September 5, 2012 I made my first batch of compost tea using the compost rotator (See the dark water line) How it Works: After the compost has had time to decompose in the digester, add rain water to the barrel. The rain water will take on some of the compost nutrients and can be used…

August 9, 2012 Our first honey harvest from the hive! It is really good. You can eat capped honey like this straight from the hive by chewing on the comb and spitting out the wax. The wax can then be washed and melted down into candles, etc. Thanks for reading my blog! For the latest…

July 13, 2012 Growing strawberries saved me a ton of money at the grocery store this year. They produced about $3 worth of strawberries every other day. I actually planted these last year so this year required minimal work on my part. The plants are cheap, easy to grow, and stick around for years. Great…

July 13, 2012 There is something really cool about making dinner with food that you produced yourself. I had a plate full of sugar peas with dinner last night. If you haven’t jumped on the gardening bandwagon yet it isn’t too late to start. Thanks for reading my blog! For the latest projects and updates…

June 6, 2012 That’s right, we enjoy bee keeping so much we made ANOTHER hive. This hive doesn’t contain a colony yet. It’s been baited with lemon grass oil and old bee comb in an attempt to catch a wild swarm. Stay tuned for hive #3 which is still in production. Thanks for reading my…

May 18, 2012 This is an inexpensive raised bed garden. It contains tomatoes, corn, sunflowers, sugar peas, broccoli, and green beans. Here’s how it works: Clear an area and level the dirt. Roll out weed matting, place cinder blocks over matting. Then add dirt, seeds and water.

May 18, 2012 Last year’s work is still producing. The dwarf cherry tree had a growth spurt and the black raspberries really filled in. Also shown are strawberry plants and the newest addition, grapes. It should be a good harvest this year. To me a garden is an investment, except unlike paper money, it actually…

May 4, 2012 While I try to water my plants regularly, I figured I’d remove the chance for human error out of the equation and give them some extra pseudo sunlight. Here’s how it works: I fill the bucket on the right with rain water from my rain barrels outside. It will automatically disperse the…

Date Established: May 1, 2012 Today we inoculated wood logs with shitake mushroom spores. These will produce mushrooms in about 6 to 18 months. The spores will feed off of the logs for years, producing mushrooms every 6 months until the logs decay. The logs here are shown with the spores placed in pre-drilled holes…

Date Completed: May 1, 2012 “Shit! They are inside my suit!” The window on the hive was caving in, so I had to open the hive and nail it in place. Note: Hammering inside a bee hive pisses off the bees. They snuck in my suit through a small hole by the zipper (I should…