Refrigerator Pickled Jalapeños (No Canner Needed)
September 30, 2026
Easy refrigerator pickled jalapeños with garlic, peppercorns and mustard seed. No canner and no water bath. Ready tomorrow, even better in three days.
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Field Notes
Stories and guides from the life we’re designing on purpose: what’s growing in the garden, what’s cooking in the farm kitchen, life with the animals, and a little of everything in between.
Basil Flower Vinegar with Thai Basil and Sweet Basil
September 30, 2026
What to do with the basil flowers you pinch off: two jars of basil vinegar, Thai basil in rice vinegar and sweet basil in apple cider vinegar, plus what each one is good for.
Fall Garden Checklist: What to Do Before the First Frost (and What Can Wait)
September 29, 2026
Ten things to do in the fall garden before the first frost, and what can wait. Every step links to a full guide, plus a printable checklist.
Molting: Why Your Chickens, Ducks and Geese Look Rough and Stop Laying
September 25, 2026
Why birds lose their feathers every fall, how long it lasts, what it looks like on hens, roosters, ducks and geese, what to feed them through it, and how to tell a molt from something that needs attention.
Chickens, Ducks and Geese in the Garden: How to Make It Work
September 25, 2026
Chickens, ducks and geese can share a garden with you, and the garden is usually better for it. What they do for your soil and pests, what they will destroy if you let them, which plants to watch, and how to set it up so it actually works.
Two Loaf Southern Pumpkin Bread
September 25, 2026
A moist two loaf pumpkin bread recipe, plus how to double it to four loaves, what to watch for in the ingredients, how to tell when it is done, and how to store and freeze it.
The Complete Garlic Guide: When to Plant, What to Grow and How to Store It
September 25, 2026
Garlic is the crop I recommend to anybody who thinks they are not a gardener. You put it in the ground in
The Complete Herb Guide: How to Grow, Harvest and Preserve 14 Kitchen Herbs
September 24, 2026
Fourteen kitchen herbs, one at a time. Where each wants to live, when to cut it, and the best way to keep it, plus the freezing and drying methods that actually hold flavor.
The Complete Mum Guide: Which Mums Come Back Every Year
September 22, 2026
Why the round fall mums almost never come back, how to make the ones you bought last, and how to grow perennial mums that return bigger every year. Zone 7 timing, a pinching schedule, ten varieties worth finding, and a printable PDF.
Free Composting Guide: The Circle of Garden Life
September 20, 2026
How to start a compost pile with no bin and no equipment, what goes in and what never does, what to compost in fall, how to use coop bedding, and how to fix a pile that smells.
Resting the Soil, Resting Ourselves: A Fall Cover Crop Guide
September 18, 2026
What a cover crop is, when to sow one in zone 7, which one to pick for your garden, and the part nobody explains: how to cut it down in spring so it feeds the bed instead of becoming a weed.
What looks finished usually isn’t
September 17, 2026
Why the brown seed heads along our Knoxville beds are not the end of the season, and what Black-Eyed Susans keep teaching us about what comes next.
Country Living Connoisseur
Pull up a chair.
A letter from our place to yours, every other Thursday. More than 16,000 friends are already reading along.
- Pull Up a ChairA story from our week
- Out in the GardenWhat’s growing and what’s working
- From the Farm KitchenA recipe or a preserving tip
- Tuck It in Your PocketOne idea to carry with you
Free, and you can leave anytime. We’ll still like you.
