Home /Bees /4 Reasons We Heart Native BeesPHOTO: Chad Horwedel/FlickrNorth America is home to some 4,000 different species of native bees. Like Honey bees, they too are fast becoming victims of pesticide exposure, diseases and habitat loss, but because most native bees live solitary lives, they aren’t succumbing to colony collapse disorder.

Home /Homesteading / Homemade Crafts /Gardener’s Hand CreamPhoto by Jan Berry/The Nerdy Farm WifeThis deeply moisturizing hand cream is great for gardeners, farmers, and those who work a lot with their hands. It’s simple to make and easy to customize. While you can leave it unscented, you can tweak it with you favorite essential oils—lavender, rose, jasmine, peppermint, spearmint and lemongrass are all nice choices.

Jill likes cooking, writing, painting, & stewardship, and studies gardening through MD Master Gardener & Master Naturalist programs.Old-fashioned favorites, marigolds are as common to flower gardens as the ubiquitous petunia or geranium. They also have a unique history and all sorts of uses, from the decorative to the salutary.

Caren White is a Master Gardener and instructor at Home Gardeners School. She has been associated with Rutgers Gardens for over a decade. Heirloom roses can grow to be enormous bushes. If you only have room for one, I recommend the Seven Sisters rose. It is called that because the flowers are borne in clusters and change colors as they age.

PHOTO: bentancourt/FlickrBusiness plans are an essential part of starting any farming endeavor—even, or perhaps especially, goat farming. Goats, are after all, ornery creatures, and anything you can do to help smooth the pathway to success will save you headaches in the long-run.While good business plan can help you get funding through farm-related grants, loans and crowdfunding websites, it’s perhaps even more important in helping you nail down the nuts and bolts of your operation.

Home /News & Trending /Field Planted to Look Like Van Gogh’s ‘Olive Trees’ PaintingStan Herd is a landscape artist and has been for the last 40 years. His farm and field designs are works of art, with his first being a 160-acre portrait of Satanta, a Kiowa Indian chief, Colossal reports. Most recently, Herd was commissioned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art to recreate Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh’s 1889 painting, “Olive Trees.