Story Thyme Farms · Grown in Missouri

The Field Guides.

Written from our own food forest and barnyard — every method one we actually use.

Fig cuttings standing in a tote of moist coarse sandPropagation · 9 min

How to root fig cuttings in sand

Watercolor plate of an air layered branch with roots forming in a moss ballPropagation · 8 min

How to air layer a fruit tree

Watercolor plate of a strawberry mother plant with a rooted runner daughterPropagation · 6 min

How to spread strawberries from runners

Watercolor plate of elderberry hardwood cuttings with new roots and budsPropagation · 7 min

How to root elderberry cuttings

Watercolor plate of a rhubarb crown split into divisionsPropagation · 6 min

How to divide rhubarb

Watercolor plate of comfrey root segments, one sprouting leavesPropagation · 6 min

How to grow comfrey from root cuttings

A cluster of walking onion topset bulbils grown on the farmPropagation · 5 min

How to plant walking onion bulbils

Watercolor plate of pawpaw seeds in damp moss, one with a taproot emergingPropagation · 7 min

How to stratify pawpaw seeds

Watercolor plate of a black walnut half buried in soil with a sprouting root and a young seedlingPropagation · 7 min

How to plant black walnuts

Watercolor plate of a grape hardwood cutting with roots and a breaking budPropagation · 6 min

How to root grape cuttings

Watercolor plate of a row of dormant hardwood cuttings, one callused and rootingPropagation · 9 min

How to take hardwood cuttings

Watercolour plate of a whip-and-tongue graft on a bare fruit tree stem, the matched sloping cuts interlocked and bound with clear grafting tape, a sharp grafting knife and a coil of tape beside it, one swelling bud on the scionPropagation · 11 min

How to graft a fruit tree

Watercolour plate of a single young fruit tree with four different grafted branches each bearing a different stone fruit - a red plum, a golden apricot, a blushed peach and a dark cherry - small numbered graft unions visible on the limbsPropagation · 12 min

How to make a cocktail fruit tree

Watercolor plate of ripe pawpaws on the branch, one halved showing seedsHarvest · 6 min

How to harvest pawpaws

Watercolor plate of black walnuts in green hulls with one cracked kernelHarvest · 8 min

How to harvest black walnuts

Watercolor plate of cured garlic bulbs in a braid, one split into clovesHarvest · 6 min

How to cure garlic for storage

Watercolor plate of storage onions with dried folded tops and bronze skinsHarvest · 5 min

How to cure onions for storage

Elderberry clusters on the harvest table at the farmHarvest · 8 min

Elderberry, harvest to syrup

Figs ripening on the tree at the farmHarvest · 5 min

When to pick figs

A fresh-cut zinnia and sunflower bouquet from the farmHarvest · 6 min

How to dry flowers for bouquets

Watercolor plate of comfrey cut and laid as mulch around a fruit treeHarvest · 6 min

How to harvest and use comfrey

The week's squash harvest on the farm table beside fresh eggsHarvest · 6 min

When to harvest winter squash

Watercolor plate of ripe American persimmons, one split showing seedsHarvest · 5 min

Picking ripe American persimmons

Watercolor plate of a halved tomato, a jar of fermenting pulp, and dried seedsSeed saving · 7 min

How to save tomato seeds

Watercolor plate of a red pepper cut open with its seed clusterSeed saving · 5 min

How to save pepper seeds

Watercolor plate of dry bean pods split open with speckled seedsSeed saving · 5 min

How to save bean seeds

Watercolor plate of squash seeds scooped from a halved butternutSeed saving · 7 min

How to save squash seeds

Watercolor plate of a bolted lettuce with fluffy seed headsSeed saving · 5 min

How to save lettuce seeds

Watercolor plate of a dry zinnia head pulled apart into seedsSeed saving · 5 min

How to save zinnia seeds

Watercolor plate of hens scratching deep litter beside a garden forkThe flock · 8 min

Deep litter, start to finish

Watercolor plate of two hen groups meeting through a wire panelThe flock · 8 min

Introducing new chickens

Watercolor plate of a snug coop in light snow with hens on a straw pathThe flock · 7 min

Winterizing the chicken coop

Watercolor plate of a molting hen with pin feathers and a dish of high-protein feedThe flock · 6 min

Helping hens through the molt

Watercolor plate of a broody bantam hen flattened over eggs in a nest boxThe flock · 8 min

Broody hens, break or hatch

Watercolor plate of a hen bathing in a dust wallow, wings spreadThe flock · 5 min

Building the flock's dust bath

A harvest bowl of eggs and produce from the chicken food forestFood forest · 9 min

The chicken food forest

The peach tree guild on the farm, ringed with companionsFood forest · 9 min

Planting a fruit tree guild

Watercolor plate of a bare root tree set over a soil mound in a planting holeFood forest · 7 min

Planting a bare root fruit tree

Watercolor plate of cut comfrey laid as mulch around a saplingFood forest · 6 min

Chop and drop mulching

Watercolor cross-section of a sheet mulched bed, grass under cardboard under compost and chipsSoil & compost · 7 min

Sheet mulching a new bed

Watercolor plate of a steaming layered compost pile with a thermometerSoil & compost · 8 min

Hot compost in 30 days

Watercolor plate of a wheelbarrow of wood chips with fungal threadsSoil & compost · 7 min

Wood chips, done right

The flagship series

Best food forest plants for your zone

Drawn from the plants we grow and cover — what each one feeds, fixes, or shades.

Zone 4Zone 5Zone 6Zone 7Zone 8Zone 9