Growing up in a German household I was no stranger to kohlrabi. In most cases it was cooked with butter and as a kid I was not a huge fan (but to be fair I wasn’t a big fan of vegetables in general). As I started to grow my own food I fell in love with kohlrabi and now I grow it all the time. This year I grew two on my TowerGarden, half a dozen in my greenhouse (which I planted in April) and at least a handful in my outdoor vegetable garden. Thanks to staggered planting and my indoor hydroponic system, I will be enjoying kohlrabi for a long time. While I always thought you had to cook kohlrab ..read more

Our house is far from perfect and while we do our best to make it work, sometimes you need a big project and overhaul to really help bring out the sparkle and shine. Some the challenges we have in our home of 1100 square feet is a serious lack of storage. Whoever designed the renovation that took place about 20 years ago obviously felt that no linen or utility closet of any kind was the way to go. Well for three humans who homeschool and have a business in this space, the lack of storage is no longer working! Over the winter holidays we decided to tackle the space by our front door. It origin ..read more

Tis the season for boat loads of garlic scapes. I absolutely love this amazing little bonus crop you get when you plant hardneck garlic. To be honest, one of the reasons why we plant so much garlic, is to take advantage of all of the scapes. If you are not familiar with scapes, then get familiar, because you are going to love them. Garlic scapes are the flowering stem of the hardneck garlic variety. In Ontario they pop up right around now (end of June) and you want to harvest them before the plant starts to flower. This sends all of the energy back into the bulb which is exactly what we want ..read more

Just because the temperatures are cold and the snow is flying, it doesn’t mean we don’t have chores to do around the homestead. In this video we explore how we deal with having chickens in the winter as well as our major chore and that is firewood! We’ve been using a wood burning stove for almost four full winters and we have learned quite a bit on this journey. What works and what is a total disaster when it comes to wood burning and storage was a huge learning curve for us. We decided to share our system with you all, just in case you are new to this type of heating.     In warmt ..read more

When you think of the homesteading lifestyle, what comes to mind as useful or necessary skills to have? Well, it must be canning or growing food right? How about animal husbandry or being able to build structures? Would it surprise you to know that when we embarked on this journey over 7 years ago that we didn’t have one single skill that I mentioned above? While they are important and vital as you walk the path towards self-sufficiency, there is one skill, in my humble opinion, that is worth more than all those combined.   Resiliency.   To be able to stand in the wake of destructio ..read more

With superfoods all the rage and many folks opting for exotic imports, I want to draw your attention to a local nutritional powerhouse. With such an abundant array of our own native superfoods, there is no need to add to intense demand and bring in your acai and gogi berries from lands afar. Often called chokeberries due to their tangy and tart flavour, aronia berries are native to Eastern North America and parts of Europe as well. Describing their flavour can be a bit challenging, but imagine the texture of a cherry with the sweetness of red grapes and the tartness of raspberries. Loaded wit ..read more

Tis the season for the amazing abundance of rhubarb. I am a big believer in planting at least some perennial crops for the very reason that they provide you with food year round. If you haven’t seen my YouTube video on this subject, it is worth the watch. Because we have multiple perennial plants, I have six rhubarb plants that are full and plentiful. I was particularly excited about two of the plants that were moved from my parents old home. They were selling and we decided to keep the lineage of these rhubarb plants alive on my property. I can remember my mom making stewed rhubarb for us ki ..read more

If there was a way to capture the spirit and nutrition of spring in a bowl, I have found it tonight.  We just finished dinner and the meal was so delicious, comforting and divine that I just had to get it posted. If you have been following me for a while, you know I am a firm believer that everyone should learn to embrace wild foods and the eating of “weeds”. Not only are most of these foods abundant, they are incredibly nutrient dense. In fact, one of the main ingredients of this recipe boasts almost ten times the nutritional benefit of spinach. Yes you did read that correctly, Popeye ..read more

If there was a way to capture the spirit and nutrition of spring in a bowl, I have found it tonight.  We just finished dinner and the meal was so delicious, comforting and divine that I just had to get it posted. If you have been following me for a while, you know I am a firm believer that everyone should learn to embrace wild foods and the eating of “weeds”. Not only are most of these foods abundant, they are incredibly nutrient dense. In fact, one of the main ingredients of this recipe boasts almost ten times the nutritional benefit of spinach. Yes you did read that correctly, Popeye ..read more

Let me tell you a story… Over the last two evenings I have begun the process of planting many of our seeds for the vegetable garden. Following the cycles of the moon, this is the perfect time to start your plants that will bear crops above ground, such as peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, kale and kohlrabi. If you have not see my video on moon phase gardening you can check it out here. While this process should have brought me joy, I was admittedly frustrated. My son has been missing his father deeply and wanted to play with him. He did not want to participate in planting the seeds and so they wor ..read more