Morning Star

These are the last of the Desiree and German Butterball potatoes that I harvested in fall 2024. I keep them in a chest freezer that is held around 36 F by an Inkbird temperature controller. They store in really good condition all winter long using this method. I spent several years being disappointed to find my homegrown potatoes getting wrinkled and sprouting like crazy before I could eat them. This is the solution that works for me. #homesteading #storagecrops #gardening #grownostr

Started several varieties of peppers and tomatoes at home for my summer garden. My top favorite tomatoes are Carbon, Apricot Zebra and the old faithful Brandywine. Pepper varieties that I like include Sweet Bell and Banana peppers (for pickling). Mildly spicy peppers are Black Hungarian and Anaheim. I don't grow the super-hot peppers since I've been burned one too many times 😄 What are your favorite tomatoes and peppers? #gardening #gardenstr #homesteading #seedstarting

Happy to announce that Little Star is due in October! I have finally made it past the first trimester symptoms of extreme fatigue and mild nausea. Looking forward to this upcoming spring and summer of gardening before we meet our first baby in the fall.

Turkey soup with onions, carrots, garlic, thyme and rosemary from my garden. I bought the celery. The turkey was already in the freezer from Thanksgiving. Gardening can be a lot of work but it's all worth it when you sit down to a delicious meal in the middle of wintertime made with homegrown vegetables. #cookstr #homesteading #soup

Seedlings for zone 5b are growing indoors. I have started: Onions Kale Lettuce Parsley Lavender Beets Swiss chard Dahlia (flowers) Snapdragon (flowers) Stock (flowers) Looking forward to spring! #gardenstr #gardening #seedstarting #grownostr #homesteading

Beets are a good cold weather crop for the spring, but I can't say that I've ever enjoyed their flavor. Pickled beets are okay because they mostly taste like vinegar. This year, I'm growing golden beets for the first time. Maybe their flavor will be better than the average red beet. #grownostr #beets #gardening #homesteading #seedstarting #gardenstr

Onions are the first seeds that I get started growing in the spring. February 15th is usually the right time to start them indoors but I'm going to start a few seeds early this year. We might get some nice weather early in the season or I can cover them with frost blankets on cold nights. #grownostr #gardening #seedstarting

In addition to growing staple food crops, I always make space for some flowers as well. This will be my first year growing dahlias from seed and I'm looking forward to seeing what colors they produce! What flowers do you enjoy growing? Do you use them for any special purpose? #grownostr #gardening #homesteading #flowers

Doing some garden planning for the 2025 growing season today. I live on a half-acre property in Michigan; growing zone 5b. The staple crops that do well here include onions, garlic, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage and butternut squash. Technically not storage crops, but we grow tomatoes (canned for sauce) and peppers (frozen bell peppers for cooking and homemade hot sauce) for the winter as well. If everything goes well, I will be able to grow enough of these staple crops to supply our two-person household all year. The crops that I don't have space to grow at home can be supplemented by helping out at my mom's small vegetable farm. What zone do you grow in and what are your staple crops? #grownostr #gardening #storagecrops #homesteading

Gene Logsdon has been one of the most influential authors in my life so far and I highly recommend his books. He passed in 2016, but his blog is still kept online by a friend. I like to re-read some of his posts on occasion. Today, I was reading this one: https://thecontraryfarmer.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/your-favorite-farm-or-garden-job/ What is your favorite farm or garden job? #grownostr #genelogsdon #authors #gardening #thecontraryfarmer

Playing around with more colors in my soap. I was inspired by this website to make a 4th batch of coffee colored (and scented) soap: https://www.ellyseveryday.com/ellys-everyday-blog/cold-process-coffee-soap-recipe The 5th batch was colored with paprika and scented with cedarwood essential oil. I've worked through a whole pound of lye and all of the lard and tallow that was in the freezer. This was a fun project! #grownostr #soap #soapmaking #homesteading