Looking for a special, budget-busting way to introduce a little holiday cheer?  Try making your own holiday wreaths!

Nearly every homestead has abundant raw material to create striking and unique holiday decorations. Of course the old standbys of evergreen boughs and grapevine spring to mind, but if those are scare at your place don’t despair.  Just look around.  Twigs and small branches, straw and dead weeds all make great wreath-making material.  Or use your imagination and raid your junk pile for inspiration.  Have fun! How about a wreath crafted from scraps of electrical wire and decorated with spark plugs to grace your machine shop door?

Start your wreath with several lengths of sturdy material like grapevine or twigs.  Twist them together, then bend into a circle and secure with binding wire.  Use this as a frame to attach other material like pine branches or weeds.  Weave them in securely or use more binding wire to attach.

Top it all off with decorative elements gleaned from your homestead.  Try pine cones, bittersweet or holly berries or crab apples.  Use wire or needle and thread to secure them onto the wreath.  Or raid the sewing bench for ribbons, bows and notions.  Long strips of brightly-colored calico make delightful use of scraps that might otherwise go to waste.

Once you’re done making one or a few for yourself, you might find the process addicting.  Home made wreaths make great gifts, or sell them at holiday craft fairs or bazaars for a little extra Christmas money.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to include your holiday spirit.  Make it a family project with the kids, or invite friends and neighbors for a pot-luck wreath-making party.  You might just find you’ve started a new holiday tradition!

When it comes to winter food storage without using up lots of electricity or other fuel, root vegetables are king.   After all, their whole purpose is to last until spring!  Storing your root vegetables doesn’t have to be complicated.  Just keep these few rules in mind·

• Keep them some place cool, but don’t let them freeze.  A root cellar or cool basement is ideal.  If your winters are mild, you can even leave them in the ground all winter.  Just cover with a thick layer of mulch to keep out the frost, and be sure to use them before it warms up and the plants start to sprout.
• Most root vegetables like high humidity.  Pack them in damp sand, newspaper or peat.
• Don’t wash your veggies before storing.  You want to handle them gently to avoid small nicks and bruises that could lead to rot.
• You know the saying, “One bad apple spoils the bunch.”  It goes for root veggies, too.  Be vigilant against rot.  Use any damaged roots as soon as possible after harvest.  Check every week or so and promptly remove any veggie showing any sign of going bad.
• Potatoes take slightly different handling.  Keep them dry, and don’t expose them to light.  Light will trigger the formation of toxic compounds.  Do not eat potato sprouts or any part of the potato that has turned green.

With proper handling, you should be able to store your root vegetables all the way through ‘till spring – if you don’t eat them all up first!

In cities we spend huge amounts of human and fossil energy raking, blowing and carting them off – not to mention the thousands of plastic bags used to hold them.

In the country we tend to simply let them fall and ignore them.

But the millions of leaves that fall from our broadleaf trees each year represent a bounteous harvest far too few people ever realize.  How about you?

Dead Leaves for Feed and Bedding

Do you have sheep, goats or small animals?  Do you pay good money for hay and bedding material?  And do you have hardwood trees on your property?  If so, you may have overlooked a plentiful and inexpensive source of bedding and winter feed.

Aspen and other leaves have been used to bed down animals for centuries.  While not as absorbent as straw or shavings, the price is right and collection is usually a snap.  The leaves are also easily composted along with manure for a highly nutritious additive to your garden soil.

Dry leaves can also be used like hay as a winter staple for certain animals, such as sheep and rabbits.  Just be sure to exercise proper caution:  certain species, like black walnut and cherry, contain toxins in their leaves.  Be sure to check with a veterinarian to be sure your tree species are compatible with your animals.

Digging Dry Leaves

Dead leaves are also great for your garden.  Dig them into the soil in fall or spring to enrich your garden and make your soil loose and friable.  And a layer of leaves (shredded or whole) makes great mulch.  Again, be careful of the species you use, especially walnut or anything aromatic.   For a good lazy man’s mulch for garden beds, just blow the leaves off your yard and onto the beds.

You can also use dry leaves as a carbon-rich element in your compost pile.  They’re especially great for urban gardeners to layer in with kitchen scraps.  And if you’re into worm composting, shredded leaves make excellent bedding for the wriggly little critters!  If you also have grass clippings, mix them in with the leaves for a nitrogen boost.

Next time you’re faced with the prospect of raking up a bunch of leaves, don’t just sigh and resign yourself to the work.  Think of it as a bonus, and enjoy the harvest!

“Help! I planted way too much zucchini and it’s coming out our ears! I don’t just need tips – I need zucchini solutions!”

Can you relate?

Many gardeners have a love-hate relationship with this prolific summer squash.

On the one hand, who can resist a plant that rewards so little effort with so much bounty?

On the other hand…well, just what do you do with all that zucchini?

No one will blame you this time of year for being fed up with zucchini. But we still have a few weeks or even months left for the happy plants to keep cranking out the little green buggers. Here are five zucchini ideas that will help keep late-summer garden grumbling to a minimum.

1. Pick your zucchini small. I mean really small, like 3 to 4 inches. They may even still have the blossom attached. Baby zucchini are at least as tasty as the larger ones, but it takes oh, so many more of them to make a serving. Try your baby zucchini stir-fried, cut in half and thrown into soups, or breaded and served as an appetizer with marinara sauce.

2. Grate it and freeze it. Your family may be grumbling about too much zucchini now, but imagine their delight next February when you surprise them with a steaming loaf of cinnamon-scented zucchini bread. Even with a hand-grater, it only takes a couple minutes to reduce a zucchini to shreds (unless you’ve let them get way out of hand!). Pack the stuff in zip-lock bags, seal and date, and chuck it in the freezer. Zucchini is a great source of folate, potassium and vitamins A and C. And it’s mild enough to sneak into nearly any dish, savory or sweet. Throw it into casseroles, baked goods, pancakes, soups & stews and anything else you can imagine, all year long.

3. Can your extra zucchini. By itself, canned zucchini isn’t very appetizing. Trust me — I’ve tried it. (Let me know if you’ve found a way – I’m open to suggestions!) But try this sure-fire way to prepare canned zucchini your family will truly enjoy: Just sauté it up with onions, garlic and your favorite herbs. Toss in some sliced tomatoes (canning or paste tomatoes are best) and simmer a few minutes, then can as you would any other non-acid veggie. Serve as a side or over pasta or rice.

4. Make a zucchini donation. Many food pantries only accept non-perishable food. But ask around. Some may take garden produce in season. Or try asking at women’s shelters, churches and other organizations in your area that help people in need.

5. Host a zucchini potluck party. What better excuse for a little social fun? Hand two or three zucchini to each of your non-gardening friends and ask them to transform it into something yummy. Chances are they’ll surprise you with their creativity – and you’ll end up with lots of great zucchini ideas for next year!

And if all else fails, do what someone in my neighborhood did a year or two ago: dress those babies up in swaddling clothes and leave them on a caring person’s doorstep!

Nothing ruins a happy home, yard, and garden like uninvited guests – by which I mean destructive critters that thwart your efforts to build and maintain a household and home. Worse is that most of the pest-control “solutions” out on the market are toxic not only to the pests but to you and me and our pets and the environment too! What’s a green redneck to do?

Thankfully, there’s a good old fashioned green home remedy for most pest problems just like there are for pretty every other household problem. Here are several of the most commonly useful:

• To make all your plants as pest and disease resistant as possible, grow them to be as strong and hardy as possible. Use good (natural) fertilizers – like your own homemade compost – rich soil, etc. Healthy plants are naturally pest and disease resistant.
• Add to the pest and disease preventing power of your garden by interplanting too – that’s planting all different things together in the same area rather than “monocropping”, where you grow each crop in a separate patch. Since different pests gravitate towards specific plants, it will be hard for any one pest to propagate when its dietary options are so spread out.
• Then, after harvest, rotate your crops – planting different crops in different patches each season. Rotating crops reduces the likelihood of a pest infestation to pass over from one season to the next in any given patch.
• There are also natural pesticides like neem oil and insecticidal soap.  These aren’t as effective as some chemical pesticides, but they will kill bugs without leaving a harmful residue on foods.
• Diatomaceous earth is a dry powder derived from the shells of marine organisms. It can be used to deter and kill crawling pests.

How’s your garden coming along?  Start any new beds this year?  Yes?

So how’s your back – ready for a nice hot Epsom salt soak?

It may be too late for this year, but there’s no reason ever to strain your back or arms starting a new garden bed again.

Lazy gardeners – Rejoice! Eco-gardeners, too!  With lazy gardening, you don’t ever have to go through the slow, hard, blister-raising labor of breaking sod again.  Nor do you have to use a smelly, noisy, gas-sucking tractor or plow.  All you have to do is spread stuff around.

The idea is to mulch the heck out of your new plot until it submits to cultivation.  Have you ever picked up an old board that’s been lying out in the field for a few months? You know how it kills all the grass, and the soil underneath gets all loose and friable from the worms tunneling through?  That’s what you’re going for.

Here’s how to do it:

Starting Your Lazy Garden Bed

1.    Measure out your plot.  The lazy gardening technique works best for home gardens.  If you’re thinking more along the lines of a cornfield, stick with the plow.
2.    Collect a bunch of cardboard boxes – the bigger the better.  Refrigerator boxes are ideal.  Cut them apart into sheets of cardboard.
3.    Get the cardboard really wet.  Like, saturated. If you haul water and want to conserve it the easy way to do this is to let them sit out in the rain.
4.    Get your garden plot really, really wet.  The rain does a great job with this, too.
5.    Lay the soaked cardboard pieces out so they cover your plot.  Make sure the edges overlap, or you’ll get little lines of grass growing up through the cracks.
6.    (You can also use newspapers, if you’re not concerned about the inks in your food plot.  Use lots of layers and make sure they’re soaked.)
7.    If you have it, spread the paper layer with compost.
8.    Now, pile on the mulch!  Anything you’ve got – moldy hay, grass clippings, sawdust, dead leaves, whatever.  If you have extra compost or manure and want to layer that in, so much the better.

Now you have your bed.  Ideally, you’ll want to let it sit for a while, the longer the better.  (I didn’t say this was going to be fast!)

The best time to start a lazy garden bed is in the fall after the harvest.  Usually you’ll have a lot of mulch available at that time, and you can just let it sit until spring.  Very early spring works well, too.

Planting Your Lazy Garden Bed

Don’t even think about direct-sowing the first year.  You’ll want transplants – and make sure they’re big enough that the mulch doesn’t shade them out.  Tomatoes and squash work fine.  Just take a trowel and dig right through the mulch.  Throw a little compost in the bottom of each hole and tuck ‘em in.

When we (sob) moved back to the city a couple years ago I was too busy at work to do much in the way of gardening – but I did take an hour and put in a 3’x 20’ lazy garden bed.  Last summer was the first season.  My tomatoes didn’t do too well (got them in late), but we enjoyed many bouquets of marigolds and zinnias.  This spring I raked back the mulch and the soil looks great – I’ll just dig in a few amendments and it’ll be ready to plant.  I’m looking forward to at least a few meals from our little urban homestead!

I’ve known people who swore they never would have gotten a garden started at all if they hadn’t found out about this method.  Whether you have a bad back, are short on time (but long on patience), or are just plain a Lazy Gardener, give it a try.

Anne Michelsen is co-founder of Marathon Renewable Energy, Inc., specializing in solar hot water systems. You can read more of her work at YourGreenLifestyle.blogspot.com

A while back a company was making “Barnyard Tea” in actual tea bags. According to sites selling the stuff:

“A Canadian company has devised a method of drying organic manure, preserving the nutrients and removing all odors. Then they package it in standard tea bags. Being made from a blend of cow, chicken, pig and horse manure, it is great for fertilizing house plants, seedlings and transplants.”

The stuff looks way too much like herb tea for my “taste.” I wonder how many boxes were sold and then used as practical jokes? Move over whoopee cushion.

That failed product has not stopped another company, “Authentic Haven Brand” from selling somewhat larger bags of poop that are designed for the same purpose. These bags are significantly larger, and much less likely to be confused with the kind intended for human consumption. You can even choose between cow manure, horse manure, and alfafa – the latter intended for roses. It looks like some really high-class sh.. stuff too. According to Annie Havens their tea is “pure manure tea. Harvested, sun dried, Eco-hand packaged from the by-product of Haven raised grass fed livestock only.” She goes on to say

“It’s not the manure I am selling as much as it is the purity of the Manure I’m selling! We’re the real Green Deal here. Do you know what the cattle and horses have been fed, that your manure comes from, chances are No! Have they been medicated, wormed, antibiotics fed to them?”

Okay, so it’s not just high class, it’s really green too.

Manure tea, by the way, is an organic plant food. It’s the organic gardener’s version of Miracle Grow. Organic gardeners (and others) use it in the garden and on container plants. It adds good stuff beyond what you get from chemical fertilizers.

You can also make your own manure tea, of course. This is what I recommend (even though Annie makes a good case for knowing what the animals ate). Real rednecks make their manure tea from scratch. Here are two articles that will teach you to do this:

• Bruce Zimmerman’s recipe uses a pillowcase to make large batches of the stuff.
• Willi Galloway suggests that you just dump the manure in a bucket full of water, and then strain it later.

If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, try Annie’s product.