Stuffing my face with big, juicy, homegrown raspberries is one of my favorite summer pastimes! Learning how to prune raspberries can be the difference between a successful harvest and a disappointing one. Pruning is necessary no matter which type you have, and doing it properly will give you the biggest, sweetest berries, and the most berries possible. It really does make a difference! Are your raspberries not producing? Do you only get disappointing or small raspberry harvests? THIS INFORMATION IS FOR YOU! In this video we cover how to prune fall bearing, ever-bearing, and summer bearing rasp ..read more

I love being able to grow shiitake mushrooms! It has been one of our most rewarding homestead endeavors. AND THIS VIDEO TUTORIAL WILL TEACH YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW! Thorough and detailed instructions! Shiitake logs are actually pretty easy to make and the tools and mushrooms spawn are not that expensive. And shiitake mushrooms are a fantastic crop to grow in the shady parts of your yard where nothing else wants to grow. Watching the mushrooms pop out of the logs every year is truly magical. While I won’t go into the health benefits of Shiitakes here, know that they have been widely stu ..read more

I see you out there… you with your thick walls of ice who haven’t defrosted your freezers in 3 years. This is for you. :) Defrosting your chest freezer regularly will help it have a longer lifespan, and your food will keep better. I’ll show you how to defrost properly, as well as what not to do. You’ll find both written and video instructions here! I’m also going to share the freezer alarm we use to make sure we don’t lose all our precious food. Plus I’ll share the pros and cons of a chest versus upright freezer. Don’t forget your FREE printable “Freezer Inventory List,” and FREE printable “Ho ..read more

If there’s anything that homesteading has taught me, it’s that food is precious. The amount of work and love and care that goes into growing every calorie, whether plant or animal, is significant… so best not to waste any of it. Especially the organs: the most nutrient-rich part of the animal! This chicken liver pate recipe is mild and is perfect for anyone who doesn’t like liver. And it’s a great recipe to start with if you’re new to eating liver and other offal. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t particularly like the taste of liver; never have. The more I eat it though, the easier it g ..read more

Currently at the top of my “favorite things I’ve ever preserved” list! Freezing Chicken Tortilla Soup Starter is a fantastic way to take what is in abundance during the summer, and tuck it away as something incredibly useful and delicious for the winter months. I love stuffing the freezer full of high value items like this! And if you have tomatoes and peppers to preserve, this is the perfect use for them! The idea of a “soup starter” is to preserve what’s fresh and in-season by cooking all the veggies… things like tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and sweet corn, into a little flavor-packed ..read more

A buttery rich homemade from scratch salted caramel sauce! Made with just a handful of simple ingredients including real cream and butter, and nothing from a can! Caramel isn’t hard to make, but there are a few tips that will ensure your salted caramel sauce turns out just lovely. WATCH THE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE OLD-FASHIONED SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE! CARAMEL MAKING TIPS #1 Measure out all your ingredients first and have them ready before you get started. Once this gets cooking it goes fast, and you need to have the ingredients ready to go. #2 Use a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan. Anyth ..read more

This fruit crisp topping recipe has been a looong time in the making! I’ve been tweaking it for years every time I make it, and it’s finally ready to share. Here’s what I love about it– it’s browned and buttery, wonderfully sweet, and not crumbly like plain granola. I want a fruit crisp topping that holds together and eats more like a cookie than just a handful of oats. I’ve made a mixed berry fruit crisp here, but this fruit crisp topping recipe can be used with ANY FRUIT FILLING or PIE FILLING you like! Use it for apple, pear, cherry, blueberry, peach, or anything in between! WATCH THE VIDEO ..read more

All about how to grow popcorn: one the absolute funnest things I grow in my garden every year! Homegrown popcorn is not only colorful and delicious, but unwrapping each ear feels like opening presents on Christmas morning. I didn’t start out as a great popcorn grower though. My first couple years I only got spotty, ugly ears… now I grow a ton of incredibly beautiful popcorn every year! I’ll tell you how! I’ve even been breeding my own variety called “Midnight Purple Popcorn.” :) To see what else I’m growing, follow me on Instagram (click here!). When to plant popcorn Popcorn typically takes th ..read more

Peanut butter covered in chocolate is one of life’s fine pleasures. And when that peanut butter is mixed with the earthy, smokey, sweet flavor of maple sugar (click here), it’s pretty darn incredible. You will love these chocolate-covered maple peanut butter balls! This is an updated version of an older Maple Peanut Butter Ball recipe from my website. I streamlined the recipe and changed the the sugar to peanut butter ratio so that the peanut butter dough hold it’s shape better! These maple peanut butter balls are of course modeled after one of my old favorite holiday treats, the glorious Rees ..read more

High protein soft food diet meal ideas! For when you can’t survive on mashed potatoes alone… At 39 years old, I’m not exactly a spring chicken, so going into my wisdom teeth removal (a procedure that most people have done in their teens) I wanted to make sure I set myself up for the best possible outcome. The standard recommendations for a soft food diet after wisdom teeth removal includes things like mashed potatoes, ice cream, and pudding. And while those foods are fine, those are NOT the foods that will fill me up or nourish me, especially over the span of an entire week. I knew I was going ..read more