Whether you are shopping for Christmas or any other celebration, these gifts for gardeners are sure to be a hit! As a gardeners, I always have a wish list of things that I would like for myself - various books and magazines, certain plants I want to grow, tools I need to make the job easier. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, so I asked the members of the Greater Philadelphia Gardening & Homesteading Community to help me come up with this year's gift guide for ...
Homesteading
Growing Garlic – Plant Now for Summer Harvest
Last year, we had our first successful garlic harvest. This week, I am breaking apart two heads of garlic to replant, and so that we will have another harvest this coming summer. It's the perfect crop to get started in your fall garden! Garlic cloves are the individual bulbs that when planted will each become another head of garlic. So my 2 heads of garlic, plus some soil, water, and sunshine will grow into about 18 heads of garlic over the next few months. Planting & Growing ...
November’s Garden in Pictures
I haven't been into gardening as much in the last few months as I usually am. I have been dealing with a lot of health issues and they have completely zapped my energy, so I've done as little as possible. Thankfully, gardeners have a lot of optimism. We always believe in a better tomorrow. We have to otherwise we would never plant anything! What starts as some dirt and a few seeds or bulbs turns into a beautiful garden in spring. It then flourishes all summer ...
Simmering Christmas Potpourri
I love everything about the Christmas season. From the shopping to the decorating. All of the delicious food and amazing smells. Sometimes, I want the house to smell like Christmas without having to whip up a pie or a batch of cookies. Let's be honest, freshly baked treats smell amazing, but who has time for that every day. My go to used to be scented candles or wax melts, however, we have eliminated a lot of synthetic scents from our home over the past few years for ...
Handmade Honey Oat Soap
One of my goals for this year was to start making my own beauty products; particularly my own soap. I've already made a luxurious foaming hand soap, so now I want to make an equally luxurious bar soap. There are many soap bases available online and in craft stores. When you use a melt & pour soap base, the soap was created in a factory using lye to transform the fats into soap so you don't have to do that step at home. You melt the soap base, and then you ...