There’s a funny thing that happens when summer starts packing up its things. The tomatoes slow down, the zucchini finally stops trying to take over the neighborhood, and a lot of gardeners mentally put the whole operation to bed until spring. But the garden isn’t necessarily closed. In fact, depending Read more…
Every spring, gardeners begin dreaming about the harvest. We imagine juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, sweet peppers, baskets of green beans, and enough zucchini to make the neighbors turn off the porch light and pretend they aren’t home. We picture jars lined up on pantry shelves, fresh produce on the table, Read more…
Last week, I wrote about some of the most unusual flours you’ve probably never heard of—everything from zucchini flour to bean flour, pumpkin seed flour, plantain seed flour, and even flour made from weeds. Of all the flours I mentioned, one seemed to generate more curiosity than the rest. Acorn Read more…
Most people think flour comes from wheat. Some adventurous bakers might mention corn flour, rice flour, almond flour, coconut flour, or even oat flour. But after that, the list tends to get pretty short. The truth is that people have been turning plants, seeds, roots, nuts, and even weeds into Read more…
Why Flavor Is a Preparedness Asset Survivor Steve was feeling pretty good about his preparedness plan. He had enough rice, beans, wheat, oats, pasta, and other staples to feed a small nation. His pantry was organized, labeled, inventoried, and probably had its own zip code. If preparedness supplies were measured Read more…
There’s a moment after you’ve embraced the importance of fats when a new question sneaks in… Usually right when you’re staring at a jar of something golden and wondering if it’s going to outlive you or betray you. Because unlike your buckets of rice that seem emotionally committed to sticking Read more…
There’s a moment in every self-reliance journey where you step back, look at your food storage, and feel like an absolute champion. You’ve got buckets of rice stacked like you’re opening a small distribution center. Beans lined up with the kind of organization that would make a librarian weep with Read more…
There I was, minding my own business, probably sipping cocoa and feeling wildly productive because I had successfully folded one piece of laundry… when a question popped into my head: “If you could only grow ONE crop… what would it be?” So I posed that to our Preparedness Pro readers. Read more…
One of the smartest ways to build a productive garden is to choose crops that keep giving instead of producing only once. Some plants give you a single harvest and they’re done for the season. Others, however, keep producing week after week with minimal effort. Those are the crops that Read more…
Most people plant flowers for beauty. They brighten the yard, attract pollinators, and make the garden feel alive again after winter loosens its grip. But some flowers do far more than look pretty. Some flowers feed you. In fact, several common garden flowers are not only edible, but surprisingly nutritious—and Read more…