Expanding Your Home Outdoors Homesteading requires creativity and ingenuity. In the depths of winter, I often find myself dreaming of days and evenings enjoyed outside. On our homestead, we have discovered opportunities to expand our living spaces by creating private areas outdoors as well as creatively using outbuildings. Wintertime is the perfect time to plan […]

  History of Popcorn Have you considered growing popcorn in your garden? Homegrown popcorn is easy to grow and has a superior flavor over store-bought popcorn. Popcorn is native to the Americas; probably one of the oldest snacks, Native Americans showed the English how to pop popcorn in the 16th century, and evidence shows that […]

If you garden, you can start your own plants like tomatoes or peppers, or you can purchase them elsewhere. While it is obvious that a packet of seeds costs less than a flat of already-started plants, there are a number of other reasons to start your own transplants. If you are only familiar with what […]

We plant rows of sunflowers every year here in the gardens at Pleasant Valley Farm. These beautiful flowers provide a surprising number of benefits! Our garden field is roadside, next to our farm stand. Each spring it’s exciting to see tidy rows of vegetable plants. But as the season progresses, it seems each year the […]

This is always a busy time on our farm. The garden is at peak production and I try to preserve any produce left over at the end of our market days. On days the stand isn’t open, I’m usually found in our processing kitchen making jams, salsas, pickles, and more. There are also plenty of […]

When I moved to our farm, I longed to put in more flowers. There were a few things that bloomed- irises, lily of the valley, daffodils- but not a lot. A farm is a busy place, so planting pretty things often falls way down the to-do list. But here are five great reasons why I’ve […]

Hello! My name is Emily Stevenson, and I’m excited to be a contributor here on Homestead Hustle! I hope to be a source of both information and inspiration to you, whether you’re a novice with a homestead dream or someone already living off the land. I thought the best way to introduce myself might be […]

Getting Started as a Flower Farmer Shared From MOTHER EARTH NEWS  Written by:Lynn Byczynski I get up at dawn and drink a cup of coffee on the porch as the red sun inches over the hillside. Then I head down to the field, just a stone’s throw from the house, and wade into the neat rows […]