The Homemade Cleaners I Stopped Making
I spent two years making my own household cleaners before admitting they were not saving me money, not saving me time, and in one case were genuinely unsafe. This is the project I tell people to skip.
Why I Started With Fridge Pickles and Stayed There a While
Refrigerator pickles get treated as the training wheels version of preserving. They were the only thing I finished eating in my first year, and they taught me things about salt, timing and my own habits before I ever touched a canner.
I Missed the Spring Window Again
Spring on a small lot does not arrive as a season. It arrives as a narrow opening you either walk through or watch close. Here is the year I watched it close, and what I changed so it happens less.
Our First Winter With Chickens Went Better Than the Second
The first cold season I over-prepared and nothing happened. The second one I got comfortable, and I lost a hen in February. Here is what I actually do now, and what I stopped doing.
The First Spring I Cut Sod With a Bread Knife
The first bed I dug was cut out of the lawn beside our driveway with my mother’s old serrated knife, because I did not own a spade yet. Here is what that first season actually looked like, including the parts that failed.
The Months When Nothing Grows Are the Ones That Matter
I used to think the quiet stretch of the year was wasted time. Then I noticed that every good season I have had traced back to a decision I made at the kitchen table in the cold, and every bad one traced back to skipping that.
The First Batch I Ruined and What the Mold Taught Me
My first jar of fermented green beans grew a gray ring on top while I told myself it was nothing. Here is what actually went wrong, what I threw out, and why a loud failure was the cheap kind of lesson.
Bread Was the One That Stuck
Out of everything I tried to make instead of buy, bread is the only habit that survived three years. Here is my honest accounting of what it costs, what it does not save, and why it stayed anyway.
Six Questions I Wish Someone Had Asked Me Before the Chicks
I bought six chicks on a Saturday errand for potting soil, and I decided in about ten minutes. Three springs later, here are the questions I would hand to myself in that feed store parking lot.
Winter Here Is Mostly About the Pipes
A split hose bib on a January morning taught me what winter on a small suburban lot is actually for. Not growing. Maintenance, repair, and paying attention to the things I ignored all summer.