LH 172: Catching You Up On All Things Living Homegrown You are probably wondering what happened to the podcast. Right at the end of December, host Theresa Loe came out with episode 171 and then the show went radio silent for 2 months. Theresa never meant to be away this long! She recorded this special episode to explain why she was taking break, what's going on behind-the-scenes in her business and filling you in on all the good things farm fresh. This episode will catch you up on...

LH 171: How to Add Vintage Blooms to a Modern Garden It's a wonderful thing to add flowers to our vegetable gardens to attract pollinators. But it's also REALLY important to feed our souls as well as the pollinators when we're gardening. Growing heirloom flowers is a way to do just that. What is an “heirloom” flower and why are they so special? That’s what host Theresa Loe sets out to answer on today’s podcast episode. She explores the many benefits of adding vintage blooms to our gardens...

LH 170: How To Create A Sacred Space To Unwind From The Busy World Life is busy. Life can be stressful. It’s often too easy to get caught up in the noise of the world…which can lead to MORE stress. As gardeners, we usually have a sense that reconnecting with nature is important, but what if you made that connection part of your regular routine? What if you intentionally created a space that was just for you so that you could reconnect and slow down? That’s what today’s episode is all...

LH 169: Easy Ideas for All-Natural Gifts From Your Garden There’s something special about a homemade gift. But it becomes even more special when it includes a little piece of your garden as well. It can be as simple as a dried flower or an herbal sprig. But that added touch means that you are sharing something that you nurtured with your own hands. And THAT can't be found in a store. In today’s episode, host Theresa Loe brought back garden author, Stephanie Rose, to share her tips and...

LH 168: How To Make Simple Infusions for Medicine and Skin Care In this episode, we explore extracting the best healing properties from some of the common plants and culinary herbs we are likely growing in our own backyards using infusion. Don't fret that this is some complicated process, or you don't have time for it. Herbal infusions are incredibly easy to make – all you do is infuse fresh or dried herbs in a liquid to draw out the healing properties. And these infusions can be used on...

LH 167: Tips for saving your backyard food garden seeds Preserving the flavors of the season doesn't have to stop when that last canning jar lid has "popped." If you know how to save seed from your own food garden, you are truly self-sufficient and can save your favorite plants to grow, harvest, and repeat again year after year without ever opening a seed catalog.  Saving seed is also a great way to share your garden with others. By saving seed, you can give your favorite flavors and best...

LH 166: Simple tips and tricks to make backyard chicken keeping easier On today's episode, we're going to be talking about chicken keeping hacks. A "hack" is a handy hint, or something that will help you do things faster or better. It usually involves reusing or re-purposing something that you already have on hand. Sounds fun, right? Host Theresa Loe brought on Lisa Steele from the popular blog Fresh Eggs Daily to share some of her favorite ways to "hack" chicken keeping so you can keep...

LH 165: Helping Your Pet Live Closer to Their Food An all NEW episode on a topic we've never covered before! We talk a lot on the podcast about living closer to our food and making sure we know what’s IN the food we eat and serve our families. Well on today’s episode, host Theresa Loe has a discussion with Lynn Felici-Gallant of Paul's Custom Pet Food about doing the same thing for our pets...even if it means sharing produce from our garden! For optimal nutrition, it can be just as...

LH 164: How To Make Delicious Fresh Cheese in Under an Hour   Note: Host Theresa Loe has a special free workshop this month. See the end of this post for more info! There’s something warm and inviting about homemade cheese. Perhaps it's the ancient connection to tradition with each batch we make. Or maybe it's the mysterious way it transforms ordinary milk (as if by magic) into something so delicious. Homemade cheese tastes amazing. And if you've never made cheese before...or if you...

LH 163: Use the KonMari Method to Organize Your Homestead Today's episode is an ENCORE episode. What is that you ask? An encore episode is an episode that has been previously published, but it was SO long ago, you may have missed it. This episode is packed with info you will LOVE. This episode is all about using the KonMari Method for organizing your home or homestead. It is an encore episode from a few years ago, but as you'll hear in the updated intro...host Theresa Loe is happy to...

LH 162: How to Grow More Food In the Space You Have Today's episode is an ENCORE episode. What is that you ask? An encore episode is an episode that has been previously published, but it was SO long ago, you may have missed it. This particular episode is packed with useful information that you'll love. Do you ever wish you had more garden space in which to grow food? If you're like most gardeners, you'll find yourself thumbing through seed catalogs, bummed out that you can't plant all...

LH 161: Grow Landscape Plants that are Beautiful AND Delicious As gardeners we grow tons of veggies and fruit, but there are many other landscape plants that are delicious as well as ornamental. So let's think outside the box of planting our gardens in rows. In this episode, host Theresa Loe brings on author Mike Lascelle to discuss a unique mix of perennial plants that can beautify our gardens and fill our plates at the same time. You CAN have your yard and eat it too. You will learn: ...

LH 160:  How to preserve protein-packed foods with gourmet flavors  In this episode, host Theresa Loe talks with author Karen Solomon about turning your kitchen counter into a deli counter by preserving your own meat with dry curing, brine curing, smoking, and drying. Karen is the author of "Cured Meat, Smoked Fish and Pickled Eggs" and she shares the secrets to success with each of these techniques and how you can enhance the flavors of what you preserve. You’ll Learn: The ease of dry...

LH 159: Using Science to Improve Flavor & Food Production In this episode, host Theresa Loe brought back author Dr. Lee Reich to make us a better gardener…using science! When we fully understand the reasons behind the gardening techniques, we are better equipped to handle any problems that come along. And in this discussion, you'll learn the real reasons behind why we need to do what we do.  You will learn: How ethylene really works to ripen our tomatoes Why some fruits should never...

LH 158: Eating Local and Getting to Know Your Local Farmer This week’s episode is about discovering INCREDIBLE flavors...locally. Host Theresa Loe brought back organic, foodie-farmer Andrea Bemis of Tumbleweed Farm to discuss a national project she's spearheading that's all about exploring what it really means to eat local. The premise is simple... We may already be eating some locally-sourced fruits and veggies. But when we look at ALL the ingredients used to create our meals, there are...

LH 157: The Magic Of Vintage Books Host Theresa Loe has been collecting vintage books since she was a kid. And on today's episode, she wants to share her tips and tricks for getting the best value from vintage garden books, cookbooks and even old canning books. Vintage books are real treasures. And they're a great source of inspiration and ideas that you just can't find anywhere else. On today's episode, you'll learn: Why you might want to collect vintage books What info can be used and...

156: Farm-Fresh Living Made Easier Do you know how you feel when you get a new garden, or kitchen tool, and you love it so much you just have to tell everybody? That's what today's episode is ALL about! I'm sharing my favorite things that make farm-fresh living easier. This isn't one of those sponsored episodes where all the products I talk about were sent to me for free in exchange for an endorsement. I would never do that. Everything I'm sharing with you today was paid for with my own...

Throwing A Party With Real Food It's summertime and delicious flavor is EVERYWHERE right now. There's yummy seasonal flavor at the farmer's market and it may even be in our own backyards (if we grow our own food). What better way to enjoy that incredible flavor of in-season produce than by throwing a party with friends and family?? On today’s episode, host Theresa Loe brought back Ashley English to chat about simple seasonal eating - especially when we're throwing a party! They chat...

LH 154: Big flavor in a waste free kitchen You asked for it, so host Theresa Loe brought back author Alana Chernila for another episode! This time, they chat about getting the very best flavors from our produce and how to use left over scraps so that nothing from our garden goes to waste! They also talk about caring for our wooden kitchen tools and Alana shares a recipe for making a special cream (wood butter) that will help our wooden spoons last for a lifetime.   You will learn: How...

LH 153: How to make real, old-fashioned pickles Summer is here and homegrown cucumbers are ripening on the vine. Let’s make REAL pickles - The old fashioned kind! What's a “real” pickle? It’s where you use natural fermentation (and NO vinegar) to change a cucumber into a crisp, sour treat. They are delicious and nutritious! Host Theresa Loe interviews Karen Diggs who is Theresa's chief fermentation instructor inside her Living Homegrown Institute You will learn: Why fermented food is so...

152: Why Backyard Chickens Make Great Pets Host Theresa Loe has been keeping chickens in her small Los Angeles backyard for about 10-11 years. Her family loves having chickens and her friends and neighbors enjoy the eggs. Many people don't know just how easy it is to care for chickens!  In today's episode, Theresa chats with author Melissa Caughey about all the considerations of starting your own flock, what you need for babies and adult chickens AND how it can be such a fun experience for...

LH 151: A Peek Into A Farm Fresh Life In this episode, host Theresa Loe has someone interview HER about her own farm fresh lifestyle. Guest interviewer, Bev Ross, digs deep to find out how Theresa juggles an urban homestead, the podcast, teaching courses,  her family and a restoration heirloom orchard project. You will learn: What sparked Theresa's interest in the farm fresh lifestyle How she grows food on just 1/10th of an acre in Los Angeles What unusual veggies she has growing (sources...

LH 150: Getting The Best Flavor From Your Fresh Produce Whether you're harvesting from an epic kitchen garden or supporting your local farmers' market, you want that fresh produce to SHINE when it hits the dinner table. That's not always how it happens though, is it? Fresh vegetables can be tricky to properly cook. A less than stellar experience with a veggie can turn us and our family off of it completely. Which is why host Theresa Loe brought on Alana Chernila to tell us about her latest...

LH 149: How to Cook Real Food with Real Ingredients This episode is not just about Southern cooking, its about cooking from scratch using the freshest of produce and herbs. (Just like those we grow in our gardens) And it's about preparing real, whole food where you know and can pronounce all of the ingredients. Host Theresa Loe brought on nutritionist and author Ashley English to share her food journey and why she made her way back to her Southern cooking roots. She offers tips about...