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6 Tips to Successfully Grow Spinach 

spinach with leaf mulch

Following are our top 6 tips for successfully growing spinach. We’ll get into more detail for each of them, but here’s an overview to start: Get good seeds Plant and grow spinach at the right temperature Direct sow spinach instead of transplanting it Weed and thin your spinach patch Fertilize spinach well Harvest spinach regularly […]

How to Build a Fire

glowing coals in a nice wood fire

The warm light of a fire is at once calming and exhilarating. That’s because, deep in our bones, we feel how essentially human it is to sit around a fire: We watch the flames and smoke dance, while listening to the crackle of transformation. Indeed, fire turns wood into heat and light, campsites into welcoming […]

Building an Ecological Tiny House with Natural Materials

Hemcrete tiny house

People all over the world have been building ecological tiny homes and other structures with natural materials throughout human history. Here, we dig into the differences between conventional and more ecological building materials and discuss three natural building modalities to consider when building a tiny house:  Rammed earth Hempcrete Cordwood Sustainability of building materials: conventional […]

Fall Gardening – When and what to plant for success

  If your idea of vegetable gardening only involves a spring flurry and summer bounty, it’s time to explore the rewarding world of fall gardening and what to plant for success. Just imagine: sowing seeds when the soil is plenty warm for high germination rates; maturing crops after the first frost has knocked back pest […]

Timber Framing: A time-honored, beautiful, durable, and versatile way to build

Image source: Carolina Timberworks

What is timber framing? Timber framing is a construction method that utilizes heavy timbers instead of skinny framing wood (like 2x4s). These pieces are connected by elegant and strong joinery, which interlocks the timbers and incorporates wooden pegs to secure them. As a result, this method is way stronger and more durable than using metal […]