Ulla Bisgaard

November
November on the homestead marks our final transition from warm- to cold-season crops, and it’s when the chickens molt and stop laying eggs. I’m grateful for the freeze-dried eggs I preserved from their spring overproduction—we ended the year with just under 3,000 eggs, which feels like a small victory.
A truckload of compost arrived at Halloween. We’re topping off the raised beds and giving the fruit trees a generous feeding so they’ll keep thriving.
We added five new trees this season: a Yerba Mate, two sapotes, another avocado (a Fuerte to complement our Hass), and a Surinam cherry. The sapotes fill a gap in our fruit calendar, giving us something to pick nearly year-round. The Yerba Mate looked forlorn at the nursery, so it joined my expanding tea collection—black/green tea, mountain tea, banana berry (a Florida native), hibiscus, lemon balm, and bergamot.
My coffee experiment is thriving. The larger plant has doubled in size and looks robust; now we wait to see how it handles winter.
In the raised-bed garden, we pulled two beds to fight a Bermuda grass invasion. The grass is nearly gone; once it is, we’ll lay double landscape fabric, rebuild the beds, and fill them with fresh soil and compost.
We’ve begun transplanting lettuce and brassicas started indoors in late August and September. I’m trying two new lettuces, broccoli, and cabbage varieties—excited to see how they perform. Succession seedlings remain under lights, ready for planting every two to four weeks. Lettuce has been absent all summer, so the first harvests of arugula, radicchio, mustard, and butter lettuce feel like a gift. They’re perfect tossed with pomegranate arils, nuts, balsamic, and a drizzle of honey.
Garlic is in the ground; onions started indoors are moving to larger pots before their final outdoor planting in January.
Harvest is winding down. We still have herbs, ginger, and sweet potatoes to bring in. The last big basil haul is done, but hibiscus, tarragon, comfrey, rosemary, rock rose, and toothache plant remain. Indoors, next year’s parsley, chives, shiso, and chamomile are already sprouting.
Once the beds are empty, I’ll direct-seed carrots, radishes, beets, parsnips, daikon, and wasabi.
Three new raised beds are next: one permanent home for cassava, two for strawberries. Then it’s time to prune the forest-garden shrubs and trees.
A gardener’s work is never finished, but it’s a labor of love.
My youngest daughter left for college and is discovering how expensive food—especially herbs and spices—can be. She now understands why I grow 30–40 culinary and medicinal varieties each year. At her request, I shipped twelve jars of homegrown basics. She’ll be home for Thanksgiving and can take whatever else she needs. My herbs are fresher than anything in stores, and this year they’ve saved us over $800.
I’ve started a catalog of every plant I’ve grown or attempted—variety, location, method, success. Memory fades with age, and tour guests always ask for details. Using AI to organize the data turned an overwhelming job into a manageable one.
Seasons turn, years slip by. Before we know it, the kids are grown. In spring my son heads to college; soon only our oldest daughter will remain at home.
Here is a link to how I grow and process turmeric: Growing and processing turmeric
Here are some tips for dealing with the transition between cold, hot and warm seasons: Strategies for transition in zone 9 and 10

Turmeric: Growing a Large Harvest
I finally figured out how to get a large harvest of turmeric—I need to let the plants grow for two full years. Last year, we harvested after just one season and only got about 2 pounds. By accident, I left some rhizomes in the soil over winter. Those overwintered pieces sprouted vigorously in early spring, and by the end of the second season, we pulled up an incredible 17 pounds of fresh turmeric!
We preserved the bounty in three ways:
* Freeze-dried slices – Perfect for dishes where we want a mild turmeric flavor without the slight bitterness (I remove the slices before serving).
* Freeze-dried powder – Ground into homemade curry powder, spice blends, or added to baking recipes.
* Juiced and frozen in ice cube trays – Convenient cubes to drop into fresh juices, bone broth, or smoothies.

Key Health Benefits (Supported by Research)
1. Anti-inflammatory – Curcumin inhibits NF-κB and COX-2 pathways, rivaling some anti-inflammatory drugs without side effects (Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2009).
2. Antioxidant powerhouse – Neutralizes free radicals and boosts enzymes like glutathione peroxidase.
3. Brain health – Increases BDNF levels, potentially delaying age-related cognitive decline (American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2018).
4. Joint support – Clinical trials show 1,000 mg curcumin/day reduces arthritis symptoms as effectively as ibuprofen (Phytotherapy Research, 2014).
5. Bioavailability tip – Pair with black pepper (piperine) to increase curcumin absorption by up to 2,000%.

Step-by-Step Growing Instructions (USDA Zones 8–11 or Containers)
1. Starting Material
* Use fresh, organic rhizomes with visible buds (“eyes”). Grocery store turmeric works if not treated with growth inhibitors.
2. Timing
* Plant in early spring after the last frost (soil >65°F/18°C).
* Harvest after 8–10 months for small yields, or leave for 2 years for massive rhizomes.
3. Soil & Container
* Well-draining, rich soil: pH 5.5–7.5. Mix 50% compost, 30% garden soil, 20% perlite or sand.
* Large containers (minimum 12–18 inches deep) for multi-year growth.
4. Planting
* Break rhizomes into 1–2 inch pieces (each with 1–2 buds).
* Plant 2 inches deep, buds facing up, spaced 12 inches apart.
* Water thoroughly.
5. Light & Temperature
* Full sun to partial shade (6+ hours direct light).
* Ideal range: 75–95°F (24–35°C). Protect below 60°F.
6. Watering & Fertilizer
* Keep soil consistently moist but never waterlogged.
* Feed monthly with balanced organic fertilizer (e.g., fish emulsion or compost tea).
7. Overwintering (for 2-Year Harvest)
* In zones 8–9: Mulch heavily with straw after leaves die back.
* In colder zones: Dig rhizomes, store in moist sawdust at 50–55°F, replant in spring.
* Accidental overwintering (like mine) often yields the biggest harvest!
8. Harvesting
* Leaves yellow and die back naturally (late fall, year 2).
* Dig carefully—rhizomes spread widely. Rinse, then cure in shade for 1–2 days.

Pro Tips for Maximum Yield
* Don’t harvest early—patience doubles (or triples) your harvest.
* Replant “mother” rhizomes immediately for next season’s crop.
* Companion plants: Ginger, lemongrass, or bananas (same tropical needs).
With this method, you’ll turn a handful of rhizomes into pounds of golden goodness—naturally anti-inflammatory, delicious, and homegrown!

I grow mine in raised beds. Both beds are 6’x4’x4’. I get between 200 and 250 pounds per bed. I find, that leaving smaller sweet potatoes in the beds, brings larger sweet potatoes the following year. When I do slips, I don’t use the water method. I start them in soil 3 months before I plant them.
Amending the soil with compost and a potassium heavy fertilizer and using irrigation for a steady water supply are important. Also, keep in mind, that if you remove more than 20% of the vines, it will lower the production. That said, the longer the growing season is, the more you will get. Since I started leaving all of the smaller sweet potatoes deep in the soil I have gotten a lot more from each of them. A friend of mine let all of hers grow for 2 years before harvest. She had two beds, and only harvest one each year, so the other continues to grow. Once the vines die down, she cover them with a thick layer of mulch, so they don’t freeze. She also says that she doesn’t harvest them all at once. She digs some up, when she needs some for cooking. She says that it keeps them fresh longer. Eventually I want to try that too, but right now I need the space for my winter crops, since we can grow all year round. Once the kids have moved out, and we need fewer sweet potatoes, I am probably going to do this too, since it means that I don’t have to start slips and will get a steady supply without having to actually restart the production each year.

Alan Burnett wrote:I love the photos Ulla, the shelves with grow lights recessed on the underside of each shelf is fantastic! When it's time to prepare annual crops I definitely want to copy that into my space

I've added onto my corner a bit, I've put reflective insulation on the walls, draped plastic sheeting as a makeshift door, and hung a simple grow light. I'm sure I'll have to do more if I really want it to keep an optimal temperature and humidity for growing during the winter, but I want to test out how it's going to work this winter as-is.

I'm planning to start swiss chard, anise hyssop, and kale in March, then maximillian sunflowers in April. I'm sure I'll come up with more seeds to start by then, and I will probably try to propagate some fall cuttings between all of that

Amazon usually has some really good deals on grow lights on Black Friday. The under shelf grow light I use, are attached with sip ties, but also comes with other ways to hang them. Mine are set in a daisy chain, which also help when you plug them in. By using a daisy chain, you only need one outlet.
Keep us posted on how things goes with it.

It looks like Bermuda grass

This actually makes me blush, because I have to admit, that I have 3 pantries. I like to always have at least a year’s worth of food in stock, and I grow an average of 2000 pounds of food in a year, so I need the space.
In the kitchen, I keep 2 large shelving unit for herbs and spices, and one for teas and my apothecary. We also have a small pantry with everyday stables in smaller amounts. My second pantry is very large, since I do a lot of food preservation. I have two canners and a freeze drier. In this pantry I store bulk items, canned fruits, homemade condiments, freeze dried meals, broth (a huge stable for me). We use a lot of broth in our household, so  I make 10 gallons a time. Canned and pickled vegetables are also here.
I also keep pasta, rice, homemade flour, vinegar, honey, salt, sugar, freeze dried eggs, dried cashew milk, nut milk, freeze dried berries and vegetables.
In our garage, I have a pantry for long term overflow food storage, 3 freezers and a fridge where I keep all the fermented foods I make. One freezer is for beef and pork, the second for poultry and vegetables and the third for vegetables and freeze dryer trays.
We don’t spend a lot of money on foods, since we produce most of it ourselves. We are 4 to 5 adults, depending on who is here for dinner, and we only spend around 100$ on groceries a week. In comparison our homestead has produced over 11 thousand dollars worth of food this year, and we are not done yet.
I know my pantries is a cooks dream, since we have the ingredients for pretty much anything.

Timothy Norton wrote:How long has it taken your plum trees to start producing?

I have two Plums planted a couple years ago and they are starting to get a decent amount of growth but I have not seen any flowers. I know that I am just being impatient, but I am wondering if perhaps in my third year I might see something.

Here is to hoping!

Both of mine didn’t start producing until after they had reached a mature hight. For mine that was 7 feet for one and 10 for the second. I was also told, that if I add compost in spring, they will out their energy into growing bigger, but I don’t know if that’s true

Alan Burnett wrote:The past few years, I've had a very simple grow 'room' of a large plastic bin with a grow light under a table. I'd order my seeds in February, plant them indoors in March/April, and plant them out to the garden once they fill their pots. I know I'm learning because I'm making a ton of mistakes.

This year I'm upgrading to a 3'x5' table in the corner of a concrete basement, plus enough space to work while inside. I still have to figure out exactly what to do for walls, I am thinking of fastening mylar sheets to the concrete walls, and hanging blankets + plastic sheeting for the new walls, which I'll need to pass through to work. The room has a window, and I'm not sure how it'll behave when the cold dry winter winds meet the relatively insulated basement where I'm watering plants regularly under a grow light.

I really want to propagate cuttings but it's been a bit discouraging how many cuttings have died under my care so far. I'm hoping this new grow room will work out well for this year's crop

It takes time and experimenting to get it right. I tried two other ways, before I ended up with what I have now. When I started, I used emergency thermal blankets, since they are so cheap to get. Later I invested in what we have now, which is an insulation material you buy in rolls. They last longer than the emergency blankets.
This year, I started my cold season crops in August, when it was 115 degrees F outside. Once we hit Halloween, I will transplant them all out, and by then the seedlings will be very big. This is important since by then we will start getting shorter days, which slows down the growth rate of my Brassicas and other cold season crops. If I don’t do this, I will get some smaller broccoli and cauliflower, with no big heads, and they will bolt before we get much harvest out of them. It’s the same with cabbages, lettuce and other greens like Boc Choy. This was a struggle until I started using an indoor grow room. It’s a very common problem when growing in our area, since we transition from hot to cold crops at the same time. It means that we are harvesting, prepping my raised beds and planting them, at the same time.
Right now I still need to harvest sweet potatoes, lots of herbs, turmeric, ginger, sorghum and beans. We can and are pulling the beans, grains and herbs, but the rest isn’t ready to harvest yet. The sweet potatoes won’t be ready until after thanksgiving, which is okay, since the root vegetables I am planning to direct seed there, don’t need as much time as the rest, plus they won’t go to seed as fast.
I have attached a couple of pics so you can see how they look.

Anne Miller wrote:

Jill Dyer wrote:Thick layer of any sort of mulch would be great - however this is not encouraged due to fire risk.  Rocks/stones are the preferred solution.
You may hear mumbling and muttering from this direction . . .

Jill said, My problem is weeds - went out to get some rhubarb, and every where was up-knees in an assortment of weeds. Take your eyes of 'em for a minute

Those weeds are probably more of a fire risk than a mulch would be.  A mulch would have moisture under it where the weeds do not.

Yep. The straw mulch get enough water, that they compost within 6 to 12 months. It’s the reason I have to add more each time I replant the beds. It’s also what makes the bugs in the soil prefer the straw to my seedlings.
We take fire prevention very seriously here, since we live in a high risk area.