Feb 3, 2012 Posted by Tiffany

{Garden Life} Garden Planning Pinspiration

There have been some really useful things coming across my screen lately when it comes to planning your garden for spring — which I know will be just around the corner despite this wildly cold spell we are having here in Germany right now. Thinking of spring and seeing the tulips I planted indoors coming up while it’s about 0°F outside is really keeping me going…not to mention all the... read more

Jan 27, 2012 Posted by Tiffany

{Garden Life} The Organic Gardeners Handbook

Have you ever awakened one morning to find your plants covered in strange little black bumps? Or sprayed the aphids from your plants for the 100th time but still don’t seem to ever successfully be rid of them? Would you like to know how to once and for all deal with insects and diseases of all shapes and sizes on your plants with natural and organic methods without searching online for hours? How... read more

Nov 18, 2011 Posted by Tiffany

{Garden Life} Treat houseplant scales naturally

Over the last 6 or 7 years, we have collected quite a collection of houseplants. Some of them have fared really well, and others I killed pretty quickly (like every beautiful orchid ever brought into our home).It’s not that I intended for the plants to die; I just wasn’t very good at paying attention to them, giving them water regularly or diagnosing any problems they might develop.... read more

Nov 11, 2011 Posted by Tiffany

{Garden Life} Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving Book Review

I have a confession. I’m a bit of a book junkie. I love all sorts of books that help me learn how to do things, inspire me, entertain me and teach me more about myself. One of my go-to books during the canning season is my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It’s got over 400 recipes to help you use up all sorts of goodies from your garden and orchard. Whether you’re just a beginner... read more

Sep 3, 2010 Posted by Tiffany

Thinking about our garden

So you’ve probably noticed the massive shortage of gardening posts these days when we should be ankle deep in produce. Our aquaponics system is doing ok but our tomatoes still have a ways to go before they turn red. I really hope they start turning soon because the weather is starting to turn cool here already. And I fear that we’re not going to get anywhere with the tilapia in this... read more

Mar 4, 2010 Posted by Tiffany

Revising our plans for 2010

The weather here is still yo-yoing between winter and spring…but I have little doubt that we will turn around twice and spring will be passing us by, with summer setting in strongly. Which makes me turn to thoughts about our garden, our hopes of growing all our own produce one day and all the work that still needs to be done back there and around the house in general. And let’s not forget the... read more

Aug 11, 2009 Posted by Tiffany

Making mirabelle plum wine

We went down to the orchard today and harvested about 22 pounds (10 kilos) of mirabelle plums from our trees. We really should have harvested them a week or so earlier, but we simply haven’t had the time. Thank God we found Nico, our new farm hand, when we did or a lot of other things around here would be looking as bad as our orchard. But he’s going to be here tomorrow and will hopefully be... read more

Jun 2, 2009 Posted by Ayla the Newfie

Storing water at the orchard

A few weeks ago, we bought 3 huge IBC tanks to hold rain water for the farm. One of those containers was destined for our orchard and I guess my dad got tired of seeing it sitting in the courtyard because he offered to help Stefan move it down there. We just bought a little wagon that was on sale at Hagebau and it proved to be the perfect assistant for this move. The guys loaded the container up on the... read more

May 26, 2009 Posted by Ayla the Newfie

A day of work in the orchard

Don’t let my lack of posting let you think we haven’t been busy or that I don’t have TONS of things to blog about. I’ve just been in a bit of a blogging funk I guess and also have been having a hard time finding time to sit down and git ‘r done. But I’m trying to get back on track and finish a few of the dozen or so drafts I’ve started… We went down to the... read more

May 12, 2009 Posted by Ayla the Newfie

Neem oil – a gardener’s best friend

Although our winter was insanely cold, we didn’t have a very hard freeze when it finally started to warm up here. Thus the bugs are out in force because they didn’t get killed off by the cold wave. I’ve often read about using neem oil on plants to combat aphids, scales, spider mites, white flies, locusts and other common pests. It’s also used as a fungicide and helps against powdery... read more