On my trip to Cuba in 2017, we had a tour of a tobacco and coffee farm to which we hiked in for our visit. The tobacco was harvested and hung to dry in a big old barn that resembled a lath house. I fell in love with the lath design that provided good shade [...]
When I bought the farm in 2018, the sale came with four Rhode Island Red hens. They were all older girls and I had no idea as to how my life with chickens was about to unfold. While we had chickens our our Virginia farm when I was a girl, I did not know the [...]
Every region of the world is blessed with its own native plants that have effortlessly adapted to the local growing conditions. Long before mankind began developing the land, native plants were flourishing amidst fields, deep in the forests and along the riverbanks. Here in the tropics, the trend to “go native” is growing as more [...]
When I bought my 4.8 acre property last year, I spent many mornings and evenings walking the land just feeling and observing, which happens to be the first of the permaculture principles. I would have been lost as to where to begin without my new understanding of permaculture zones. I was so grateful to have [...]
I recently encountered a young couple selling Florida native plants at the local farmer’s market. I was not necessarily on a mission to buy any, but I came home with nine of them. I already had an Elderberry and a Milkweed, and since the price was right for many I had researched, I decided to [...]
My permaculture teacher refers to this gardening methodology as a way of life. The permaculture way of life is ultimately about community wherein we balance receiving help from others, and by giving and sharing our permaculture knowledge and bounty with others. Friends who come to visit here at Sweetgrass Farm are fed bountiful, fresh food [...]
Growing and eating fresh garden food is at the top of my list for best life experiences. It is the whole experience of planning and designing the garden, the rewarding labor of planting, the patience in watching it grow and the joy of harvesting the fruits of my labor and patience. It is without a [...]
The cooler days and chilly nights of winter have passed now in tropical Florida, and the songs and colors of spring have arrived. Yes, we do have seasons here. I am blooming where I am planted on this new farm, like all the big, beautiful trees bursting with blossoms. I had documented back in the [...]
