Homestead and Hearthcraft Archives - Page 2 of 3

Growing Celery

Morningbird Homestead and Hearthcraft, Morningbird's Garden

A few years ago, I planted three celery plants I bought at the garden center in my herb garden and basically treated them like my herbs. They grew lots of nice leaves, but no stalks. They were good in soup and the rabbits liked them, but I wasn’t really excited. Last year, I decided to make […]

Housewarming Houseplants

Morningbird Homestead and Hearthcraft, Kitchen Witch Corner, Morningbird's Garden

If you’re as bummed about the end of the gardening season as I am, you may be thinking of ways to brighten up your indoor surroundings and nothing says springtime like some green. Live plants instantly lift the energy in your home and some can also bring specific magical energy into your space. And if […]

Raising Mealworms for the Birds

Morningbird Homestead and Hearthcraft

My step-lizard was 2 years old when my husband and I got married and my husband has always fed him mealworms as an occasional treat (he mostly ate veggies) so we have been familiar with mealworms for some time, though we’ve never dealt with them in quantity. Now that we have ducks and chickens and […]

Simple Salves

Morningbird Book of Shadows, Homestead and Hearthcraft, Kitchen Witch Corner

Salves are soothing medicine for the skin in a convenient form. Nourishing oils thickened with waxes or butters and enhanced with the goodness of herbs and essential oils, salves can sooth irritated skin, bring healing to minor injuries and bring soothing warmth to aches and pains and congestion. All salves are based on the same […]

First Harvest Reflections

Morningbird Holy Days, Homestead and Hearthcraft, Kitchen Witch Corner

The feast of the First Harvest is a feast of little bits. The garden is full of promise, but not full of ripe produce. We have some zucchini, an eggplant, maybe even a tomato, but hardly enough of anything to make a meal, but together, with a handful of herbs, couple eggs from the hens […]

Seeding a Path

Morningbird Homestead and Hearthcraft, Morningbird's Garden

Today the weather was quite nice. Sunny and cool. I decided to let the birds wander loose and spend some time in the garden while I can. In truth, this spring-like weather can only last so long, so, even though I worked a 12-hour overnight shift last night and have another one tonight, I […]

2018 New Year, New Plans

Morningbird Homestead and Hearthcraft, My Homestead Journal

2017 was a year of major losses for us and we’re really focusing on mitigating them for the coming year. We lost our drake to a weasel and our buck just up and vanished early last year and we were rather attached to both of them. Without them, we weren’t able to get much breeding […]

Gardening for Butterflies

Morningbird Morningbird's Garden

Many Pagans consider nature to be sacred and enjoy inviting the wild creatures of our neighborhood to share our gardens with us. A butterfly garden is an excellent way to do this. With just a little extra work and consideration in the selection of your plants, you can create a haven for butterflies that will […]

Springtime Babies in Waiting

Morningbird Homestead and Hearthcraft

Here on the homestead, springtime means babies. There are a lot of reasons for this but for me, the primary reason springtime means babies versus any other time of the year is because springtime means lots of grass, weeds and bugs to feed all those babies. Feed costs can be high in the winter, especially […]

Apples

Morningbird Food, Homestead and Hearthcraft, Kitchen Witch Corner, Morningbird's Garden

The apple tree is a deciduous, fruit-bearing tree that produces the crisp fruit that gives it its name. It is a relatively small tree, reaching 25 feet in height and dwarf cultivars are available that are considerably smaller, 10 feet tall or less. Small (2 inches long usually, up to 4 inches long), ovular, slightly […]