One of the secrets to getting fruit out of your home orchard year after year is annual pruning during the dormant season. This early-spring task can increase fruit quality, reduce the occurrence of diseases, and improve tree health in the long term, but many people are nervous about pruning or too...
Grandma’s blue-ribbon apple-pie recipe may still be winning awards and your secret ingredient BBQ sauce never has any leftovers, but shifting from being a home cook to a small business requires a leap of faith and a big financial investment not everyone can make.
Luckily, Illinois’...
This spring has provided ample opportunity for DIY projects so here’s one more to add to the list.
Worm Composting!
For many, this might be unthinkable, but in reality, worm composting or vermicomposting is a great way to fulfill your mission to reduce, reuse, recycle...
I’m a big tea drinker – chai, green jasmine, oolong – you name it, I probably have a secret stash of loose leaf squirreled away. And just in time for St. Patrick’s Day and all things green, I’ve recently succumbed to matcha madness.
While matcha is traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies,...
Hydroponics continues to be a popular topic in the horticulture industry, but usually it is on a very large greenhouse scale.
Why is it so popular? Well, it's because your plants can grow 30% to 40% faster. And it is just pretty darn cool.
Did you know that you can build a...
Suicide rates are higher for farmers than any other occupationCenters for Disease Control
Think about that for a moment.
Farm life is stressful. Most pressures are constant and uncontrollable....
Thanks to 4-H Memorial Camp in Monticello for hosting Illinois Extension and Monticello Elementary School for a day of education about pioneer lifestyle, including choosing items for a covered wagon journey, playing...
Avid campers and hikers might keep jerky, or dried meat, with them when outdoors. Drying is one method of preserving food for longer storage. While you can buy jerky, you can also make it yourself!
Our office had one last package of deer meat from previous recipes in our Wild Eats series, so we...
On the heels of regrowing celery, I was inspired to regrow another veggie: green onions. For anyone looking for a fast return on investment, these green onions regrew quick! A quick cut, a quick soak, and a quick planting in soil has yielded weeks of regrowth on green onions, with no stopping yet...
The spring of 2019 has gone down in the record books as being one of the wettest in Illinois history. According a recent article by the Illinois State Climatologist's office, "As it stands now, spring 2019 will rank...
