early blight. While it travels on the wind early blight actually lives in the soil. As such you should never plant tomatoes in an area where potatoes grew the year before. Early blight begins as yellow and black spots on the lowest leaves of the plant and quickly begins to wilt and kill them as it moves on to younger leaves.  If left unchecked it can potentially kill the plant by late summer and greatly reduce the final yield.

The best solution is to use a garden sprayer to apply organic copper sulfate. Spraying before the first signs of infection will make a huge difference through the season. As such I advocate spraying at the concentration advised on the label four weeks after planting and continuing the spray every 10 to 14 days depending on rainfall.

Follow the directions on the label in regards to timing the harvest before spraying that week.

Heirloom Tomato Recommendations

Early Slicers

Black Krim

78 days until harvest

The Black Krim is a flavorful tomato that produces an irregular shaped fruit with a deep purple body and green shoulders. It is originally from the area of Russia near the Crimean Sea. It is believed that the dark color and distinctive earthy flavor comes from the fact that the plant draws a lot of minerals up from the soil. This means it is especially important to amend the soil with lime during tilling.

Once the tomato plant begins to flower I recommend fertilizing once a week with Epsom salt and a double dose of a fertilizer high in soluble pot ash. The additional lime will help prevent blossom end rot while the Magnesium from the Epsom salt and the potash give it the additional minerals it needs to set strong fruit.

Black Krim is also more susceptible to early blight. As such it is best to begin spraying it weekly with diluted copper sulfate. If you see any lower leaves beginning to develop yellow and black spots pick them immediately and throw them away. Do not put the leaves in the compost as early blight will live on in the soil of the compost pile.

Abraham Lincoln

70 days until harvest

Folklore claims this plant was named after Abraham Lincoln because it was his favorite type of tomato. The plant produces a smooth globe shaped fruit that ripens to classic red and has a mildly acidic flavor. It does not have the body and flavor of Black Krim. It is however highly resistant to many common tomato diseases such as early blight.

Late Slicers

Brandywine

80 days until harvest

This heirloom tomato claims a French heritage. The plant is interesting in that it has leaves shaped like a potato. The fruit is large and irregular shaped. Brandywine is prone to developing cat-face and splitting. This is related to irregular watering. Late summer is often a time of periodic drought. This causes the large fruit to expand and contract in between watering. Giving the plant adequate water on a regular basis will help a lot, as will fertilizing weekly with a double dose of a fertilizer high in soluble pot ash.

Many chef’s claim this is the most flavorful slicer in the world and I tend to agree. In my opinion having a BLT sandwich piled high with slices of vine ripened Brandywine should be on everyone’s bucket list.

Cherry and Grape tomatoes

Rosalita

60 days until harvest

Rosalita produces a grape tomato with pink flesh and tiny white speckles. This gives the fruit a modest sheen. They have a nice flavor that is good for snacking out of hand or chopping into chutney or relish.  The plant produces abundantly through the season and just one of them will fill a single person’s need for cherry tomatoes.

The stem of the plant can at times be weak, snapping if manipulated too much.  For this reason it is best when planting Rosalita to plant it and surround it with a cage. When the plant grows tall enough for staking it is better to use two stakes than one. Simply tie loosely with soft cotton thread.

Black Cherry

68 days until harvest

If you are interested in the flavor of Black Krim but put off by some of its special needs and potential for early blight, then Black Cherry is a good alternative. The plant can grow very tall. In fact my personal record for tallest tomato plant I’ve ever grown is held by the Black Cherry at a staggering 7 feet 2 inches!

Despite being a direct relative of the Black Krim, the Black Cherry shows a strong resistance to early blight. While it doesn’t need the additional mineral augmentation of Black Krim, the fruit will have superior flavor if you add it.

Black Cherry can be cut in half, seeded, dried and ground to make an amazing tomato powder you can use all winter long to augment tomato sauces, soups and chili.

Plum Tomato

Roma versus San Marzano

While slicers are the iconic tomatoes of photographs and folk lore, it is actually the humble plum tomato that fills the pantry and root cellar.  The Roma tomato is one of the most commonly grown tomatoes in the country. It is has a large amount of meat and a low amount of seeds.

Roma VF is the heirloom variety that you can select seeds from. It has 75 days until Harvest.

All San Marzano seeds are heirloom quality and are 80 days until harvest.

To the casual gardener and home cook there is very little difference between San Marzano and Roma tomatoes. If you are new to gardening and scratch cooking with tomatoes, you could grow Roma tomatoes and you wouldn’t feel like you’re missing anything.

At the same time many professional chefs would argue that San Marzano is the most flavorful sauce tomato in the world. This tomato is steeped in folklore and history. One source claims the seeds were a gift from an Incan King to the Pope. It was supposedly hoped that the humble bribe would inspire the Pope to decree that the Spanish Conquistadors leave Peru.

I was told my own seed stock came from a US soldier who was wounded in World War II. While he was recovering from his wounds in the hospital at the monastery of San Marzano he fell in love with the tomato and sent seeds home for his mother to grow.

In Naples Italy, there is a regulation that a Napolitano pizza is not considered authentic unless it uses San Marzano tomatoes in the sauce.

Anecdotally, I can tell you that if you pick a San Marzano and a Roma tomato from the garden and eat them fresh, there is little difference. However, when you blanch them, seed them and can them, the San Marzano stays firmer. If you were to slow cook both of them in a sauce with a little red wine to unlock the tomatoes naturally alcohol soluble flavors, most people would prefer the San Marzano.

Chapter 7 – Conclusion

Hopefully this guidebook has helped you to identify your needs so you can choose what you want to grow and what you’ll need to be successful. In the process, remember that there is no perfect plan there is no perfect answer and some problems you just can’t anticipate.

Each season in the garden has its own character. If you find yourself running from problem to problem, trying to put out fires, don’t be discouraged. All the little bundles of chaos that come through the garden gate are just a part of the process of taking information and transforming it into authentic experience.

Even after all these years I still have days where I’m running around like my hair is on fire.

Book 5:
Starting an Orchard

A homesteading guidebook for growing fruit trees, berries, grapes and nuts

Eric Beuning

Introduction

When you are getting most of your own food from the land, the garden tends to get most of the glory. It also calls for the most work. On the other hand, an orchard can provide a lot of food while requiring less work than a garden in the long run.

There are few things more rewarding than watching your orchard full of fruit trees and berries grow.

Keeping an orchard is a long term investment. Most fruit trees won’t even give you a hint of production in the first three years. When you consider that most have a lifespan of 20 to 30 years, it is a great long term investment.

Buying commercially grown fruit comes with the fear that you will be introducing chemical pesticides to the family table. Fruit grown at home using organic methods is safer and arguably more nutritious. With some thoughtful planning your fruit trees can also become a beautiful piece of landscaping.

In-season, a mature orchard is a thing of magic and beauty. Trees that explode with colorful flowers in the spring, yield succulent fruit with nectar-like juice that dribbles off your chin and runs down your arm through the summer and fall. Bumper crops of fruits and berries can often be made into jams, canned whole or dried for trail mix.

I can personally attest that the sound of opening a jar of strawberry jam, made from vine ripened berries picked at the peak of perfection in June, sounds like an Italian aria to your desperate tongue in January.

Speaking from a practical standpoint, after the trees have come into maturity the amount of maintenance they require is remarkably small, compared to a large garden full of annuals.

The following chapters will show you how to plan and tend your own orchard. We will explore planning and planting. We'll dig deep into understanding soil, mulch and fertilizer. We will tackle the endless battle against common pests and look at some of the best options, both common and exotic, for picking the best fruit trees and berry bushes.

Chapter 1 – Planning your new orchard

You might be staring out your window as the last of the winter snows melt and thinking of what you want to do with that large, open sunny patch near the garden. Or perhaps you just want to punch up the landscaping in your yard.

The most important aspect of growing an orchard demands that you understand what types of fruit trees and berry bushes will grow best in your climate. There are some fruit trees that absolutely despise growing in frozen ground. While there are other types of fruit trees that need a hard freeze for hundreds if not a thousand hours each year.

Luckily many orchard providers these days are conscious of what grows in each of the growing zones. They often list it with each type of tree or bush. They are based on the averages for your growing zone.

If you are unsure of your growing zone, the US department of agriculture hosts a detailed map on their website that will help you out. A quick call to a county agricultural extension office can also help get you pointed in the right direction.

It is best not to tempt fate by trying to grow something that is not meant for your climate type. For instance I have grown fruit trees in zone 4 that were noted to only be able to handle the winters in growing zone 5. I thought with careful mulching and covering I had beaten the system. Three mild Minnesota winters later I was getting excited for my first harvest of sweet cherries. Then back to back brutally cold winters slammed the area, followed by a late spring of inconsistently cold weather. The trees lingered, but ultimately died.

If you absolutely have your heart set on a fruit tree that cannot safely be grown in your zone, you can always try to grow the tree in a large pot inside a four season greenhouse. You will need to be mindful of course to select a dwarf variety that can handle life in a pot.

Sun

Most fruit trees and many berry bushes require full sun light through the growing season. The sun is always shifting its position in the sky. This shift becomes more dramatic the farther north you live.  If you have the patience for it, the best plan is to take a full year to observe a patch. Simply place an 8 foot stake in the soil and every week note the influence of the sun on the stake, its shadow and any influence by other trees. A tree without leaves in spring can suddenly become a horrible shade block in the full leaf of summer.

While many orchard supply companies will tell you that a fruit tree needs a minimum of 6 hours of full sun per day, I would honestly advocate a site with a bare minimum of 8 hours of full sun. In my opinion for all sun-loving fruit trees the ideal is a location where the tree gets at least 12 hours of full sunlight during the summer solstice in late June.

If you aren’t inclined to spend a whole year watching the sun, or you have a location that is wide open then you can turn your attention to the soil.

The composition and quality of you soil plays a huge factor in how successful the trees will be.  It is not unreasonable to assume that the root system of a fruit tree will be twice the size of the tree itself. Clay soil tends to hold onto a lot of water. It also compacts and restricts the roots. For some types of trees, like apples, overly wet roots can be a death sentence. At the same time, sandy soil has poor water retention which causes the tree to expand its roots desperately deep.

In both of these instances you may need to take action to amend the soil before planting a single tree.

While there are elaborate scientific tests you can have done to determine the composition of your soil, you can still get a pretty good idea from manipulating it by hand.

Simply take a small handful of soil, around 1 cup in volume, from 12 to 16 inches below the sod layer. Make sure the soil is modestly moist.  If it hasn’t rained recently in your area, I would just give the area one inch of water the night before.

Form the soil into a ball. Try to squeeze it out into a tube form slightly longer than the width of your palm. If it falls apart easily, then it is on the sandy side. If it holds together but feels hard it might have too much clay. The ideal is a 1 inch tube of soil that still holds together yet is not hard.

This will go a long way towards helping you plan either what you want to plant, or if you are willing to take on the added expense of amending a large amount of soil. Trees like peaches and apples prefer sandy soil, while many plums and berries prefer wet clay soils. We will discuss this later in the individual entries for each type of fruit.

As a rule of thumb you can get a rough idea of the kind of soil a tree prefers by the juiciness of its fruit. A strawberry plant likes moist soil because it is quickly pulling that moisture up each day and using it to plump the berries. An apple takes a long time to develop its fruit and thus doesn’t use as much water in the short term. Overly wet roots tend to sulk and invite problems, pests and soil borne disease to the apple tree.

Drainage

The drainage of your soil is not only affected by the clay and sand content. It is also influenced by mineral content, slope and the possible change of character in the sub-soil.

I once had an apple tree that vexed me. I had planted it in what appeared to be a spot with sandy soil. Yet it sulked and suffered as if it was planted in a giant wad of clay. After the tree died, I dug it up and inspected its roots looking for a cause. It was when I dug down to the bottom of the root ball that I discovered the problem was a thick layer of clay three feet below the surface.

Fruit trees need proper drainage in order for them to maintain aeration around the roots, expand their roots and gain access to nutrients that trickle down through the soil from the surface. If the soil is water logged and the tree cannot process the water, it becomes impacted. The tree starves from a lack of nutrient transfer of it can suffer root rot.

You should be suspicious of a change in sub-soil character if you live near or in an old river or creek basin. Rivers move a lot over the course of geological time, over the course of a century they can deposit conflicting layers over top of each other. If you are in one of these regions I advocate digging down to around 5 feet just to make sure there isn’t some kind of change in the sub-soil. 

You can get an idea of how well your soil drains by digging a hole the size of a 5 gallon bucket. Fill the hole with water. Wait one hour before checking it again. If the hole has completely drained out you are probably in an ideal location.

Fill the hole again with water. This will represent the effect of a period of heavy summer rains. If the hole hasn’t drained in three hours the soil might have too high of clay content or too poor of a slope for you to grow fruit trees.

You could still grow berries in that location, though. If you wanted to explore landscaping options you could rent a backhoe, dig the area out and bring in a load of sandy soil to fill the hole. You could build a raised planter box, or even install underground drainage pipes that would act like drain tile. In either case if you are concerned that you have too poor of drainage in your soil, you can call the county agricultural extension office for further insights.

pH

The next thing you need to understand about your soil is the pH. This is a measure of how acidic your soil is. While the chemical scale of pH ranges from 0 to 14, most soil is around a pH of 5 to 9. A soil pH of 7 is neutral. The lower the number is, the more acidic your soil is, the higher the number, the more alkaline it is. Most fruit trees and berry bushes do best in slightly acidic soil around a pH of 6. However there are some berries such as blueberries that prefer a very acidic soil around a pH of 4.5 to 5.

Testing the pH of your soil is easy. Most hardware stores and nurseries sell the same cheap soil kit you would use to test the soil in your garden. The only difference is that when you test the soil of your garden you are sampling from 4 inches below the surface. When you want to test the soil for fruit trees you want to test the soil at 12 to 16 inches below. If you want to test the soil for low growing berry bushes, you should test the soil from 6 inches below the surface.

If your soil is too far off there are many ways to adjust it. Soil that is too acidic can be augmented with lime the same way you would adjust the soil for the tomatoes in your garden.  Soil that is too alkaline can be mulched with a modest layer of mature pine mulch and a ground cover of grass clippings.

Chapter 2 – Picking what you want to plant

While many berry bushes and fruiting canes can be transplanted and thinned every few years, fruit trees, once established are there for the long term. In the case of nut trees you’re putting a tree in the ground that your grandchildren will probably harvest. This is very much a time where you don’t want excitement to overrule reason.

If you’ve gotten this far you’ve probably already got a mental wish list of fruit trees and berries you want to grow. We can assume that you’ve done your homework to understand your growing zone as well as the character and composition of your soil.

This is the time to pull out a sheet of graph paper and start sketching your ideas out.

Size matters

Not all fruit trees grow to the same mature size. Thanks to the art and science of grafting we now have relative control over how large a fruit tree will grow. The nursery germinates the trees. Once they have reached a predetermined size, usually after one year, they cut the trunk of the baby tree from its roots and carefully graft it onto a predictable root stock.

The characteristics of the root stock ultimately dictate how large the tree can grow. While the top of the tree dictates what kind of fruit it produces. When you read the entries for each fruit tree you will see terms such as: Dwarf, Semi-Dwarf and Standard

A fruit tree grafted onto a dwarf root stock will generally grow 8 to 10 feet high and depending on the type of fruit and how it is pruned it will branch out slightly wider than it is tall. The disadvantage of a dwarf tree is that it will produce a smaller yield. Generally one mature tree will provide enough fruit for 1 to 2 people in a single season. Also a dwarf tree will require additional staking and ties to help hold it in place until it reaches full maturity. This is a preventative measure against the high winds of summer storms that might topple the tree’s small and shallow root ball. This small shallow root ball could be seen as an advantage if during your soil explorations you discovered a layer of clay hiding deep beneath a layer of sand.

The biggest advantages of a dwarf tree are that it will become mature and produce fruit earlier in its life than a larger tree. It also is much easier for the average person to pick. Since they are small they also cast less of a shadow and thus you can plant more total trees in an area without fear of them competing for sunlight.

One of the things I love about growing dwarf trees is that they are perfect for landscaping. I currently have a contemplation area growing out past the garden that is bordered by dwarf apple trees and Japanese plums.

Semi-dwarf is the next step up in size. Generally a semi-dwarf tree grows 12 to 15 feet high and depending on how it is pruned and trained it can get as much as 18 to 20 feet wide. Fruit trees that are trained to a central leader like apples might only be as wide as they are tall. However trees that are trained to an open center, like plums and sweet cherries might even exceed 20 feet wide.

The disadvantage of semi-dwarf trees is that they often require a ladder or a pole picker to harvest all of the fruit. When they are at full maturity they can also be a hassle when they need routine pruning. While these things do double the amount of work that goes into the tree, they often triple the production of dwarf trees of the same type.

Standard trees are the iconic looming beasts from pictures of old time orchards. The type of fruit tree will determine the trees mature size. A standard size peach tree may only be a little larger than its semi-dwarf counterpart. A cherry tree may sprawl twice as wide while barely gaining anything more in height. While at the same time a standard size apple tree will loom large over the landscape casting shadows on many other trees in the area.

If you have enough space in your orchard it is an easy jump of logic to think that the advantage of a standard sized tree is the massive amount of fruit it is capable of producing. However this is a case of its biggest strength is also its biggest weakness! While it is true that a standard size tree is capable of producing a superior volume of fruit compared to similar trees grafted onto dwarf root stocks, it is also much more labor to tend that fruit.

Fruit trees draw a host of pests and can develop problems through the course of a season. Many of these can be handled using simple applications of insecticidal soaps and organic powders. In most of these cases the entire tree needs to be treated. If you simply apply an insecticidal soap to the fruit on lower branches, the pests will simply migrate to the upper branches, thus leaving the tree infested.

Also a standard size fruit tree takes much longer to come to maturity.  Once it does come to maturity it tends to have smaller than average fruit for much longer. Now if you are growing fruit on a homestead that is sure to be handed down for generations, this might not be that big of a deal to you. If however you are hoping for a large yield of fist sized apples, you might have to bite your lip for the better part of a decade.

In my humble opinion, unless you know the type of fruit tree will stay a manageable size, I would leave a standard size fruit tree for commercial growers and stick to a mixture of dwarf and semi-dwarf trees.

Pollination needs consideration

While most annual vegetables will do just fine being self-pollinated, this is only true for a handful of fruits and even most of the fruits in that small handful will do better when they are given an ideal mate for cross pollination.

For some trees that need cross pollination it is as easy as planting another tree that bears the same fruit within 100 feet of it. For other fruit trees, like apples and Japanese plums, they really do need to be planted near different trees with similar characteristics. For example two Honeycrisp apple trees planted next to each other produce fruit that is smaller and less crispy than if you planted a Honeycrisp with a Golden Delicious.

In some cases, these cross-pollination needs are related to traits that improve the quality of each trees fruit. However some cross-pollination needs are related to the time of year or soil temperature that certain sub-types flower. This is especially true with apples.

I have to admit that when I planted my first orchard, I largely ignored the suggested pairings for the cross-pollination of the four apple trees I bought. The biggest problem was that all four apple trees bloomed at different times. There were many springs where one apple tree would be starting to drop its unpollinated blossoms just two days after the next tree was opening its blossoms. This ultimately meant I would only get a tiny amount of fruit. The only salvation for two of these trees was the fact that I had a neighbor within the range that a bee was willing to fly that had a crab apple tree, which could get the job done.

Later in this book we will go into the specific pollination requirements for the different types of trees as well as some of my personal recommendations that I have grown or seen grown in orchards that I have visited. The thing that is most germane to you planning what you want to grow and how many trees you want to plant is to consider both the distance as well as the number of trees you want to plant of a certain type.

You need to think like a bee. If you spend an afternoon in the garden or orchard watching bees buzz from flower to flower, they don’t just jump one flower on an apple tree right in front of you to the flower of an apple tree 50 feet away. They tend to move from one flower to the flower closest to it. Once they’ve exhausted their efforts on a certain level of flowers, they move to a flowering tree that is close to it.

This essentially means that the farther apart you plant two cross-pollinators, the more total trees you will need to plant in order for all of them to be cross pollinated. The general rule of thumb is to plant three trees that all have complimentary cross-pollination characteristics within 50 feet of each other. While this works for many types of fruit trees it can cause problems in others, especially apples and plums which might only have one or two suggested cross-pollinated companions.

If you want three different types of fruit from three different sub-types of trees, this is certainly a good idea. In my personal experience, I try to work things out in sets of four, or more aptly two sets of two. For example, Honeycrisp apples prefer to be cross-pollinated by Red Rome and Golden Delicious. Instead of planting one Honeycrisp, one Red Rome and one Golden Delicious, I chose to plant two Honeycrisp and two Golden Delicious trees. This way I know that if some random storm uproots one of the trees with straight-line winds, that there is still another that can handle pollinating the other two. I’m not forced to buy another tree next year and then wait three to five years for it to become mature enough to produce flowers.

Plan for harvest time

One of the beauties of having a mature orchard is the fact that with a little work in the spring and some timely care through the summer, you can get a large amount of production for a small investment of labor.

It is easy to get in over your head if you have too many trees that are all ripe and ready for harvest at the same time in the season. Picking, storing, canning or drying all takes time. If you have a large enough labor force that you can tap into in early September, then planning an orchard that ripens at the same time might be ideal. If you’re like me, living with a small family in the country, it is better to plan your plantings to come ripe in succession.

Using my orchard as an example, my June Bearing Strawberries come ripe then go out of season just as the raspberries are ripening. The raspberries and gooseberries begin coming out of their peak production just as the early plums and blueberries come ripe.  About the time the last plum is picked the peach trees are ready for harvest and canning. This is all followed up by a succession of apples that takes me through September and into early October.

By staggering the orchard this way it insures that there is always something going on that requires my attention. But there is never so much coming ripe that I don’t have the time to process or preserve it for long term storage.

Chapter 3 – Finding quality plants

The age and size of the plant you buy matters a lot. This is especially true with fruit trees. While very small seedlings can be very cheap, they are also very weak and may take several more years before they produce their first fruit.

Speaking from personal experience I am convinced that it is better to buy fruit trees that are already 2 to 3 years old. This size of tree has been through a few winters, it has known the swings of seasonal weather and it has had longer for the graft on the trunk to grow strong.

When buying fruit trees you essentially have two options to choose from; bareroot or container grown.

Bareroot

Bareroot plants are usually only sold by on-line and mail-order providers. Since you don’t actually get to see the plants before they are shipped it is worth it to take the time to find a reputable dealer. In this day and age it is not enough for a company to just have a snazzy looking website. Check out their customer reviews and comments. I have personally been impressed by bareroot plants from quality dealers and severely let down by scraggly twigs shipped to me by charlatans with a fancy webpage.

Bareroot plants are selected for shipping during the dormant phase of their growing season. As a result most are only available in spring. Only a handful of bareroot plants are available in the fall. Since they are shipped just before they come out of dormancy you will need to plant them immediately. Most providers will tell you the earliest possible date for shipping. This will give you enough advanced notice to dig the holes and prepare the planting site.

Bareroot plants straight out of the shipping container can look a little strange. The roots have been persuaded to hold a straight shape. When they come loose they look like a strange tentacle tree monster hungry to burrow into the soil. While they might look a bit pathetic in this stage they are none-the-less primed to grow.

The hole should be deep and wide enough to allow the roots to spread out and anchor themselves deep. Many bareroot trees will need a small mound of dirt placed under them to help support them in the hole. This mound is especially handy because the tree can rest on it allowing you to take the time to spread the roots out.

When it comes to the tree’s final planting depth, you need to be mindful of the crown or grafting swell. This is the place where the tree was grafted onto the rootstock. It usually looks like a knob a few inches above the sprawl or the roots. In grafted fruit trees and vines you want to make sure this crown is planted 2 to 3 inches above the ground. If you are planning to apply a thick amount of organic mulch every year I would personally advocate planting it 3 to 4 inches above ground. Keep adding soil to the mound until you feel you’ve gotten the final height correct.

It is also a good idea to give the roots some additional fertilizer at planting time. The preferred organic method is to soak the bareroots in a compost tea. I personally also augment with additional phosphorus by scattering bonemeal into the hole. This additional phosphorus will help promote root growth, while the nitrogen of the compost tea will promote leaf development.

Container grown

Container grown plants are most often found in local nurseries. In general they are more expensive than bareroot plants. Often they cost double or triple in order to cover the cost of soil from shipping and the labor to tend them, potentially for months.

A properly tended container grown tree that hasn’t become root bound has a better chance for success than a bareroot plant. However a poorly tended container grown tree, that has been root bound or water logged is less likely to survive compared to its bareroot counterpart. When buying container grown plants it is best to shop around. In general nursery and greenhouse suppliers will have the best stocks as their name is on the line with local businesses and potential repeat customers. The pop-up nursery in the corner of the grocery store parking lot is less likely to have quality plants.

If you are a cunning and patient shopper you can shave a little off the edges on the high price of a container grown plant. You see most of these trees are grown off site and shipped along with their heavy soil to the retailer that ordered them. As the season goes on, these trees get harder and hard to sell. Rather than incur additional cost by shipping them back to the grower, who likely won’t accept healthy returns, they will choose to offer the plants at clearance prices.

The longer you wait to buy the lower the price will be. However as time passes you will see less selection and less healthy plants. Sure the last of them might be selling for 50% off in late June. Most of these plants are root bound, beat up, water logged, or in some other way unhealthy. In my personal experience the time to strike is in the same week that the retailer drops their prices by 25%. This is around the time in late spring or early summer where you can still save a couple of bucks on healthy plants, before the selection is picked clean.

When looking for a quality container grown plant you want to look for a couple of key things. When at all possible you should start by shopping reputable dealers, selling certified plants. If these plants have been virus indexed, then it is all the better.

While it is okay to see some roots in the drain holes, it is a bad sign if those roots are escaping the container. This usually means that the plant is root bound and will struggle to establish itself in your soil. The leaves should be bright green. You should avoid any trees that have yellow leaves as this is usually a sign of being water logged or otherwise improperly tended.

Before buying the plant make sure to look under the leaves and at the base of stems for any potential egg clusters. Since these trees were most likely grown offsite they could carry exotic and common pests that could wreak havoc through the rest of your orchard.

Planting a container grown plant is similar to planting a bareroot one, except the soil from the container will serve the same purpose as the mound does when preparing the hole. Removing the plant from the container is probably the trickiest part. Once the container is gone the soil structure could crumble. Before you even consider removing the container you should set the pot in the hole and check to make sure the crown is 3 to 4 inches above ground level.

Once you are sure you have the depth correct, you can then remove the plant from the pot by gently squeezing the sides to loosen the dirt a little.

While some people might advocate turning the pot upside down or using your feet to hold the pot while you firmly pull up on the trunk, over the years I have developed my own method.

Most container grown plants come in cheap plastic pots. I prefer to use a sharp box cutter on a shallow setting to slash down each side. I tip the pot over slowly and lay the pot its side. Then I slowly shimmy it free at the edge of the hole.

Once the plant is in the hole you should carefully pick out any loose roots and help them to sprawl out into the wider part of the hole. If a root does not come free from the ball easily, it is better to leave it than to risk disturbing its relationship to the other roots.

Chapter 4 – Caring for your plants

After a tree is planted, and each spring thereafter you should mulch the roots with 2 to 4 inches of mulch. The mulch should be spread out six inches beyond the tree’s drip edge. The drip edge is the maximum reach of the branches. Through the course of a season the rain drips from the tree’s leaves, which are designed by nature to direct water towards the roots. When this water lands on the mulch it then carries the added nutrients into the soil. The mulch also helps to insulate the plant against drought, holding in moisture longer than bare soil alone.

Regular watering and properly moist soil is important all through the tree’s life. It is especially important during the tree’s first two years. Mulching is also important for weed control. A healthy fruit tree can usually out-compete a few weeds. It is none-the-less true that every single weed is stealing some nutrients and water from the tree. Any weeds that do manage to sprout or grow up through the mulch layer should be hand plucked.

Fertilizing your plants is an important aspect of keeping a healthy, productive orchard. Earlier when you performed your soil tests that should have given you a good idea of your soil’s strengths and weaknesses. Armed with this information you should be able to adjust your fertilizer to match. Most mineral fertilizers like bonemeal or kelp meal slowly release into the soil over time. This means you only need to apply them in the spring for young plants. I would advise applying them in the spring and fall for fully mature trees.

Nitrogen fertilizers are very quickly released, absorbed and used up. As such you will need to apply nitrogen more frequently. A rich compost layer that uses grass clippings will help mitigate this need. However I still advocate applying nitrogen ever two weeks during the spring and early summer when trees are developing their new shoots and leaves. After the Fourth of July, when most plants are working on putting their energy into developing fruit, I only apply nitrogen fertilizer each month until harvest.

Watering

Watering is another critical consideration to a productive orchard. While the old fashioned method of using a sprinkler is easy in that you can set it and forget it, it is not the best. Hand watering with a hose insures the plant will get all of the water it needs but can be very time consuming, especially if you have a large orchard.

The best method for watering plants is a drip irrigation method. This is especially handy if you are using rain barrels to gather and store water. Determining how much water a tree needs is not so much a matter of watering time as it is about the depth of moisture. The general rule of thumb is that the top 4 to 5 inches of soil should be moist most of the time. In hot, dry weather with sandy soil this might mean you need to irrigate for an hour every two days. In a rich loam soil with modest precipitation you might only need to water once a week.

Pruning

While you can shove a tree in the ground and let it grow wild with modest results, you will inevitably get better results as the tree matures if you give it proper pruning and train it to the correct center. Some trees such as apples need to be trained to a central leader to develop a strong trunk that will help the tree develop strong fruit throughout its life, while plum trees do better with trained to an open center. We will go over these in further detail later in the individual entries.

Pruning is important throughout a fruit tree’s life. It is often done to provide better ventilation, remove less productive branches, train the center of the tree for more productive fruit, or to control new shoots which might sucker from the crown.

The best time to prune your fruit trees is when they are dormant. While this will change depending on your growing zone, in general the best time to prune them is in late winter or early spring. This will encourage new and vigorous growth when the tree springs to life. This is also a time of year when the insect population is little to none so the tree will be able to repair the minor damage before the bugs of summer have a chance to capitalize.

The right tool for the job is important. While hardware stores and greenhouse magazines might be awash in new pruning gadgets, you really only need three tools in the shed. A pruning shears is essentially a robust scissors. It is probably the tool you will use the most, especially in the early years when the branches are small and thin. If you only grow dwarf trees then pruning shears might be the only tool you need at all. While you can usually get by with a pruning shears that has a single hand grip, I personally prefer the type that has long handles to give me the extra leverage I need to get through medium sized branches.

A pruning saw is little more than a handsaw with a modest curve in the blade which allows it to get better purchase on large branches that need to be completely removed. While it might be tempting to buy one of the very cheap versions available at the store, it is worth the extra money to pony up for one that has a comfortable handle. Nothing causes hand cramps faster than trying to grip onto a big blocky wooden handle while you grind back and forth.

A pole saw is essentially a longer version of the pruning saw. The long attached pole allows you to reach up to higher branches that might need pruning for ventilation reasons. Usually you’re only going to need this if you have an orchard full of standard trees that have gotten out of hand late in their maturity or have suffered storm damage.

There is a variation of the pole saw which has an interchangeable head for a pruning shears. This attachment does make it easier for you to work high small branches. When selecting a pole saw that utilizes a cable system to help you saw I personally prefer to look for a metal cable that is either galvanized or vinyl coated.

The act of pruning itself essentially directs or redirects the character, shape, growth or production of a tree.

Thinning cuts are often used to remove small branches that are crowding or interfering with other branches. A tree that is overly crowded with small branches is susceptible to a number of problems, the most dangerous of which is fungal growth and infestation by pests. The lack of ventilation caused by overly thick foliage creates prime conditions for these problems to occur. The damage some of these funguses and pests can cause could spell the death of the tree if left unchecked long enough.

Heading cuts remove small and medium new growth behind blossoming shoots which will allow the plant to dedicate its energy into developing stronger fruit on lower, more mature branches. It is also absolutely critical to remove any suckering shoots that emerge from the crown or grafting swell. These are essentially the tree’s attempt to make supplementary trunks, which will ultimately reduce the tree’s production for years.

Training

Another reason for pruning comes from the process of training. There are a lot of reasons to train a fruit tree. Some training is required for trees like apples, which need a strong central trunk and plums that need to be trained for an open center. Tying up grape vines is another aspect of training which may or may not require pruning, depending on the age of the vine.

Other aspects of training often relate to landscaping design. Trees that need to be trained to a strong central trunk do poorly when trained into elaborate landscaping designs. However trees that prefer to be trained to an open middle can, with a lot of patience and planning, be trained into eye popping fence rows and topiary that also produces a nice yield of fruit each year.

The most popular landscaping application is to take years pruning and tying new growth to train the tree into a fan shape or living fence. This is also called an espalier. When training a living fence to vires that are supported by strong posts it is best to orient the fence running north-south. This way you get light on equal sides of the plant. If you are training the tree to a wooden fence or stone wall it is best to orient the plant east-west since the foliage will only be on one side.

Chapter 5 – Dealing with diseases and common pests

There is nothing worse than spending years caring for an orchard or verdant row of berries only to see it attacked by some random fungus or voracious pest.

One of the best ways to prevent disease is by making sure you buy certified plants from a reputable dealer. If you can find and afford virus indexed trees, then it is all the better. The best defense against fungus is proper pruning. While fungus and spores can live through the winter in the soil as well as bark, they travel on the wind and breed wildly in the wet shadows under a plant’s leaves. Proper pruning to allow the wind to ventilate the tree will reduce the amount of time a fungus has to set up shop.

It is also important to think of other plants, especially the plants in your garden that might harbor pests and diseases. For instance raspberries and tomatoes both play host to the dreaded fungus known as early blight and can also be vehicles for fire blight.

Fire blight is a virulent bacteria which loves to attack new growth and tender shoots. The first year it infests a tree it will develop small black cankers on the upper branches. Close attention needs to be paid to the upper branches of mature, standard height trees. The black cankers host the bacteria over the winter. Then it takes off attacking the tree often killing a large number of branches just as the tree comes to life in the spring.

Vigilance is your best defense. Pay attention to the tree during harvest time. Note any tree with black cankers on the upper branches. These trees should have the infected branches pruned in late winter when the snow is on the ground and the tree is still deep in dormancy. Put the pruned branches in an isolated bucket and burn them immediately.

In the spring you should spray the affected area that you pruned with a preventative spray such as streptomycin. Then in the spring avoid applying nitrogen to that tree. While this will reduce the amount of new growth the tree has that year it will also give any surviving bacteria less of a place to call home.

If your fruit trees are under attack from a serious infestation of fungus and you can’t quite manage to identify the source you can always fall back on spraying the tree with sulfur. Organic sulfur spray is to fungus what chemo therapy is to cancer. It can easily damage the entire tree and is especially damaging to new growth.

While you might be tempted to hose down the entire tree with a sulfur spray at the first sign of fungus, it is best to spray a test branch that has some new growth.  Wait a few days to see how the branch reacts before you go in whole hog.

Preventing insect pests

Every orchard tends to draw its own bugs depending on region and climate. Just like molds and fungus you need to be mindful of not planting too close to your garden. If you are growing dwarf sized trees you might be able to get by with handpicking the occasional bug you can see munching on a leaf.

I have to admit that handpicking rarely lasts long enough and usually you will have to turn to other more aggressive methods. Sticky traps are a great tool for catching apple maggots and fruit flies. You should hang one trap per dwarf tree, two for a semi-dwarf. A fully mature standard tree might need as many as 4 or 5 traps to keep the most pests in check.

Another more organic option for you to try is to hatch your own predatory insects to hunt down and kill your insect enemies. The master assassin in the class is the classic Praying Mantis. You need to be mindful that if you hatch an egg case of praying mantids in your orchard, they will kill all insects. Mantids operate without prejudice killing pests as well as beneficial insects. Colorado potato beetles and honey bees taste the same to a praying mantis. The praying mantis is happy to rip the head off and feast on any bugs that land nearby.

There are some years where it seems like your fruit trees can go through most of the season without attracting a single bug. Suddenly as the fruit begins to ripen the tree explodes with ants and fruit flies. For these minor insect flare ups you can fall back on organic insecticidal soap. They are often sold in medium sized spray bottles. As long as you are not plagued by frequent rain you should be able to spray the fruit once a week. These bottles usually come with a small packet of information from the manufacturer which will help you with additional tips and frequently asked questions.

Dealing with animal problems

The deeper you live in the country the more animals will be attracted to the succulent delights of the leaves and fruits of your orchard.

In my experience birds are enemy of summer while rabbits are the bane of winter. Rabbits are by far the most dangerous because if they are left unchecked they can eradicate your entire orchard in a single winter. During lean times rabbits will quickly turn to eating the soft succulent bark of fruit trees. Rabbits can quickly eat all of the bark off the tree in a ring, called girdling. Fruit trees transfer most of their water and nutrients through the soft layers just under the bark. When a girdled tree comes out of dormancy in the spring the roots will be unable to send enough key nutrients to the burgeoning foliage and the tree will die.

The cheap option is to buy simple tree wrap to bind the trunk in the fall before the first snows. For a slightly larger investment you can buy little white plastic sleeves that fit over the trunks, which can be reused for another 2 or 3 years.

I have used both of these options before and they have kept my trees safe during two back to back mild winters. Then just as I was getting confident they would keep me safe from the winter rabbit onslaught, we were hit with a harsh winter. The available forage base was less and the deep freeze lasted longer. This drove the rabbits into such desperation that they kept chewing away with their ever-growing teeth until they made it through the protective layers and feasted.

While hunting the rabbits out is indeed an option, you would need to be a crack shot who loves to chow down on rabbits daily to be able to cull out a large population like mine. While Jack my resident barn cat certainly does his share to thin out the herd, the best offense is still a good defense.

My favorite Aegis shield is to turn to black corrugated plastic tubing. This is usually available in 4 or 6 inch diameter and is sold in the plumbing section of the hardware store for use as a cheap outdoor drain pipe. This stuff is so tough you have to cut it with the metal blade of a reciprocating saw. I cut it off specific for each tree in sections that cover from the ground level to the bottom of the lowest branch.  The last thing you want to do is short yourself only to find the rabbits run across the snow drifts to girdle the bark just above the top of tubing.

Once I have the custom length cut I make a slice down the entire length of the tube. Then I peel it open on that seam, slip it around the trunk and tie it tight again with stove pipe wire. I will be honest with you, the first couple of times you peel this tube open will be a terrible pain. This is the sort of thing where you should get a good night sleep the night before, eat a can of spinach and wear thick leather gloves.

Once I have the corrugated pipe wrapped around the trunk I tie it shut with stove pipe wire. The added advantage of choosing a black corrugated pipe is that when the sun begins to strengthen in the late winter the pipe heats up and melts some of the surrounding snow. Since fruit trees tend to build up drifts around them, this added little bit of melt can thwart rabbits that try to use the drifts as a staircase to the upper branches.

Most berry eating birds migrate south for the winter, so they really are only a problem in the summer. Many birds are attracted to the color red. This means they have a nasty tendency for completely ignoring your berry patch or cherry tree while the fruit is green. Then an instant after the fruit ripens they strike like well trained assassins. I literally had a sour cherry tree picked clean by black birds in the two hours I spent running to town to buy bird deterrents!

On paper the best way to stop birds is to use bird netting. In reality, once a bird has figured out there is food under or inside the netting they will keep trying to infiltrate it. This usually results in either the netting getting damaged, the tree getting damaged or both. The worst case scenario I’ve ever had was the time three black birds found their way under the netting for a 50 foot row of strawberries and then couldn’t find their way out. They spent the better part of two days eating berries and thrashing away at the net damaging plants and runners alike.

The best results I have found against bird damage combines netting with something reflective. Before I cover the tree or row of berries with the netting I first decorate it with reflective fire tape and hang old CD’s from the branches. The flashing of reflective light teased by the wind replicates, in the bird’s mind, the light given by fire. This holds them back at first and even if they do build up the courage to test the net, they tend to be skittish and give up early.

Another, less practical approach is to plant an alternative for the birds to eat that ripens around the same time. For instance elderberries and cherries tend to ripen at the same time. The birds will initially be attracted to the elderberries, which when eaten raw causes mild stomach upset. Eventually they give up on the area altogether. While I’m personally not a fan of this method, I have seen people use it effectively.

Deer can be a serious problem in rural locations depending on the amount of forage there is available. Many of the horror stories you hear about deer decimating gardens and fruit trees comes from people living at the edge of the suburbs where the animals are pressured for available habitat and forage. In rural areas or outer suburbs where the population of animals doesn’t exceed the forage base, they might not need more than gentle dissuasion.

While the knee jerk reaction to stopping deer is often to erect a very high fence, this usually leads to a lot of frustration when a desperate deer decides to keep trying until it knocks a section of the fence down. The better alternative is to use two 4 foot high fences spaced 6 feet apart. Deer will be afraid to try to jump the fence for fear of getting caught in between. Growing brambles such as raspberries or black berries in the void between the two fences is a nice bit of added insurance.

There are also many old wives tales about deer being afraid of the scented soaps hung in the wind or liberally sprinkling cayenne pepper in the area. In my personal experience these do work for a short time. Unfortunately every time it rains the soap becomes useless and actually slowly can change the pH of your soil if overdone.

The cayenne pepper tends to have a lifespan of 3 to 4 days, so this means in the course of a summer you’re going through buckets of the stuff. Not to mention it has a knack for getting in your nose making you sneeze wildly. Over the course of a year it just ends up being too much work, pain and misery for my liking.

What I have found works best for a scent deterrent is to grow rosemary. Deer despise the scent of rosemary!  The closest I have ever had one come to a rosemary plant is 10 feet. The one hang up is that it needs to be a mature rosemary bush and not just some little sprig of a plant you bought at the local nursery last week.

If you live in growing zone 7 or warmer, rosemary will live year round in your soil. If you live in growing zone 6 or colder I personally advocate planting rosemary in a container, such as a 5 gallon bucket or planter. The rosemary can then live the entire season in the field near the tree you want to defend. In fall after the tree has been harvested you can bring the rosemary indoors to grow in a sunny window. Or you can keep it in the barn or garage, to go dormant. You just need to make sure the location you over winter it in does not go below 32 degrees for a long stretch of time.

Chapter 6 – Berries and grapes

I have to admit that from a homesteading perspective I see grapes as being mostly a luxury item. But they do have a magic all their own. The real advantage of berries comes from the fact that from most you get early rewards.

The average fruit tree takes 3 to 5 years before it gives you the first little globes of fruit. Nut trees can take even longer. A row of berries you can usually get something the first year, or at worst the second. This makes berries a great way to get some emotional validation while you are waiting for your fruit trees to come mature. While at the same time strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and black berries provide tasty treats the whole family can love.

Blackberries

Blackberries are a close relative of the raspberry. Both grow on canes and produce aggregate fruit. However when a raspberry is picked the core stays behind with the plant, in a blackberry the core remains with the fruit. It is also worth noting that both plants can harbor early blight and should not be planted near garden plants that are susceptible to early blight such as tomatoes and potatoes.

Growing zone: Varies by type. Generally 4 to 9.

Time to maturity: Most blackberries bear fruit on the canes that grew and matured the year before.

Pollination needs: Most blackberries are self-pollinating.

Pruning/Thinning: No pruning is needed. Simply remove any dead canes. After 3 years canes may need to be thinned in early spring if they are growing too close together.

Harvest time: Late June to mid-July.

There are essentially 3 different types of blackberry that many different varieties branch out from.

Thornless blackberries grow on canes which are devoid of thorns. While this is convenient for picking it also means you can’t use them as any part of a defensive perimeter for a garden or orchard. The canes also tend to be softer than other varieties, which causes them to fall over easily in storms. A plant that is on the ground for too long can suffer from rotting fruit or the scavenging of rodents. If you are going to grow thornless blackberries it is best to tie them onto a trellis or a fence line with soft cotton twine.

Thornless blackberries tend to grow in warmer growing regions. While there are a few varieties that might be able to handle the winter in growing zone 5, most need to be in growing zone 6 or warmer in order to survive.

Thorny blackberries are similar to their thornless sisters, except for the fact that they have stiffer canes that won’t fall over as easy. Their thorns also allow them to be used as defensive perimeter. Some thornless varieties are hardy enough to handle the winters in growing zone 4, however most still need growing zone 5 or warmer.

Primocane varieties are somewhat new to the scene and have some rather unique traits. The most important is that they can bear fruit on first year canes as well as second year canes. This means you get a small bounty of fruit a year sooner than if you planted thornless or thorny varieties. Most have thorns so they can be used in a defensive perimeter.

Primocane blackberries can also tolerate the harsh winters of growing zone 4, making them an attractive option for northern gardeners. Since they are a manmade variety, most have some form of disease resistance bred into them so that they can handle life closer to the garden. You can tell a primocane variety by its name. They are usually tagged with names like Prime-Jan, Prime-Jim and Prime-Ark.

Long term storage options: If they are quick frozen, Blackberries will handle life in the freezer for 6 to 8 weeks before freezer burn sets into the spaces between the aggregate fruit. However it is probably better to make them into jam which can be canned and put up in the root cellar for up to two years.

Blackberry wine is very full bodied. It is also very laborious as you must remove every single core and cook the berries up to 180 degrees for one minute in order to kill any bacteria living in the spaces in the aggregate fruit.

Blueberries

Blueberries are a functional and productive plant that can also serve as a nice landscaping accent through spring, summer and fall. In the spring the small white or pink flowers make a great accent. In the summer the berries transition from green to pink before settling into either deep red or purple. In the fall the leaves turn blazing red and make an excellent visual companion with maple trees.

Blueberries prefer to grow in acidic soil with a pH around 4.5 to 5. Soil with a pH this low is uncommon in most gardens and orchards. Usually to find a pH this low you have to look to the soil of a pine forest. This means the soil pH will need to be amended the winter before you plant and again at planting time. Test your soil with a basic soil test kit the summer before you want to plant blueberries.

Applying sulfur in winter and spring is a non-organic method of adjusting the soil’s pH. If you want an organic alternative, I would recommend digging a healthy amount of pine straw or mature pine mulch into the soil in the fall. Then dress the plant with pine straw immediately after planting. If you are lucky like me and have a stand of pines on the property you could always dig a significant hole in the orchard and fill it with soil from the forest floor.

While there are a few blueberries that are self-pollinating, most blueberries are not. These plants have unique traits that require another variety to pollinate with. Most quality plant providers will note this already for you in the plant’s description. While it is not a hard and fast rule that you must follow the pollination recommendations, it is still the best route to your most productive yield as the suggestions are based on cooperative traits between the two plants.

There are three different types of blueberries that you can grow, Low bush, high bush and rabbit eye. The growing zone you live in will determine which one grows best.

Growing zone: Low bush (Zones 3 to 6). High bush (Zones 5 to 7). Rabbit eye (Zones 6 to 9).

Time to maturity: 3 to 5 years

Pollination needs: Varies by type

Pruning/Thinning: After 3 years the plant will have established itself and should receive routine pruning each spring to cut back old growth or thin for air space.

Harvest time: Varies by type and variety. While a few ripen in June, most take until mid-July to early August. You can spread out your blueberry season by choosing multiple varieties that ripen at different times, just be mindful of each plant’s pollination needs.

Low Bush blueberries make a sprawling bush that lives low to the ground. They tend to grow better in northern climates. Because they grow so low they are more susceptible to rabbit damage both in winter and in peak season. I personally surround each of mine with a ring of rabbit guard fencing year round. I prune them in late fall right before the first snow. Then I cover them with half barrels or large buckets for added protection against animals who may try to use the snow drift as an escalator to get over the fence.

High bush blueberries are better suited for temperate to warm growing zones. They make a tall bush which often produces smaller berries than low bush varieties. Consistent watering is important if your area is prone to drought as a stressed bush may drop its berries in desperate dryness.

Rabbit eye blueberries are more suited for hot climates and produce very small berries on spindly plants. While they can handle drought a little better than high and low bush varieties, they still need to be tended and watered regularly.

Long term storage options: Blueberries that are flash frozen can be kept for up to six months in an air tight bag. Blueberry jam made with no-sugar added pectin is a great way to preserve the berries whole. They can then be spooned gently from the jar and used in things like pancakes and muffins.

Blueberries make a rather dry wine that requires a large amount of sugar to balance. As a result, blueberries are best companioned with another sweeter wet berry, like strawberry to make a blended fruit wine.

Elderberries

Elderberries are old school berry bushes which used to grow wild. Two related varieties exists, one originated in Eastern Europe the other from Eastern North America.  Early settlers in the New World used to look for elderberry bushes when choosing plots of land to homestead. It was generally considered that if elderberries were growing on a plot of land that it was a sign of good soil.

Growing zone: 3 to 8

Time to maturity: 2 to 3 years

Pollination needs: They can self-pollinate but will do much better when planted with a companion for cross-pollination.

Pruning/Thinning: After 3 years the bush should be established enough to handle thinning of less productive branches, which will improve ventilation.

Harvest time: Most ripen from late July to early August.

In the spring elderberry bushes bloom with a striking array of fragrant flowers. The flowers have a lot of medicinal value for stomach ailments. The berries themselves, when cooked and eaten help boost the immune system. Both the flowers and the berries are known for having strong antioxidant properties.

The berries should not be eaten raw as they can tend to cause a mild stomach irritation. The chemicals responsible break down quickly when cooked. Elderberries will draw birds initially, but the birds eventually develop the same stomach irritation and give up on foraging in the area. As a result elderberries are a nice companion plant for cherries, sour cherries and strawberries.

The bottom line is that elderberries are not the sort of thing you grow for the sake of chowing down on a pile of berries. They are only worth considering if you are going to explore and exploit their medicinal value.

Long term storage options:  The flowers can be dried and saved as tea. Or they can be slowly brewed and blended with sugar needed pectin, to make a jelly which can be canned and put up in a cool dark place for up to six months.

The ripe berries can be put up as jam for up to two years. The juice of elderberries makes a wine so tart that drinking a single glass of it may inhibit your ability to smile for several months. However when the juice is added to a sweet wine such as raspberry or strawberry it lends brightness while improving the depth of flavor for both ingredients.

Gooseberries and currants

Gooseberries are a member of the currant family. This family of plants tolerates modest shade well. This means you can plant them in less than ideal sun conditions compared to other fruit trees and berries. Gooseberries grow thorny bushes that continue to sprawl over time. If you have about 10 years of patience a hedge of gooseberry bushes is basically impenetrable to deer, rabbits and raccoons.

In the 1950’s it was found that gooseberries and some types of currants could harbor pine blister rust disease which has the ability to decimate pine forests. The federal government quickly banned the sale and cultivation of gooseberry plants. Decades later improved research revealed that only a handful of pine species were susceptible to the disease and regulations have since been eased up. It is still wise to check with your county agricultural extension office before you order them. Most reputable providers won’t sell gooseberries to states which still uphold the ban.

There are many different types of currants and gooseberries. Each one has its own unique flavor but all are tart and high in vitamin C.

Growing zone: 3 to 7

Time to maturity: 1 to 3 years

Pollination needs: While some are self-pollinating all do better when they are cross pollinated.

Pruning/Thinning: After plants have been established for three years you should only prune away dead branches to allow for better ventilation.

Harvest time: Varies by type, most produce from late June through late July.

Currants tend to grow between 3 to 6 feet high and they tend to grow as wide as they are tall. Since they have shallow roots they should not be planted in an area that is directly exposed to straight line storm winds. They should also be mulched each year with a thick layer of compost to keep the shallow roots moist in drought conditions. Bushes should be planted 6 feet apart to allow proper spacing.

Gooseberries can vary a little bit by type, but in general they grow 7 to 9 feet high and as much as 12 feet wide. They are also shallow rooted and require thick mulching. However, their roots are stronger and more diverse than currants and can handle exposed storm winds. If you are growing the plants for maximum production they should be spaced 6 to 8 feet apart. If you are planning to use them as a defensive hedge, then planting 3 feet apart might limit your production but it will give you an impenetrable wall of thorns in 5 to 7 years.

Long term storage options:  All gooseberries and currants are candidates for jams and jellies. While they are tart when eating out of hand, the sour flavor is not over powering. When gooseberries are made into wine, with the right sugar balance they make a crisp libation that is refreshing served ice cold, in a spritzer or used in a shandy.

Raspberries

Raspberries are in the same family as blackberries. Where blackberries have more versatility in their canes, raspberries have more versatility in their fruit. While all raspberries make aggregate fruit, some are dark purple, some are bright red and some are even bright orange.

There are some disadvantages to this versatility in that some raspberries are susceptible to diseases which they can then spread through the patch. Black raspberries in particular are prone to viral diseases and aphid infestations. Because of this they should be planted at least 100 feet away from other plants.

All raspberry plants can harbor early blight and should not be planted near a garden where tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or potatoes are planted.

Another major difference between raspberries and blackberries is that the core pulls free. While this might seem like a minor thing on the surface, it greatly improves the processing time after harvest.

Growing zone: 4 to 8

Time to maturity: Two years

Pollination needs: Self-pollinating

Pruning/Thinning: Dead canes should be removed as soon as you see them. If plants propagate to a degree where they are crowding each other you should transplant the smaller plants out of the area in early spring.

Harvest time: Most come ripe in early to mid-July. Some will continue to produce berries through the rest of the growing season.

Long term storage options: If they are quick frozen, raspberries will handle life in the freezer for 6 to 8 weeks before freezer burn sets into the spaces between the aggregate fruit. However it is probably better to make them into jam which can be canned and put up in the root cellar for up to two years.

Raspberry wine is very full bodied. The berries need to be heated up to 180 degrees for one minute in order to kill any bacteria living in the spaces in the aggregate fruit.

Strawberries

In my mind strawberries are to an orchard what vine ripened tomatoes are to the garden. They are the type of thing you just can’t get at the grocery store. To taste the magic of a vine ripened strawberry you just have to grow and pick it yourself.

Strawberries need cool soil temperatures to produce fruit. This means they do best when they are planted in a location that gets good morning sun and afternoon shade. They can be planted in scattered mounds or a single thick row.

The advantage of the scattered mound system is that for the first couple of years you don’t have to worry about thinning the plants and simply snake your way through the mounds picking. The disadvantage of the scattered mound system is that once they come into full maturity after 3 years you are dealing with pure chaos when you have to accept the fact that runner borne plants need to be transplanted in order to reduce crowding. Added to this is the fact that birds absolutely adore strawberries and a scattered mound system is harder to cover than a single long row.

Planting strawberries in a single row makes them easier to cover with protective netting. I have a series of 2” X 4” boards driven into the soil so the top is 18 inches above the ground to give added lift to the netting. This is convenient for picking as I simply walk down the row quickly folding back edges enough that I can make the quick pick before moving on.

Strawberries can take damage to their tender roots during a hard winter. If you live in growing zone 5 or colder you should burry strawberry plants under 4 inches of mulch just before the first hard frost.

Growing zone: 3 to 9

Time to maturity: 1 year

Pollination needs: Self pollinating

Pruning/Thinning:  After 3 years plants will be established and may become crowded. You can avoid crowding by transplanting runner borne plants in early fall. I simply walk down the row with a cardboard flat pulling out stray plants from the row as I cover the main row with mulch. The stray plants are then added to the end of the row or used to start a new row.

Harvest time:  Varies depending on type. See below.

Excluding Alpine berries which are more of a landscaping strawberry that you start from seed; there are essentially two different types of strawberries, June-bearing and Ever-bearing.

June-bearing strawberries produce a large amount of berries from early June until early July. They spend the rest of the growing season sending runners out to propagate new plants for next season. In general June bearing plants do poorly their first year. After that they produce nicely from year 2 through 4 before needing to be thinned out of the row or mound.

Ever-bearing plants produce a small amount of berries in early summer and late summer through early fall. Unless it’s a cool, wet summer the ground is usually too warm for ever-bearing strawberries to produce fruit in mid-summer.

For my time and money June-bearing strawberries planted in long, 3 foot wide rows are the way to go. In my experience the total amount of berries you get in that 4 to 6 week production period in early summer is still more than the total you get from the same number of ever-bearing plants.

June-bearing plants will even give you more flowers and fruit if you give them a dose of phosphorus rich fertilizer once a week starting as soon as the ground thaws.

Long term storage options: You can quick freeze strawberries if you lay them in a single row on a sheet pan in your freezer, if you turn it on the lowest setting so the fan starts blowing. The key is to freeze them as fast as possible.  After 4 to 6 hours they should be frozen rock hard and can be kept in zip-top bags for 3 to 6 months before they freezer burn.  However, when you thaw them you will still see a good amount of liquid that releases from the fruit.

Strawberry jam made from vine ripened berries, reduced on low heat, with low-sugar pectin is only slightly less magical than unicorns.

Strawberry wine, while it might be a cliché in several country music songs, is ultimately a great base for a standalone wine or to be used as a blend with other fruit.

Grapes

I’ll be honest with you here, grapes are probably one of the least practical fruits you can grow from a homesteading stand point. They really are a luxury fruit that take up a lot of time and space and require a long learning curve, which makes it difficult to justify the fact that many varieties don’t have a lot of long term keeper value.

Unless you are absolutely crazy about raisins and grape jelly or have designs on producing your own wine for trade with other homesteaders, then you have to get creative with how you justify growing them. That being said enjoying a handful of table grapes is a refreshing thing that reminds you just why we all love summer so much!

Grapes do poorly when exposed to hard winter temperatures, so make sure you are picking a variety that grows well in your growing zone.

There are essentially two different types of grape you can choose from, table grapes and wine grapes. Since wine grapes require a long growing season in order for them to develop full bodied flavor it is wise to not push the limits on your growing zone.  If you live in growing zone 5, my advice is that you pick a variety of wine grape whose northern limit is zone 4. It is a heart breaking thing to spend a full season pruning vines, training them onto lines and tending the grapes only to have them killed by an early fall freak frost.

Growing zone: 4 to 10

Time to maturity:  Varies by type, generally 3 to 5 years

Pollination needs: Most are self-pollinating but it is best to have at least two of the same kind to improve pollination opportunities by insects.

Pruning/Thinning:  After vines are established within 2 to 3 years they will require annual pruning.

Harvest time:  Varies by type but most require 160 to 180 frost free days to ripen the fruit.

All grapes must be trained to a trellis system in order to keep the vines properly ventilated. Also because the fruit is so high in sugar and water if it is allowed to touch the ground they will quickly rot. There are three types of trellis systems you can use.

A kniffen trellis is the classic trellis most people think of. It uses long rows of sturdy posts with wires strung between them.  The grapes are trained and tied onto the wires with a soft cotton twine. The trick with this kind of trellis system is to allow for three wires increasing in height. This allows you to give the vine something to grab a hold of early on to give it an anchor to climb. As the vine matures and the trunk grows taller you can remove the lowest wire with your first pruning.

I used a kniffen trellis with my first set of grape vines. While it worked, I planted it in an exposed area to give the vines maximum sun light. Unfortunately this also meant the area was exposed to straight line winds and in their fourth year the post system was compromised by the storm. If you are going to use this system of single posts I recommend a distance between posts of no more than 8 feet.

Also in hindsight I anchored the posts by pouring concrete at the base. When the soil failed it simply turned the post over. If I were to employ a single post system again I would use packed rock in the post hole instead.

A T-shaped trellis system is another alternative that I have seen used on small hobby farms that produce table grapes which grow on vigorous vines. The idea is that a single post rises in the middle of the row and the wires are suspended at the ends of the T’s.  This allows the vines to grow wider and sprawl out to soak up the sun. To be honest with you, the first time I saw this system was shortly after my blow down event and I was put off by the idea of using a single post in any system.

That experience led me to try using a V-Post and that is now the system I prefer to employ for grapes. The idea is that two posts rise at a modest angle from separate anchor points of packed rock. A spacer board is placed flat on them and bolted on each side with a single carriage bolt. It almost looks like you turned the legs of a picnic table upside down. Then wires are run from both posts down the line.

The single bolt allows a little bit of shimmy in the whole system, while the two posts still stay related to each other. After a major storm event you might have to go out and straighten everything up a little but you shouldn’t have a catastrophic failure that kills the vines.

Long term storage options: Grapes tend to ripen in clusters. If a cluster of grapes is only half ripened give it a few more days and they should all be ready for harvest.

Table grapes are really only good for canning as jelly or drying as raisins. Some wine grapes can be dried into raisins but most are only good for wine or wine blends with other fruits.

It is worth noting that the wood of pruned grape vines when properly dried is a great addition for grilling vegetables in the spring. The smoke produced by burning dried grape wood especially brings out the flavor in grilled onions and leeks.

Chapter 7 – Fruit trees

Apples

Apples are the back bone of most homesteading orchards. They are versatile, flavorful, healthy and when put up properly can be kept for a long time through the winter.

Apples will grow in zones 3 through 8. In general you find more crisp apples which keep longer if you are in the northern growing zones from 5b to 4a. This is a product of the apple’s relationship to cold weather. The apple tree itself needs a certain minimum number of chill hours for the tree to ready again to grow vigorously and produce fruit the next year.

Technically chill hours are supposed to be determined by the number of hours a tree spends at 45 degrees or colder. I would personally argue that the measure should be defined at 39 degrees, which is the temperature at which water begins to make the chemical change towards expanding into ice.

Also when apples are ripening on the tree, the fruit develops more flavor and longer keeping starch if the fall weather has cool nights and warm days. If you are thumbing through a fruit tree catalog and you see a cultivar you like that is rated for growing zone 4 to 6, the tree will actually produce stronger fruit which will put up longer in zone 4 than it will zone 6. In this way apples are sort of the opposite of grapes when it comes to the growing zone limit.

Apple trees need full sun and prefer well drained soil. If you don’t have a location that gets full sun all day long it is best to choose a location that in the fall gets good light in the morning through early afternoon. This will give the apple the best chance to ripen its fruit properly by capturing sunlight right away. Apples trees that have poor morning light and good sun in the afternoon often struggle to get their fruit completely ripe in the waning days of fall.

Well drained soil is an even more important factor for apple trees. While the roots do not like drying out they also need aeration and room to grow. Clay rich soils are death traps for apple trees. Sandy soil with a thick layer of mulch out to the drip edge is a much easier scenario to deal with.

Growing zone: 3 to 8

Time to maturity: 3 to 5 years

Pollination needs: All apple trees require cross pollination by a select few cultivars. A quality retailer will have this information readily available.

Pruning/Thinning: Once established after 3 years an apple tree will require pruning every spring to cut back unproductive growth and improve ventilation. An apple that is initially planted too deep or whose crown is covered for too long with mulch can sprout suckers from the base of the trunk. These suckers must be pruned in the dormant season as it will greatly sap the strength of the rest of the tree.

Harvest time: While there are some apples that will come ripe as early as late July or early August, most come ripe between mid-September and late October.

Apples must be trained to a central leader. Meaning a firm, tall stake is placed near the trunk at the time of planting and the sapling is tied to it with loose cotton twine. As the trunk of the tree thickens with age you will need to retie it. The goal of training the tree to a central leader is to develop a strong trunk which the tree can rely on like a spine for a lifetime of supporting a large volume of heavy fruit.

After the first year of growth you will want to prune the tree back to 4 primary limbs. The goal is for these four limbs to have an angle of less than 45 degrees from the ground. Meaning they should be closer to parallel to the ground than parallel to the central trunk. If they are at an angle more vertical than this you will need to use guywires to hold the limbs down.

Once the tree is firmly established to the point where the lowest branches emerging from the central trunk are 2 to 3 feet above ground level you can thin the tree again of superfluous branches to improve ventilation and tree balance. You may need to add limb spreaders for branches that are too close together.

As you prune the tree over the years be mindful to prune in equal balance. The tree is designed by the forces of nature to balance the wind blowing through it. So long as the volume of leaves and weight of the branches is balanced on all sides the tree will be able to withstand all but the most severe of storms.

If you live in zone 5 or colder it is a good idea to paint the lower trunk of the tree with a 1:1 mixture of paint diluted with water. This creates an additional skin that will help resist splitting in the cold. This is in addition to using a plastic wrap as protection against rabbits and other rodents.

Apples are pretty picky about their cross pollination needs. Most reputable dealers will tell you the best pollination partners for the trees you want to plant. Unfortunately dealers can run out of the partner trees you want. In this case there is a fall back in the form of the crab apple tree.  Crab apples, metaphorically speaking are the promiscuous cheerleader of the apple world. They flower for a long time in the spring, bees love their pollen and they easily cross pollinate with most apple trees. The disadvantage is that any apple which is cross pollinated by a crab apple are going to produce seeds that are invalid for starting and grafting your own trees in the future.

Long term storage options: While apples ripen best during fall days where cool nights are followed by warm sun, once they are picked they need to be kept cold. They should be placed and kept in temperatures between 35 and 45 degrees, in 80 to 90 percent humidity. While there is some forgiveness in the humidity, especially during the driest depths of winter, the cold requirements are absolutely critical.

Kept in optimum conditions I have seen crisp apples last up to 8 months. However once apples are allowed to warm up to around 55 degrees for even a day, it causes the fruit to release ethylene compounds which starts the process of the apple spoiling. Even if the apple is chilled down again after this the total life in storage will be diminished.

This means once it is picked it needs to go into cold storage as fast as possible and stay in cold storage without exception until shortly before it is used or eaten.

Apple wine is the back bone of many fruit blend wines. It is often crisp, clean and bright. It takes well to blending with sweet additions like strawberry or sweet cherry. If you use dry or tart additions like elderberry or gooseberry then you may need to amend with extra sugar in order to keep the brewer’s yeast alive long enough for maximum sugar to alcohol conversion.

Cherries

Cherries come in two different versions. Sweet cherries do better in temperate climates, while sour cherries do better in cooler climates, especially where harsh winters are prevalent. To be honest with you sweet cherries are another luxury fruit like grapes. Sour cherries tend to have the better long term storage value in pies, jams and jellies.

At the same time a life without sweet cherries is like a life without ever falling in love. Sure you’re not going to die but you will spend your time feeling like you’re missing out on something special.

Birds are the enemy of all cherry trees everywhere. Personally I would say the only thing that birds like better than bright red cherries are strawberries. This means you are going to have to cover your trees with bird netting. Sisyphus is having a better time rolling a boulder uphill for all eternity in Hades, compared to a man who decides to grow an orchard full of standard height cherry trees with dreams of keeping them safe from the birds.

Growing zone: 4 to 8 for sour cherries. Zone 5 to 8 for sweet cherries.

Time to maturity: 2 to 4 years

Pollination needs: Most need cross pollination. Even plants that are self-pollinated will still produce better when cross pollinated with a member of the same cultivar.

Pruning/Thinning: Cherries do better when they are pruned and trained to an open middle.

Harvest time: Most cherries come ripe between mid-June to mid-July.

Cherry trees need to be pruned and trained to an open middle in order to provide ventilation.

After a full year of growth you should prune back the central trunk and then select 4 primary side branches that are strong. Prune the last 1 to 2 feet off the end of these branches. They should be allowed to remain within a 45 degree angle of where the central trunk was. 

Over the next year they will sprout more side branches. The following spring you should allow the first suckers that spring forth from the initial 4 branches and then trim 2 inches after the first off shoot. This will allow the plant to continue to expand its canopy while also allowing the ventilation the soft wet fruit needs to stay free of mold and fungus.

Long term storage options:  One of the most underestimated aspects of picking and storing cherries is the need for ventilation once they have been picked from the tree. The high sugar and water content of the fruit makes it prone to gray mold and several unique forms of fungus that might not present themselves on the tree, but will bloom and grow like wild fire if left out in unventilated bags and boxes during the high heat and summer humidity.

As a result, it is best to keep cherries in 1 to 2 deep rows in flat boxes with a fan blowing on them for the first day after picking. Then load them into a refrigerated space to improve storage.

In general sweet cherries do poorly when they are made into jam or pie filling. With the right recipe they will put up in the root cellar for to 1 year. Sour cherries can last longer when put up as pie filling and jam with sugar-pectin.

Cherries make a very dry wine alone but when combined with a sweeter berry wine like strawberry they help improve the depth of flavor presented by each.

Pawpaw

Pawpaws are sometimes referred to as the Michigan banana. They grow on trees that look tropical with their large exotic leaves. The kidney shaped fruit usually weighs in around a half pound but some varieties can weigh up to a pound. The fruit even tastes tropical. Some are reminiscent of banana while others might taste a bit like papaya.

The trees take longer to mature to fruit bearing age than most other fruit trees. The might need up to five years before they bear their first fruit. However once the tree comes into full maturity it can produce 25 to 50 pounds of fruit each year!

A mature tree is 15 to 20 feet high and sprawls out to roughly the same size. Papaws need cross pollination from a compatible variety. A reputable supplier will note these for you.

Planting location is very important for pawpaw trees. While the trees appreciate full sun, they also do poorly when planted in an exposed location. Their large leaves tend to catch the wind and straight line winds can cause a great deal of damage. In fact I recently had two trees that I planted at the edge of a field completely destroyed by a mid-season wind storm!

For this reason alone it is probably best to plant Pawpaws in the middle of your orchard or in a location that is less likely to see straight line winds. For example where I live straight line winds tend to come from the West or Northwest. The pawpaw trees would probably have lived had I planted them in a location that was buffered by other trees or had an eastern exposure. As straight line winds rarely come from the east where I live.

Growing zone: 4 to 7

Time to maturity: 5 to 7 years

Pollination needs: Pawpaws need cross-pollination by another variety with beneficial traits.

Pruning/Thinning: Pawpaws naturally train themselves to central trunk. However early in their lives it might be good to stake them for added support.

Harvest time: Most ripen between mid-September and early October.

Pawpaws are somewhat rare in that you can actually harvest the seeds, replant them and get a viable tree which will be strong enough to produce fruit. The seeds need to be dried and kept in a cool location 39 degrees or colder, for a period of 3 to 4 months.

You can start them in a 1 gallon planter filled with potting soil and lined by burlap. The sapling can then grow in the 1 gallon of soil for the first year. The next spring you can wait until the soil has warmed up and all threats of frost have passed before transplanting the sapling. Simply pull the burlap out of the planter and set it in the hole, over time the roots will pass through the mesh of the burlap as the fabric decomposes.

Pawpaw saplings grow very slowly at first so you will have to be patient. Once they are three years old they should behave like any other sapling fruit tree.

Long term storage options: Pawpaws don’t keep for long in a root cellar. Just like peaches they can be frozen so long as they are peeled, halved, seeded and rubbed with lemon juice. Then store them in vacuum freezer bags for up to 6 months.

Pawpaw wine is a rare treat. Usually you can only find it in Lower Michigan. However since the trees tend to produce such a large amount of juicy fruit, even a modest number of trees can make you the talk of the county fair and farmer’s market!

Peaches and Nectarines

Peaches and nectarines are nearly identical fruit. Nectarines do not have the fuzzy skin peaches do. Both fruits have freestone and clingstone varieties. In freestone peaches the pit comes away easily from the fruit. Assuming you are going to be processing them in large volume for canning, freezing and drying, it is more convenient to choose freestone varieties.

All varieties of peaches and nectarines require a certain number of chill hours in order to produce new leaves and blossoms in the spring. You should not be cavalier about which variety you choose. Once a tree has sat dormant for its required number of chill hours it will spring back to life so long as the ground is thawed.

If your region is having a spring with wild swings of weather, this could mean that the tree would begin to blossom, or possibly even flower and a snap frost could come in and damage the tree for the rest of the season. This means it is absolutely imperative that you do not push the limits of what tree can grow in your area. When in doubt you should try to err on the cold side instead of warm.

In recent years, so called “Polar Peaches” have been gaining in popularity. Peaches like Reliance and Intrepid have been bred to need 1000 chill hours and grafted onto root stocks hardy enough to handle life in zone 4.

Growing zone: Zones 4 to 8 for peaches. Zone 5 to 9 for nectarines.

Time to maturity: 3 to 5 years. Trees in warmer regions will reach fruit bearing maturity sooner due to the longer growing season.

Pollination needs: Self-pollinating, but trees will do better with a companion.

Pruning/Thinning: Both peaches and nectarines need to be trained to an open center. Trees grafted onto semi-dwarf root stocks can be trained to a fence but they will produce less.

Harvest time: Most ripen from late July through mid-August.

Long term storage options:  Both peaches and nectarines do well when canned in a light syrup. They can also be peeled, halved, stoned and frozen. However they will brown if you do not first rub them down with lemon juice before freezing. The browning is a matter of oxidation not spoilage.

Peaches do not make a good stand-alone wine, but they are a great accent to add sweetness to other dry fruit wines like blueberry.

Pears

Pears are a bulky fruit, rich in fiber and vitamins. Once they grow to maturity they are heavy producers. This is even true of dwarf sized trees. This makes them a very convenient, space saving addition to your orchard.

Most pears are not self-fertile. This means you will want to plant at least one other variety. A reputable dealer will have suggestions on which trees to pair together. There are two different types of pears, European pears which tend to only grow in zones 5 through 8 and Asian pears which have more cold tolerance and can grow in zone 4.

European pears are what you are used to seeing in the super market produce section. They take well to being canned. Asian pears are more reminiscent of crispy apples.

Growing zone: Zone 5 to 8 for European pears. Zones 4 to 8 for Asian pears.

Time to maturity: 3 to 5 years.

Pollination needs: All pears require cross pollination.

Pruning/Thinning: Pears do better when they are pruned to an open center.

Harvest time: Most ripen from late August through September.

While Asian pears do poorly when landscaped into a living fence, European pears are quite amenable. With a little bit of patience and thoughtful pruning European pears will take quite well to living on a south facing wall or stout wooden fence. If you intend to train the tree to the wire line of a fence you will want to have strong founded posts and wires that can bear the weight of the large volume of fruit.

Because of their high sugar content pears tend to attract insects. Flies and ants all seek out the fruit looking for a good meal. The easiest solution is to spray the fruit with an organic insecticidal soap. Then it is also a good measure to spray the trunk. The soap on the trunk will slow down the advance of ants. Unfortunately you will have to reapply after each significant rain.

Long term storage options: Pears keep in the same cellar conditions as apples. They should be placed and kept in temperatures between 35 and 45 degrees, in 80 to 90 percent humidity. While there is some forgiveness in the humidity, especially during the driest depths of winter, the cold requirements are absolutely critical.

While Asian pears should go straight from the tree to the root cellar, European pears that may have been picked slightly under ripe will continue to ripen at room temperature for up to a week. After that week has passed they must go down into the cellar with all the others.

Asian pears do not take well to canning but you can sauce them like apples. European pears will take well to canning in a light syrup, so long as they are peeled, halved and the seed core is removed before canning.

Plums

Plums are a beautiful addition to any orchard and even dwarf varieties can be heavy producers. There are two different types of plums you can choose from. European plums have dark skins and yellow flesh. They are not as cold tolerant as Japanese plums. Japanese plums are red or golden skinned and have a firmed texture to the meat. They can tolerate the cold better and in fact require more chill hours in winter to be able to produce the next spring.

All plums require cross pollination. Japanese plums are very dependent on cross pollination from other trees that have beneficial traits. This can make it quite an issue when you first start your orchard, as some types of trees are in such high demand that they can sell out early. So if you plan on planting a stand of plums in your orchard this year, it is best to find a reputable dealer and pre-order while there is still plenty of snow on the ground. I didn’t take advantage of this when planting a stand of plums and as a result, my mature plums flower each spring then do poorly because their preferred partner is two years less mature and not able to flower yet.

European plums are far more forgiving. While they do need to cross pollinate with another plum that has beneficial traits, there is a wider range of European plums to choose from, so you aren’t as likely to be forced to pre-order.

Growing zone: Zone 5 to 8 for European plums. Zone 4 to 7 for Japanese plums.

Time to maturity: 3 to 5 years. Japanese plums are more likely to be closer to 3 years, European are more likely to take 5 years to produce.

Pollination needs: All plums require cross-pollination by companion trees with beneficial traits.

Pruning/Thinning: European plums need to be trained to a central leader, just like apples. Japanese plums because they sprawl out need to be trained to an open center. Japanese plums also have a penchant for crowding their branches with young new shoots. Once they are established, they will need yearly pruning in order to maintain proper ventilation.

Harvest time: Both types of plums ripen between early August and early September.

One of the biggest differences between the two plums, aside from the fruit, is their soil preference. European plum will actually tolerate moderate clay soils. This is related to the higher water and sugar content of their fruit. This makes European plums very attractive to people whose clay soil has limited their options.

Japanese plums are much more like apples in that they do not like having wet roots. This is probably a product of their crisper fruit. At the same time they still do require adequate moisture. So if you have overly sandy soil and struggle with the soil drying out, it is a good idea to apply a heavy amount of mulch around the tree, all the way out to the drip edge. Just be mindful to plant the tree a little higher so that the thick mulch layer doesn’t end up burying the crown or grafting swell of the tree. This could lead to the tree developing suckers from the crown and ultimately reducing the energy it puts into developing the main trunk.

Long term storage options: Japanese plums can be picked slightly under ripe and they will continue to ripen for up to one week at room temperature. European plums will not continue to ripen after picking.

Plums do not keep well in the long term as whole fruit. Instead it is better to either dry them into plums, can them as jam or process into wine. You can cut them in half, remove the pit and freeze them in quart sized zip top bags. They will keep in the freezer for 6 to 8 months. You can then thaw them, chop them and cook into a fruit chutney, sauce or fruit salad.

Plum wine is a real treat. Since the price of plums at the grocery store is so high, it isn’t very cost effective to make wine with store bought fruit. However the large volume you can get from your home orchard allows you to chop, press and juice the fruit in significant volume. While you can blend it with other fruit juices, plum wine is the sort of desert wine that can stand alone.

Chapter 8 – Nut trees

For the most part the nut trees that you plant today will be harvested at their peak maturity by your children and grandchildren. Nuts are dense in calories, fats and protein. Some, like walnuts have heart healthy oils. Nuts can keep for up to a year when processed and dried properly, this makes them a great supplemental nutrition source during lean winters.

Most nut trees are not grafted like fruit trees. This means they can grow to staggering heights casting massive shadows that you need to be mindful of when planning your plantings. Some nut trees like walnuts and butternuts release compounds into the soil called Junglone. These compounds are toxic to many other fruit trees and garden plants. The rule of thumb is that the plant transmits these compounds into the soil in a radius around the plant equal to twice the height of the mature tree. Even after the tree dies these compounds are released by the decomposing roots for up to 10 years.

The following entries are not meant to be an ultimate compendium of all nut trees. Instead think of it as a highlight of nut trees that can be grown in a wide range of growing zones.

Chestnuts

Chestnuts are one of the few nut trees that can be successfully grafted. They are also cold hardy to zone 4 but some grafted varieties are limited to zone 6. So be sure to do your research before buying. Chestnuts need to be cross-pollinated with another chestnut tree. The general rule of thumb is to space the trees no farther than 100 feet apart.

A commercial grower I met with years ago had come to the conclusion that 30 feet in-between trees was the ideal distance that allowed them to grow to their maximum height without crowding and shading, while still giving them the best pollination relationship.

Growing zone: Zones 4 to 9

Time to maturity: 5 to 6 years

Pollination needs: Needs cross-pollination

Pruning/Thinning: Chestnuts need to be trained to a central leader.

Harvest time: Most chestnuts ripen between mid-September and early October.

When pruning chestnut trees and training them to a central leader it is important to thin back weak branches and encourage the thick strong ones through the first five years. By encouraging the thick strong branches early you ensure the tree will be strong enough to hold the great weight of its bounty when it comes into maturity.

Long term storage options:  Chestnuts should be harvested and placed directly into cold storage. Luckily they keep in similar conditions to apples and pears. A root cellar with the temperature held in the mid 30’s and 90 percent humidity can keep the nuts for up to 6 months.

The most important key to preserving the nuts is to collect them as soon as they drop. Nuts that are allowed to sit on the ground, especially in rainy conditions can pick up fungal spores and bacteria that will carry over and invade the root cellar. Any nuts you harvest that are wet and dirty are better left in the field rather than risk bringing in unwanted microbes.

Hazelnuts

Growing zone: American zone 2 to 8. European zone 4 to 8.

Time to maturity: 2 to 3 years

Pollination needs: A cross pollinator of the same type.

Pruning/Thinning: They will eventually grow into thick hedges or trees with dense branches. Once the tree begins to make nuts you should prune back old unproductive branches every other year.

Harvest time: Early fall

Hazelnuts produce a small nut. There are two different types of hazelnuts, European and American. American hazelnuts have better cold hardiness and improved resistance to common blight and fungal diseases that can plague the trees.

Hazelnuts bloom in early spring, often before the leaves emerge from the buds. If you live in an area where spring weather can swing, causing random freezing events it is best to avoid planting hazelnuts in low lying areas. In these cases the trees should be planted on a high spot in the orchard that receives good morning light.

Most hazelnuts need cross-pollination by another tree. While you don’t need a unique variety it is best to pollinate American with American or European with European.

Long term storage options:  Nuts must be thoroughly dried before being put into cold storage. So long as they are kept in a cool dry place they will stay viable for up to a year.

Walnuts and Butternuts

A mature walnut tree is a big bold monster of a tree that produces nuts wrapped in hard green pods. While there are many different types of walnut tree, such as Carpathian, English and Black walnuts, they all share the common trait of needing many years to reach nut bearing maturity. Butternut trees are the kissing cousin of the walnut. They have all the same traits, growing habits and nearly identical nuts. The one major difference about the butternut is the fact that it can begin producing as early as 3 years.

Growing zone: Walnuts zone 4 to 8. Butternuts zone 3 to 7.

Time to maturity: 5 to 10 years for walnuts. 3 to 5 years for butternuts

Pollination needs: Walnuts and butternuts have male and female components. Because of this they need to have a compatible partner tree for cross-pollination.

Pruning/Thinning: Walnuts naturally develop a strong central trunk.

Harvest time: Butternuts ripen in August. Walnuts ripen between September and October.

Both walnuts and butternuts are deep rooted. These roots release a compound into the soil known as juglone. While this chemical is safe for the lawn, it has the ability to wreak havoc with other fruit trees and most garden plants. Because of this Walnuts and butternuts need to be planted a significant distance away from susceptible plants. The general rule of thumb is that the juglone will spread through the soil twice the tree’s height. When a walnut tree is small, this distance can be insignificant. However since some walnuts can grow to over 40 feet tall, you must take their mature height into account when planting.

Long term storage options:  Walnuts and butternuts both are laborious to harvest, process and prepare for long term storage. One advantage of English walnuts is that they fall free from the husk upon ripening. All other walnuts and butternuts the husk falls free from the tree, leaving it is up to you to get at the shell and nut meat inside.

The husks have a tacky substance on the outside that can stain just about every substance known to man, including concrete. It is best to collect nuts and lay them out on a tarp or multiple layers of overlapping newspaper. The nuts can also stain your skin, so it is advisable to wear gloves at all times when handling them.

Removing the husk can be a challenge. While I know there are websites out there that tell you to drive back and forth over them with your car, I personally have seen this go horribly awry. The nuts are round and if the tire hits them in just the wrong way they get squeezed out the side with incredible force. In my mind I would rather take the time to remove the husk by peeling with a dull knife. It’s simply not worth the broken windows and mutilated ankles that can come from a driving accident.

If you absolutely find the process of peeling the husks to be too tedious, you can try to roll them under your foot.

Once you have the husks removed you can dispose of them by burning them or throwing them away. They have a good concentration of juglone still in the old husks and should not be included into your compost or mulch.

Lay the nuts out in their shell a single layer deep on sheets of cardboard lined with newspaper. Place them in a cool, dry place with a fan blowing over them. Roll the nuts once a day for the first week to make sure they don’t have moisture settling out on the bottom. Painter’s desiccant placed in the corner of the room will also help speed the drying process.

After two weeks of drying, the nuts should crack open relatively easily using a standard nut cracker. If they resist, continue drying.

The nuts will store just fine in a cool dark place if left in the shell. Some people will advocate removing the nutmeat from each shell, and placing them in vacuum sealed bags for long term storage. While this may buy you some additional storage time, I don’t know that it matters much, considering the nuts left in the shell will keep for up to a year and you will be into next year’s harvest.

Also, walnuts are known to contain heart healthy Omega-3 fatty acids. Removing them from the shell starts the process that slowly breaks down the fats through oxidation.

Walnuts can also be shelled and blended into walnut butter. It is best to roast the nuts before grinding. This increases the flavor and sterilizes the nut meat. Blend the nuts to your preferred texture in a food processor. While the nuts are blending, you can add a dash of cinnamon and a modest sweetener like honey or stevia. The nut butter should then be kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

You can also extract Walnut oil from the nut meat but you will need a hand crank nut press designed to blend and extract the oil. There are kits out there which can do double duty both as a nut press and an apple cider press!

Conclusion

I understand that if you’re in the market to start your own homesteading orchard that it’s probably not in the budget to just buy 2 or 3 of each of the plants mentioned in this book.

In all honesty I don’t even have all of these plants any more. I left half of them back at my old property when I moved north into the wilderness.

So let’s imagine for a moment that you’re in a situation like the one I faced a few years back. I moved deep into the wild on the edge of forest, with 10 acres of sandy soil to work with and shallow aquifers teamed with rain barrels drawing from the barn roof for water.

Let’s also say you had a budget of around $300 to get yourself started.

Let’s also use the numbers from my favorite on-line fruit vendor’s catalog to help guide the example. Other than some berry plants, they sell most trees as bareroot plants.

What would I recommend you buy?

For starters you need something to keep you excited early and often. Nothing puts a smile on your face like picking your own vine ripened strawberries.

For starters I would go with two rows of Surecrop, June-bearing strawberries. A row of 25 plants costs around 10 dollars.

Next I would turn to the magic of Primocane Blackberries. You can get a six pack of plants for 25 dollars. If you plant them with around 3 feet of space between each plant they will continue to double themselves each year for nearly a decade before you are dealing with serious crowding issues.

Between the strawberries and blackberries you’ve got some early rewards for your patience.

For myself personally I turned to gooseberries because I use their thorny fast growing brambles for a defensive perimeter as well as a snow block for winter drifting. For someone who isn’t married to these notions I would advise blueberries.

You should be able to find 3 mid-bush blueberry plants for just under $12 per plant. Assuming they are carefully planned for cross pollination they should keep a family of 4 in blueberries for years to come.

So at this point you’ve got yourself covered on enough berry plants that will give you a small yield early that with time, thinning and proper care will turn into a pretty significant pile of berries that will carry you through from June straight through to late July.

Now the knee jerk reaction here is to turn to fruit trees next. However I think it’s best to finish strong so I’d say it’s best to finish with the hot and sexy fruit trees after planning some basic nut trees. Now if you live in the southern part of the country in zones 6 through 9 then warm soil loving nut trees like almonds and pecans will probably top your list. Since these nuts don’t grow in my region, I can’t really speak to them.

Instead going from my experience I would invest in two butternut trees. You can get them for around $20 per tree. Two of them will meet each other’s cross pollination needs. They should give you the very first nuts in about three years and will start to explode with production for decades and dozens of feet to come. Just be sure to plant them at the far end of your property so that the juglone won’t cause troubles with your garden or other fruit trees.

This means you now have $180 to spend on fruit trees.

In general you’re going to be able to buy fruit trees for around $20 per tree. Right off the bat the spine of your homesteading orchard is going to be apple trees. I would sink $100 into 5 apples right off the bat.

When it comes to size I would choose three apples that are dwarfs which you can pick by hand through most of the life of the trees. I would plant them south of two semi-dwarf apple trees. For the semi-dwarf’s I would choose a crisp variety that is known for its long term keeping ability.

This now leaves you with $80 for four more fruit trees.

These are the trees that can be your luxury items.

For my money an orchard needs at least two plum trees to give it a little magic. Choosing two trees that benefit from each other’s pollination needs will leave you with two more trees left to choose from.

This is admittedly a tough spot to be in when making your first orchard plan. There are so many attractive options to choose from and once you stick those last two plants in the ground, it means you will have to wait at least another year before expanding your options. And really that means waiting another three to five years before you see fruit from those second choice trees.

My personal pick would be to go with two pawpaw trees. Sure there is a bit of a bias here since I am still suffering the pangs of my last pawpaw failure. More importantly I would pick them because they are a luxury fruit, which needs a little longer than most other fruit trees to come mature. Once it does come into fruit bearing age it produces a large amount of fruit for eating fresh, making into jam or fermenting into a unique and delightful wine.

Getting a head start on pawpaws is a nice investment in the future to pay for your patience on the back end of the experience.

Final thoughts

Having your own homesteading orchard can indeed be a lot of work to get started. However, once you get it established it bears fruit and pays for itself in spades. The savings in total labor cost and the ability to trade bumper crops of fruit for other things your orchard and garden may not be able to provide is even more valuable than the orchard appears on paper.

Bonus Book:
Growing and Cooking Your Own Herbs

A Quick Start Guide to Growing and Cooking with Popular Herbs from Basil and Cilantro to Rosemary and Sage

Eric Beuning

Introduction

When I was a child my mother worked a lot of double shifts. While she was slaving away in a hot factory I was looked after by the elderly Italian woman who lived next door. She and her husband were immigrants who came to America after World War Two. They spent most of their adult lives running an Italian restaurant. They retired to the house next door just a few weeks before I was born.

Since my own Grandparents had passed away years earlier, I came to call them Grandma and Papa.  While the blood on both sides of my family is German, my childhood in Grandma’s kitchen gave me an Italian soul.

Each morning she would take me to the garden. I would follow along at her side as she tended to an immense assortment of herbs, tomatoes and peppers. As she weaved from row to row was always my job to hold the picking basket. She always started in the tomatoes, before picking her way through ripe peppers and finishing up in the verdant maze of fresh herbs.

I have wonderful memories of her laying fresh basil and rosemary top of a mound of crimson red, vine ripened tomatoes. She would then take my hand and we would walk back to the house. She would wash everything while I sat on the floor smelling the aroma of fresh herbs that had transferred from her hand to mine.

She sang classic Italian songs as she washed the vegetables. I never understood the lyrics but they were none-the-less a lullaby soothing me down for my morning nap. As soon as she was done washing everything she would scoop me up and lay me down in my day bed. She would finish the last song and I would put my herb scented hand near my face.

To this day the smell of rosemary and basil reminds me that I was loved.

I would get up from my nap an hour later and lunch was served. Steam bowls of fresh pasta enrobed in rich aromatic sauces, dressed with cheeses and fresh herbs. I would devour meatballs the size of my head and sop up red sauce with fluffy hunks of scarpetta bread.

Many people talk of their childhood memories with evocative descriptions of chocolate chip cookies, chicken noodle and Technicolor sugary cereals. For me it was those memories are scratch made Italian classics.

Unfortunately Grandma and Papa died shortly before my 9th birthday. Daily meals of scratch made Italian classics, fresh baked bread and aromatic herbs was ripped from my life. It was replaced by a soul rending menu that mostly consisted of cans of ravioli, frozen pizza and grainy microwave hamburgers.

I have spent years of trial and error in the kitchen, guided only by my memories as I learn to recreate her cooking. I found very quickly that the difference between dried herbs and fresh is night and day. This meant if I was going to create the magic of her spicy aromatic pesto sauce, I was going to have to learn to grow basil. If I was going to ever going to sink my teeth into the soft fluff of rosemary focaccia bread, then I was going to have to tend a rosemary bush.

One of the things that makes Italian cooking such a favorite at so many restaurant and kitchen tables is that to really do it right you have to use the freshest and best ingredients. You honor those ingredients by preparing them with care. The end result is a dish where everyone at your table can taste the love.

This is a product of putting in the time to learn how to grow and cultivate vegetables and herbs or find them at farmer’s markets and grocery stores. Sure, you can get these things from a jarred sauce or a freezer case box of something but it’s going to be the cooking equivalent of ending a hot date with handshake instead of a long kiss goodnight.

Even if you are not interested in Italian cooking, these basic herbs translate into many other recipes and types of cuisine.

The information that follows is from my own experience and research. It’s worth noting that I am not some master chef who studied in Naples. I am not hocking my knowledge to become the next celebrity chef with a cooking show and a spiffy catch phrase.

I am essentially just like you. I work a daily grind, I try to raise my daughter right, I work on the side as a freelance writer and I cook almost all of the meals my family eats from scratch.

Chapter 1 – Choosing the right equipment

I admit that developing a green thumb is to a home gardener what finding your voice is to an aspiring writer. It doesn’t always come easy, it might take a little more forethought than you expect and you’re going to have to learn from your mistakes along the way.

Some herbs are easy to start from seed. Others can feel like a total crapshoot before you find success.  With oregano you simply scatter seeds on dirt, make it wet and put it in a sunny window. Rosemary I was only able to germinate and nurture one good plant out of twenty five seed plugs.

On a practical level some herbs are just easier to buy from the nursery rather than spend countless attempts trying to grow from seed. Later when we get to the specific herb entries I’ll include notes on sourcing seeds versus plants.

This chapter will focus on the basic set up you will need to start herbs from seed indoors.

While each type of herb might have its own special needs through the course of the season, most will germinate with a little heat, water, light and peat moss.

Seed Starting Kits

A lot of stores these days begin offering seed starter kits sometimes called heated miniature greenhouses, or heated potting trays, as early as January.

The kit comes with an electric warming mat, resting in a protective base tray. Sitting on top of the heat mat is a domed potting tray full of small rehydrated peat moss seed plugs. When the peat moss plugs are properly hydrated and the warming mat is plugged in it supplies a gentle heat to the soil.

The constant heat supply is set around 72 to 75 degrees. The removable domed top of the potting tray keeps moisture from evaporating away. When you set the unit under grow lights or the sunlight from a window with a southern exposure, the seeds will in optimal conditions for germination.

Most of the time when you buy the kit it is an all in one package that is already filled with dehydrated peat moss seed plugs in it. Every year you can buy new plugs and reuse the rest of the kit. Just speaking from my own experience they generally start to lose a little something in the heating element after six years of heavy use.

Different annual herbs may have different start times before the season. So make sure you know how soon to start the seeds before the average last frost date for your region. If you don’t know the average last frost date for your area, you can usually find it by contacting or searching your state’s agricultural extension office. Since most herbs will not tolerate even a light frost on their delicate leaves you want to make sure plants will not be subject to frost. At the same time root bound plants can hurt the long term production during peak season.

Location

While it’s true that you could stick your potting tray and grow lights in any old basement closet and have modest success. There are a few factors to consider that will improve your chances of having strong healthy plants for your summer time garden.

Once seedlings germinate they will crave light. Even a strong grow light placed too high overhead will encourage a plant to grow its stem too long, become leggy and fall over. So you will want a location that allows you to adjust the height of your grow lights so that the bulbs are always two to four inches above the highest leaves of the plant.

You also want to have an area available outside of the heated potting tray. While some herbs crave bottom heat on their roots and will thrive, others will begin to get leggy if heat is kept in the soil plug for more than a day or two after germination.

For non-heat loving herbs you will want to remove them from the potting tray within 24 hours of germinating and pot them up into whatever seedling pot you have chosen for them to grow in until it is time for them to be transplanted into the garden.

I have a 24 inch by 48 inch wire bakers rack with adjustable shelves that I use every spring for potting up seedlings.  The wire shelves allow me to hook things on, adjust chains or store all the little odds and ends I need without cluttering up the main potting shelf.

Choosing, installing and using grow lights

These days there are a lot of options you can choose from when it comes to grow lights. There is more than enough science behind it to give you a nose bleed.

Here is a quick summary of your available options and what you need to know.

Plasma: This is a new form of grow light technology. It claims to have the best efficiency and best spectrum of light. From my initial research into the cost, energy usage and the amount of area a single average light can cover, this appears to be more of a commercial grow light.

LED: When LED grow lights first appeared in the marketplace a lot of technical promises were made that ultimately under delivered. While the technology, spectrum range and efficiency has improved rapidly in recent years LED lights can still be a pretty large upfront investment for something as simple as starting seedlings indoors.

High Intensity Discharge: This is probably the most common type of grow light. It is efficient and comes in two different options, Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium. For starting seedlings and over wintering herbs indoors you will want the Metal Halide Bulbs, which cast towards the blue end of the spectrum. High Pressure Sodium Lights tend to cast in the yellow end of the spectrum meant to mimic waning light of the fall season, which triggers flowering and fruiting plants to bloom. High pressure sodium lights tend to be used by people who grow vegetables indoors all year long.

Fluorescent: This is by far the cheapest and easiest of your grow light options. You will want to buy Full spectrum daylight bulbs, which cost around $10 each and from my experience they have an average lifespan of six years. Any standard 48 inch shop light fixture will hold the bulbs and costs between $15 and $20.The bulbs and the fixtures commonly go on sale in a lot of hardware stores in early February.

Personally I have been using a four fixture Fluorescent grow light system that I cobbled together years ago for $60. In the last seven years I have lost one fixture and one bulb, as a result of a spill while watering.

Window Box: In the spring of 2005 I planted more aggressively than my grow light space allowed. As a result I was forced to start and grow forty plants in a window with a great southern exposure. I can tell you from personal experience that it is possible to start and grow strong plants for a few weeks in a sunny window. In fact only two plants died in the window box before planting day.

It is obviously the cheapest option available to you if you have a window with a good southern exposure. Ironically it is also the most labor intensive. Since young seedlings crave light, they will bend and reach for the strongest light source. If you don’t rotate each seedling at least once per day it will cause them to reach too far and become leggy. A leggy plant can easily die if allowed to lean for too long. Even if it survives the weak stem can struggle against strong summer winds in the garden.

Placing a dozen or so plants on small trays or old cookie sheets is a fast option for rotating the plants.

If you do not have a window with a strong southern exposure you can get by with an eastern exposure. Seedlings will be most hungry for light in the morning. A pure western exposure encourages legging.

Chapter 2 – Get ready, set grow

Preparing and planting your seed plugs

Once you’ve established where you want to keep your seed tray you will need to rehydrate the seed plugs. The seed plugs start out as little coins of peat moss that you have to soak in water and they will expand for planting.

There are essentially two different types of soil plugs you can choose from, netted or non-netted. I always choose the netted kind, which comes wrapped in a small mesh that expands when the plug is rehydrated. The fine holes expand easily for the roots to escape when the seedling is potted up to a larger planter. The non-netted kind can sometimes flake apart as the roots expand or can get wedged the in the tray and break off when you pull them out.

Usually the instructions that come with the kit tell you place the dehydrated peat moss coins into little slots and fill the tray with warm water. The peat moss coins will slowly expand into soil plugs that are held in place by the plastic slots. I’ve personally found that this can be a problem since sometimes the soil plugs don’t absorb all of the water in the tray. It can be a real pain to try to pour away or bail out the excess water.

What I prefer is to use a small pale or ice cream bucket filled with warm water.  I put the exact number of dried plugs into in the water for the type of herb I am planting I’m planting at that time. Then I plant using the following procedure.

Step 1: The plugs will take five minutes to rehydrate. While they are expanding in the water, open your seed packet and dole out two to three times the number of seeds onto a sheet of white paper. I always plant at least double the number of seeds in case of germination failure. If all of them germinate I will later cull or remove the weaker plant by snipping it off where the root meets the stem.

Step 2: When the seed plugs are expanded place them in their spot in the potting tray. If you chose the mesh wrapped style of plugs gently use your fingers to fully open the mesh on top. Then use a tooth pick to rough up the top quarter inch of peat moss.

Step 3: Carefully place the seeds into peat moss and lightly sink them into the plug. The general rule of thumb is to plant the seed three times deeper than the diameter of the seed. Rarely will you exceed a quarter of an inch.

Repeat these steps for each type of herb you are planting. Then cover the potting tray with the clear plastic dome and plug in the heat mat.

While the germination time for each type of herb can vary, a seed in the starter kit will usually germinate in the first 7-14 days. I’ve had parsley take as long as four weeks and I’ve had basil germinate in 48 hours.

When a seedling first emerges it craves light and since some seeds actually require light to germinate, I will turn on the grow lights or place the kit in a window box immediately after planting. It’s a low feeling to come home from work and find that a little basil sprouted only to fall over and die from a lack of light.

Seedling Pots

There are a lot of different options available when it comes to selecting the pot you want to grow your seedlings in. In a pinch I’ve even used a 22 ounce red drink cup with a couple of pin holes in the bottom!

The tender roots of herbs can be subject to transplant shock when removed from their seedling pot. A plastic seedling pot is a cheap option but it increases the chances of transplant shock during its first week in the garden. For some herbs like oregano and rosemary transplant shock is nearly a nonfactor. For more tender herbs like Basil, transplant shock out of a plastic seed pot is a very strong possibility.

The ideal seed pot is one that biodegrades shortly after planting in the garden. There are several options available to you in the form of peat pots. These pots are made from dried and compressed peat moss.  When planted in the moist soil of the garden they begin to break up and allow the plant’s roots to grow through them within a week or so.

For the do-it-yourselfer there is the option of making your own pots from newspaper. The Newspaper option will indeed save you money but it will also cost you time and hassle. The basic premise is to find an object like a large tomato can or a wine bottle and wrap multiple layers of newspaper around it.  Then secure the seams with paper tape or organic white glue.

Paper mache is also an option for shaping and securing a pot made from newspaper and can be a fun way to dragoon your children into helping you. They get to feel like they are a part of the process and take part in watching their little plant grow. You get nimble little fingers that help save you time.

If you choose to make your own seedling pots from newspaper you will want to make sure the newspaper you source is printed with soy based inks and the tape or glue you use is biodegradable. Most non-glossy newsprint these days is made with inexpensive soy based inks but a quick call to the newspaper will confirm it for you.

Having worked with homemade newspaper pots in the past, they are not the ideal for herbs that will spend more than two to three weeks indoors. After successive watering the newspaper tends to break down and weaken.  It often splits at the seam or in the middle of the pot.

Since most herbs require six to ten weeks indoors, you will ultimately have to put a newspaper based pot inside of a plastic container in order to make up for the structural weakness. Or take the paper mache option.

Size

When it comes to selecting the size of seed pot you want to use, bigger is almost always better.  Herbs need a lot of water to feed tender, aromatic foliage. This means their roots like to spread.  As a good rule of thumb, I wouldn’t advise going smaller than a 4 inch diameter seed pot for any herb. If you’ve got the space, a six inch diameter pot would be even better!

Soil

While the peat moss of the soil plugs is the ideal medium of germinating plants and giving young tender roots something to grab a hold of, it is still low in nutrients. A sterile potting mix is preferable to using garden soil. Garden soil can hide fungus spores and pests that a young seedling lacks the strength to resist.

It is possible to mix garden soil with vermiculite and a little sand and sterilize it in small batches in a 180 degree oven. You don’t want to heat it over 180 degrees because it might damage the chemical structure of key soil nutrients. Test the temperature of the soil by inserting a meat probe into the middle of the batch. I can also tell you from experience that you should not expect a smile on their face when your spouse comes home to a house that stinks of burning dirt!

Choosing the Herbs

In early January seed catalogs begin flooding mailboxes as a world of opportunities and ideas explodes into a gardener’s imagination. It’s easy to thumb through pages and pages of lush green photography full of gardening articles and end up with a too-long laundry list of things you want to grow.

I have to admit that more than once I have gotten myself in over my head by trying to grow too many plants in a greenhouse too small for all my great ideas. Before you start planning out a hedge maze of rosemary or making plans to line your driveway with basil you will really want to make a plan that defines your limits and stick to it. A crowded garden is an unproductive garden and a stressed out gardener is missing out on the therapeutic relaxation that comes from putting your hands in the soil.

I start out every year making a garden plan.  I draw out my garden in scale on graph paper and sketch up my ideas before I even order the first packet of seeds. Coming up with a couple of rough drafts is a good way to get an idea of the number of plants you can grow without getting in over your head.

Another thing to consider is growing herbs in containers.  A five gallon bucket full of potting soil inside of a wood shell with herbs growing out of it can be as visually attractive on your patio as it is practical for your kitchen.

Planting and preparing your plants for life outside

Young seedlings that have only known the windless warm world of life indoors can rarely handle direct transplanting into the garden soil. Instead they usually require a two week period of hardening. Starting two weeks before your planned planting day you will want to put the plants outside each morning before you go to work and bring them inside each night before sundown.

If there is inclement weather or it is going to be unseasonably cold that day it is best to skip that day of hardening and leave the seedlings indoors. If you leave for work early and the temperature outside is 34 degrees or below, you should skip that day of hardening. Another rule of thumb to follow is that seedlings should not be outside on a day when the forecasted high is 39 degrees or below. The physical properties of water begin to change at that temperature and this has the effect of poor nutrient up take in the plants roots.

Preparation is your best friend when it comes to preparing for planting day. Even though you might have waited for the average last frost date for your region, there is still a chance of a freak frost. Make sure you check the advanced forecast for any potential frost. Any time you see the overnight low forecasted for 36 degrees or colder you should plan on covering the plants.

Tilling the garden is about more than just making the ground soft enough for you to get a shovel into, it’s also about providing soft soil for young roots to expand into as well as providing aeration. If you don’t own a tiller and can’t rent one, you can always use a spade shovel to spot till planting areas. When you spot till and area you want to loosen the soil in an area at least 2 feet in diameter and at least 18 inches deep per each plant.

When you planting the seedling remember that the soil needs to be kept loose. Only a very light amount of hand tamping near the base of the plant is required to help seat it in the hole. If you are concerned about the wind blowing it over you can drive a small wooden stake into the soil and lightly tie the plants stem to it using cotton twine. Water the plant thoroughly once it is planted, preferably with warm water.

If you suffer the misfortune of having planted all of your herbs and a freak frost warning you will have to cover the herbs the night before. Remember the coldest time will be the hours just before dawn. Let the plant capture the warm part of the sun the day before and then cover a few hours before sunset.

Watering the plant especially with warm water will help protect the roots and allow the soil to help retain some heat energy overnight. When covering the plants an old sheet is a better insulator than a plastic tarp. Covering the plant with a 5 gallon bucket is also an option. Once in a moment of desperation when I planted more than I had sheets and buckets for I did very well burying the plants inside mounds of fluffy straw. However this made for a lot of work delicately removing the straw the next day.

Do not uncover the plants again until the all threat of frost as passed. If there are back to back frost events in the forecast you can leave them plants covered for a full day and they will survive.

Each type of herb has its own unique needs through the course of a growing season. In the next section I will break each herb down to help you better understand how to grow it in the garden and cook with it in the kitchen.

Chapter 3 – Beloved Basil

Growing Basil

Basil is most commonly known as one of the essential herbs in Italian cuisine. It has a history that traces itself back into antiquity. Originally speculated to have originated in India, it has spread across multiple continents. Basil comes in many different varieties that have found a place in several ethnic cuisines. However most of what you find in America these days is forms of mammoth or sweet Genovese basil.

Basil grows a large bushy plant with large jade colored leaves. It prefers to grow in full sun when well watered. However since the upper leaves can sometimes suffer from sun scald you will get a larger total yield if you plant it in a location that has light shade in the afternoon.

Basil does poorly if you attempt to bring it indoors for the winter as the upper leaves tend to shade out the lower leaves and the new growth emerging from the stem. However if you grew the basil in a container during the summer you can often extend the season by bringing it indoors and placing it in a sunny window. Rotating the planter 90 degrees each day and water it with warm water can buy you as much as four to six weeks of life.

Cooking with Basil

Basil is often one of the most expensive herbs in the grocery store is wilted. Even then what’s offered is usually some half dead weak version of the vibrant aromatic magic you can pick fresh from your own garden.

Incorporating basil into a cooked sauce accents its flavor, while using it fresh or whole in meat dishes accents its aromatics. Basil also can play a vibrant role many salads and has even made forays into the world of desserts.

A chiffonade is a common way to chop basil. Simply stack the leaves from largest to smallest. Roll them up like a miniature cigar. Then using a chef’s knife cut the roll into 1/8th inch sections. When the roll releases you will have many small ribbons of basil. These ribbons of basil are a great way to garnish a dish.

Basil featured recipes

Pesto

Pesto is the quintessential application of Basil. This classic Italian sauce is easy to make and goes great as tossed with pasta or served alongside meat. Pesto pairs well with beef, chicken, lamb and shrimp.

A pesto sauce is traditionally made with basil, garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese and pine nuts. Pine nuts can sometimes be expensive. It can often feel ridiculous to go through the effort of growing your own basil to cut cost, only to spend fifty dollars in pine nuts over the course of the summer. Pistachio nuts are an inexpensive substitution, which allows you to bring the price down without sacrificing texture or quality.

Yes if an Italian purist was in the kitchen and saw you using pistachio nuts they would probably back hand you. To be honest I think the difference is minimal. Just be mindful to choose unsalted pistachios. If the only pistachio nuts you can find are salted, then reduce the salt in the recipe below by half.

Equipment

Food Processor

Work Bowl

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons pistachio or pine nuts

2 Garlic cloves, peeled

3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 Cups basil leaves

1/2 Cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 teaspoon salt

Procedure

Step 1: Run the motor of your food processor as you drop the pine (or pistachio) nuts and garlic through the feeder chute. Process until minced.

Step 2: Drizzle the olive oil slowly and pulse three times.

Step 3: Add the basil, Parmesan cheese and salt. Pulse 3 to 5 times until you have a smooth green sauce.

When pairing pasta with pesto sauce the texture of the pasta often dictates how the two should be combined. I find that with a smooth noodle such as linguini or fettuccini that it is best to serve the dish pesto on top or on the side. This is especially true if the dish is served with a whole meat such as shrimp or a fillet of chicken. Along with the visual appeal, allowing the sauce on the side gives the diner the option of dipping the meat in it or tossing the pesto into the pasta.

If a textured noodle is used or a meat is integrated into the dish, then I prefer to toss the pasta with the pesto. The main reason for this is to allow the pesto sauce to impregnate all the textures and contours of the pasta.

Pesto is best if lightly warmed and then added to the dish. The natural oils and flavor compounds that give basil its aromatic qualities are fleeting when exposed to heat. Thus a short cooking time is preferred.

Frittatas

Frittatas are most commonly used as a breakfast dish or casserole. The modern day “Breakfast Bake” casserole essentially evolved out of a classic frittata recipe. What has now become a mishmash of bacon eggs and vegetables tossed with toasted corn cereal, started life as a delicate and herbaceous meal. The 20th century was not kind to the frittata. With the renewed interest in scratch made cooking and whole foods, this dish is finding a renaissance at breakfast as well as the supper table.

Equipment

10 inch cast iron skillet or oven safe pan

Non-stick frying pan

Work Bowl

Whisk

Ingredients

6 Whole large eggs

4 Egg whites

2 Ounces parmesan cheese, shredded

1/2 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 Cup basil leaves, chiffonade

1 Tablespoon of fresh oregano, chopped

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 A large red onion, julienned

2 Cloves of garlic, minced

6 Slices bacon or cured ham, chopped

2 Cups sliced mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

8 Ounces of asparagus or 1/3rd of a green bell pepper trimmed to 1 inch pieces

Procedure

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Step 2: In a large work bowl whisk together the eggs, egg whites, Parmesan cheese and black pepper. You can reserve the mixture in your refrigerator for up to one hour.

Step 3: In a 10 inch cast iron skillet or oven safe pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-low heat. Add all of the vegetables except the garlic and sweat them until the onion begins to take a little color. Approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

Step 4: Once your vegetables have started sweating add your bacon or chopped ham to a separate non-stick pan. Cook the meat thoroughly, approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

Step 5: Add one tablespoon of olive oil to the 10 inch skillet and combine meat and vegetables. Add the minced garlic. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and tilt to evenly distribute.

Step 6: Sprinkle the herbs lightly over top jiggle the pan to help them incorporate. Then sprinkle on the cheese. Place the pan in the oven and bake until top is lightly browned and eggs are fully set.

Cook time approximately 10 to 12 minutes.

Step 7: Once the eggs have set and the top is browned remove the pan from oven and let it cool slightly.

Cut into 6 pie shaped wedges.

Serving with a side of a tomato and parsley chutney and/or a dollop of seasoned sour cream is a nice touch as the cool component will play well against the heat and richness of the frittata.

Basil Sorbet

This is a sweet savory dish that can be used a palette cleanser or as a desert course. The coolness and sweetness of the sorbet plays well with the aromatic elements of basil. Adding lemon juice can take the sorbet towards the sweet desert end of the flavor spectrum. While adding a few table spoons of pureed cherry tomatoes can highlight basil’s savory aspect.

Equipment

An ice cream/sorbet maker

A large work bowl with a cover

Silicone Spatula

Ingredients

2 Cups water

2 Cups granulated white sugar

1 Tablespoon lemon zest (Sweet) or 3 Tablespoons pureed cherry tomato (Savory)

2 Cups fresh basil (rough chopped and packed)

1/8th Teaspoon salt

1 Cup fresh lemon juice

Procedure

Step 1: Make a simple syrup by simmering the water on low heat before adding, sugar and lemon zest. Cook mixture until the sugar is fully dissolved. Remove from heat.

Step 2: Add the basil and salt. Let the mixture steep and cool down for half an hour at room temperature before stirring in the lemon juice.

You can cover and refrigerate overnight.

Step 3: Two hours before you plan to serve, strain the mix through a fine mesh sieve.

Step 4: Turn on the ice cream maker and slowly pour the mixture into the core. (Or otherwise follow manufacturer’s instruction).

Step 5: Allow the mixture to run until it thickens to the consistency of soft serve ice cream. Approximately 20 minutes. If you are making a savory sorbet, you can add the chopped cherry tomatoes at any time once the ice cream maker is in motion.

Step 6: Scrape the sorbet from the core into a large work bowl.  Lid and place in the freezer for one and a half to two hours to harden.

The Sorbet is best served in a parfait glass with a garnish of basil cut in chiffonade ribbons.

Basil is an herb that works and plays well in so many applications that it is only limited by your imagination. If you love basil and you don’t want to drain your bank account buying wilted leaves at the grocery store, then it’s well worth the time to learn how to grow your own!

Chapter 4 – Cherish the Chives

Growing Chives

Chives are a perennial herb available in classic onion and garlic varieties. They are members of the allium family along with onions and garlic. As such they prefer cool soil temperatures and afternoon shade.

Chives are easily grown from seed. Their first year they are not yet frost hardy, so if you do grow them from seed plan to start them indoors 10 weeks before the average frost date. After the first year this frost hardy perennial will be able to survive all winter long with little more than an insulating layer of mulch or straw.

However if you plant chives in a one or two gallon container you can then bring them in during the winter and they will do quite well in a window box if you rotate the planter 180 degrees every two days.

Chives should be harvested before individual strands make seed heads. When harvesting cut near the soil line. Be mindful not to cut any of the white bulb root core.

Cooking with chives

Chives have a mild onion flavor that is also pervasive and long lasting. Chives are a great way to add the aromatic flavor or onion to a dish without having it dominate a diner’s palette. Since they are a vibrant green they also add visual appeal as a topping or a garnish to many dishes.

Chive featured recipes

Garlic Chive Mashed Potatoes

Cream cheese, milk, and chives add richness and flavor to mashed potatoes. While this recipes calls for russet potatoes unpeeled red potatoes are also a nice substitution for added color and nutrition.

Equipment

A large cook pot

Colander

Potato Ricer

Silicone Spatula

Ingredients

10 Medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut in half

4 Ounce cream cheese, cut into cubes

4 Tablespoons of butter

4 Cloves of garlic, whole and peeled

3/4 Cup hot milk

1-1/4 Teaspoons salt

1/2 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 Cup chopped fresh garlic chives

Procedure

Step 1: Add the cloves of garlic to the pot with the potatoes. Cover with 2 inches of water and boil gently until potatoes are tender. Cook time approximately 15 minutes.

Step 2: Drain and return to the pan with the heat off.  Pass potato halves and garlic cloves through the potato ricer for a fine texture. If you are using red potatoes a rough mash with a potato masher is better.

Step 3: Add the butter, cream cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Fold them together with the silicone spatula.

Step 4: Once combined fold in the garlic chives and prepare for service.

By adding the chives at the end it refreshes the aromatic component of garlic. The garlic flavor of the chives lends itself best to red meat dishes. These flavor profiles pair well with a medium red wine like a Pinot Noir or Shiraz.

Sour cream and onion dip

For decades the classic form of this dip was to stir processed French onion soup mix with sour cream. Wait one hour for the flavors to meld and your party goers could double dip their chips with reckless abandon into a sea of salt, onion powder and rich sour cream.

If you are looking for an alternative to this dip that uses fresh ingredients instead of twenty-six letter long preservatives, then chives can bring flavor as well as visual appeal. This is also a great topping for baked potatoes, potato gratin or used as a condiment alongside a frittata or omelet.

Equipment

A medium work bowl with a lid

A mixing spoon

Serving tray or bowl for holding dip

Ingredients Multiply ingredients to match the number of diners as needed.

1 Cup of sour cream (Fat content your preference)

1 Tablespoon cold milk

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 Cup chopped chives

1/2 Teaspoon of smoked paprika or old bay

1/2 Cup of red onion (Minced)

Pinch of Salt

1/4 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Procedure

Prepare this dip two hours before you plan to serve. The additional time sitting in the refrigerator will allow the flavors to meld.

Step 1: Place sour cream, milk and lemon juice in the work bowl and stir aggressively until the mixture is smooth.

Step 2: Fold in chopped chives, smoked paprika, salt and pepper.

Step 3: Cover and refrigerate for up to two hours.

This recipe serves 2-4 guests depending on what other snacks and side dishes you offer. For a natural flavored dip like this I recommend plain or kettle cooked potato chips to other flavored and over seasoned varieties. The artificial flavorings can drown out the subtle earthy notes of the chives.

Chapter 5 – Save room for Cilantro

Cilantro is an herb used primarily in Chinese, Indian and Mexican Cuisine.

It is best to start from seed and make staggered successive plantings through the season. Cilantro struggles to germinate some times in warm soil so it is best to start it in small peat pots without using the heated potting tray. Cilantro does well when planted in containers, however high heat causes it to bolt to seed. Polyurethane foam or wooden planters are a good choice for container growing cilantro as they help insulate the soil.

Cilantro should be planted in a location that gets good morning sun and moderate shade in the afternoon. Keep the soil covered and well watered. Every time you harvest a cilantro you should plant more seeds in its place to maintain fresh successive plantings through the season.

The seeds of cilantro can be harvested and ground into the spice coriander.

Cooking with Cilantro

Fresh cilantro has an intense fresh flavor. If you are too heavy handed with cilantro it can quickly take over a dish. Cilantro and coriander both have medicinal qualities as a diaphoretic as well as an appetite stimulant.

Cilantro feature recipes

Pico de Gallo

This is the quintessential condiment used in many forms of authentic Mexican cooking. You can use it to dress tacos, fajitas, spoon over a soup, serve alongside an entrée or simply use as a dip for chips. Pico de Gallo is a condiment that brings freshness and life to just about any dish.

Equipment

Small Work Bowl

Silicone Spatula

Lime juicer or press

Ingredients

2 Plum tomatoes (or 1 cup of cherry tomatoes) diced

1 Medium red onion, chopped fine

1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

2 Sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped fine

1 Clove of garlic chopped fine

1/8 Teaspoon sea salt

1/8 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

The juice of 1 lime

Procedure

Step 1: Wash and chop all vegetables and place in a medium work bowl.

Step 2: Add salt and pepper

Step 3: Pour the lime juice over the top folding with a silicone spatula to integrate all ingredients.

Step 4: Refrigerate for a half hour before service to allow the flavors to meld and the Pico de Gallo to chill.

Step 5: Taste to check the strength of the Cilantro. If you want more herb flavor, chop and sprinkle more and toss lightly.

Salsa Verde

This fresh salsa is made from tomatillos (Green husk tomatoes), cilantro, garlic and peppers. You can serve it as a condiment, make it into a soup or can it as a salsa.

Equipment

Hot pan or a cast iron griddle

Food processor

Large work bowl

Large cook pot

Ingredients

1 Pound tomatillos, husked and washed

1 Medium yellow onion, chopped

4 Cloves garlic, pan roasted

4 Tablespoons cilantro, rough chopped

2 Jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped fine

1/4 Teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 Teaspoon sugar

Salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Procedure

Step 1: Remove and discard husks from tomatillos and wash the natural stickiness with warm water. While you are cleaning the Tomatillos, heat a hot pan or skillet on the range or grill.

Step 2: Place the garlic peppers and tomatillos in the hot pan and dry roast them to activate the sugars. This heating brings out the depth of flavor. Stir constantly until you see the garlic turn dark brown or the skins of the tomatillos get black spots.

Step 3: Remove the ingredients to a large work bowl and allow them to cool down for 15 to 20 minutes.

Step 4: Add all ingredients into the food processor. Make sure to include any liquid from the work bowl.  Pulse the food processor until the ingredients take on the consistency of a chunky salsa.

Salsa Verde can be served chilled as a dip for chips or a cool condiment for tacos and fajitas.  It can be canned and will keep up to two years. It can also be used in cooked applications such as white chili.

Chapter 6 – Don’t forget about Dill

When most of us think of dill we immediately think of it as the essential herb for canning pickles. However dill has a long and storied history through many cuisines across Europe, Asia and parts of the Middle East. In fact Dill is a very most popular herb in Scandinavian cooking.

Dill is usually available in many garden nurseries but is also easily grown from seed.  Since dill grows quickly and can bolt to seed in warm soil temps. You don’t need to start seeds indoors any sooner than two weeks before the average last frost date for your area.

Dill seed and the fronds/leaves both have culinary uses.  Deciding which you prefer is an important aspect of selecting the growing site. In warm soil temps dill bolts to seed, so for someone who is interested in dill seed, a full sun location would be better.

More commonly people grow dill for the use of the fronds or foliage. In order to keep the plants from prematurely bolting to seed you should select a location with good eastern light in the morning and light to dappled shade in the afternoon.

Dill is also rather delicate and high wind exposure can damage fronds and stems. It also should not be planted near cilantro or fennel as they are in the same family and cross pollination can cause issues in flavor profiles and seed saving.

Dill does not like drying out, so make sure to keep it well watered. A light layer of straw mulch can help a lot during a heat wave.

Cooking with Dill

Dill brings zesty yet earthy flavor to dishes it is seasoned with. The same flavor profile that traditionally lights up pickled cucumbers also brings brightness and depth to seafood dishes.

Dill featured recipes

Dill Marinated Whitefish with cucumber chutney

It’s quite possible that Great Lakes Whitefish is one of the most underappreciated fish in America. It can be a little bony and needs a slow cooking application in order to help the clean white meat pull easily from the bone.

The Whitefish is marinated in dill and garlic vinegar before being baked. It can be eaten hot or allowed to cool in the refrigerator for up to two days before being dressed with a refreshing dill and cucumber chutney. The chilled application is a great meal or snack for hot summer days.

Equipment

Zip top bag (Gallon size)

Baking rack or half sheet pan

Medium size work bowl with lid

Gallon size zip top bag

Ingredients

Whitefish preparation

Vegetable oil

2 Fillets of white fish (approximately 4 pounds) Trimmed of any fatty edges.

2 Cups coarsely chopped fresh dill

1 Medium red onion (chopped)

1 Teaspoon coarse ground sea salt

1/4 Teaspoon ground pepper

6 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

Chutney

4 cups cucumber, diced peeled seeded

1 Cup cherry tomatoes (chopped)

1/2 cup chopped fresh dill

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

4 teaspoons coarse ground sea salt

Procedure

Prepare and marinated the fish the night before you plan to cook.

Step 1: Finely chop dill and onion. Sprinkle each fillet with salt and pepper. Gently massage the dill and onion mixture into the fish. Carefully slide the fillets into a gallon size zip top bag before slowly pouring the vinegar over them. Seal the bag and chill overnight.

Step 2: The next day preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Move the fish from the bag to an oven rack. Bake uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes.

Step 3: Serve hot or let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.  You can cover and chill at least 2 hours in the refrigerator as this dish is also delicious and refreshing when served chilled.

Chutney recipe

Step 1: In medium bowl combine diced cherry tomatoes with cucumber, dill, vinegar and salt.

Step 2: Let stand in refrigerator for 2 hours. Stir occasionally. Season the chutney with fresh cracked black pepper right before service.

For service: Remove any loose dill from fillets. Cut crosswise into portions. Slide spatula or large metal spoon under each, separating the meat from the skin.

Arrange fish on plates. Drain any excess water from the chutney and spoon over fillets. Dress the remaining chutney on the side.

Pickled Asparagus

The process for pickling asparagus is very similar to pickling cucumbers. Pickled Asparagus is an application that exists just as much out of a sense of practicality as it does flavor. Dill tends to either bolt or bush out faster than you can use it around the same point in summer that mature asparagus can start to get woody. So this is a great way to make the most out of both bounties.

Equipment

5 pint jars, washed and sterilized

Large cook pot

Canning pot or stock pot

Washed rings

New canning lids

Ingredients

5 Pounds fresh asparagus, washed, cleaned and cut into 4 inch spears

2 Cups rice wine vinegar

2-1/2 Cups water

2 Teaspoons mustard seed

1 Tablespoon pickling spice, in a spice bag or tea ball

2 Tablespoons pickling salt

1 Teaspoon granulated sugar

In each jar add

Dash cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon fresh dill, chopped

1 whole clove garlic

Procedure

Step 1: Place trimmed and washed asparagus spears in boiling water. Blanch for two minutes. Place garlic, dill and cayenne pepper in bottom of each jar. Pack the asparagus spears into each jar in an upright position.

Step 2: Combine vinegar, water, pickling salt, mustard seed, sugar and tea ball of pickling spice into saucepan and boil. Turn off the heat and steep for 10 minutes. Remove the tea ball and discard.

Step 3: Pour brine over asparagus and seal the jars with rings and new lids.

Step 4: Place jars into canner of boiling water for 10 minutes. Cool.

Store the jars in a cool, dark place. Pickled asparagus is a nice element for a snack tray. It pairs well with pickled fish, smoky cheese and a white wine like Pinot Grigio.

Creamy Mustard and Dill Sauce

This sauce is a great accompaniment for any white meat dish. You can add a fine chopped dill pickle to this recipe if you want a new take on tartar sauce. The sauce can be made 24 hours in advance and refrigerated. The additional time will help the flavors to meld.

Equipment

Medium work bowl with lid

Silicone spatula

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon dry mustard powder

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 Cup mayonnaise

1/3 Cup sour cream

1/4 Cup stone ground mustard

3 Tablespoons fresh dill chopped

1 Tablespoon smoked paprika or old bay

Coarse ground sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Procedure

Step 1: Combine dry mustard powder and lemon juice in a medium work bowl. Wait 2-3 minutes for the lemon juice to hydrate the mustard powder.

Step 2: Add the mayonnaise, sour cream, stone ground mustard and dill. Fold together with a silicone spatula until properly combined. 

Step 3: Stir in smoked paprika and old bay. Taste and add salt, pepper or more lemon juice if desired.

This sauce can be covered and refrigerated for up to a day.

Chapter 7 – Be mindful of Mint

Mint is an herb that is best grown in a container. Mint propagates itself by sending out root runners as well as self-seeding. If you plant it uncontained in a garden it will slowly begin to take over and crowd out other plants. If you don’t want to container plant mint you should still cut the bottom off of a 5 gallon bucket and sink it into the soil. The root runners cannot exceed a depth of 12-14 inches.

If you intend to save your own heirloom mint seeds it is important to note that Mint is a promiscuous pollinator and as a result tends not to breed true. If mint is allowed to cross pollinate the resulting new seed will usually create a plant with a muted mint flavor. If you want to grow two different types of mint you will want to separate them in pollination isolation by a distance of at least 400 feet.

There are literally hundreds of different varieties of mint. In fact the mint family even includes catnip. However the two most popular varieties of mint are peppermint and spearmint. For my personal tastes I find peppermint to be the more multipurpose of the two.

While you can find mint seeds from reputable vendors it is probably easier to simply buy the plants you want from a nursery store in late spring. When it comes to determining the number of plants you want to buy I recommend three. Through the course of a growing season you should be able to harvest enough mint to keep the family in julep, jelly and mint ice cream by rotating your harvest through three plants. At the end of the season you can then completely harvest all three plants and dry them for tea.

Growing Mint

While mint seeds prefer to germinate in soil around 70 degrees, the ideal growing conditions through the main season calls for partial shade. Mint is a natural deterrent for several insects that plague cucumbers. Mint planted in a container behind a trellis of cucumber vines is an excellent companion planting option for both plants as well as a great way to save space in the garden!

Through the season mint prefers cool soil temps and modestly watered soil. Sandy soil should be avoided. Garden soil or rich loam is preferred for their water retention qualities. Early in the season mint will enjoy a helping hand from a weekly dosage of a nitrogen rich fertilizer. After a month the plant should be established and will require no additional fertilizer through the season.

Mint leaves can be harvested at any point after the plant has established itself. However you should try to never harvest more than half of a plant’s leaves at a time.

Mint planted in a container or planter does poorly if you attempt to over winter it indoors. When placed under grow lights or in a sunny window the upper leaves tend to shade the lower leaves. The best you can hope for is extending the season by placing the planter in a sunny window with a southern exposure and rotating the planter 90 degrees daily.

If you live in Growing Zone 5 or warmer mint will survive in a planter outdoors over the winter if you bury the planter in the ground and cover it with 4-6 inches of straw.

Mint Featured Recipes

Mint Ice Cream

One of my favorite summer time treats is mint chocolate chip ice cream made with fresh mint straight from the garden. Commercially produced mint ice cream is made from distilled extracts, which tend to pull only one flavor note out of the mint oils. Fresh mint from the garden, steeped in cream creates an entire symphony of earthy yet minty flavors that melt on your tongue while cooling and cleansing your palette.

If you are used to mint ice cream being a radioactive shade of green, you will want to add some green food coloring. Fresh Mint will only produce a pale green ice cream.

Equipment

Ice Cream Maker

Medium Sauce Pot

A large work bowl

2 Tea Balls

Ingredients

2 Cups Milk

2 Cups Heavy Cream

1 Cup Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

8 Tablespoons Peppermint, bruised and rough chopped

(Optional) Green Food Coloring

(Optional) 3 Tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped

Procedure

Step 1: Pour the heavy cream into a small sauce pot on low heat. 

Step 2: Bruise the mint leaves gently with your thumb and forefinger before rough chopping them. This will maximize the mint oils released. Turn off the heat and place the tea balls into the tea balls and set them in the heavy cream. Steep the mint for 20 minutes.

Step 3: Remove the tea balls and stir in the sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved place the pot in the freezer to chill for approximately a half hour, check periodically and scrape any ice crystals that might form on the side of the pot.

Step 4: Add all ingredients together in a large work bowl and stir thoroughly to combine. If you prefer to have chocolate pieces in your ice cream this is the stage to add them in.

Step 5: Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for your ice cream maker.

Step 6: In general, after a half hour in the ice cream maker the mixture will have the consistency of soft serve ice cream. Scrape the mixture back into the large work bowl and place it in the freezer for 1-2 hours until it hardens to your desired level of firmness.

Peppermint or Spearmint Tea

You will inevitably come to a point in early Fall when a hard frost is eminent in the forecast and you’ll be forced to harvest all of the mint. This is a great time to dry mint leaves to be stored for tea. Mint tea has many great health properties. It is a spasmolytic muscle relaxer. Its carminative properties help with gas and indigestion. Mint tea is also a natural expectorant which is great for winter head and chest colds.

Harvest the leaves careful to avoid getting stems into the batch. Wash and pat them dry on a paper towel. Some cats will actually respond to dry mint stems the same way they do catnip, so don’t ignore the stems value as a pet treat.

When drying mint it is best to array the leaves in single layer on the top trays of a food dehydrator. However if you don’t have a food dehydrator you can get by in a pinch by placing the mint on a draining rack set on a sheet pan in a 180 degree oven.

Regardless of the drying application you choose, the leaves will be completely dried when you can crush them between thumb and forefinger.

The ideal storage is to use a sealable air tight glass jar.

Chapter 8 – The olfactory magic of Oregano

Oregano is a low lying bushy herb that grows its leaves on tendril like stems. It is a staple in Italian cooking with many uses in Mediterranean cuisine. In my opinion Greek Oregano is the more aromatic and flavorful choice compared to the common o. vulgare. 

Oregano is easy to start from seed. It enjoys warm soil and sunny conditions. If you plan on container growing oregano you will want to plant it alone or with its tall standing cousin marjoram. Since it seeds itself over the course of a growing season it will eventually take over any container you plant it in. 

Since oregano reseeds itself you will need to pot it up to a larger pot every year to keep it from getting root bound.

You can easily bring container grown oregano indoors. It does well growing under grow lights or in a window box, so long as you water it with warm water. A purple coloration under the leaves is a sign of low phosphorus. This tends to be an issue when oregano is placed under grow lights more than sunlight. The leaves are fine to eat, simply fertilize the plant with a phosphorus rich fertilizer.

Cooking with oregano

An Italian Chef once told me that if you can’t think of a dish that could use oregano you’re simply not trying. It goes perfectly with meat, cheese, vegetables, soups and stews. The primary limitation of oregano is your imagination.

Oregano also has medicinal properties as a carminative that helps prevent gas. Its anti-spasmodic qualities help with muscle spasms, cramps and aches.

Oregano featured recipes

Oregano infused olive oil

This olive oil is a great addition to the pantry for sautéing vegetables or using as the oil base in a vinaigrette salad dressing. Be mindful that you will want to allow the oil to infuse for a minimum of two weeks before using.

Equipment

Oil glass bottle

Funnel

A glass bowl with a lid or plastic wrap

Ingredients

1/2 cup of fresh picked, washed oregano

4 cups of extra-virgin olive oil

Procedure

Step 1: Wash the oregano and pat dry with a paper towel. Allow 10 minutes for any residual moisture to dry.

Step 2: Lightly bruise the leaves with your finger tips to help release flavor. Place them in a clean glass container, cover with warmed oil, and seal tightly. Leave in a cool, dark place for at least two weeks.

Step 3: If after two weeks you feel the flavor is not strong enough for your taste you can add more fresh herbs and let stand another week.

Step 4: Pour the oil into a decorate glass bottle with a pour spout. You can strain the herbs out of oil with a fine mesh sieve. You can leave the herbs in the oil but be mindful that the flavor will become stronger over time.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

Since oregano is considered the quintessential pizza sauce herb. I would be remiss if I didn’t offer at least one recipe for a pizza sauce you can make at home.

Equipment

Medium sauce pot

Ladle

Ingredients

1 Can diced tomatoes

1 Small yellow onion, chopped fine

2 Cloves of garlic, minced

4 Leaves of fresh basil, chopped

1 Tablespoon fresh oregano, Chopped

Pinch salt

Pinch fresh ground black pepper

Pinch sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil or oregano infused olive oil

Procedure

Step 1: Add olive oil to a medium sauce pot over a medium high heat. Allow a few minutes for the oil to come up to temp.

Step 2: Add the onions and sauté until they start becoming translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for one minute until golden.

Step 3: Add the can of crushed tomato. Stir well and bring to a simmer.

Step 4: Add the basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer on a low heat, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.

Step 5: Taste the sauce, if it seems a bit green or bitter, add a pinch of sugar.

This sauce is best if used immediately when dressing the pizza. However it is also an excellent dip for garlic bread or cheese sticks.

Chapter 9 – Parsley is the perfect partner

Parsley is a great herb for adding color and aromatic flavor to many dishes, since it grows well indoors under grow lights it is a strong candidate for container planting.

When growing Parsley from seed it can take a long time to germinate if not given proper bottom heat. If you aren’t using a heated potting tray you will want to start parsley 10-12 weeks before the average last frost date for your region. If you do use a heated potting tray you can start parsley 6 weeks before the average last frost date.

While you can find parley in garden supply stores each spring the cost is much higher than growing from seed. In general it takes two weeks for a well picked parsley plant to regenerate itself during peak season. I personally rotate through 8 plants each season, then bring the four indoors over the winter. This makes growing from seed to be far more cost effective.

Parsley forms a shallow sprawling root ball so you are growing it in a container you will want to look for a planter that gives it room to grow and spread. A shallow root ball means you will want to mulch the top of the planter or accept that you will need to water it frequently.

Parsley grows well if brought indoors in the winter and placed under grow lights or in a sunny window.

Cooking with parsley

Parsley is very aromatic as a result it loses some of its magic when cooked in high heat applications. When added to soups and broths that also call for aromatic vegetables it helps accent the flavors. Parsleys aromatic nature also helps enhance the flavor of acidic fruits and sauces.

Parsley is a nice substitution for people who find the taste of cilantro to be too strong.

Parley featured recipes

Parsley and tomato chutney

This tomato chutney is an excellent side for heavy dishes. It really shines alongside an omelet or frittata.

Ingredients

1 Cup of cherry tomatoes

1 Tablespoon red onion, minced

1/4 Cup parsley, chopped fine

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

A pinch of coarse ground sea salt or kosher salt

Procedure

Step 1: Chop the cherry tomatoes by cutting them in half lengthwise and remove any seeds that come out easily. Then chop the halves into quarters.

Step 2: Chop and combine onion and parsley. Add to the tomatoes.

Step 3: Squeeze the lemon juice and toss all ingredients to combine.

Chimichurri Sauce

This sauce traces its origins to the meat centric cuisine of Argentina. While it is the perfect accompaniment to a grilled steak, it can also shine as a condiment for sausage or added to lettuce wraps and spring rolls.

The aromatic power of the parsley really lifts the earthy heat of the garlic and onions. The spicy notes of a quality olive oil will also be enhanced by parsley.

Equipment

Food Processor

Ingredients

1 Cup fresh parsley, packed

6 Cloves garlic, minced

1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 Cup rice wine vinegar

Juice from half lemon

1/2 Small red onion, minced

1 Tablespoon fresh oregano

1 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 Teaspoon salt

Procedure

Step 1: Rough chop the onion.

Step 2: Place all ingredients, except the olive oil, into the work bowl of a food processor and pulse 5-6 times.

Step 3: Run the food processor and slowly drizzle the olive oil into the work bowl through the chute. Blend until sauce is mildly grainy. You are looking for a texture a little finer than oatmeal.

Chimichurri sauce is great over a steak or as a sauce on the side. It can also be played into a dozen different takes on spring rolls. It is also a license to be creative with sandwiches.

Chapter 10 – Get rambunctious with Rosemary

This herb grows into a gorgeous pine bush that is at the heart of many Italian dishes. Rosemary is native to the Mediterranean area. A member of the mint family, it is an evergreen shrub often found in association with basil and oregano.

Starting rosemary from seed is an art form best reserved for master gardeners. I have one rosemary bush that has been with me for three years now and it is the only one of 36 seed plugs that made it all the way to maturity. This is an herb that you are honestly better off buying from a garden supply nursery.

Rosemary will survive through relatively dry times and warm soil temps, choosing often to go dormant through inclement conditions rather than die. If you live in growing zone 7 or warmer rosemary will survive over the winter and come back to life like any other perennial. In fact in parts of southern Italy rosemary grows like small pine bushes.

Rosemary will also survive indoors during the winter under grow lights or in a window with southern exposure. If you choose to bring it indoors you will want to plant it in a 3 to 5 gallon planter to allow the roots to run deep.  If you choose a window box rotate the planter 90 degrees every two days to reduce the effect of shading on lower branches.

Rosemary kept in the garden is a natural deterrent for deer.

Cooking with Rosemary

Rosemary is a versatile, aromatic herb used in a wide variety of dishes and ethnic cuisines. It pairs well with bread salads, soups, vegetables, meat and fish.

Rosemary really shines when paired with lamb or used as an aromatic component in artisanal breads.

Rosemary featured recipes

Grilled Rosemary Chicken

While I am very much a fan of the often forgot and sometimes maligned chicken thigh, I also recognize that the chicken breast is the most popular grilled meat in America today. The most flavorful and juicy way to cook chicken breast is bone in and skin on. It also happens to be the least expensive way to buy chicken.

When it comes to grilling chicken, I can understand there are people that keep a strict eye on their calories and fat content. Since most of the fat in a piece of chicken is in the skin, this leads a lot of people to remove it. However with the skin off you're exposing the surface of the breast meat directly to high heat which will cause it to dry out.

If fat content is a concern for you, then I would advise grilling it with the skin on and removing it before plating. Some of the fat is going to render into the meat but that amount is actually rather small. 

The bone is an important contributor to the flavor because the collagen in the bone and connective tissue renders out and delivers succulent gelatin into the meat.

Before we talk about the actual grilling we should discuss the marinade. My go-to method takes on an Italian flare, calling for Rosemary, garlic and lemon juice to bring out and compliment the chicken’s natural flavor.

Equipment

Small work bowl

Whisk

Large zip top bag

Charcoal or propane grill

Hickory or apple wood chips (Optional)

Probe thermometer

Ingredients

1 Chicken breast per diner

1 Teaspoon of rosemary, chopped

2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 Teaspoon smoked paprika

2 Tablespoon olive oil

Salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Procedure

Step 1: Four hours before you plan to serve, whisk together all ingredients in a small work bowl.

Step 2: Take each chicken breast and make a small separation in the membrane between the meat and skin. The hole should be just big enough for you to get a teaspoon in. The goal is to create a little pocket to hold the marinade in so it won’t run off or burn away.

Step 3: Carefully spoon the marinade into the cavity. Spread it around with your finger for even distribution if need be.

Step 4: Place the chicken breasts in a zip top bag in the refrigerator and chill until 45 minutes before you plan to serve.

Step 5: Start your grill one hour before you plan to serve and bring it up to medium heat.

Step 6: Starting out you want to grill the chicken on indirect heat. Place each chicken breast just off to the side of the main heat. The breast should be bone side down with the thickest part of the meat toward the fire.

Note: This is a good time to add some wood chips to the fire if you want a smoky element.  A mild wood like hickory or apple wood is the better choice over a strong wood like Mesquite.

The target temperature for the grill at this point is 250 degrees. You want to remember that you are slow roasting this chicken in order to render the gelatin and fats.  If your heat is too high you risk forcing all of the juices out of it.

Step 7: After 20 minutes rotate the chicken, still bone side down, so that the thinnest part of the breast is toward the fire.

Step 8: After 10 minutes have passed, check the temperature of the meat with a probe thermometer inserted into the meat where you made the slit in the skin membrane. It should be around 155 degrees. If you want the chicken skinless, this is the time to remove it.

Step 9: Once the chicken has reached 155 degrees, in the thickest part of the meat, flip the chicken skin side down over the direct heat of the fire. Let it finish to an internal temperature of 165, which should take 3-5 minutes.

This chicken pairs well with pan roasted red potatoes and a medium red wine like Shiraz.

Rosemary Focaccia Bread

This is one of the two cherished breads of my childhood. The rich pungent flavors of focaccia bread are lifted up by the addition of rosemary.  This bread is as much at home in Mediterranean cuisine as it is in down home barbecue.

Equipment

Large work bowl with cover

Plastic mixing spoon

Non-stick spray

Half sheet pan lined with parchment paper

Ingredients

3 Cups bread flour

1 Teaspoon salt

1 Teaspoon coarse ground sea salt or kosher salt (reserved)

1 Packet active dry yeast

2 Cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped

8 Leaves of fresh basil, chopped

2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, chipped

2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped (reserved)

1 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

4 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Table spoons olive oil (reserved)

1 1/3 cup warm water

1 Cup parmesan cheese, shredded (reserved)

Procedure

Step 1: Mix the yeast and water in a large cup. Allow the yeast to bloom for 5 minutes.

Step 2: In large work bowl, combine flour, sugar, garlic, herbs and black pepper. Do not add the salt.

Step 3: Add the yeast mix and the olive oil. Stir to combine for 2 minutes

Step 4: Wait five minutes for the water to hydrate the flour. This will help with the formation of gluten and will give the bread a proper fluffy rise.

Step 5: Once the dough has properly hydrated turn it out onto lightly floured surface for kneading.

Step 6: Lightly oil a large work bowl. (This is nice to do before you put your hands in the actual dough)

Step 7: Knead the dough by pressing it out. Sprinkle some of the salt onto one half of the dough. Then fold the other half of the dough over the salted section. Press the dough out again. Sprinkle some of the salt onto half, then fold the other half over and press it out again. Continue this process until all of the salt has been incorporated.

Step 8: Knead the dough for 5 minutes or until it will make a smooth dough ball.

Step 9: Place the dough in the oiled work bowl. Toss to coat with oil then cover.

Step 10: Leave the bowl out at room temperature for one hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Step 11: Begin preheating oven to 425 degrees.

Step 12: Line the sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly oil with olive oil. Spread the Dough on the sheet pan gently pressing it out. Lightly oil the top and run your hands over it gently to distribute the oil.

Step 13: Allow 10 minutes for the dough to rise again and oven to preheat.

Step 14: Sprinkle the top with the parmesan, coarse ground salt and rosemary.

Step 15: Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Step 16: Slide the bread out of the pan using the parchment paper and allow it to cool for 10 minutes on a cutting board before slicing into squares.

The squares of bread are best torn and eaten out of hand or you can make a nice Italian Bread Dip.

Rosemary Bread Dip

4 Tablespoons of a spicy extra virgin olive oil

4 Tablespoons of quality parmesan cheese (shredded fine)

1 Teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary

1/2 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Blend with a fork until all ingredients have come together.

Chapter 11 – Seduced by Sage

This leafy herb is known best for playing well with pork and poultry.

You can start sage from seeds 6-8 weeks before the average last frost date for your region. However only one or two sage plants meet most people’s needs and these days it’s not hard to find established sage plants at a greenhouse supply or nursery.

If you are going to grow sage in a container it needs a planter with at least a 2 gallon soil volume in order to thrive. Since the leaves have a lot of exposed surface area the plant can dry out quickly in high heat. You should try to plant it in an area that gets good eastern sun in the morning and dappled shade in the afternoon.

Sage will survive through the winter indoors but prefers a sunny window box with daily rotation over grow lights that cause shading issues in the lower leaves.

Cooking with sage

Since sage has so much surface area in the leaves it dries out quickly and can be harvested, dried and preserved easily in late fall. Fresh sage is best for rich sauces where the essential oils can meld with the available fats and flavor compounds. Dried sage is best known for its role in Thanksgiving stuffing. Dried sage also shines in whole meat applications, such as spice rubs for roasts.

Sage Featured Recipes

Sage and gorgonzola cream sauce

This sauce is my wife’s favorite for Gnocchi. However you could use it with just about any pasta or starch component that calls for earthy flavors. This sauce for example would go great substituted into a mushroom Alfredo.

Equipment

Medium sauce pot

Ingredients

1 Cup heavy cream

6 Ounces Gorgonzola cheese, cut into pieces

2 Tablespoons of butter

¼ Cup fresh sage leaves, chopped

2 Cloves of garlic, minced

1 Shallot, minced

1/2 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

6 Baby Portobello or white button mushrooms, sliced and sautéed. (Optional)

Procedure

Step 1: In a medium sauce pot over low heat, melt the butter then sweat the garlic and shallots until they take on a little color. If you want to add optional mushrooms you should place them in the pan first and wait two minutes before adding garlic and shallots.

Step 2: Add the sage leaves and heavy cream to the pot and simmer. Stir frequently until cream is reduced in volume by half.

Step 3: Add the gorgonzola cheese in pieces. Stir until all the cheese melts and the sauce becomes smooth.

Step 4: Add the fresh cracked black pepper.

Step 5: Toss with the gnocchi or pasta of your choice.

This sauce is heavy so a white wine with brightness like a Riseling or Pinot Grigo will help cut the richness.

Sage seasoned pork shoulder roast

For most people when they think of sage, especially dry sage, they think of Thanksgiving stuffing. Sage also plays really well with many different cuts of pork.

Outside of being smoked for barbecue the humble pork shoulder roast, sometimes called a Boston Butt, is an underappreciated piece of meat. Pork shoulder is inexpensive and the leftover tend to be rather versatile. You can slice it for sandwiches, plate it with many different sides, or cut into chunks for a soup.

A bone in roast will provide more flavor because the collagen in the bone and connective tissue will render out into juicy gelatin. If you do decide to debone the roast, you should apply the sage spice rub to the surfaces the bone was cut from for additional herb flavors. Some apple wedges from a crisp apple placed into the bone cavity when roasting the next day is a nice addition.

Equipment

Shallow Roasting pan

Medium size work bowl

Large plastic bag

Ingredients

5 Pound pork shoulder roast

1/4 Cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons smoked paprika

2 Tablespoons salt

2 Tablespoons granulated garlic

3 Tablespoons dried sage

1 Tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper

Wedges from a crisp apple, peeled (Optional)

Procedure

Applying a dry rub the night before will really enhance the flavors all through the pork shoulder roast as it allows the sage flavor to permeate the meat.

Step 1: Trim any obvious grizzle from the pork shoulder but leave at least a quarter inch of the fat cap on top. As the roast cooks this fat will render and soak down through the meat making it moist and flavorful.

Step 2: Mix brown sugar, paprika, salt, granulated garlic, pepper and sage to make a dry rub. Massage the dry rub onto the roast making sure to get it into any creases in the meat. Any extra dry rub leftover should be applied to the fat cap. Place pork in a large plastic bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.

Step 3: Bench rest the roast before cooking by removing it from refrigerator 30 minutes before roasting. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a shallow roasting pan with foil and pour a quarter cup of water in the bottom.

Place pork shoulder in the prepared pan. Roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes then turn the oven down to 300 degrees. Roast for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until thickest part of the meat reads 180 degrees on a meat thermometer.

Step 4: Remove the roast from the oven, cover it with tinfoil and a tea towel for 15 minutes. Resting the meat like this will allow the juices to redistribute. If you were to carve the roast right away the juices would run out onto the cutting board.

Step 5: Carve off slices or whole chunks as you see fit.

This roast goes well with Butternut squash roasted in butter and brown sugar. While the dish calls for a white wine like a Pinot Grigio or a Chardonnay, you could also get away with a Pino Noir. To my mind though, this is something that goes great with a crisp, cold lager style beer.

Chapter 12 – Don’t be timid about Tarragon

Tarragon is a subtle herb that plays well with earthy flavors and dishes featuring a white meat. It brings an added depth of flavor when added to the vinegar used to pickle beets.

White there are two types of tarragon you can grow, French and Russian. Russian Tarragon is known for having a bitter taste and is more useful for landscaping applications than for use in a culinary herb garden. French Tarragon is the variety that fits better with most culinary applications.

Tarragon can be started from seed or purchased at a garden supply. Unless you are absolutely crazy about tarragon you probably don’t need more than one, possibly two plants. So it might just be easier to buy a plant rather than start it from seed.

Tarragon grows 2 to 3 feet in height and foliage may shade out attempts at companion planting with a low growing herbs and vegetables. Tarragon prefers well drained soil but soil that dries too hard may damage its delicate roots. As a result it prefers full sun in the morning and dappled shade in the afternoon.

Cooking with Tarragon

A lot of Tarragon’s flavor comes from hydroscopic oils. This means when Tarragon is dried out it loses a lot of flavor. If you’re going to use tarragon for just about anything it means that you either have to use fresh tarragon or use a method that preserves the water content of the tarragon leaves.

The two most common methods for preserving the flavor of tarragon are to freeze it when it’s fresh picked or to incorporate it into vinegar, essentially pickling it. Tarragon can also be infused into oil just like rosemary or oregano.

Tarragon featured recipes

Tarragon, sautéed mushrooms

Using tarragon with beets or mushrooms is a great way to bring brightness to the dish while also accenting the powerful earthy flavors. While this dish is absolutely magical when made with wild harvested morel mushrooms, alternatives like porcini and portobello are also very good.

Equipment

Sautee pan or skillet

Ingredients

1 pound wild harvest Morels or store bought Porcini or Portobello mushrooms

1 Tablespoon grape seed oil

2 Tablespoons butter

1 Shallot, chopped fine

1 Clove of garlic, minced

2 Tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Salt and fresh cracked pepper

Procedure

Step 1: Clean mushrooms and trim any dried part of the stem.

Step 2: Heat oil and butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper. Sweat mushroom for 4-5 minutes or until the liquid is evaporating and giving off a slightly nutty aroma.

Step 3: Add shallots and sauté for 2 more minutes or until mushrooms are browned and tender.

Step 4: Add parsley and tarragon, toss to combine.

This is the perfect side dish for a steak and potatoes dinner. A dry red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot will fit in perfectly.

Tarragon Mustard Sauce

This sauce is an excellent companion for chicken or beef.  You could also use it with shell fish dishes and especially shines with pan fried shrimp. The fresh flavor of tarragon and basil plays well against the tang of the mustard and sour cream.

Equipment

Medium size work bowl

Whisk

Medium sauce pan

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons butter

1 Tablespoon AP flour

1 Cup milk

1/2 Cup sour cream

1 Tablespoon stone ground mustard

1 Tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped

1 Tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

1 Clove of garlic, minced

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Procedure

Step 1: Make a blonde roux by melting the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter melts stir in flour and whisk for 1 to 2 minutes until the flour is light brown.

Step 2: Slowly pour in milk. Add a little bit at a time, stirring until it dissolves. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. Approximately 3-5 minutes.

Step 3: Whisk in the sour cream, mustard, tarragon, basil, minced garlic, salt and pepper.

Step 4: Once the sauce has come together you can serve hot as a sauce with the meat dish of your choice or you can refrigerate for up to two days. To reheat sauce place in a medium sauce pot on low heat for approximately 5-8 minutes.

To serve, transfer sauce to a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Serve warm with meat.

Chapter 13 – Tempted by Thyme

Thyme is a cousin of oregano. As such it works and plays well in sauces and soups or used to season meat.

You can start thyme from seed 8-10 weeks before the last average frost date but you should be able to source healthy young plants at most garden supply stores. Thyme can be grown as a perennial herb if you live in growing zone 7 or warmer.  You can also choose to grow thyme in a container that you can bring in during the winter.

Thyme enjoys warm soil and sunny conditions as long as it is well watered. Since thyme has such small leaves it can dry out the soil in hot spells. If you don’t want to water it daily during the high heat of summer it would be better to plant thyme where it gets moderate shade in the afternoon.

If you choose to grow thyme in a container you can easily bring it indoors during the winter. It does well growing under grow lights or in a window box. A purple coloration in the leaves is a sign of low phosphorus. This tends to be an issue when thyme is placed under grow lights more than sunlight. The leaves are fine to eat, simply fertilize the plant with a phosphorus rich fertilizer.

Cooking with thyme

Thyme is an herb that rarely stands alone in a dish but instead enhances the flavors of other herbs. Thyme is a little bit like a bass trumpet in a symphony, you don’t always notice it’s there but when it’s not the music feels empty.

Thyme has small leaves that dry out easily. Whether it is used fresh or dry it easily contributes its flavor to a dish. Sprigs of thyme can be placed in a dish then removed a few minutes later after contributing its essential oils to the flavor. It can be removed from the stems and incorporated into an herb seasoning blend or spice rub.

Lemon thyme is a form of the herb that pairs well with fish.

Thyme featured recipes

Bouquet Garni

Bouquet Garni is an herb mixture used to flavor sauces, broths and soups. Traditionally it is tied up in cheesecloth and placed in the dish while it cooks. A tea ball is a good alternative if you don’t have cheese cloth on hand.

Equipment

Cheese cloth of tea ball

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons fresh parsley, rough chopped

2 Sprigs of thyme

1 Dry bay leaf, crushed

2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, lightly bruised

Procedure

Step 1: Remove the rosemary from the stems and bruise them by rolling them between your thumb and forefinger to activate the essential oils.

Step 2: Combine parsley, thyme, bay leaf and rosemary in a cheese cloth of tea ball.

Step 3: Place the bundle in a sauce or broth as it cooks. Taste periodically. Once the sauce has the level of herb flavor your prefer remove the bundle and discard.

Beef Carbonnade

This take on beef stew is traditionally cooked in an enamel coated Dutch Oven. The beer and herbs make hearty gravy that begs for fresh bread to sop it up with.

Equipment

A large Dutch oven

Ingredients

1-1/2 Pounds beef chuck roast

1/4 Cup all-purpose flour

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine

2 Medium yellow onions, chopped

4 Large garlic cloves, minced

2 Sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 Teaspoon dried thyme

2 Pounds baby red potatoes, skin on and halved

1 Quart of beef stock

1 Package of white button mushrooms, sliced

12 Ounces of dark beer

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

Salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Procedure

Step 1: Cut chuck roast into 1 inch cubes and dredge both sides in flour.

Step 2: Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add beef and toss until all sides are brown.

Step 3: Lower heat to medium-low and add onions, garlic, dried thyme and mushrooms. Stir often, until onions are golden. Approximately 3 minutes.

Step 4: Add potatoes, thyme sprigs and beef stock. Simmer for 25 minutes.

Step 5: Mix beer with 2 tablespoons of flour and add to the pot. Cook, stirring often, until liquid thickens. Approximately 3 to 5 minutes.

Step 6: Salt and pepper to taste.

Step 7: Remove thyme sprigs and ladle into large bowls.

This stew goes great with fresh baked bread and a full bodied red wine like cabernet sauvignon.

Chapter 14 – Conclusion

In my mind access to truly fresh herbs should be a birthright. Since I don’t think they’re amending the right to fresh herbs into the constitution any time soon, it means that you have to choose between buying wilted specimens at the grocery store and taking the time to grow them yourself.

I can tell you first hand that after making the upfront investment in heated potting trays, grow lights and seed pots, that the cost savings is immense.

Yes there is a learning curve involved in this process. You shouldn’t expect that everything you try to grow the first year is going to thrive and yield a massive bounty of aromatic herbs. The basil might suffer sun scald, the tarragon might get beat up by hail and the thyme could dry out and die while you’re on vacation.

Don’t let the little failures get you down. Every season is different. Each one comes with ups, downs and lessons you learn along the way. Learn from your mistakes and each year the bounty will bloom larger than the year before. I’ve been doing this for decades and I learn something new every year.

On the other hand, maybe you already have a verdant green thumb but it’s the kitchen that challenges you. The good news is, even if you have a long history of scorching water and burning salads while smoke detectors wake the neighbors, there is no easier time in history to learn to cook than now!

With the advent of so many cooking shows on TV and the diverse knowledge available on the internet, the answers are already at your fingertips. If you don’t understand a term or a procedure in one of the recipes offered earlier, you can enter it into a search engine and insights are available.

You might be new to both the world of gardening and cooking but you’re passionate to know more. If you feel intimidated, maybe you should start by making a test recipe with some of the store bought fresh herbs I was maligning earlier.  Sure they don’t have the magic of fresh picked herbs you grew yourself but they will get the job done.

Get your feet wet with a single recipe or two. Then maybe in the spring buy a couple of three gallon planters and a few plants at the nursery. Start small to learn the basic principles and you can decide if you want to grow from there.

A whole world of rewarding experiences is waiting for you when you grow and cook your own herbs. You just have to discover what method is right for you.

Other books by Eric Beuning…

Growing and Cooking Italian Vegetables - Gardening Tips and Recipes from a Lifetime of Italian Cooking

Understanding Italian Pasta and Sauce - Making Pasta from Scratch and Cooking Classical Italian Pasta Dishes (a short recipe guide and unconventional cookbook)

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