The Revolutionary's Garden

In this beast of an episode, we dig into the myth of survival crops, and how silly planning a garden to be the sole survivor of a nuclear apocalypse is. That said, we do dig into what it takes to grow the kind of food you'd need to survive long term, and of course, we list our top ten survival crops. This episode is filled with disclaimers, but I'll include the big ones here: There is so much more...

In today's episode we cover an underdog in the garden, and one that deserves a place of honor in any local food system, and that's the sunflower! This gorgeous flower produces high protein seeds, a delicious food oil, high quality livestock feed, and can even remediate nuclear waste!  We talk about the long and vital history of this crop, not just in its homeland of Turtle Island (North America) b...

In today's episode we cover what is likely the most well known perrenial vegetable: Asparagus. We cover this history of this glorified fern, as well as its unparalleled nutritional value. And of course after variety selection, and seeds vs crowns, we go over the diferrent methods of planting, growing and harvesting. Weighing the pros and cons of each method, we talk about how to keep this perennia...

As winter comes to an end, here is our last herb episode of the season on a particular favorite of mine. We go over selecting a Rosemary variety, including why it will be common rosemary. And of course cover starting from seed, propagating, growing and harvesting. Plus a delightful dive into the many unexpected uses for rosemary! If you like our show, please leave a rating and review, or best of a...

 In this update to our food preservation series, we cover the basic best practices for how to freeze food safely. While we take time to weigh some of the problems and vulnerabilities of freezing, we also cover how to incorporate it into a more community based food system. And of course options for keeping your food frozen even in times of crisis, from insulation, to generators, to solar panels. 

This underrated root vegetable is loaded with flavor, sugar, and is a robust addition to any garden.  In this episode we cover common varieties from the All American to the Russian Krull. We go over the complicated question of interplanting parsnip, and dealing with the pests and diseases that want to feast on them.  Aside from just leaving them in the ground overwinter, we go over how to can, deh...

In this continuation of our series on herbs, we talk about the champion of italian cuisine, and how it can be even more versatile. From seed selection, to planting, to pruning and harvesting. We of course hit the highlights on how to use basil, like pesto and in tomato sauce. But we also cover less known uses for basil like in Thai dishes, as a tea, or in salads.  If you like our show, please leav...

In this episode we cover the basics for dehydrating fruit, veggies, and herbs! Covering the impossibly long history of dehydration, how it affects nutrition and more. We cover the various ways to dehydrate, from the most rudimentary to scifi devices! And of course we go over some basic dehydration steps, and how to incorporate dehydrated foods into your diet!  If you like our show, please leave a...

In this episode we explore the lack of north American spices in our food, why that is and how we can start to correct it. Then on to the good stuff, identify, planting, and growing the Northern Spicebush. This incredible shrub can produce four different spice and foods! From its Chai like leaves, Black pepper like seeds, Allspice like berries, and Cinnamon like bark!   If you enjoy our show, pleas...

The closest we have ever come to a current events episode. In this latest installment of our food preservation series, we cover the ins and outs of pasteurization. From its hsitory, its current political dimensions, and of course, how to do it!  Please listen to the full epsiode befroe jumping to any conclusions.  If you enjoy our show, please consider supporting us on Patreon! We are really tryin...

As we start off this new year loaded with all kinds of craziness, we wanted to share some of the big updates of the previous year of craziness! From finding ancient beech trees, to baby goats, to being harassed by a scummy code enforcement officer. it has been a year of ups and downs, but at least it makes for some entertaining content! If you enjoy our show, please consider supporting us on Patre...

In this full episode comeback, we will be talking about possibly the easiest to start with herb, mint! We dive into some of the basics for growing and cultivating this wildly versatile herb. We also cover some of the many things you can do mint, from jellies, to teas, to salad greens.   If you like our show, please tell your friends about us, leave a review, and if you can support us on patreon. W...

Given recent political news, We wanted to offer a quick update on the podcast! New content coming soon comrades! Love and solidarity 

We're alive! We will have more episodes coming to the feed soon, but in the meantime enjoy this yogurt mini epsiode! While we have previously released an epsiode on dairy preservation, in which we talk about yogurt making. But since then we have made quite alot of yogurt, and felt a small update to the yogurt making process would be helpful.     

Welcome to the sequel to our garden 101 basics series! in this follow up guide, we will cover some of the slightly more involved garden tools, like building of hedges, using livestock in the garden, or employing alternative planting methods.  In this first of our Garden 102 series, we will cover some of the more common alterntive planting styles, instead of just plantinf directly into the soil. We...

With Spring in full swing, we will finally be covering one of our all time favorite foragable plants, the dandelion! We cover the rich history of this plant as both food, medicine, and even a source of rubber. And of course we have to throw our two cents in on the debate between dandelions status as an invasive vs nonnative vs naturlized plant.  We go over where to find this entirely edible memebr...

To wrap up this seasons series on food preservation, we are going to finish with the gateway drug to canning. Jam! From jam, to jelly, to fruit butter, even to fruit leather, we cover this simple and tasty food preservation spread and all the ways you can make it. While we do use a simple blueberry jam recipe as an example, we also cover lots of variations, and how to alter it for diferrent fruits...

As we transition from winter to spring, we're shifting gears from talking about winter storage crops to fast growing spring crops. And Turnips, miraculously enough, are both! We talk about this Revolutionary's wonder crop, which is fast growing, easy to store, nutritious, and delicious. We cover not only turnips role as a food crop for humans, but also its use as a cover crop and as a livestock fe...

We've gotten a ton of requests in the past few months to do an episode on chickens, especially for eggs. We actually plan on doing an special series on livestock in the coming year, including one episode for chickens for eggs and one episode for chickens for meat. But until then, we figured we could put together an episode on eggs, and not just from chickens, but from ducks and quail as well.  We...

Today we will be tackling our first ever fruit tree on the show, and what better fruit tree to start with than the ubiquitous apple tree. We've expressed our doubts about the utility of apples in the Revolutionary's Garden, but their presence across every american town and prolific nature make them worthwhile to talk about!  We talk about the colonial myths of johnny appleseed, various apple varie...

A long overdue update to our food preservation series, for todays episode we will be covering pickling. And not just pickling cucumbers, but all manner of fruits and veggies from carrots, to onions, to cabbage. On top of covering the primary forms of pickling, vinegar pickling and lacto fermenting pickles, we also cover other lacto fermented dishes like Sauerkraut and Kimchi! If you like the show,...

Our first interview of the year, we talk to Fix Cain, co-founder of the Alliance of Native Seedkeepers. Alliance of Native Seedkeepers is an incredible project to reinvigeroate indigneous culture and food ways, primarily by the preservation and revitalization of seedsaving and foodways. This is just a great interview as Fix is a genuinely funny guy, with soem terrific insights. To learn more, or t...

Continuing with our usual winter themes, we are going to cover one of the best winter storage vegetables! With a vibrant taste, and the ability to store for months, onions are a great addiiton to any garden. We cover the history, variety selection, and how to grow and store this perfect root cellar crop.

Thank you for tuning into this January farm update! While winter is a sleepy time on the farm, we still have to deal with horny goats, crazy storms ripping roofs away, and more! We also update you on the some of the upcoming interview episodes, a bonus series, and much much more.

Welcome to the final installment (For now) of our Garden 101 series! In this episode, we cover the proper setup for a good garden and harvest storage system, from harvesting tools, to the wash station, to the kitchen. We cover the general methods of harvest for major vegetable types, and how to get them into storage or your kitchen quickly, cleanly, and efficiently. After all, all of this garden a...