Welcome to Willowbottom

Your Complete Guide to Modern Homesteading & Sustainable Living

Homesteading isn’t about having the perfect setup. It’s about using what you have, right where you are. Whether you’re growing a full garden, tending a few windowsill herbs, or just trying to live a little more sustainably, you belong here.

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Thinking about starting a garden but not sure where to begin? Or looking for a better way to plan and manage what you’re already growing? Wherever you are in the process, this is your space to learn, stay organized, and enjoy the experience of growing your own food.

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Three Sisters Gardening Method

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Five reasons you should raise quail instead of chickens

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Building Great Garden Soil

Understanding Your Growing Zone

Organic Pest Control

Growing your own food starts with knowing where to begin. Our free guide gets you started, and it connects you to a whole library of resources to grow your knowledge right alongside your garden.

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  • This small purple-flowered plant you've been mowing over might be one of the most historically significant herbs in the world. Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris) is native to North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and across every one of those regions, people independently arrived at the same uses for it. Without ever knowing about each other. Learn more in the Garden by Willowbottom app: garden.willowbottom.com Self heal plant, Prunella vulgaris, medicinal herbs, herbal medicine, backyard foraging, native plants, homestead herbs, pollinator plants
  • Most people have no idea these plants are causing serious ecological damage. I found three of them right here on our property. Invasive plants vary by region, so what's destructive in one state may not even grow in another. Your state's native plant society or local extension office are a great starting point, and the plant library inside our garden app is a solid place to start learning what actually belongs where you live. garden.willowbottom.com clickable link is in my bio. invasive plants, native plants, invasive species, garlic mustard, tree of heaven, bradford pear, butterfly bush, native plant garden, pollinator garden, ecological gardening
  • Throwback to when our quail chicks were just days old and already stealing the show. If you have ever thought about adding birds to your homestead but feel like chickens are too much, quail might be exactly what you are looking for. They are small, quiet, incredibly low maintenance, and they start laying eggs at around 6 to 8 weeks old. Chickens take months. Quail are also much easier to keep in a smaller space, which makes them a great option even if you are not on a big piece of land. Their eggs are smaller, yes, but they are rich, nutritious, and honestly just fun to collect. And if you have never seen a baby quail in person, just know that nothing on this homestead has ever been this small or this confident. The link in our bio has a more in-depth look. Have you ever kept quail, or is this your first time seeing these tiny little things up close? 🐣
  • Most people hear "invasive plants" and assume it just means something that spreads aggressively. But there's a lot more to the story than that. An invasive species is one that was introduced outside of its native range and, once it arrived, began pushing out the native plants that local insects, birds, and wildlife depend on. What makes this so tricky is that everything still looks green on the surface. The damage happens, in the background, while the ecosystem underneath starts to unravel. Some of these plants are beautiful, which is part of why they ended up in so many backyards and nurseries for years before anyone raised the alarm. This is part one. Part two is coming soon, and I'll be showing you what some of these invasive plants actually look like, including a few we found right here on our property, and walking you through what to do when you find them. Follow so you don't miss it. ⏩ Explore plant profiles in the Garden by Willowbottom app: garden.willowbottom.com Invasive plants, native plants, native plant garden, pollinator garden, backyard habitat, ecological gardening, homestead gardening, plant identification, native plant education, gardening for wildlife, sustainable gardening, zone 6 garden
  • Something really special has been happening out front lately. The Clouded Sulphur butterflies have found the garden, and they are absolutely working the coreopsis. If you've ever watched one up close, you know how deliberate they are. They are not just wandering from bloom to bloom randomly. They are actively foraging, and coreopsis is one of the best nectar sources you can plant for them because of how energy-dense the flowers are. What makes this setup so rewarding though is that the red clover and baptisia are planted right alongside the coreopsis. Clouded Sulphurs are in the Pieridae family, and their caterpillars feed exclusively on plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. Both red clover and baptisia qualify. So what looks like a simple planting combination from the road is actually a complete habitat. Adults nectaring on the coreopsis, and right next to it, everything their caterpillars need to eat once the eggs hatch. Butterfly gardening done right is not about attracting adults. It's about closing the loop so the whole lifecycle can happen in one place. Seeing a healthy population of Clouded Sulphurs here in Northwest Ohio also tells you something about the health of the space itself. Butterflies are incredibly sensitive to pesticide use, soil disturbance, and habitat fragmentation. Their presence is essentially a report card. And right now, this garden is passing. Beyond that, they are doing real ecological work. As generalist pollinators, they are moving pollen across the native wildflowers and contributing to the broader food web as a food source for songbirds, dragonflies, and frogs. Every piece of this connects. Do you have a variety of butterflies in your garden? What's your favorite?
  • A branch broke off our honeyberry and we figured... why not try to propagate it? We've never grown honeyberries before, so we have no idea if this will even work. We went for it anyway!