Blog

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...

Preservatives show up in most packaged food today, which makes long-term storage tricky for anyone who'd rather avoid them — whether that's for personal preference, a hiking or camping trip where fresh food isn't practical, or building a genuine 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...

A freeze dryer already pays for itself over time just from cutting food waste and letting you buy in bulk — but sharing it with people you know can speed that up considerably, while spreading the same benefits further. Share...

Gardening has a reputation for sore backs and sweaty afternoons, but a handful of genuinely useful, low-tech tools can make it a lot more productive and a lot less painful. 1. A Rolling Garden Stool A fully adjustable, swiveling garden...

Most gardeners have a rough sense of what composting is, but fewer understand why it actually works or what it does for the soil. In nature, decaying plants break down into the basic nutrients other plants absorb — composting is...

More than half the world's population already lives in urban centers, and the UN projects that share will keep climbing toward 70% by mid-century. That trend has pushed more gardeners toward growing up instead of out — and a little...

Most people don't have the land for a serious garden on their own, but pooling resources with friends or neighbors changes that math considerably. A social garden — an informal, shared arrangement rather than an official community garden program —...

Anyone who's successfully lost weight and kept it off, or who runs a household through a genuinely chaotic week, tends to share one habit: planning ahead. The usual approach — cook a big batch on Sunday, portion it out for...