DIY Hugelkultur Planter Boxes

My favorite DIY garden project this year was building raised planter beds along our deck. Our house had a 25-year old cedar deck which was starting to deteriorate. We decided to redo the deck and incorporate two raised planter boxes into it.Photo by Mary Jane DufordBefore refurbishing the deck and building the planter boxes, we took down an existing linden tree which was overhanging ...

Mary Jane Duford | Apr 2, 2021

Homemade Witch Hazel Toner

Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is one of my favorite local shrubs. I can’t decide whether I like it most for its unique leaves or its spectacular flowers. The yellow flowers bloom from September through November, most startlingly after the leaves have dropped in fall. Yellow explosions of floral fireworks set off against the bare, dark gray of the smooth bark. In North ...

Dawn Combs and DIY Natural | Aug 1, 2021

Homemade Comfrey Plantain Salve

Joanna Ridenour | Oct 1, 2020

Summer Herbs

Sherry Smith | Jul 14, 2017

Hollyhock Soother for Skin and Hair

Dawn Combs | Jun 8, 2017

Skin-Soothing Calendula Salve

Gina Debacker | May 31, 2017

The Colors of Autumn

September 1 marks the first day of meteorological autumn. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explains that meteorological seasons are based on changes in temperature and are therefore more accurate predictors of weather changes than the solstice and equinox dates of the astronomical calendar. The air is indeed a bit cooler here in the upper Mid-Atlantic. The ...

Elizabeth Janoski | Oct 1, 2020

Avocado and Rose Face Oil

Rebecca Sullivan Nassima Rothacker | Sep 19, 2019

52 Homestead Skills Series

| Jan 9, 2019

Create a Magenta Floral Arrangement for Autumn

| Sep 26, 2018

20 Crops That Keep and How to Store Them

Barbara Pleasant | Sep 26, 2017