How to Avoid Tomato Blight

Almost anyone who has attempted to grow tomatoes has experienced tomato blight. Blight is a fungus that causes the leaves to get spots, yellow, and wither. It eventually infects the fruit which will begin to rot. It is spread in wet conditions when rain or irrigation splashes the soil onto the leaves.

Plants that Repel Bugs

I ran into a man at the garden center the other day, his cart full of heirloom plants and organic potting soil. It did my heart good, until I saw him pick up a can of Sevin Dust and put it in his cart too. Why bother with heirlooms and organics if you’re just going to throw a pesticide on top of it?

Rather than spray pesticides, maybe try a more natural approach to repelling the bugs that are bugging you or your vegetables. A large number of plants contain fragrances and oils that serve as a deterrent for certain pests (not just bugs).

Perennial Fruits and Vegetables

My goal for the garden is to have it be as productive and maintenance free as possible. One way to do this is to plant as many perennial varieties as I can, so that I’m not having to start a ton of seeds each year.

Permaculture, Companion Planting, & Plant Guilds

Permaculture is basically a self-sufficient ecosystem. In gardening, it means that you’ve created an environment that allows the plants to grow with little intervention needed on your part. Basically, the garden does most of the work of taking care of itself, and you only need to do minimal maintenance.

The Key to Making Creamier Yogurt

I’ve had hit and miss results making my own yogurt. I’m usually very attentive, making sure the milk doesn’t boil or get too cool before adding in my starter. There have been few times, when the stars aligned just so, that I’ve managed to make creamy, silky, buttery yogurt. I could never really figure out what I did, since all of the steps & ingredients were the same. Come to find out, those times when my yogurt turned out heavenly—I’d actually

Zero Waste Just Got a Little Harder

Let's be honest. I am never going to be completely waste free. I'm not going to have a little jar full of trashy bits that I collected over the course of the year. Mostly because that's bullshit, I mean it's just not realistic. But I've been trying to follow the 5 Rs: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle. I've been working diligently on reducing my consumption, but when it comes down to it, it's the recycling portion that picks up my slack. That is, until now.

Fixing the Leaky Spigot

Fixing the Backyard Spigot

I did it! I crawled under my house, managing to not get too creeped out and fixed one of my leaking spigots. I say one because I couldn't keep the creeps at bay long enough to pull myself, on my belly, to the other side of the crawl space to fix the other spigot. (In fact, I'm already trying to figure out how to open up the brick wall in the front of the house to create a second access panel—rather than attempt to crawl completely under the house.)

But I fixed one of them! And it only took me 35 minutes and cost me $36 to do it!

Why Do We Have to Buy Things to Save Money?

Lately I'm being inundated with ads telling me that if I just buy *this* product, I can save HUNDREDS of dollars, and be one step closer to my fulfilled self. Okay, well, maybe not specifically the latter statement, but it's implied.

Working on Paying Down Our Credit Card Debt

Like most folks in my generation, I've accumulated about $15K in credit card debt. Most of it was big, one time expenditures (like moving) coupled with down turns in employment and illnesses. I've been working the debt snowball for over a year now and have cut the amount on one credit card by 2/3rds. But the interest isn't doing us any favors...