User-Submitted Chicken Coop Pictures

User-Submitted Chicken Coop Pictures

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...

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How to Grow Pea Shoots

How to Grow Pea Shoots

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...

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R.I.P. Crazy Mops

R.I.P. Crazy Mops

  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...

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Home Grown Star Anise

Home Grown Star Anise

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...

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Mohawks and Tombstone in the Kitchen

Mohawks and Tombstone in the Kitchen

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,...

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Grow: Aquaponic Strawberry Runners

Grow: Aquaponic Strawberry Runners

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...

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Grow: Harvest Grow Bags Review

Grow: Harvest Grow Bags Review

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...

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Grow: Aquaponincs, what to do when disaster strikes

Grow: Aquaponincs, what to do when disaster strikes

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...

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Aquaponics Sweet Potatoes Update

Aquaponics Sweet Potatoes Update

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...

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Just Hatched!

Just Hatched!

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...

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Grow: Foolproof Hydroponic Gardening in a Tub

Grow: Foolproof Hydroponic Gardening in a Tub

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"...

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Grow: Hydroponics and Aquaponics Update

Grow: Hydroponics and Aquaponics Update

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...

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Mystery Killer Caught on Camera

Mystery Killer Caught on Camera

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...

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Grow: The Microgreens Mad Scientist

Grow: The Microgreens Mad Scientist

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...

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Welcome to Grow!

Welcome to Grow!

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,...

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Hatching Baby Ducks!

Hatching Baby Ducks!

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...

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Our Aquaponic Potatoes In A Barrel Experiment

Our Aquaponic Potatoes In A Barrel Experiment

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...

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Cheating Little Duck!

Cheating Little Duck!

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...

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Ducklings learning to swim

Ducklings learning to swim

  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...

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