City Homestead

We Be Jammin’

January 13, 2010

I have been thinking about why so many of us enjoy canning/preserving the food we grow. There are many reasons, but for me, canning is what we as gardeners can do to continue the story of our garden. It is a way for us to capture the flavors and essence of the food we grow [...]

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Can Jam & Canning Across America

January 11, 2010

I have mentioned Canning Across America before HERE. It is a group of cooks, gardeners and food lovers committed to the revival of the lost art of "putting up" food. They have a great website with great information. Last month, on Canning Across America, Tigress in a Jam guest-posted about organizing a Can Jam Challenge for the [...]

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Micro Pigs – The New Pet?

November 11, 2009

I just saw this clip from a British telecast on Micro Pigs: little teeny-tiny pigs that never get beyond 14 inches tall! They are a hot new craze in Britain and I can see why. What Urban Farmer wouldn't want a tiny pig that can fit in the palm of your hand? Although it is [...]

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Growing Your Own Shiitake Mushrooms

November 3, 2009

 Some of you may recall this conversation I had with my husband recently… Husband: “What is this moldy baggie in the refrigerator? Can I throw it away?” Me: “NO!!!! That is my bag of Shiitake mushroom plug spawn.” Husband: “Huh?” Me: “It is a bag of wood sticks that are inoculated with Shiitake mushroom spores.” Husband: [...]

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Yard Sharing – in Portland and Everywhere

October 23, 2009

Yard Sharing. Have you heard of this? It has become increasingly popular over the last few years. Gardeners who want more space to garden team up with people who have the yard space (but lack the time or skills to garden). The gardener provides the labor, the homeowner provides the land (and usually ends up [...]

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Canning is Finally Cool Again

October 17, 2009

A few weeks ago, I mentioned Canning Across America. That project is still going strong. In fact, it is becoming very obvious that canning is now becoming “COOL”   – Just look at this new  “YES WE CAN” T-shirt you can buy online! – If you do a #canning search on Twitter you will be [...]

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Canning Across America

September 22, 2009

Have you heard about Canning Across America? It is a very cool new informational website with tons of canning info! I am actually a little late in posting this because the big “Kick-off” was three weeks ago…But the mission is still going strong — and will be going strong all year long. Here is the [...]

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Penny’s First Egg!

September 20, 2009

Look what Penny (our Barred Rock chicken) gave us the other day! Her first egg.  We sat around staring at it — Trying to decide what do to. Do we scramble it? Hard boil it? Bake it into something?  It was all just too exciting. So, we ended up waiting until the next day and [...]

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National Honey Bee Awareness Day

August 22, 2009

Did you know that today is National Honey Bee Awareness Day? Me neither! But I am jumping on the bandwagon as fast as I can. As gardeners, we all know how important bees are. They are indispensable! And then there is the whole Bee Crisis going on right now, so bees need our help even [...]

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Having A Good “Hair” Day

August 11, 2009

Charlotte is growing! You might remember Charlotte from my post here (Meet Charlotte) and here (Charlotte's Video). She is a Golden Laced Polish chicken. I get a lot of questions about how she is doing, so I thought I would post a new photo for you. As you can see, she has quite a "hair-do" [...]

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