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6 Tips for a Bigger Tomato Harvest
Tomatoes are technically a fruit, though most gardeners treat them as a vegetable — and either way, they're one of the easiest, most rewarding plants in a home garden. A single plant typically produces somewhere between 8 and 20 pounds...
How to Freeze Dry Your Garden Harvest
A productive garden can go from a few ripe vegetables to more food than your household can eat in a surprisingly short time. Tomatoes ripen together. Green beans seem to double overnight. Zucchini grows faster than you can give it...
Freeze-Dried Food Versus Dehydrated Food: What’s the Difference?
Freeze Drying vs. Dehydrating: Which Food Preservation Method Is Best? If you're looking for the best way to preserve food, you've probably asked the same question many home gardeners, outdoor enthusiasts, and families ask: Should I freeze dry my food...
Seasonal Eating With a CSA Box: A Beginner's Guide
A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box delivers whatever's actually in season near you — which means some weeks you'll get vegetables you've never cooked before. Here's what to expect, how to cook the unfamiliar stuff, and how to keep it...
From Garden to Pantry: How One Family Preserves a 4,500-Square-Foot Garden
Every gardener eventually faces the same challenge. After months of planning, planting, watering, and weeding, the harvest arrives all at once. Tomatoes ripen faster than they can be eaten, herbs need to be picked before they flower, berries don't wait,...
How to Preserve a Full Harvest: Method by Crop Type
A big harvest rarely fits one preservation method. Some crops freeze-dry beautifully and lose almost nothing in the process; others are actually better off in a cold cellar or a cool pantry corner, no machine required. Sorting that out ahead...
Is a CSA Worth Joining? What to Expect
A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share is a good option if you want genuinely fresh, local produce but don't have the time, space, or interest to grow it yourself. You pay a local farm for a share, and in exchange...
Adventures in Home Freeze-Drying: Lisa Barker's Story
Lisa Barker grew up around food preservation — a backyard cherry tree marked the start of canning season every year, and the work continued through fall as apples, pumpkins, and root vegetables came in. It's a habit she learned from...
Hydroponics for Year-Round Freeze-Dried Food
Hydroponics is a relatively easy, inexpensive way to extend your growing season past what outdoor soil and weather allow — which means fresh vegetables and herbs for your freeze-dried entrees and soups even in the dead of winter. How It...