Author: Erin
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Powdery Mildew in Kentucky: What Actually Works (and What I Stopped Wasting Money On)
If you garden in Kentucky, you already know the look. That dusty, gray-white film that shows up on your squash leaves in the muggy part of summer like somebody walked through your garden flinging baking flour. It’s powdery mildew in Kentucky time! Last year it got my zucchini in the fall, this year it got…
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My Basil Still Turns Black When I Freeze It — Here’s Why I Stopped Caring
I was frustrated, why can’t I keep my basil from turning black when I freeze it, why can’t I keep my basil from turning black when I dry it? Every article promises to keep your basil green. This isn’t that. Mine turns dark too and I’m going to tell you why that’s okay. I tried…
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What’s Destroying My Pepper Plants? pepper leaves curling down? Broad Mites!
My search, what is wrong with my pepper plant? Then, why are my pepper plants leaves curling down? Nothing seemed to match what my peppers were doing. Most advice was I was over watering, or aphids. I had looked all over the leaves and could not see any bugs. My watering schedule was on point.…
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What to Plant in July in Kentucky — What I’m Actually Growing on My Homestead
If you are like me, searching for what to plant in July in Kentucky you might be surprised to find out how much is actually going in the ground this month. July feels like peak summer — hot, humid, and full on — but it is also quietly the start of fall gardening season in…
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Easy Sourdough Discard Pancakes for Two (No Egg, No Additional Flour, 10 Minutes)
Some mornings you don’t want a big production — you just want real food on the table fast. These are my everyday sourdough discard pancakes for two: one bowl, 10 minutes, no egg, and almost no additional flour. I’ve been making them by eye for years on our Kentucky ridgetop using leftover sourdough discard, a…
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Best Chicken Breeds for Kentucky Beginners: What I Actually Keep and What I’d Choose
If you search ‘best chicken breeds for Kentucky,’ you’ll find the same ten names on every list. Buff Orpington. Rhode Island Red. Barred Rock. Most of those articles were written by people who have never spent a July in Kentucky watching their beloved hen pant in the heat with wings spread wide. I’ve kept chickens…
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Grow Bags for Kentucky Gardeners — 7 Crops I’ve Actually Grown (And What the Heat Taught Me the Hard Way)
If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you’ve seen the photo. Chives in a grow bag in Kentucky, April sunlight, ridgetop backdrop — it’s been sitting right there in my April planting post header being beautiful and a personal inspiration to expand gardening in grow bags in Kentucky. The experiments. The drooping vines at…
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Raising Chickens in Kentucky: How My Craigslist Flock Began
With egg prices doing what they do, the questionable things big commercial producers put into chicken feed, and wanting to control exactly what goes into our bodies — I’ve been keeping laying hens since 2013. I knew raising chickens in Kentucky would be a different game. When we moved to our Kentucky homestead, everything felt…
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Companion Plants for Thyme — What I Actually Grow Together in My Kentucky Garden
Thyme is one of the best companion plants you can grow in a Kentucky garden. In Zone 7a it grows well with tomatoes, broccoli, beets, peas, radishes, and strawberries — repelling cabbage worms, hornworms, and whiteflies while attracting pollinators. I grow it in containers, raised beds, and in the ground across my Adair County homestead.…
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When to Plant Beets in Kentucky — What I Did Wrong and What I’m Trying This Year
Last year I grew beets. They were pitiful. If you are searching When to Plant Beets in Kentucky, here are some facts and my growing experience. I planted Detroit Dark Red in my raised bed, watched them come up, and then basically neglected them. Not enough water. Not enough fertilizer. The roots stayed small and…