What do you do in the garden this time of year? Mulching, of course. Most things, right now, are best left alone. Dare leave the leaves on the lawn. Dare leave the plant remains and flower heads alone. Dare leave the lawn uncut. Take the leaves from your paths or your neighbor's monoculture lawn to add a thick layer on top of your beds. This prepares them for spring and provides a home to wildlife. #Gardening #GardenCoach #KatesGardens

No one hear picks up trash but dare a single leaf fall to the ground, and they come out of their holes with rakes, brooms, leaf blowers, even hands. Then, the leaves get stuffed into plastic bags. The trees above them are shaking with laughter and raining down fresh mulch. #gardening #autumn

Germany just raised minimum wage. The only news coverage is on how expensive this is for the producers. I don't care. What I care about is that even this half-assed raise might mean that a parent gets to eat a full meal instead of going hungry for their children, that someone can build an emergency fun, or that someone can move out because they are no longer as financially dependent. If these were the stories we shared, people might think differently about raising minimum wage.

Just selected the heritage tomatoes I'll help save next year. I'm excited to grow my first tomatoes in the new garden. I'll grow one variety and record all kinds of data on them. I also signed up for the "standard" which is a kind of control tomato variety that let's the team understand what kind of year it was. #gardening #KateGrowsRoots

As I did not post a photo yesterday, here is yesterday in two photos instead. I poured candles, baked bread, forgot a bread in the oven, and also continued digging that trench I have been working on. #KateGrowsRoots #gardening #sourdough #candles

New episode out! It's time to catch up a bit, so it's a whirlwind through the summer months with time in the kitchen but also on the water. As a bonus, there are many animals in this one. Watch:

Kate Hildenbrand

A summer in limbo #157

This year has been a year of in-betweens and soons, of anxiety, waiting, and worry. This year has also been a year of anticipation and hope. Videos...

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157 A summer in limbo | Roots & Calluses

Website of Roots & Calluses, a project by Kate Hildenbrand, ecologist, educator, and regenerative gardener.

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Donate | Roots & Calluses

Website of Roots & Calluses, a project by Kate Hildenbrand, ecologist, educator, and regenerative gardener.

#rootsandcalluses #gardening #kayak

It was a rainy today but I still spent some time in the garden. I started another bed, though I did not get too far because the rain picked up. So, I fled inside and chatted with the current owner of the house that will soon be ours. The green manure on the second bed has sprouted. An animal has reestablished exits from under the bed. No life on the spinach and beans yet. Many small bushes are waiting to move into the garden. #KateGrowsRoots #Gardening

The fast ground cover mix is quickly covering the first bed. I have to see a doctor tomorrow but I will be back in the garden on Wednesday. Maybe the other beds will also have sprouted by then. #KateGrowsRoots #gardening

Played with apples yesterday to see where the bed outlines will go. Yellow apples make surprisingly nice bed outlines--well, temporarily. By now, I know where things will go, and what will need to be taken out. Speaking of: Forsythia can go. They are ecologically rather useless without pollen and fruit. I rescued a slow and a pear from the bushes overgrowing them and trimmed the pear to get rid of dead and dying leaves. More work will follow. #gardening #Homesteading

The new episode is online! Let's travel back in time to end of June when I left the first garden, harvested currants and garlic, and then spent hours sorting garlic. Watch:

Kate Hildenbrand

Goodbye first garden #156

With only a few days left to return the first garden, I drove there to clean everything out. I also harvested some currants, before returning to th...

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156 Goodbye first garden | Roots & Calluses

Website of Roots & Calluses, a project by Kate Hildenbrand, ecologist, educator, and regenerative gardener.

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Donate | Roots & Calluses

Website of Roots & Calluses, a project by Kate Hildenbrand, ecologist, educator, and regenerative gardener.

#Gardening #Homesteading