Hello from the HillTop! As spring continues, our family is ramping up our garden prep for the upcoming growing season. We are up-potting our seedlings, moving them into the greenhouse, and keeping up with all necessary check lists list items (7 Pre-Gardening Activities) before we get into the full swing. There is a lot of … Continue reading Easy Edible Landscape
Hello from the greening HillTop! While I cannot speak for everyone, the winter-early spring weather of Western Pennsylvania has thrown us for a loop. Typically, February can hold some of the coldest temperatures, harshest winds and late snowfalls for our area (Zone 5b). Yet, this year we have had weeks of weather well above freezing … Continue reading 7 Pre-Gardening Activities
Practical Tips to Using Your Stockpile Greetings from the HillTop! Although it's not been a ridiculously cold winter like expected thus far, winter still does not make me want to venture outside. Especially if it means venturing out to the grocery store. My family has been working on through a pantry challenge this month. With … Continue reading Shopping From Your Own Pantry to Save Money – Part 2
What Items Are Best to Keep? Happy New Years from the HillTop! I have been reflecting over holidays, like many people, about plans, goals, and changes for this year. Each family will have goals set specifically to their household's needs. However, as we have seen changes the past few years to our supply chains and … Continue reading Shopping From Your Own Pantry to Save Money – Part 1
Hello from the HillTop! Life has been very busy this year and has gone faster than expected this year. I see the signs of fall coming in quickly and I feel as if I'm rushing against an ever ticking timer. The leaves are beginning to change, the weather is cooling off, the days are shorter, … Continue reading Falling for Chicks this Autumn
Howdy from the HillTop! The end of the summer marks so many different things: prepping for high yield harvests, preparing for back to school, and in many counties across the country...the annual county fair. I have so many memories of going to the county fair with my family. I learned all the different breeds of … Continue reading Head on Down to the County Fair!
Greetings from the HillTop! Are you gardening this year? The benefits of gardening outweigh any aversion to not having a garden. There has been a local food movement over the past decade and the pandemic kept moving it forward. People were home and bored, looking for things to do. To pass the time, people started … Continue reading Garden Extras
Hello from the greening HillTop! Spring is here! Although it is a typical Western Pennsylvania spring, one day we have seventy degree weather and the next we have snow. The great outdoors cannot seem to decide what it wants to do. Spring is underway based off the garlic growing my raised beds, not to mention … Continue reading Ready to Spring Into Action
Hello from the Hilltop! These two past years have been some of the most unexpected years with the global pandemic. In the beginning, the unknown was so scary that it changed how many people handled normal life. People looked for ways to deal with childcare, schooling, work and managing a new way of doing simple … Continue reading Post Pandemic Homestead Changes
Hello from the HillTop! Like many parents, I deal a lot with introducing my children to a variety of foods. In some cases, my daughter could be considered a picky eater. She does not eat a variety of what is deemed "kid food." Even though, she eats a wide range of foods at home. While … Continue reading Vegetables Your Kids Will Unknowingly Eat
HillTop Harvest 