Who we are
Hi! We’re Lisa and Anthony, and our mission is to bring you healthy recipes, helpful tips, and hopeful tales... while the empire slowly collapses. These are scaled down to fit the small spaces most of us have around us: We believe you don’t have to buy land and raise livestock to learn valuable skills and put homesteading practices into place. Yes, even if all you have is a balcony!
If this sounds like your cup of (herbal) tea, welcome. You’ve found your people.
What our audience says
Subscribers can
Read and comment on most content, including guest posts and podcast interviews, and join our free chats
Paid subscribers also get to
Access 52 posts per year, including personal essays and printable recipe PDFs
Join our paywalled chats and use Lisa’s garden-planning spreadsheet for your own plot
Win giveaway books and other swag while funding backyard homesteading education without the compromises of advertising
Founding members
Also receive a free companion-planting guide that includes native plants
Why we do this
The industrial world is waning… but slowly. We all have this window, this moment to boost our own food security, build our self-reliance and independence, and recover the manners and methods that allowed our ancestors to survive the worst of times.
The Brunette, literally
Through a lifetime of frequent moves—a military brat childhood and nomadic adulthood—gardening has been
’s one constant. Whether working a community tomato patch in the inner city or accepting a platinum award for her current backyard homestead, her love affair with growing things has been lifelong. She’s also a big-time foodie. After trying every diet out there, she’s settled on a whole-foods ancestral habit that includes healthy meat and animal fats; raw, cultured dairy products; and lacto-fermented fruit and vegetables.A career writer, Lisa’s published journalism, books, and games, often winning awards.
The man behind the woman
The other person with his hands in the dirt here is also known to bang out a few stories at his keyboard. While
keeps insisting he’s not a writer, the readers who love his helpful hand with hugelkulturs and cool cast-iron tips beg to differ. He grew up with fond memories of visiting his grandfather’s Oregon dairy farm, and Anthony’s father is a never-seems-to-retire landscaper in the Walla Walla Valley. From him, he learned how to make a wreath, among other survival skills!In case you’re wondering: Though Lisa opted to keep her family name, which derives from the Scottish House of Burnet, these two are legally married, and they prefer it that way.
Read on
Healthy Recipes
Helpful Tips
Hopeful Tales
Stay with us
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We post every Wednesday, with a narrated version sometimes following on Thursdays, when we also kick off subscriber chats.
Notices and policies
We have a whole page for that right here.