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Food For Life Garden Update!

Inspiration “Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is time for home.” Edith Sitwell

Merry Christmas!

Now that the Holidays are upon us and we celebrate advent and the birth of Jesus Christ, I want to wish you a cozy and happy Christmas! I hope you get to celebrate this time with your loved ones and that you find time to rest and reset. Wishing you a peaceful remainder of the holiday season and a great start to the New Year!

On The Farm

It's December 18th and we're having a bit of a warm spell just now. What a relief from the 2℉ plus windchill a few days ago. Brrr... that's too cold for me. 40 minutes doing chores and my fingers and toes were numb and frozen from the cold. Took hours to get my toes warmed up again after.

But the critters are hungry whether it's hot or cold, sunshine or ice rain out there and need even more attention in freezing weather. Water buckets have to be changed out several times a day and brought inside to defrost. I have been sharing my tiny yurt with 2 dozen 5 gallon water buckets. Talk about no room to turn around. That'll be my life for the next few months. I miss my WA root cellar to keep things unfrozen!

To help ease the load for winter a little, I took a run to the auction just before that icy cold set in to take a couple of goats to get sold. This should help with my feed bill and lessen the chores when it's freezing cold and windy outside.

My LaMancha/Alpine buck had turned into a real pain, and was no fun to keep around. He was destined for the freezer except I don't have freezer space or a place to butcher yet. So off to the sale barn we went. I will be looking for a new La Mancha buck for next breeding season.

I also sold a couple of my pigs to a nice local family and now I have just two Kune Kunes left to feed for the winter. I got their electric fence fixed a few weeks ago, with a better wire, a dedicated fence charger, and additional grounding rods. I think they got the message that the fence is live and not to be messed with anymore.

For The Holidays:

Get dozens of handpicked Last Minute Ideas For Gifts this holiday season with my roundup of gift ideas for homesteaders. But really, there is something for everybody. Find helpful tools, kitchen items, my favorite homesteading books, and more!

And if you need a few more gift tags, download my FREE 27 Printable Gift Tags.

Last Minute Baking For The Holidays: Don't miss my roundup of 18 Delicious, Healthy Holiday Desserts! Check out my fantastic healthier cookies and cakes as well as refreshing creamy desserts. Stay healthy this Holiday season without skimping on treats!

You'll find an ultra delicious Cranberry Orange Sauce And Salad that's as awesome with your dinner spread as it is after dinner for dessert. It's full of antioxidants and vitamins for immune support. And grab my reliable Flaky Pie Crust recipe with all natural, clean, healthy ingredients. It's perfect for all your best holiday pies.

Here is a cold weather project for you for this winter! Why not start baking sourdough breads and make your own sourdough starter from scratch? I have some new sourdough recipes too, but here is a super easy starter bread. Try making this no-knead, every day Kamut and Einkorn Sourdough Bread and learn about using ancient grains, baking with sourdough, and making a simple bread with no yeast from scratch using your homemade Sourdough Starter.

If you're a Rye lover check out my new-on-the-blog Lazy Way Sourdough Rye Bread recipe or a delicious Seeded Rye Bread. More on these below.

Great Holiday And Winter Breakfast Ideas: If you like a healthy breakfast this winter to start your day off right, you'll love my cozy, delicious Pumpkin Apple Breakfast Muffins, Pumpkin Cake with a Ginger Apple Crumble, or Ginger Cranberry Applecrisp.

And if you haven't yet, check out this awesome Dutch Baby Recipe. It's super delicious with leftover cranberry sauce and a generous glob of whipped cream or sourcream.

Here are some more fantastic winter recipes:

​Zwiebelkuchen, a Southern German onion and bacon pie.

​Mushroom Risotto​

​Mushroom Chowder​

And do grab these delicious appetizer recipes for game days, holiday parties, potlucks, or just for snacks or lunches. Visit the blog to make Jalapeno Pie and some crazy good Jalapeño Popper Mini Quiches.

Leftovers:

Make Turkey, Ham, or Roast Beef Sandwiches with delicious and easy Homemade Mayonnaise! It is perfect in a ham, egg, or turkey salad too!

Make a delicious Mushroom Chowder with leftover meat, it's delicious with or without mushrooms.

Try an easy Jambalaya with Ham. I used shrimps and mushrooms in it, but they can be omitted or substituted with other meat.

Prepare For Cold And Flu Season:

Ferment some garlic with honey. Find out the benefits, how it can help you, and get the recipe for Fermented Garlic And Honey here. And for a soothing throat syrup try this delicious Ginger Honey. Both of these will take a few weeks to infuse. Be sure to start now to have them ready when you need them.

Immune Support: Vitamins in fruits and vegetables, and probiotic foods or drinks are great for immune support. Check out my section on Fermenting to learn how to ferment all sorts of vegetables, salads, and more. You'll also find my brand-new fermented tabouli salad there.

And there are probiotic, immune boosting fizzy drinks you can make from scratch in my Beverages section as well as Switchel, which is great when you need to replenish lost fluids and electrolytes due to workouts, hiking or skiing, or from being sick with a flu.

And don't forget to make your Fire Cider this year. When it's done, take a spoonful each day for ongoing immune support and to support recovery when you do get sick.

Cultured dairy is great for gut health and a healthy gut is a requirement for a healthy immune system. I have a good selection of easy to make probiotic cheeses for you in the Cheesemaking category.

Garlic: And if you're not allergic to garlic, you could try to eat a little fresh garlic every day. I love to finely chop a clove of garlic and sprinkle it over my dinner as a seasoning. Garlic is a powerhouse for health and immune support. It's most potent when chopped 10 minutes before you eat it. Chew some fresh parsley after to minimize the garlic breath.

Horseradish: If you can get organic horseradish, make prepared horseradish or a horseradish tincuture so you have it handy when horseradish is out of season or unavailable. I live in a food dessert and getting my hands on horseradish normally requires mail-ordering it from Azure Standard. I did plant some this year and hopefully it will be ready for harvesting next fall. It is also a part of fire cider. Horseradish root is harvested in the fall and winter and you might be able to get some locally in the coming winter months. Read about all the benefits of horseradish and keep some prepared horseradish and tincture on hand for sinus and congestion relief.

Gardening And Seed Starting In January And February:

In the next couple of weeks, I'll be starting to look through seed catalogs to make my shopping list for the New Year. I learned that it's important to start shopping for seeds early, if you are set on certain varieties, and I most certainly am. And some herb seeds and vegetables need to be started very early in the year.

Herb gardening: I'm hoping to add more herbs this coming year to my apothecary garden. If you'd love to grow a medicinal herb garden, check out my guide to 25 Medicinal Herbs with benefit information and how to get them started in your garden.

Here is a great Medicinal Herb Garden Collection, that contains seeds for most of the herbs in my blog post. Get 10% off if you're using this link! I bought mine last year, it's a super value for all you get!

Some of the herbs will need some cold treatment and should be started as soon as possible. The seeds get planted in pots, then they need so spend some time in the fridge or outside. They are then brought into the warm room a few weeks or months later so they can germinate. You'll find these specific tips and more in my medicinal herb article.

Peppers: My goal is to grow lots of peppers again such as Ajvarski, Marconi, Jupiter, Corno di Toro, Datil, Jalapeno, Cayenne and Ancho peppers. If you are planning to grow your own peppers from seed, I've got a pepper growing guide on my blog for you. Peppers need to get started in early February in my area. The guide includes helpful tips for Northern growers too!

Onions need to be started in January in my area and onion seeds, ideally, need to be replaced with fresh seeds each year for best germination and vigor. You can learn more about onion varieties and how to select the best onions for your area in my Onion Variety Guide. And for growing onions from seed, I've got a Onion From Seeds Growing Guide as well.

Celery needs to be started in January to early February in my area too. If you're planning to plant celery, you can look up my Celery Growing Guide for starting your seeds and growing great celery.

Sweet Potatoes: If you have organic sweet potatoes leftover from the holidays, why not grow your own this year in your garden? They are so fun to grow and you can eat the greens too. Find out more in my article on Growing Sweet Potatoes. You can do this with store bought sweet potatoes, but if they aren't organic, they are most likely treated to prevent sprouting. Organic ones give you the best chance.

Helpful: Here is a free Garden Planting Timing Guide by Brian Lowell that I love! Check it out! He made it even better since last year. Just plug in your town and you'll get the frost date for your area. Then enter the plants to grow and it will give you the correct date for starting your seeds or planting in the ground. Very helpful!

Cover your garden beds with mulch or compost. Fallen leaves are great for this and very nourishing. Be sure to use leaves from unsprayed trees and it's best to run over them with a lawn mower first to chop them up or they might form water impenetrable mats.

Don't forget to Make Compost to nourish and refresh your soil! If your weather is not too cold yet, you can make great compost in just 3 weeks, and use it in your garden this winter to promote healthy soil life, to keep those important soil critters fed throughout winter and to keep your garden beds covered. It does not need to be aged if you add it in the fall or early winter. In fact you can layer some materials right on your garden bed to compost there over winter and have your soil ready to plant in in the spring. And for alternatives to a compost pile, learn about many different Ways To Compost!

​Get 10% Off select seed collections from Survival Garden Seeds with this link! Plus, they offer Free Shipping on orders over $20-. My favorites in their Seed Vault: Medicinal Herb Garden Collection Family Home Garden Kit Complete Survival Garden Kit

​GET YOUR SEEDS HERE! True Leaf Market has many vegetable varieties, as well as a big selection on herbs! Plus, they offer Free Shipping over $75.-. So get your seeds before they sell out or it's too late to plant!

Your source for information about gardening, planting a food forest, permaculture, farming with animals, growing meat, and milking goats. Learn about making cheese and sourdough bread, preserving your harvest, traditional homestead recipes, off-grid living and more! Visit foodforlifegarden.com​

New On The Blog

Easy No-Knead Sourdough Rye Bread

This lazy method sourdough rye bread is super easy to make and tastes fantastic. It’s chewy, dense, and amazing fried in butter or lard. It makes wonderful sandwiches and it’s awesome just spread thickly with butter or chèvre, or topped with a slice of hard cheese.

This has been my daily bread for most days for the past few years. I choose to long ferment it with a cold retardation period and this achieves a great natural tang that complements the strong rye flavor so well. Learn all about it and make your own Easy Sourdough Rye Bread!

No-Knead Sourdough Rustic Rye Bread Recipe

No-Knead Sourdough Seeded Rye Bread

This recipe makes a Dark Seeded Rye Bread with spelt, similar to a German Vollkornbrot, a Danish rugbrød, and other Nordic seeded breads. It’s dense and chewy and super satisfying. The best bread to go with cheese! It’s a little lighter than the all rye ‘Schwarzbrot’ (black bread) as it has only 50% rye flour. It keeps well in the fridge and freezer and tastes amazing when toasted.

My recipe is a no-knead lazy way recipe that’s super simple and easy. It doesn’t have a fancy artisan look, but if you’re a busy person and want a delicious bread with just a few minutes of hands-on time, this fits the bill. I bake it straight from the bulk ferment in a hot Dutch oven. The result is an amazing Seeded Rye homestead bread that looks rustic and tastes awesome.

Sourdough Seeded Rye Bread Recipe

Tabouli Salad (Quinoa Tabbouleh) & Fermented Tabouli

If you’ve never had tabouli salad (tabbouleh salad), you must try this! Tabouli is a delicious and fresh tasting side dish but it can easily be a full meal with extra protein added. Traditionally made with fine or coarse bulgur, I prefer using quinoa. This also makes the dish gluten-free, adds a complete protein to make it a meal, and quinoa is easy to grow in your garden, especially in cooler regions. (In hotter regions you can substitute with Amaranth).

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I find it important to make each meal count for nutrition and health without sacrificing flavor. This delicious Tabouli Salad aligns nicely with these goals. Instructions for preserving this salad by fermenting it are included!

Take Me To Tabouli Salad And Fermented Tabouli Recipes

Great Gift Ideas:

US Wellness Meats: Give The Gift Of Clean, Real Beef And Other Clean Meats And Meat Products!

A gift certificate or a subscription to fresh clean meat would be a great gift for any meatlover. And if you're looking for pasture raised beef for your family, free of growth hormones and raised on unsprayed, regeneratively managed pastures, you need to look no more. Get 100% grassfed and finished beef bundles, and much more! Check out US Wellness Meats and don't miss their sale page! They are currently running holiday sales too and here is their Holiday shipping schedule:

Holiday Shipping Schedule

Christmas is Thursday, December 25, 2025. The last day to order for the Christmas holiday is 10am CST on Tuesday 12/23/2025. Orders made after 10am CST will ship the following week.Our online store is open 24/7, 365 days a year, but​ our office will be closed on Thursday 12/25/25 to celebrate Christmas with family and friends.

Green Pan: Great for Gifting To Health Concious Cooks:

Greenpan is rerunning a holiday sale as I write. They are offering an extensive line of non-toxic cookware, utensils and a few electric appliances. If you're looking for non-toxic and unusual homestead gifts this Christmas, give GreenPan a viewing! Find the best non-toxic non-stick cookware for cooking your roast or baking your cookies.

Handpicked Holiday Gift Ideas:

Find Dozens Of Handpicked Holiday Gift Ideas for homesteaders and would be homesteaders, for gardeners, foragers, preppers, and for those hard-to-shop-for friends who have (almost) everything!

New Freebies!

I've uploaded a few new freebies for you! Check them out. 27 printable Holiday gift tags and a wall chart with companion plant ideas for your food forest. Click here for your Freebie Library Pass where you can access all my freebies.