Building our self-sufficient lifestyle one level at a time.
Here is an in-depth article on how to, where to, best time to and why you’d want to plant a fruit tree. This also includes information on companion plants for fruit trees, beneficial insect and animal habitats and what a permaculture orchard looks like. If you need to know how to REALLY plant a fruit tree and why the ones you’ve planted in the past haven’t thrived, this is the article for you! 
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If you’re planting backyard fruit trees or small orchard, you may have heard that mason bees can help with pollination. Here are 4 simple steps that can help you attract mason bees to your fruit trees. Step 4 includes directions for making your own mason bee house. 
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Using ones you buy or ones you make, you can decorate candles with kids this holiday for simple decoration or to give as gifts. This is a frugal DIY holiday gift and decoration idea that also provides a new and useful skill. Plus, it’s super fun to decorate candles with kids at parties for any holiday – Valentine’s Day, Easter, Christmas! Why send your guests home with plastic toys and more candy? Decorate candles together for a unique craft; here’s how. 
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What do you plant in the raised bed garden in fall? Can you grow in raised beds in winter? Use this list of raised bed garden tasks for fall and winter to keep yourself organized and ready for next year’s garden….
If you want to grow your own sunflower seeds, or if you just enjoy a showpiece in the garden, give Russian Mammoth sunflower seeds a try this year. We’ve had complete strangers stop their cars in the road to stare at our Russian Mammoth sunflowers! And with so many seeds per head they’re worth the effort to grow.
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Have you heard reports about the dangers our honey bees face these days? Have you also heard that they pollinate an estimated 70 percent of the world’s plants, including many food crops? Here are a few ideas – and a good book, of course! – for helping out the pollinators….
If you’re on the fence about bee keeping, pick up Honeybee, by Marina Marchese. This short read is a delightful combination of quality prose and useful bee information. Disclaimer: it may tip your over the fence in favor of the bees. Just sayin’.
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Want to start a butterfly garden to attract beneficial bugs and pollinators to your yard? Want an easy plant to start with? Coupled with other flowering perennials, Buddleia, or Butterfly Bush can be a great choice for your butterfly garden.
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From creeping phlox to creeping thyme these perennial ground cover plants are loaded with flowers to attract pollinators to the garden. Some of these ground covers will grow in sun and others in shade; all will put on growth quickly. Here are four options that we’ve grown in various areas around the U.S. 
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Ever had a happy accident in the kitchen? Vanilla honey was one of those for us. May you have just such an accident….