Getting Started
First steps for new homesteaders and gardeners, from essential tools to planning your first year.
First Steps
Where to begin when the land is new to you.
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Essential Tools
What you actually need, and what you can skip.
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Planning Your First Year
A realistic map for year one.
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Climate Zones
Reading your place before you plant.
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Planting Guide
What to plant, when, and how. Climate-universal growing notes across hundreds of crops.
Crops A to Z
Vegetables, grains, herbs, medicinals, fruit trees, berries, perennials, and legumes.
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Cool Season
Lettuce, kale, broccoli, carrots, peas, and the rest of the cold-hardy garden.
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Grains & Legumes
Ancient wheats, corn, barley, buckwheat, and the nitrogen-fixing soil builders.
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Barrier Hedge
Thirty-plus plants for living boundaries that feed and shelter.
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Seasonal Calendar
Month by month tasks for a Zone 6b/7a homestead, tied to phenology, not just dates.
April
Planting season begins in earnest.
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June
Peak growing and the first harvests.
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August
Preservation and the late-summer push.
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Preservation
Canning, drying, freezing, root cellaring, seed saving, smoking, and curing. Nothing wasted.
All Preservation Methods
Keep the harvest through the hungry months.
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Canning
Water bath and pressure canning, done safely.
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Seed Saving
Seed sovereignty begins at home.
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Root Cellaring
Cold storage without electricity.
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Soil & Compost
Building fertility naturally: compost systems, cover crops, amendments, and clay soil solutions.
Compost Systems
Turn kitchen scraps and garden waste into black gold.
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Cover Crops
Living mulch that feeds the soil while it rests.
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Clay Soil Solutions
Work with heavy ground instead of fighting it.
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All Soil & Compost
Natural amendments, on-farm byproducts, and more.
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Water Systems
Rainwater harvesting, swales, irrigation, ponds, and drought resilience.
Rainwater Harvesting
Catch the rain and store it for the dry season.
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Drought Resilience
Design for the dry years, not just the wet ones.
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Irrigation Methods
Get water where it is needed, efficiently.
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All Water Systems
Ponds, spring development, and the rest.
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Wild Plants & Animals
Foraging, look-alikes, dandelion, and the animals that make a farm a living system.
Foraging Guide
Wild food, gathered safely and sustainably.
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Look-Alikes
Know the difference before you eat.
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Dandelion
The most undervalued plant on the farm.
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Chickens
Pest control, fertility, eggs, and soil turning.
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