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I grow spoon dipper and birdhouse gourds each season. I harvest them in the fall after the foliage has died back and dry them indoors, away from moisture. In the spring, the gourds should be very hard and the seeds should rattle around inside. I use a 1” drill bit and slowly drill a hole into one side of the gourd. I dump out the seeds—saving for planting—and my kids decorate them before we hang them in our trees.
HOW THIS BENEFITS YOUR GARDEN/ ORCHARD 1. Inviting birds to stick around all winter means they’ll be there already when bugs and pests make their first spring appearance. 2. Birds like sparrows love to snack on bag worms and coddling moth larvae. I hang these from my fruit trees to keep pests in check naturally. 3. When hung in your garden or growing spaces, birds are invited to stay and feed on cabbage worms, hornworms, and more. This simple effort gets kids involved in the garden, the orchard, and helps encourage native bird populations. You can find more activities similar to this one in my family seasonal living series called The Little Homesteader. Time Stamps: 0:25 My greenhouse goals / 0:43 Managing olives and citrus in the winter / 1:45 Tour of plants / 3:43 Insulating the greenhouse / 4:50 4 Ways to Heat Your Greenhouse Four ways to heat your greenhouse this winter season: 1. Greenhouse Grade Plastic I wrapped my entire greenhouse with hoophouse plastic to keep drafts away and hold heat within the structure. I literally wrapped the entire house with the plastic and affixed with a staple gun. I found mine here: Happybuy Greenhouse Film 15 x 40 2. Heater A heater is an obvious choice, especially on extremely cold days, however it quickly drains energy. If the greenhouse isn’t properly sealed or has drafts, any heat generated by the heater will rise and escape. Improperly attached extension cords can cause a fire. 3. Thermal Mass from Water Drums Large 50-gallon drums can be filled with water. Water loses heat more slowly than air. If plants are crowded around the drums, they will benefit from the atmospheric heat provided by the drum. In the spring, water from the drum can be used to water plants. 4. Reflective Insulation Board If you have a wall to spare, or can sacrifice the north side of your greenhouse, a large sheet of reflective insulation can be helpful. The insulation maintains heat within the greenhouse, while the mirror-like surface of the board captures and reflects light and heat from the sun back into the greenhouse. Other options include a composting floor, and erecting your greenhouse on the side of your home to take advantage of heat. Straw bales can form a perimeter at the base of the greenhouse, but just remember heat rises—if the roofline is not sealed, heat will escape. Finally, I paint my greenhouse interior black to attract the sun’s rays and hold heat.  Time Stamps: Sacrifice Plot 0:13 / Winter Pasture Management 1:44 / Pasture Division and Rotation 2:37 / Winter Seeding 4:21 / Sacrifice Rehabilitation 6:11 / Dry Lot 6:33 / Foggage 7:02
A well managed pasture is an integrated plan—a series of efforts working together to create a grazing space that doesn’t detract from Mother Nature through unnecessary carbon loss, tillage, compaction, and erosion. Rather, several initiatives can be implemented to maintain the integrity of pasture spaces year-round without sacrificing quality of life and forage on the part of the animal. In this video I’m sharing the several different efforts I make to keep four draft horses, five sheep, and a flock of ducks and geese thriving on my six-acre farm without ruining my land. Through winter pasture management, implementing dry and sacrifice plots, winter seeding, foggage or standing hay growth, and proper pasture division and rotation in the warmer months, we can continue to keep our animals healthy and happy while remaining ecologically sound. Several relevant content sources to support this video
Did you know that the peak production time for one strawberry plant is 1-3 years? After three seasons, productivity declines. This is why nature sends daughters, or duplicate plants of the mother, outward on shoots. These shoots are called runners. I take advantage of this system by letting my strawberries reproduce in place. But when healthy plants start spilling into walkways, I transplant these free plants to new beds and growing guilds. It’s so incredibly easy and fall is a great time to split.
Strawberry plants are incredible weed suppressors. When planted densely like in my blueberry and valerian guild in the first video, they remove the task of weeding, keep the soil cool, and help maintain moisture, all while providing fruit. And because folks always share their issues about pests taking their berries, I cage mine from birds with hardware cloth or netting when in production. A motion activated sprinkler does wonders too.
 There are permaculture practitioners out there who speak out against the use of horses in permaculture. I disagree. Horses, when well managed like any other livestock, offer:
SOIL CONTRIBUTIONS - Manure is composted and nutrients are returned along with organic matter to soil - Hoof prints make indentations on top of soil creating pockets for improved seed germination - Trampled cover crops during browsing return nutrients and organic matter to soil ECOSYSTEM ROLE - Horses ingest parasites of sheep and other species while grazing, reducing parasitic larvae counts in sheep, goats, etc. - Pasture and forage maintenance is achieved through grazing. Well maintained pastures absorb tons of carbon from the atmosphere through regrowth and regeneration. - Horses love to graze autumn olive, both full grown or young shoots, removing invasive species FUNCTIONS - One horse can pull 2k-8k pounds depending on breed and health reducing need for tractors and fuel - Horses can provide transportation (leisure riding, sport or utility) - Meat in applicable countries - Income by way of breeding, teaching lessons, or selling composted manure - Shed winter coat hair can be collected and used to make paintbrushes You can learn more about horse breed options perfect for homesteaders (and other animal species and breeds that offer so much function) in my book The Sustainable Homestead, available wherever books are sold. This year I installed a Mediterranean guild home to olives, artichokes, rosemary, lavender and thyme. While I chose varieties most suitable to my climate, I’ve researched artichoke winter care and here’s what I’m installing. We are getting our first freeze this evening (these plants have successfully withstood frosts already) so it’s time to hibernate these artichokes for the season.
I start by tying the leaves of the artichoke plant together in a bundle. This protects the crown. After tying, I cut the leaves off just above the string or twine. The remaining standing bundle is roughly 6-8" in height. I choose to mulch the surrounding soil and other guild members with the trimmed artichoke leaves. I also add chopped comfrey leaves as a green manure at this time along with fallen maple, oak, or other dried leaves from around the farm. An upside pot is affixed on the artichoke bundle for protection from the elements. To secure the pot in place over the winter months, I top the pot with a rock. Bedding or mulch can be added around the base of the pot to make sure gaps are filled in where the pot makes contact with the soil. Imperial Artichokes can withstand frosts so once winter temperatures begin to ease and we head back into the spring season, I'll be removing the protective pot. From there the bundles will be untied and new growth will be allowed to emerge. Our Holland Lop rabbits live the good life outdoors (with shelter) all spring, summer and fall. They graze on cover crops from our raised beds and other food growing spaces by spring. Come summer and fall, they graze the pastures and laws with the ducks and geese from the safety of their bun run. And in the winter, they retire inside the old duck and goose coop for extra protection from the cold. I'm sharing my set up, bedding, and thoughts on winter rabbit housing.
You can find the Bun Run video here Permaculture Duck and Goose Living video here You can also find the products I mentioned from Eaton Pet & Pasture here: Hemp Pet Bedding Nesting Pads Cover cropping seems to be trendy and there's good reason for it--this "green manure" adds loads of nutrients and organic matter to gardens and growing spaces. I was suspicious the first time I was sowing cover crops; that there was more hype than real benefit. But I was shocked at the visible difference and improvement in my soil.
Cover crops are not harvestable like a vegetable or fruit crop. Instead, they're grown for the nutrients, cover, and tilth improvement they offer soil. In the fall cover crops can be sown into the garden. They grow and protect soil all winter long, preventing erosion, solarization, and runoff. Come spring, the cover crops are chopped and dropped, grazed, or removed (I have another video on that). Ideally the crop would be chopped and allowed to decompose in place. Any nutrients left in the plant during its lifecycle is returned to the soil as it decays, also increasing the amount of organic matter. I use a mix of cover crops to perform multiple functions; soil cover, weed reduction, to loosen compacted soil, to attract beneficial insects at spring thaw, fix nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and pull soluble nutrients up from soil layers. I purchased this pre-mixed blend from True Leaf Market. You can also research cover crop varieties and their benefits at the Rodale Institute's website and create your own blend. Time Stamps: Organizing Bulbs 0:53 / Permaculture Benefits 3:15 / Mulching with Hemp 4:42
This past May I visited a tulip farm out in Washington called Roozengaarde. I was intrigued by the blooms thriving in partial shade, under pine trees, and in visibly poor soil. Before getting caught up in the view and spending loads of money on bulb orders, I did a little research on the contributions tulips make to the permaculture garden (if any). Turns out, these beauties offer a lot more than just a view. Where I visited and purchased bulbs from: https://www.tulips.com/ Varieties I planted include Brisbane, La Belle Epoque, Frozen Night, Charming Beauty, Charming Lady, Red Princess, Louvre Orange, Black Hero, and Gudoshnik. Hemp mulch is from Eaton Pet and Pasture (chopped hemp animal bedding): https://www.amazon.com/Eaton-Hemp-Hypoallergenic-Sustainable-Eco-Friendly/dp/B08LQTRFG8 Time Stamps: Forsythia 1:05 / Goumi 1:41/ Sea Berry 2:06 / Food Forest DIY 3:12
Autumn Olive (aka Russian Olive) grows abundantly on my property, in my county, and in my state. As we move through our food forest areas, we're replacing this beautiful, edible, yet invasive specie with a more appropriate alternative. 1. Forsythia doesn't have edible fruit, however, its blossoms are edible in spring. This grower spreads quickly, however, isn't currently on the USDA's list of invasive species. The blossoms also attract hummingbirds and pollinating insects and offer shelter during the winter months for small birds, insects, and wildlife. These shrubs grow well in poor soils, on banks and hillsides, and create dense hedges for privacy. Great for soil erosion too. 2. Goumi offers edible berries that are tart and more suitable for cooking or jam making than eating raw. These plants fix nitrogen into the soil, assist with erosion by holding soil in place, grow 6-10' tall and wide, and are self-fertile. They thrive in USDA growing zones 4-9. Goumi doesn't mind poor soil OR poor air quality and has no major pest or disease issues. 3. Hypophae / Sea Berries / Sea Buckthorn are thick growing shrubs which produce thorns to protect their edible berry clusters. The small berries are an orange-yellow color and are said to taste like a cross between a pineapple and citrus. The berries contain 7x more vitamin C than lemons and provide a food source to the home, resident birds and wildlife. The Sea Berry is suited for zones 2-9 and fixes nitrogen into the soil. To produce fruit, a male and female plant is needed (note one male to every four female plants). While it thrives in full sun, on hillsides, in poor soil, and in many soil consistencies, this shrub hates shade so isn't on the invasive species list by the USDA. |
Angela is the farmer and content creator behind Axe & Root Homestead® LLC. This historic six-acre permaculture farm is home to two Clydesdale horses, ten honeybee hives, five sheep, two guardian dogs, barn cats and a flock of 40 geese and ducks. The farm produces maple syrup, fruit from a small orchard and loads of garden produce for consumption, preservation and donation to the local food pantry.
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