The Tree That Blooms Before It Believes in Spring
The spring peeper frog chorus is back, and I want to tell you what Missouri settlers knew: those tiny frozen-and-thawed frogs are your planting calendar.
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The Frog Chorus Is Back: And Your Great-Grandmother Knew What It Meant
The spring peeper frog chorus is back, and I want to tell you what Missouri settlers knew: those tiny frozen-and-thawed frogs are your planting calendar.
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Composting Animal Manure: Complete Guide to Using Chicken, Cow, and Horse Manure in Your Garden
Common sense guide to composting farm animal manure I’ve been gardening since I was a little girl begging my mom to plant tomatoes in our backyard, founded a community garden in college, worked on a farm that canned everything they grew, and now steward our 500 acre working historic farm in the Missouri Ozarks. But…
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The Whip-poor-will’s Return: A Sound You Can’t Unhear
I counted a whip-poor-will’s return at 73 calls before it paused—and that sound told Ozark farmers exactly when to plant corn.
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The Flower That Bleeds: What Bloodroot Taught Me About Showing Up Before You’re Ready
A White Square on the Forest Floor I found my first bloodroot of the season yesterday morning, tucked against the base of an oak where the leaf litter had pulled back just enough. Eight white petals, arranged in that odd square shape that makes you do a double-take. By the time I walked back that…
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The Strawberry Empire Missouri Built and Forgot
Missouri’s strawberry empire once rivaled California’s, built by Ozark women whose names never made the agricultural reports — here’s the history we forgot.
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Napoleon’s Secret and the Dirt Beneath Your Feet: How Missouri Became America
Napoleon Bonaparte was losing. This struggle would eventually be tied to the Louisiana Purchase and Missouri history, setting the stage for a fascinating chapter in America’s past. By the spring of 1803, his dream of a French empire in the Americas was already in ruins. A slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue — the island we now…
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What Is Loamy Soil? (And Why You Don’t Need It Everywhere to Grow a Beautiful Garden)
Martha’s favorite loamy soil, and how to recreate it in your garden I read something where Martha Stewart talked about finding “nice loamy soil” at her Turkey Hill farm, and all the beautiful things she could grow there. I remember thinking, “Wait, what is that? I’ve never even heard that word before. Do I need…
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How to Compost Manure: A Beginner’s Guide
Here’s how we compost manure at Green Acres using passive composting (also called cold composting). This is the easiest method and requires minimal effort – perfect if you’re just getting started with composting manure or if you have a busy life and can’t tend to a compost pile regularly. If you’re trying to decide which…
