By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The Backyard Homestead is an excellent reference source that combines farming advice with good old fashion recipes.

The Backyard Homestead provides knowledge that has been gleamed from the many books on self-sufficiency produced by Storey publishing.

The premise that The Backyard Homestead is based on is raising animals, fruits, grains, and vegetables on a quarter of an acre.

The Backyard Homestead claims that on this quarter of an acre an individual can harvest 1,400 eggs, 50 pounds wheat, 60 pounds of fruit, 2,000 pounds of vegetables, 280 pounds of pork, and 75 pounds of nuts.

The Backyard Homestead is divided into 7 chapters that cover the whole gamete of farming and more.

Chapter 1-The Home Vegetable Garden

This chapter provides the basic gardening knowledge. It covers planning, how to plan to reap more, container gardening, cool verses warm season crops, and vegetables A to Z. All in all The Backyard Homestead provides all the vegetable garden knowledge that is needed for a successful garden in the first chapter.

Chapter 2-Backyard Fruits and Nuts

In this chapter a full array of plants and care are Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day, I was reading an article about how expensive invasive species are to the environment.

Some species just become a simple nuisance while others completely take over and change an environment.

A common example of this situation occurred several hundred years ago when the first “white men” entered North America. As we do today, they wanted to bring the comforts of home.

These include spices, traditions, plants, and animals. In the beginning, the environment was able to handle these newcomers to the land. But the beauty of the land was not enough and in doing so it had to be Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Carrots have always played a unique role in my family’s history.

My son is a lover of carrots.

As a matter of fact, it goes beyond a love.

When he was 8 years old he got into a fight. The only fight he has ever been in and as a fact he will be 21 this year. Well the fight started over you guessed it carrots. His friend asked if he could have some carrots.

My son, being the loving soul he is said yes but…..The but is what started the fight. Donald said his friend could have 5 baby carrots. His friend disagreed and took 7. The fight of the century began. I have told this story to many people and they say it was just carrots but our society has started wars over less.

Since my son loves carrots I have always tried to grow them but have never had any luck. The soil in southern Indiana is not conducive for this type of root crop but I am determined to find a way.

Carrots are another wonderful vegetable Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

As you know, I am a country girl at heart.

I have seen many ups and downs in my lifetime that have affected me in one-way or another.

As a child, my dad lost his job shortly after we moved to the country.

Being a proud man, he sold everything he could think of and then applied for help.

No help for us but like I have said many times, “Country people will survive.”

Then, in the 70’s I saw something that changed my life on TV. It was when farming was Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

As an avid reader, I have lately been looking into books that deal with personal development and came upon a concept called feng shui.

This concept has its roots buried deep in the Chinese belief system of balance or chi.

Since this belief is over 300 years old; I felt there might be something to it.

So this year, I am going to design my vegetable garden utilizing the feng shui principles.

What I liked about this concept was that nature was looked at as a whole living organism that is full of energy or chi. To have harmony and prosperity in ones environment, these forces need to be balanced.

To balance these forces, one must first Read the rest of this entry »