This Yanmar tractor is our main workhorse here at the yardstead.  This has been a great little tractor.  We have had a lot of interest in our Yanmar tractor articles, so I thought I would post this  [ ... ]

Powdery mildew is a fungal disease which affects many types of plants.  Cucurbits like zucchini, squash, pumpkins, melons and gourds are all succeptable to powdery mildew.  It usually appears on l [ ... ]

Powdery mildew is a disease caused by fungus that affects a wide variety of plants.   Plants of the family known as Cucurbits, which includes cucumbers, squash, zucchini, gourds, melons and pumpkin [ ... ]

Raising ducks at the yardstead is a very new venture. We've only had our ducklings for one week now. But, I've spent the last six months reading about ducks. We have talked about having a few at the  [ ... ]

The winter melon also called wax gourd, white gourd or ash gourd is grown on a vine for its very large fruit that is eaten as a vegetable.  Winter Melons originated in southeast asia but now the w [ ... ]

Nothing tastes quite as fresh and wholesome as fresh bean sprouts.  Bean sprouts are loaded with vitamins A, B C and E.  Bean sprouts are also high in Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Niacin, Phosphorus a [ ... ]

After submitting the article for raising catfish in a barrel, I decided to go to youtube and look for some videos on small fish farming.  I found aquaponics.  Aquaponics is the cultivation [ ... ]

This is the first of a series of articles I plan to write about building a chicken coop.  I need to build a new chicken coop here at the yardstead, so I have a bit of research to do anyway.  We cur [ ... ]

Persimmons remind me of my childhood.  It is commonly eaten in homes of asian families.  As my mom is from Taiwan, it was a common fruit that we ate in the fall when it was available.   [ ... ]

Most people are genuinely surprised when I show them my luffa gourds growing on a vine or after I’ve harvested, dried and cleaned them for the year. They almost always do not know that this over pri [ ... ]

Recently we've been watching videos on you tube about bucket gardening.  This really interests us here at the yardstead for spring, fall and winter gardening.  There seems to be many reasons for try [ ... ]

With springtime just around the corner we are in full preperation mode here at the Yardstead.  We have a few veggies in the garden already with plans for many more.  Kathleen has a stack a s [ ... ]

This week I ordered online a chinese water chestnut plant. The chinese water chestnut belongs to the family of grass-like pond or wetland plants; Cyperaceae. In asia it is cultivated in the same way a [ ... ]

Hunger in America is a growing issue.  Lost jobs due to the current economic situation have resulted in a greater need for food provided to the needy at food banks and local chairities. According  [ ... ]

     Portland Oregon has one of the premier Community Garden programs in the country.  They offer garden plots to residents for a small fee, and donate fresh garden produce to [ ... ]

Well, we had a very good spring garden this year at the yardstead.  We had bountiful harvests of squash, zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, onions and cucumbers.  Basically everything we pl [ ... ]

After planting my chinese water chestnut, I began thinking of what other plants I could add to my edible landscape that could be used in similar dishes.  We are already growing two varieties of bambo [ ... ]