Deanna from Little Mountain Ranch 
Transitioning plants from a cozy indoor grow room to the harsh outdoor elements requires careful planning. Indoors, seedlings are protected from wind, heavy rains, and intense UV rays. If you move them outside too quickly, the shock can easily kill them.
In this guide, we will cover the practical strategies I use to structure my main crop garden. We will discuss exactly where to place specific plants, how to manage pests and slopes, and why you might want to stop growing certain vegetables altogether.
In This Post I have shared our massive, once-every-three-months Costco hauls for the last couple of years. However, I am frequently asked what our weekly shopping trips look like! Even with a massive homegrown pantry, we still go to the grocery store every single week to pick up fresh fruits and vegetables. Today, I am … Read more
Welcome to the first garden update of 2026! The ground here in the North is still frozen solid. We are waking up to snow almost every other day. While it can be a bit demoralizing, this weather forces me to sit down and get serious about spring garden planning.
Spring is the time to look at what is left on the shelves and evaluate how much we actually consumed. Did we grow enough? Did we can too much? Today, I am taking you through our winter pantry audit and sharing the biggest lessons we are applying to next year’s garden plan.
I get questions constantly from people wanting to grow their own food with limited room. Today, I am sharing exactly what I would do if I had to design a small space garden plan. We are going to look at a standard 10×10 foot space. I will show you how to lay it out, what to plant, and exactly how much money it can save you at the grocery store.
In This Post Over the last month, we focused heavily on 1930s depression-era recipes. It was a hugely educational experiment, but my family is very happy to be back to our normal diet! Many of you have asked how we manage our normal groceries. Today, I am sharing our complete weekly from-scratch menu. We have … Read more
We spent the last seven days eating like it was 1930. I have to be honest. My entire family is very happy this experiment is over! We ate a lot of potatoes. We ate a massive amount of homemade bread. We also made more milk gravies and white sauces than I can count.
This haul represents what an average farm family (or a very low-income family) of 6 to 10 people would have eaten in a week. Because rural families grew most of their own food, this grocery haul is a little different. I am shopping entirely out of my own pantry and root cellar to recreate it!
I recently decided to feed my family using a menu published on December 26, 1933. Originally intended to feed a family of four for about $11 to $13 a week, this menu offered a fascinating look into historical home cooking.
