Brianna

Posted on December 16, 2019December 16, 2019 by Brianna — 8 Comments

How to Make Kombucha Scoby Gummy Candies

Marinading scoby to make gummies from kombucha

If you brew Kombucha you might be wondering “What the hell am I supposed to do with all these Scoby’s?” (I’m sure everyone is thinking ‘Scoby Gummy?’) I mean, each batch makes a new scoby and after 4 or 5 of the gelatinous masses you may be wondering what you can do with them. Because let’s face it, if you are making Kombucha you might be a little into not throwing everything away. In comes a use for the Kombucha Scoby! You can eat them. Even better, you can make kombucha scoby gummy candy.

I’ll let you digest that for a moment. (get it?)

If you want to skip down below I’ll walk you through how to make a sweet cinnamon, ginger scoby gummy. But if you are along for this insane ride, then read on:

Cross section of a kombucha scoby that is being prepared to make scoby gummy candy — We are going to make an edible food product out of this Kombucha gummy?

I had too many scoby (scobies? scoobies?) cluttering up my Kombucha jar already when, Adam, came home from work one day and said: “I ate a kombucha gummy at work today”. For those of you that know, Adam, I swear this is true. Like on my grave, this actually happened! The exchange went like this:

Me: You ate what?
Adam: A kombucha gummy one of my employees made.
Me: I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you correctly. What was it made out of?
Adam: You heard me, I ate a gummy made out of that gross thing that grows on your kombucha
Me: *blinking a few times as I try to reconcile the man I know, who wouldn’t take an acidophilus pill after the stomach flu, but suddenly ate a random kombucha scoby gummy at work*
Adam: It was pretty good. He says he just dips them in honey and to cut them with scissors cause they are hard to cut.

The Adam went on about his business and I started googling things like “Kombucha Gummy”, “Can I eat a Scoby”, and “Are Scoby edible”. At that point lunch break was over and I gave Adam firm instructions to figure out how they were made. He did ask but came back with vague instructions like “Dry them” and “Dip in sweetener”. Sooooo not like a recipe and then I promptly forgot my plans to make kombucha scoby candy.

Until now! Hence:

How to Make Kombucha Scoby Gummies aka Scoby Candy

Kombucha scoby that is being prepped for cinnamon ginger scoby gummies

Step 1: Regret Your Decision to Make Kombucha Gummies

No, seriously. Have you really spent any time with your scoby? I desperately want to be an earthy hippy, but damn, scoby are nasty. I always try to transfer my scoby over with the least amount of thought and attention, lest I forever am unable to drink kombucha.

Learning how to make a kombucha scoby gummy is going to get you up and personal with your kombucha slime plug. And folks, it ain’t pretty. You have been warned.

Get a bunch of Kombucha Scoby
Cut them into 1 inch chunks

There are so many cringe factors during this process I began to question my life choices. I finally equated it to cutting raw chicken fat in my brain. FYI, That didn’t help.

Use a sharp knife, use scissors, pull it apart. I don’t care how you do it. But get them into smaller pieces.

Use scisors to cut a kombucha scoby for making scoby gummy candy — Soo… Yum… Yeah scoby does not generally equal candy in my mind….

Step 2: If You Actually Want to Go on After Step 1: Marinade

So now that you have this chunked pile of rubbery scoby you will need to sweeten it. (Am I being too real about the process? Let me know in the comments!) Scoby supposedly doesn’t taste like hardly anything by itself. It would take a large sum of money for me to verify this myself. If you want to send me the money I’ll see about tasting a plain kombucha scoby, but otherwise I was content to let the internet be my guide.

I treated my scoby gummies like any other pickling or sugaring process. I layered the scoby gummies in a dish and then covered them with a layer of sugar, cinnamon, and chopped ginger root. Don’t be picky here folks. I found some shriveled ginger on the counter and threw in sugar and cinnamon till it looked “okay”. Then I did layer after layer until it was all covered.

Mix cinnamon powder, ginger, and sugar to marinade scoby chunks for sweet gummies

TLDR:

Cinnamon Powder
Chunks o’ ginger root
Sugar
Scoby

Layer all ingredients and marinate overnight. Stir occasionally.

Making a dry rub of cinnamon, sugar, and ginger to marinate the scoby in overnight — I mean it looks a little more appetizing with a layer of cinnamon and sugar. Maybe…

Step 3: Oh hell, you are really going to see Kombucha Gummies through

Now that you have your bowl of awesome kombucha scoby gummy goodness marinated, its time to get it in gummy form. This part requires cooking or drying. I opted for marinating and drying, because if I have gone this far I am going to go hole hog and try to preserve the most probiotic qualities of the Kombucha Scoby. HOWEVER, if you too, severely questioned your life choices in step 1 but don’t want to throw away the bowl of scoby gummy goodness you made in step 2? Then you can use this cooked Scoby Candy tutorial I found. Otherwise, if you want to go balls out on this whole process continue on. I’m a lady balls out kind of girl:

Prep a cookie sheet or dehydrator rack with parchment paper.

Prepping drying racks for kombucha scoby with parchement paper — I just cut out a piece to fit slightly inside the rack and leave holes for air flow on the sides.

The Scoby is wet… Like really wet. So I left air circulation slits on both sides and just lined the trays down the middle. If you are using an oven go with 110 degrees for 48 hours. But dehydrate these puppies until they are firm and rubbery, but not brittle.

Prepping dehydrator racks with marinated scoby — Make sure to leave space around each one as they will stick together as they dry.

Why? Because you have a gelatinous mass covered in sticky sugar… You are going to need to get that puppy of the rack somehow. I have this AMAZEBALLS dehydrator I found at a yard sale. If you ever liked late 80’s early 90’s infomercials then you too will covet my original Ronco Food Dehydrator. Covet away.

Dried cinnamon ginger Kombucha Scoby Gummy — They come out looking much like dried fruit. I wonder if you could use them as such in recipes?

Step 4: Make Scoby Gummy Candies Visually Appear Like Something You Would Eat

Well, we have come this far on our Kombucha Scoby Gummy adventure. And while they look more like some type of holisitic, natural gummy (read: Dried Fruit) when dried I still think they need fancying up. Aka, made to look like a candy.

Again this is pretty simplistic:

Powdered Sugar
Cinnamon Powder

I mixed some together then dusted the pieces for a bit of sweetness and to keep them from sticking together.

Cinnamon & Ginger Kombucha Scoby Gummies finished with a light dusting of powdered sugar.

Step 5: Taste one. I dare you.

Welp, the big event: Tasting one of these ‘things’ you made. Because we aren’t wusses up in here, and we made this shit, so we will taste it. (Say this with me)

SURPRISE these are actually edible and good!

Also a surprise, a few of my treats got some real ginger fire! I’ll likely use ginger powder next time to even the distribution.

I’m treating mine like other dehydrated foods and assuming they have a limited shelf life (couple O’ months at best in non-hot, non-humid environments). I doubt they will make it that long, but if they do, I plan to wrap them individually in some wax paper twists and freeze or refrigerate.

10/10 would make kombucha scoby gummies while questioning my life choices. Glad I finally found a use for all these scoby!

Please let me know if you try this and any other uses you have for those extra Scoby!

How to make kombucha scoby gummies. These natural gummy candies are simple to make and use all those extra kombucha scoby you have laying around.

Posted on April 8, 2019April 8, 2019 by Brianna — 6 Comments

How to Cut Daffodils for Vases and Flower Arrangements

Cut daffodils make a beautiful flower arrangement.

Throughout most of North America and Europe it is Daffodil time. These bright happy flowers in shades of yellow, white, cream, orange, and even pink centered are cultivated and naturalized throughout these areas. Daffodils are some of the heralds of spring, and frankly always warm my gardener heart, but did you know they also make great cut flowers? Cutting daffodils and conditioning them for flower arrangements is actually easy, but takes a little know how. You know what I am talking about, right? Thick bulbous stems… Gooey clear sap… Can you just plunk that in water? Well, kinda. It depends on your scenario. Do you want to cut daffodils for a vase of just daffodils or do you want to cut daffodils to mix in a flower arrangement? The process starts exactly the same!

Fun Facts About Daffodils

Daffodils are actually the genus Narcissus and part of the family Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis). They are closely related to other spring flowers like paper whites! Because of the beauty of these flowers there are likely more than 13,000 varieties of daffodils that have now been bred by growers. Thirteen THOUSAND! Wow! I managed to pick up some new ones this fall with soft pink centers which was a new color for me. You can find ones with green stripes, glowing orange centers, tiny one inch blossoms. So many options!

Flowers tend to last a long time on the bulb. In certain climates daffodils will bloom up to 6 months. Most climates, the flowers will last 4-6 weeks. This gives you a long color time that can let other later bloomers start to fill in your flower boarders.

If you are wild about daffodils then there exists an American Daffodil Society and when looking for European societies try searching Narcissus or Jonquils as they are often called there.

Daffodils and fresh eggs make a perfect spring centerpiece

How to Cut Daffodils for Vases and Mixed Flower Arrangements

Step 1: Collecting Daffodils

I plant a lot of daffodils. I am a sucker for those mixed bulb packs that go on super sale at the end of bulb season. Which means I end up with a bunch of double headed daffodils. Double headed daffodils are lovely! And fall over in a hot second. I don’t know who breeds them, but come on folks! Can we not focus on a stronger stem as well? I digress, but what this means is that, like clockwork, as soon as I get a spring wind (which is all spring), half my daffodils fall over. Instead of letting the ground enjoy their blossoms I go cut them all.

Simply take a pair of sharp scissors and cut the fleshy stem as close to the base of the leaves as possible. LEAVE the leaves! It is important to leave the leaves on the bulb until they start to turn brown. The leaves feed the bulb and allow you get fresh flowers next year and potentially more bulbs to split or allow to fill in.

Pro Tip: If the flower stem has gotten crimped, cut it at the base anyway. We will process those when we take them inside.

Cutting daffodils that have blown over and bringing them inside is a great way to enjoy their blooms longer — I’m sure the ground is appreciating all this beauty… *eyeroll*

Step 2: Cut Daffodils for Long Lasting Flowers

Take all the daffodils inside. By this point you have lots of oozing stems. This clear sap is important and inflates the stems keeping the flower heads upright. It’s also kinda sticky, messy, and poisonous. I’m not sure why you would try to eat it… but don’t. Just wash your hands well when done.

Daffodils weep a sticky sap that can ruin other flowers in a vase unless conditioned — GOOOOOOOOOOO

Anywho! Because you have a fleshy stem it is important to cut each one at 45 degree cut. If cut flat, the goo (what we will now be calling the technical sap from these flowers because goo is waaaay more fun to type) will tend to seal the cut daffodil stem to the bottom of the vase and not allow it to suck up the necessary water. You can cut them under water, but I frankly just cut mine and quickly stick them in water. It is just very important to not let the goo dry out UNLESS…

Step 3: If Adding Cut Flowers to Mixed Flower Arrangements

So that, goo… The sap can interfere with other flowers in a mixed flower arrangement by basically killing them faster. You can counteract this by sealing the stems with the moisture they have in them. They may not last quite as long, but still maintain flower pretty well, in my experience. They are very wet, fleshy, flowers and contain a lot of moisture that can be preserved. The process of sealing cut daffodils is easy and gets to involve FIRE!

You are going to need a lighter at a minimum and a candle is super useful for processing a lot of daffodils. Stems can be cut flat or at 45 degrees, but need to be at the final height you plan to add them to your vase at. Take the cut end and pass it through a flame till it turns LIGHTLY brown. We aren’t cooking them! Set it aside for a second and make sure it is no longer leaking goo. Then add it to your vase with other cut flowers.

Singe ends of daffodil stems to seal in the sap and make them last in flower arrangements — Do I need to remind you fire is dangerous? Don’t sue me if you get burned!

Extra Tips: For Adding Cut Daffodils to flower arrangements

Crimped Stems: When the spring winds blow my daffodils will usually just curve over, but occasionally a stem will crimp. You have two options for dealing with this issue. You can simply cut the stem above the crimp or stabilize the crimped section straight. You have to do one, or the water from the vase will not make it to the flower head. I have a lot of luck just straightening the stem and supporting the flower amongst the other flowers. However, you can use clear plastic floral straws (affiliate link) to straighten the stem. Cut daffodil stems are usually too large to put in a regular drinking straw.

Uncut flowers: If you don’t want to cut your daffodils you can also make planters for inside the home. Bulbs can be forced but they need 13 weeks or so of refrigeration. In my experience they do not do well when digging them up and bringing them inside, but most big box stores have bulbs ready to sprout potted and in stock. These make lovely centerpieces!

Scent: Be forewarned, these are technically a narcissus plant. Which means almost all varieties have a scent. I LOVE the smell, but some people are not fans. You might want to sniff a few before you bring tons indoors.

Otherwise, enjoy bringing some sunny spring cut daffodils into your home to brighten these first days of Spring.

How to cut daffodils to make them last in a vase or flower arrangement

Posted on April 1, 2019April 1, 2019 by Brianna — 3 Comments

50+ Ways to Make Money on an Urban Homestead

We are excited to announce that we plan to take Craft Thyme and the Reaganskopp Homestead from a hobby to a money making side business over the next year. In theory, we are starting what I have dubbed: the Urban Homestead Side Hustle. I expect to be throwing a lot of stuff against the wall to see what sticks over the next year and might actually make money. Though it is my expectation that none of the trials will be ‘profitable’ over the first year. This is the perfect time to start a homestead side hustle, while we are employed full time and have income to use on capital expenditures.

If you want to skip the plan and scroll down I have compiled a HUUUUUGGGEEE list of ways a small homestead might make some side money. Otherwise read on to our plans.

Plans to Make Money on Our Urban Homestead

Right now we are bouncing ideas on how to make money on our urban homestead:

Chicken Egg sales
Quail (Meat & eggs)
Herb starts and potted herbs
Chicken coop dried herbs
Honor system vegetable sales
Online classes, guides, and utilities for purchase
In person or online permaculture & gardening consultations
Affiliate and advertising revenue on the website and YouTube (We will always be transparent about income made from this source. Right now we do NOT do sponsored posts, so, any reviews of products are just because we like them. Speaking of! Some of the below links may be affiliate links)

Urban homestead eggs for sale with daffodils. Multiple colors of blue, green, brown, tan and white eggs.

Why We Won’t Make Money

Why would start a venture that we don’t think will make money? For one major reason: Capital Expenditures. While I can probably start herbs and make a profit after seed, dirt, and pots are accounted for, it will take me forever to make back the investment we are considering for a small greenhouse. And that is okay by me. We work full time outside of the home so that we can afford some of the luxuries it might take other, more full time homesteaders awhile to afford. There isn’t one right way to start a business! This is just how we plan to do it. Slow and steady is fine too.

Why are You Posting About Money?

I grew up in the South and talking about money sure is tacky, but here is the deal. I see a lot of guides about how to make money for homesteaders, multilevel marketing, and other home business. It breaks my heart because most of it just does NOT give you the truth about what it takes to be successful. I used to teach business plan classes at the local community college. I have seen what it takes to both plan and grow small businesses. There are just so many expenses and other items (licenses, insurance, etc) that people do not plan on. These eat into your bottom dollar and often people find themselves losing way more money on their side hustle than they are making. Statistically if your business is making a profit by year 2 or 3 you are doing really good! A break even by year 4 or 5 is much more likely. You have to be READY to not make money, in order to make money.

We are hoping that our transparency in costs can help save our readers a lot of monetary grief in the future. Plus, it may keep us a little more accountable… Ask us how much we are in on an incubator and how none of our eggs have hatched *le sigh*.

Okay, okay, now that we have scared you here is what you came for:

50+ Ways to Make Money on Your Small Homestead aka Urban Homestead Side Hustle

I lied, one more note. These are geared to small homesteads, especially urban ones with access to lots of free yard sales and markets. I am sure some of these would work for larger farms and rural areas, but frankly, I wanted to find things that might work for me as well as my readers ;). That’s why we are focusing on the urban homestead side hustle. Enjoy!

Small Livestock

Chicken Egg Sales: In North Carolina you can sell 30 dozen eggs a week without a license. 30 DOZEN! Just have to follow some easy rules.
Chick Sales: Buy in bulk or hatch your own. May want to go for your NPIP certification
Feather Sales: Check your local and international laws. Some places do not allow sales of untreated feathers. You can dye and decorate as well.
Quail Egg Sales
Quail meat sales
Duck egg sales
Hatching Eggs: If a rooster is allowed or you want to try a rooster collar. Ebay has tons of examples of ‘wanted’ breeds. May want to go for you NPIP certification.
Worms for compost sale: Have you seen how much 600 worms cost on Amazon?! Also, who is tasked with counting out 600 worms…
Mealworms for sale: Apparently, you just need oatmeal and a strong stomach . Not sure why, but these creep me out way more than compost worms.
Bees for pollinating farms: There is literally nothing you can’t find on amazon…
Bees for honey sales: Extractors can be rented or shared with local beekeeping clubs
Rabbits for fur or pelts: Angora Rabbits for example. Keep in mind the best price take finishing fur products so you may need to partner with fiber specialists or tanners
Rabbits for meat: If you have a local meat market or slow food area interest in rabbit meat is growing

Plants

Veggie Starts: Heirlooms (tomatoes especially) and odd colors do particularly well in my area.
Herb Starts
Small Nursery: Grafting takes practice but one tree can provide tons of grafts
Flower or other plant starts: I have seen research that plants with even one flower sell better than other plants at markets. We have a local grower who rents a green house and only does perennial plant sales. His are fabulous!
Microgreens
Topiary: Pretty round boxwoods in vintage pots are always desirable
Mushrooms: Especially good for shady or north facing lots
Mushroom logs: For others to grow their own mushrooms
Fresh cut flowers: Dahlias grow back year after year (in some places you may have to lift the tubers) and make great cut flowers. They can be grown in a small space and staked.
Hoop or hot house vegetables: Offering local greens and veggies when not in season can be a specialty if you live in a slow food market.

Bare root farkle berry and yellow root — Yes, this is me, happy to buy sticks! I mean bare root nursery plants.

Crafts

I am focusing on crafts that take a little bit of learning and equipment. If you have specialized knowledge such as fine woodworking or welding skills then focus on those first! These can be very lucrative ways to make money on a small urban homestead. Especially if you have a lot of craft fairs and craft oriented events in your area.

Sew Clothing: Especially upcycled & refab clothing
Alterations: My mom did this when I was a kid. Not her favorite activity, but it was side money.
Sew items: Ask me how much my egg apron cost? (Spoiler: Much cheaper at Southern States) I also need pot holders, tool covers, tea pot warmers, hand towels, etc
Leather belts & bags: Burned or embossed leather
Basic Stained Glass: Our community college teaches basic courses and even focuses on easy on items that sell well
Hand veggie prints: I saw some beautiful flour sack towels someone made by cutting shapes in potatoes and using them as prints
Linoleum cut prints: Starter kits are very affordable and if you mount them to wood you can sell them as custom stamps
Silk screening: This one takes a bit more investment. I have a degree in art with a concentration print making and sculpture (don’t ask, I don’t use it). Once you learn it you can churn out prints, clothes, etc.
Crochet or Knitting: Bless you if you have the patience for this
Cross stitch or embroidery: Double bless you for having patience with this. Look at alternative embroidery with funny sayings or different materials such as ribbon embroidery (the only one I have patience for)
Handmade soaps, lotions, and other cosmetics: Even better if you have your own beeswax

Collecting eggs in an egg apron. Great craft to make and sell on your urban homestead. — I never knew I needed an egg collection apron, until I got one!

Food

Check your local laws, people! Technically, you aren’t supposed to do provide a lot of food products in the State of North Carolina without a commercial kitchen. Even something as simple as having a pet in the home can disqualify you. I know plenty of people who do not follow that law, but you open yourself up to liability if you don’t. That being said, there are commercial kitchen times for rent at local community colleges and start up incubators in Western North Carolina. Your state may have different laws, but be compliant. It may take more time but probably less heartache and money in the long run. Plus you want your urban homestead side hustle to be compliant and safe! Right?!

Jams & Jellies
Breads: Think outside the box; crackers, pretzels, buns
Cakes & cookies: Sweets with alternatives; gluten free, stevia/honey sweeteners, vegan
Kombucha or kefir
Fermented or pickled veggies: Pickled ones marketed for cocktails are always fun.
Other Canned Goods: Please, please make sure you know when to water bath and when to pressure can. Killing people or making them explosively puke is not an ideal way to start a business.
Dried Herbs: Teas, coop & home herbs for cleaning and scent, cooking
Dried Spices or spice mixes: Now you have a use for the 1,000 hot peppers you dried.
Small fruits: Berries, grapes, and small orchard fruits from heirloom varieties sell well in markets where these products can’t ship well to groceries
Sell fresh vegetables & herbs

Yummy purple cauliflower. Bright colored and heirloom vegetables are great ways to earn money on your urban homestead side hustle — Even the kids were willing to try this pretty purple cauliflower! Imagine how it would look at the farmers market.

Other

Sell compost: This one is tricky to get enough green matter but local markets and coffee shops may provide items for free
Sell vintage or fixed up finds: Homesteaders are great at recycling, fixing, and finding deals.
Repair items: If you have the knack I know a man who repairs lawn mowers. Just lawnmowers. In his shed in Canton, NC. He is busy all summer long.
Teach classes: Planting, foraging, animal husbandry, crafts, canning. Community colleges are often looking for continuing ED teachers and local nurseries and homestead stores often will allow you to offer classes or hire teachers.
Teach online courses: Free platforms and plugins are available
Website: Advertising is hard to make money from unless you have a lot of views, but you can make some tidy pocket money with affiliate sales
Online products: Downloadable canning labels, pdf guides, ebooks
Homestead Tours/Workshops: On site classes in butchering, canning, and other homestead skills are popular. Our local organic growers school teaches everything from on-farm poultry classes to life skills such as starting a fire from scratch
Build custom chicken coops or plans: This takes a bit more skill but we often have people ask for plans for our custom coops. We also saw an old chicken coop we built fetch $400 on the local market when sold by the people who purchased our old home.
Consulting or Design Services: I recently completed my permaculture design certification, and this does require an investment in time and money, but if you have a built reputation you may not need to be certified. I am just starting to offer these types of services and wanted to go the extra mile.
Air BNB: Or other stay location service. People are interested in agrotourism and will look for camping sites and rooms on farms. Especially if you live in a tourist destination city. Be careful, our city has strict laws about who can and cannot rent out space on their property.

What other things can we add to this list?! Help us add more ideas to our urban homestead side hustle. Please place them in the comments below and we will get them added so everyone can make money with their small homestead.

50+ ways to make money on an urban homestead

Posted on March 6, 2019March 6, 2019 by Brianna — Leave a comment

Fresh Eggs for Sale

Craft Thyme is excited to announce that our fresh eggs are for sale (for local pickup) straight from our small urban homestead! If you live in the Asheville, North Carolina area and are looking for tasty eggs from happy chickens you have come to the right place. Our eggs are never washed, never refrigerated, and lovingly laid by our happy hens. You get a fresh egg, truly free ranged on our local property.

How do you buy our fresh, ungraded eggs? Message us on Facebook or email us at brianna@craftthyme.com. We plan to sell at local markets this summer but until then we provide a pickup location in West Asheville, NC for our colorful, local eggs. Current cost $5 a dozen. Will sell in larger and smaller quantities.

Fresh colorful eggs for sale in Asheville, NC

Egg FAQs

Why aren’t the eggs washed?

When chickens lay eggs they create a protective coating called a bloom around the egg. This bloom keeps the bacteria out of the egg making for the freshest experience! We keep a clean coop and nesting boxes but occasionally you may see some mud spots on the eggs.

Shouldn’t those eggs be refrigerated?

No! One of the best things about fresh eggs is you do not have to refrigerate them (up to 45 days) but you can refrigerate them if you want (up to 3 months).

What do your chickens eat and why should I care?

Everything! Our chickens get lots of time on our pesticide free lawn, they roam our wooded areas, and the dig in any garden bed I happen to not be watching. What they are doing that entire time? Eating whatever they fancy! Dandelions, worms, bugs, wild cherries, lettuce, you name it, they eat it. We also provide fresh feed, on demand, anytime the girls want. This means the chickens get plenty of exercise while their eggs taste of the seasons and have bright flavorful yolks.

So why are your hens so happy?

Our hens get the pampered life, from living in a Taj Ma-coop when they can’t free range to lots of pets, scratches and neck rubs. We make sure they get lots of dust baths, a clean secure coop to live in, and a basically stress free chicken life.

Chickens in nesting boxes laying fresh eggs

If these eggs are so great why are you selling them?

Right now we get anywhere from 8-12 eggs a day. Domestic hens lay almost every day during the warmer months. Regardless, of what we do they will still produce eggs unless they were sick or starving (not happening in this house). That means that even as a family of 6 we can only eat so many delicious eggs each week. The money made from our eggs goes right back to the care of the ladies.

Can I hatch these eggs?

No, right now we do not have a rooster and our eggs are not fertilized. These means no chicks will hatch. If that changes we will make sure to update this section.

Is it legal to sell eggs without a farm license?

By North Carolina egg law we are allowed to sell 30 dozen ungraded eggs without a license. Let me repeat that, 30 dozen! That is a lot of eggs, and while our girls produce, we are no where close to that many eggs.

Posted on February 26, 2019February 26, 2019 by Brianna — Leave a comment

Easy Seed Starting

How to place your seeds to make seed starting easy.

Hi folks! Today we are going to learn more about a method of easy seed starting. Why? Because for years I have offered lots of utilities to help you start seeds. Guides to find the perfect time to start seeds, guides to get the most from your seed packet, guides to manage your seed inventory. What have We never offered you? A practical method to actually start seeds and grow them into healthy plants!

In this post you will learn why you WANT to start plants from seeds, how to get them going quickly, and how to avoid all the pitfalls you will want to most definitely, well, avoid.

If you aren’t looking to start seeds this year, no problem! We often use starts (plants already started) so we won’t judge! No snobby gardening here; plus we have lots of other gardening, DIY, and DOING advice. Follow along on our Instagram for our latest projects.

Now Let’s make Seed Starting Easy: Prep Time

You do want to save money, plant hard to find and unusual varieties, and have the healthiest plants? Then seed starting is for you. Starting your own seeds means you can order amazing varieties you would never see in the grocery store! Did you know pink striped celery is thing? How about white tomatoes? There are so many amazing fruits and veggies you can order from catalogs that you would rarely find as starts. Even more exciting, when you start your own plants you control the conditions so that you get healthy, disease free, starts to place in your garden. Sold? Great lets get started:

Materials Needed:

Seed Tray
Peat Pods
Seeds
Towel
Paper & Pen

Optional materials:

Heat mat
Fluorescent or LED lights

Easy Seed Starting: Get green by being clean

The first step to seed starting is being clean! I like to reuse my trays from year to year and you can too! It saves money and keeps the plastic trays out of the trash. Just start by killing any left over fungus or pathogens. Kill. All. The. Things. (Which is odd because I am generally all for being around bacteria). However, in this case, even if I am buying new trays I may clean them if they have been sitting around a lot of other gardening supplies. You have a few options for cleaning the trays but they all start with good old fashioned:

Soap and Water (don’t knock it till you try it)

After that it is up to you how much of a nuclear approach you want to take. If you had any issues with fungus or other problems the prior year you will want to do one of the three in order of severity of your problem:

Vinegar: Splash on all the surfaces and let dry
Peroxide: Splash on all the surfaces, rinse, and let dry
Bleach & water: Dilute bleach if you are going with this option and make sure to thoroughly rinse the trays before drying

Make sure the thoroughly sanitize any seed trays before use. — Squeaky clean tray! Like kids with organized toys, you are about to mess this tray up.

Medium Matters

While your trays are drying it is time to prep your seed starting medium, also know as soil. Except it isn’t really soil… There are as many opinions about seed starting mix as there are recipes for the perfect hamburger. However, there are a few rules everyone tends to agree on.

Made of fine particles
Neutral Ph
Free of pathogens (otherwise all that cleaning is wasted)
Not full of nutrients

I know number 4 seems odd. Why wouldn’t we want seeds to start in a nice fertile environment? Seeds include all the nutrients the plant needs to get established. Additional nutrients in the soil only serve to attract baddies like fungus that will compete with your seeds! Once they are up and established as plants with true leaves you can bring on the good, nutrient rich, stuff.

Since this is EASY seed starting I am going to give you my tip. Just use the peat pellets (shame, shame, shame). You have plenty more years as a gardener to angst over the environmental impact of peat, to research perfect balance of sanitized soil and coir, and discover seed blocks.

For now: Soak those peat pods in a large bowl of warm water.

Pre-soak the peat pods to make seed starting easy. This way you are sure that all of the pods are evenly moist, without being water logged. I have been lazy and soaked them in the tray and it makes a big mess, half don’t get inflated, and the other half are dripping wet. Yes, you have to clean one bowl afterward, but come on! You can do it!

Easy seed starting tutorial. Here are the supplies you need. — So many pretty seed packets! I could collect even more if space would allow!

Time to Plant Those Seeds

Gather all the seeds you plan to put in the tray. Make sure one tray is going to hold mostly plants that will go out in the garden at the same time. You will want to do this for a couple of reasons:

It is easier to keep track of when you started the seeds and when they need to go outside when the entire tray is pretty closely related. For example all of my cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower will all be started together. Their outside plant days are similar. (Pro tip: If you need help know when to start and when to plant outside we have the automatic calculator just for you)
The plants tend to have similar growth rates. If you start a lot of unrelated plants together in close quarters you really have to make sure your summer squash don’t overrun your pepper starts. True story, the cucumbers will overrun everything, every time. They are the dicks of the vegetable start world.

Now that you have your clean tray, selected seeds, and pods make sure to keep that towel and paper/pen handy. You will be labeling the tray as you go. I know you are totally going to remember exactly where you put each seed, right? Wrong. Unless you have some amazing photographic memory you are going to be trying to puzzle out if that is cabbage or kale when they first start growing. Remember we want this to be easy seed starting.

Planting Seeds in 4 Easy Steps

Step 1: Lay out a row of pods

Generally I plant 6, 3, or 12 pods depending on what I am starting and how much my family will eat. When I am laying out the tray I always put 6 or 12 pods out. Want the real reason? My tray is set in blocks of 6 and I got tired of doing maths and figured if I really wanted 4 then I could either take 3 or plant 6. I’m ~~lazy~~ calm like that and you can be too! Just figure out small increments and lay out the pods you need for one to two types of plants. Do them in small increments so that you can:

1. Document what you planted

2. Keep from cross contaminating pods with other seeds. You don’t want poppies in your tomatoes.

Step 2: Dry your fingers

Step 2 seems like a no-brainer, but it is worth mentioning. You are about to pour some seeds into your hands. I guarantee that most of the time you will pour too many seeds out. If the seeds are nice and dry then they can safely go back into the packet when you are done. If your hands are damp you can ruin the entire packet of seeds. How do I know this? Because I have done it. Dampness = sprouting = lost packet of seeds.

Dry your finger tips in between each row of seed starting — Dry your fingers, and in my case, put on some lotion.

Step 3: Plant some freaking seeds!

Yes you are finally there!!! It is time to put the seeds in the peat pots. Start by laying the seeds on the surface of the pot. Put a few extra to insure every pod germinates. How many depends on the size of the seed. Large seeds like nasturtium might get 2 to a pod, while small seeds like cabbage might get 4 to 6. You want to insure germination but leave enough seed to replant when the groundhogs invariably eat all of my starts.

After all the seeds of a row are placed on the soil put the extras back in the pack. Then I use my fingers to bury the seeds into the peat to level indicated on the seed package. (Pro Tip: Need help interpreting your seed package? We have instructions for you)

Step 4: Document

I know I already said it, but use that paper and pen to write down what you just planted. Just draw rectangles for each row or half row you plant. Why do I stress this so much? Because I have totally and completely messed this step up soooo many times. I have a lot of experience with plants so I can figure out which type is which when I forget to write them down but ask me to tell you which one is the large tomato versus the cherry tomato. Then you just gotta sit there and wait till it makes fruit. *le sigh* I am saving you from you!

Remember to always document what seeds you plant where. You will not remember! — I’ll remember what I planted where… No, no I won’t.

Now What?! Heat, light, and water

Turn up the Heat

Heat? What? Yeah, this was a trick I learned waaaay later in my seed starting life. Guess what? Seeds such as peppers and tomatoes really need warm soil (75-80 F) to get the best germination (i.e. when the seed pops above the soil). I can’t tell you the number of times I would start my peppers and tomatoes on a certain date but then they would take forever to germinate and throw off all my timing. So if you keep a cool house then allow plenty of extra time for those seeds to germinate OR get a seed mat. A seed mat will keep your seeds the perfect temperature. BUT remember some crops like cool soil too! Here is a handy chart by the University of California that gives you optimal temperatures.

Light It Up

Now that we have the seeds all tucked nicely in their perfect temperature, soil beds they are going to need light. And lots of it! You can make do with a super sunny window sill or a small plastic cold frame/greenhouse, but make sure to constantly turn the trays, watch for signs of legginess, and monitor temperatures. I am telling you right now getting a light is sooooooo much easier. You can get fancy led grow lights or a simple full spectrum fluorescent. I went cheap on the fluorescent but often think of upgrading to those grow lights… Anywho, enough dreaming. Put the trays super close to the the lights and move them back as the plants get bigger.

Good lighting is important to make sure you seed starts are healthy. — Ignore the dirt. The tinfoil underneath helps reflect additional light when they get bigger. Also, I am using super fancy cups to lift the trays closer to the lights. My lights are on chains to be adjustable, but my chains were only so long. So instead of buying more chain I just lift the seeds. Problem solved!

Water is Key

Finally, you need to keep the seeds evenly damp. Not soaking wet, but certainly don’t let them dry out! Even moisture will help them get started but keeping them water logged can choke roots and lead to fungus issues.

See how easy was it to get the seeds started?!

Additional Resources

Here are some additional resources to keep your garden growing:

Seed Starting Calculator and Guide

How to Read a Seed Packet

Plant Like a Pro