You did it.
You moved to the country. Attaboy! You got a piece of property, some land and you’re ready to start farming! WOO HOO!
Or maybe…
You didn’t, you’re still living in the city. Space is limited. But you want to homestead so bad!
It doesn’t matter. Where ever you are, whatever you’re doing with your life, if you want to start homesteading in any way, start a herb garden.
Why? Because Herbs
- Are very hardy
- Can be grown year round
- Make food taste awesome
- Can make medicinal tinctures that help you feel great
- Most importantly, THEY ARE SUPER EASY TO GROW
I’m not saying you’re a bad gardener. I’m saying I am. I’m really bad at growing veggies. I’ve been at it for a few years now and still have not even grown enough tomatoes to even make my own sauce. Sad. (Thats why I raise pigs)
That said, I still have the same herbs growing from when we first moved into our farm. As a housewarming gift, Accountant Mike and Liana bought us an herb garden pot. This pot is still on our patio, and until this year (we transplanted the herbs this year) was still growing the same herbs from the original planting. No care, no maintenance, tons of herbs.
You can grow herbs inside or outside. You don’t need full sun. You don’t need to water outdoor plants. You don’t need to do anything. Herbs will grow.
So here’s what you need to do. Buy a pot. Get some nice dark soil in the pot. I would go into the woods, either on your property or at a park nearby, and grab up the rich black soil under the leaves. That is loaded with mycorrhizal fungi (good stuff for plants) and then mix in a little perlite, so the pot doesn’t become too dense. Then, pop in 2 or 3 varieties of your favorite fresh herbs.
My recommendations?
Mint, Basil, Rosemary and Thyme.
Mint for flavoring drinks…. Teas, hot or cold, and of course, Mojitos.
Basil because its delicious with homemade tomato sauce.
Rosemary or thyme for basic seasoning on many dishes. Especially farm fresh pastured meats and wild game. Which you will be eating plenty of in the coming years as a homesteader.
So this week, don’t wait. This is the cheapest easiest way to start growing your homesteady portfolio. Get cracking. Because next week we’re getting our feet wet…
Featured on the Simple Saturday Blog Hop
Hey Austin! You probably don’t remember me, we met a few briefly years ago online through HBN activities, and me, being busy with blogging/podcasting and all that it entails, completely forgot you existed. (sorry!) I quit blogging, moved to a 1 acre hobby farm, acquired more animals, sold my site and started looking around for podcasts to listen to for encouragement. Guess what I found? Your podcast. I love the content and I think Accountant Mike’s input is a very cool touch. Anyway, just wanted to say hey and that I’m listening. BTW, I’m not a great gardener myself, ha ha. My herbs are even struggling!
~Kristi
Actually Kristi, I totally remember you! I was searching for fishing stories for episode 2 of homesteady, and you let me post to the facebook group to see fi anyone could share some stories! We got some great stories in that episode! How are things going with your Homestead?
Oh really? How funny that I didn’t even remember that. I’m glad you were able to find some great stories–I’ll have to go back and listen to epi. 2!
Wow, Austin, so much has changed. We moved from our .18/acre to a small 1 acre hobby farm that sort of has a Knott’s Berry Farm feel (the guy had some sort of decorating touch or something!). It’s really cute, but more importantly, the property was near empty in the back save for a barn, chicken coop, a pen, and a couple of pine trees.
Since we’ve been here, we’ve added Nigerian Dwarf goats, a couple of 4×24 raised beds, 12 or so fruit trees, and we’re in the process of adding a herd of chinchillas (taking over a herd from a local petting zoo). I’m slowly learning (again) how to garden–the microclimate and ecosystem are different here, of course, and spend my days doing what I love on a larger scale–or at least it feels like that with 5x the land as we had before.
Anyway, great to connect with you again, and I’ll definitely be listening to your show and reading your blog going forward! If you’d like to check out my new blog, the link is above. It’s not pretty yet, I have someone working on artwork for me and when that is finished, I’ll be changing some stuff. For now, I’m working on sharing solid information and adding a personal touch, which is different than my old blog. Anyway–see (and hear) you around!
Will for sure check it out! Solid info and personal touch, thats the way to go! Maybe we get get a story of yours on Homesteady one of these days! Be fun to get you on Kristi! (im sure a herd of chinchillas would provide some kind of amazing farm stories!)
Ha ha yeah, maybe! I’ll try to take note of anything fun to share! 😀 Have a great day!
Whoops that should have read “we met briefly a few years ago”. Still too early for me to be posting on blogs (it’s 5:18am)!
Herbs are great! We don’t raise them indoors (yet anyway) so I make sure to dry them and put them in containers in place of store bought.
That’s awesome Terry, I’ve not yet dried my own. Currenly I am enjoying my mint in a Mojito on the weekends:..
Hi Aust!
Just wanted to say I’ve been enjoying your podcast! I admittedly fell off the radar, but I feel like I have a good excuse… I just moved to a farm in Hot Springs, NC. after living in San Francisco for 7 years. WooHoo! It finally happened. I wanted to say that the episode with the scandinavian (?) woman was really on point, and it came in a timely manner to sort of remind me why I’m doing this, and to know that i CAN do this. So, thank you!
-Nathan Smith
Brownsmith Cider
That Awesome Nathan! Congrats! How many acres? Whats it like? Excited for you man!