Tour of Caleb's Geothermal Greenhouse in March


This is a winter green called Corn Salad Dutch in flower -- the second flowers of the year, after the peas :) Flowers are always nice -- they remind us that spring is coming.

Peas! Real peas! This picture was taken on March 21.


These are rare yellow strawberries, coming up from seed.

Some very rare lettuces, with Chinese cabbage in the upper left, and cold-tolerant tomato sprouts in the front middle (if you can see them).

Potatoes and cucumbers. Both are very rare varieties. The cucumber sprouts are on the right front.

These are peas, orach, onions, leeks, Chinese cabbage, rutabaga and if you look carefully you can see a zucchini plant :)

More lettuces. I've been doing a big trial of winter lettuces all winter.

More peas -- so tasty in March! These are winter variety peas. 

I'm sprouting a lot of things right now, some of which I will sell later and some is for my own garden.. In the right front you can see Danish Ballhead cabbage sprouts.

Thyme has sprouted!

These are echinacea (Purple coneflower)

Beets, and several kinds of beans.

Some very rare Asian greens -- extremely winter hardy! I hope one day soon to have a limited supply of these and other rare seeds for sale at SeedRenaissance.com -- which is where I sell all of my rare and guaranteed pure, never hybrid, never GMO seeds. You can also click on that link to get a deal on my books! -Caleb

I Signed Contracts for Six New Books Today

I am thrilled to announce that, after five months of negotiations, this morning I signed contracts to write six more books, to be published between 2014 and 2017. They are:

- More Forgotten Skills 

- Gourmet Chocolate Cookbook with Julie Peterson

- Forgotten Skills of Backyard Herbal Healing & Family Health with Kirsten Skirvin 

- Self-Sufficient Cookbook 

- Seed-Saving

- Gardening Basics 

Thank you, my readers, for making this possible. My only goal has been, and is, to be useful to you.

Caleb's Backyard Garden in March

This photo shows multiplier onions on the left that have been inside a cold frame all winter, versus the same variety of onion on the right that has been outside without any protection all winter. I'm testing to see which method produces the best onions. So far, the cold frame is the clear winner!


This is a single raised bed that has been divided in 30 individual plots, where I am trialing 30 different heirloom vegetables for cold soil tolerance. The 30 planted here -- peas, greens, lettuce, beans, edimame, and more -- were the winners of the overwinter trails in the unheated geothermal greenhouse.


This is a winter bean that I transplanted outside about a week ago. It's had absolutely no protection, including for the snow last night, and it's doing well. Success!

This is the same winter bean, planted in the ground in March as seed, now sprouting despite the temperature. 

This is winter wheat that has been outside all winter without protection -- growing quietly under the snow.


This is Winter Green Jewel Romaine lettuce that has been outside all winter with no protection, no cloche, no cold frame, nothing -- we've been eating it, it's kept growing back, even under the snow! I'm proud to say this lettuce was developed over many years on my property.



Baby Swiss chard that has been outside all winter without protection. We've been eating it as fast as it grows.

Collard Greens! They are so happy that the weather has warmed up. They had been in a cold frame, but I removed the frame in the first week of March. They are growing apace!

This is lettuce that has come up from seed in cold frames this month.


These are sugar beets that have been outside without protection all winter, getting ready to go to seed this spring.

This is an extremely rare turnip. I'm the only one growing it in the U.S.!

Thanks for touring my backyard garden in March. Our goal is to be as self-sufficient and healthy as possible 365 days a year. If you are interested in seeds for winter and early spring gardening, visit SeedRenaissance.com. :)

1 in 50 children now diagnosed with autism


A brand-new report shows that 1 in 50 children in the U.S. have now been diagnosed with autism, up from 1 in 86 kids in 2008.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has issued a new report, with data gathered by interviewing a random national sample of about 96,000 parents over landlines and cell phones. This survey happens every four years. Here is what they found:

  • Boys are diagnosed with autism four times more than girls.
  • The majority of diagnoses since 2008 have been for less severe forms of autism.
  • 2 percent of children ages 6-17 years have autism, according to their parents. This is a huge jump from 2007, when the rate was 1.2 percent.
  • The greatest jump in autism rates was for boys and adolescents 14 to 17 years.
  • Children who were first diagnosed in or after 2008 were more likely to have milder Autism Spectrum Disorder than those diagnosed in or before 2007.
  • Much of the increase was the result of diagnoses of children with previously unrecognized ASD.
Parents who participated were asked “if they had ever been told by a doctor or other health care provider that their child had ‘autism, Asperger’s disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, or other autism spectrum disorder.’

You can read the detailed report here:

Backyard Herbal Healing & Family Health Class


Hello all! I think this class is going to sell out quite fast! See you there! -Caleb

Backyard Herbal Healing & Family Health Class
Saturday, April 13 2013 in Alpine, Utah
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch will be served by Kirsten.
$89 per person in advance, $139 after noon on April 12
Taught by Kirsten Skirvin, Certified Master Herbalist with 20+ years experience! She is the real deal!
Click here to register:

This is a hands-on class! Students will make and leave with herbal preparations including tinctures and salves. We will also take an herb walk. Students will learn how to make tinctures, glycerin preparations, oil preparations, salves, and poultices; how herbs work, how to macerate and foment herbs, how to react in an emergency, wildcrafting herbs, and discussions on how to deal with infections, fungus, pain, stings, allergic reactions, burns, flesh and bone wounds, flu, coughs, colds, ear infections, bloody nose, heart attack, cramps, pregnancy, mastitis, power foods, herb preservation, herbs as preventative medicine, chronic cases, herbs for beauty, & much, much more! Kirsten and her family are moving out of state in May, so this class is a rare opportunity. Space is absolutely limited to 12 students. Sorry, because space is so limited there is no discounts for spouses Reserve your space early!

In addition, students will learn how to use:
Alfalfa
Apricot seeds
Black cherry
Black walnut
Burdock
Cabbage
Cayenne
Cloves
Comfrey
Dandelion
Echinacea
Feverfew
Garlic
Ginger
Hemp
Honey
Horehound
Licorice plant
Lobelia
Marshmallow plant
Mullen
Nettle
Oak bark
Onion
Peppermint
Plantain Plant (Local plant, not S. Amer. banana)
Raspberry
Rosewater
Skullcap
Slippery elm
Valerian
Willow
Wormwood
Yarrow

New Law: Fake Sugar (Aspartame) in Yogurt & Milk

This is a grievous day.

The U.S. National Milk Producers Association and the International Dairy Foods Association have a petition in the final stages at the FDA which, if approved, would make it legal to sell milk, yogurt, cream, sour cream, and many more dairy items with "non-nutritive sweetener" in them without labeling those products to show that these fake, laboratory-created sugars have been added.

Right now, U.S. laws says that fake sugars can be added to all these dairy items without adding the fake sugar to the ingredients list ONLY if the products are labels as "reduced calorie" -- so at least there is some indication that the product has been messed with. The petition now before the FDA is specifically to remove the labeling requirement, so U.S. dairy consumers would never again know whether aspartame or other fake, chemical, laboratory-created sugar substitutes have been added to the product.

Put simply, it would be completely legal to add fake chemical sweeteners and never have to label that information again on nearly 20 kinds of dairy products.

This is disgusting. You can protest at the link below. I have to admit that I'm not sure that protesting is going to do much good -- this will just be added to the long list of other legally secret ingredients in our food. Nevertheless, I think we should all protest this so at least we tried to stop it. Here is the link where you can submit your protest comment straight to the federal government: (Public comment ends May 21).

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/02/20/2013-03835/flavored-milk-petition-to-amend-the-standard-of-identity-for-milk-and-17-additional-dairy-products

Fresh Winter Gardening Class with Caleb Mar. 9


A half-dozen of you have emailed me asking me to teach this again. So here you are:

Fresh Winter Gardening Class with Caleb Warnock
Saturday, Mar. 9, 2013 10-2
$89 in advance, $139 after noon friday
Class will be in Alpine, Utah
Click here to register

You will take home at least $60 WORTH OF SEEDS! I will also serve a fresh winter garden salad sampler for lunch. 

10 a.m.: Jump-Start: Vegetables to Plant Now -- Exactly what you can plant now, including directions for carrots, beans, lettuce, herbs, onions, peas, beets, greens, cantaloupe, and much more! How to plant, where to plant. You will take seed and live plants home.

11:30 a.m. Winter Garden Solutions -- A few of the tricks for successful winter gardening that I have learned the hard way.

Noon: Fresh Garden Taste Test -- Lunch salad served fresh from Caleb’s Winter garden!

12:30 Perennial Vegetable Gardening -- Vegetables and herbs for Utah that live year after year, including some of the rarest in the world.

1 p.m. Questions and Answers

1:30 Backyard Winter Garden & Geothermal Greenhouse Tour