We wanted to showcase some of the chicken coop pictures that were submitted by people using the Palace Chicken Coop Plans. We are inspired by some of the great coops featured here as well as the adaptions made by them. Hopefully, you can glean some inspirations and...
What you'll learn: Step by step, how to grow pea shoots What you MUST do to prevent dangerous contamination Why coconut coir, seedlings pads do not work for pea shoots Recipe for simple pea shoots stir fry We love growing microgreens! They are not only highly...
We found what was left of Crazy Mops late this afternoon. Not sure what happened, the boys and I found the feathers and what what left of her body on the grass. Life on the homestead....not always pretty, but you get to experience appreciation of new life and...
A lovely reader sent a package of his homegrown star anise spice. Have you ever used star anise before? Normally, when I buy them at the Asian market, they look like they've been picked through - none of the "stars" even resemble stars. Upon opening the bag, there is...
Our new "mail-order" baby chicks are now about 1 month old. For the first couple of weeks, the baby chicks are so adorable and teeny that you just want to keep them in your house and pet them all day! Well, the bigger they get, the more they eat. The more they eat,...
This is just a quick fun little "how to" post on how we are propagating strawberry runners in our aquaponics garden. This method will also work well in a hydroponic system as well. Surprisingly simple, effective and inexpensive method makes quick work of expanding...
I will be upfront about this, Architec Housewares reached out to us with information about their Homegrown Gourmet product line. I was immediately interested as one of their first lines read "It's the first of its kind to offer home growers all the tools they need to...
Now I will admit I am a lazy gardener. If there is an easier, simpler way of growing my own food then I will try it. The ease of an Aquaponics garden is one of the things that appealed to me. Once an aquaponic garden is set and running, for the most part it is really...
Harvest Time! We have been diligently watering our potatoes in a barrel daily, and patiently waiting till it was time to harvest. From what I gather you are supposed to wait till the leaves turn yellow and then harvest. Seems our plants want to keep on growing. They...
The baby chick above is a Blue Silkie Bantam - and will look like this when she grows up: photo from My Pet Chicken Beware of cuteness overload in this video! Baby Chick Hatching Chicken Hatching Equipment This Spring's chicks include: Bantam Blue Silkie (photo...
If you think hydroponic gardening is difficult or expensive - you're wrong! A simple tub (or even a milk jug) and a handful of easy-to-find (and cheap) products and you can hack yourself a hydroponics garden. I wanted to title this post "The Easiest Hydroponics Ever"...
Hello everyone! I've been "sustainable gardening" for over a year now -- with the aquaponics, hydroponics and microgreens. Some of our experiments are GREAT.... and some....well....let me just show you: Things That Worked Hydroponic Sweet Potatoes (in a barrel) From...
We have been getting a good number of inquiries about microgreens. Seems we have tapped into some curiosity with our original introduction to our microgreens operations. A common question that we get asked frequently is "What is the difference between microgreens,...
Our 5-acre homestead is situated perfect for isolation. To our left is a another 5-acre field that's empty - and beyond that our neighbors have 10 beautiful acres. Behind us is a 40 acre preserve - sort of like a rat's nest of thick prickly pokey Florida bush, palm...
I'm so excited to share with you Scott's latest hobby - actually my FAVORITE hobby of his (the other being Single Malt Scotch - bleh). We've converted an entire room that's located right next to his greenhouse into his Mad Scientist Studio. Here's Scott to tell you...
I am excited to say we are adding a new section to Steamy Kitchen called Grow! OK, it's not really a new section, but rather a new sub section under our Homestead heading. It's focus will be on growing your own food. It's mission - to inspire you to grow something,...
Almost exactly a month ago, we ordered 20 fertile duck eggs online and 2 incubators - one for each of the boys' classrooms. For 27 days, the kids took daily measurements of the eggs (weighing each egg over time), monitored growth through a candler, made sure the eggs...
We're getting excited! Our primary growing season here in Florida is nearly upon us. We are hard at work prepping the raised beds, earthboxes, and updating the aquaponics system. We'll be sharing what we learned from phase 1 of our aquaponics in an upcoming post as...
Each morning, after breakfast and before school, the kids go out and do their morning chores, which includes feeding the chickens, gathering eggs, watering the garden and feeding the ducks. We started out with 2 ridiculously handsome Pekin ducklings and 1 Khaki...
The great thing about living near a farm store is that I no longer need to have baby fowl delivered via postal service. The bad thing about living near a farm store is that I just cannot stay away. Last week, the kids and I snuck over there while Scott was out...
