There is something almost magical about walking into a greenhouse on a cold day and finding life everywhere. When the garden outside looks tired, brown, and asleep, the greenhouse is still quietly doing its work. There, under a little shelter and a little care, greens keep growing. At Twisty Mountain, we love plants that earn…
Freeze drying is a method of preserving food by removing moisture while the food remains frozen. Unlike traditional drying methods that use heat to evaporate water, freeze drying works by first freezing the food and then placing it under a strong vacuum so that the ice inside the food turns directly into vapor. This process…
No-till gardening has become increasingly popular among home gardeners, homesteaders, and small-scale growers because it offers a practical, sustainable way to grow healthy plants while improving the soil over time. Instead of turning or tilling the soil each season, no-till gardening focuses on feeding and protecting the soil from the top down with compost, mulch,…
If you’ve spent any time looking into seed starting, you’ve probably seen trays, cells, plastic pots, grow lights, heat mats, humidity domes, and enough accessories to make it feel like you need a small greenhouse just to grow a tomato. Soil blocking offers a different approach. At its core, soil blocking is exactly what it…
A practical guide for first-time hikers and backpackers If you’re new to hiking or backpacking, welcome. Truly. A lot of people want to get outside, but hesitate because it can seem like everybody else already knows the rules, the gear, the etiquette, and the secret handshake. They don’t. Most of us learned by doing a…
Ultralight backpacking, at its best, is about efficiency, intentionality, and moving comfortably through the woods with less junk on your back. At its worst, it becomes a competitive descent into gram-counting madness where comfort, dignity, and occasionally basic nutrition are sacrificed on the altar of spreadsheet optimization. So in honor of the truly devoted, here…
