I know gardens are barely up after the spring/summer we’ve had here in AB. I ordered my steam juicer. Between apples, rhubarb, Saskatoons, haskaps and Strawberries, there’s a lot of juice and jelly to be made. I am picking up the canner from my dad’s this weekend. And my aunt has more jars for me. So we will have a busy fall. Not sure how much I will have for my veggies, everything is real slow. Hoping for great tomatoes, but so far, only blossoms not a single green tomato

Hey friend! I'm so glad you're here. 🌱 I'm Carolynne, the founder of Hillside Market and the person behind the Yardstead Society. My husband Eric and I build and test our DIY projects right here on our little homestead in Alberta, Canada 🇨🇦. I created the Yardstead Society as a place for people who want to build, grow, learn useful skills, and do more for themselves at home. Whether you're here because you're building one of our DIY plans, want to grow more food, raise chickens, preserve your harvest, or you're simply curious about learning some new skills, you're in the right place. 👋 FIRST: Introduce yourself! Tell us where you're from and what brought you here. What are you building, growing, raising, preserving, or hoping to learn? Already built one of our projects? Share it in Progress Pics. We LOVE seeing what you make! 📚 THEN: Explore the Classroom You'll find things like: • DIY builder resources + project planning tools • Real Hillside Market customer builds • Greenhouse + gardening resources • Growing, raising + preserving resources • Workshops + practical skills worth learning • New resources added as we learn and grow together 💬 AND: Use the community! Ask questions. Share what you're working on. Share what worked (and what didn't). Learn from other members. Eric and I are both here too, so tag @Carolynne Hill or @Eric Hill when you have a question for us. You don't need to know how to do all of this already. That's kind of the whole point of being here. Let's learn how to do more for ourselves. 🌱 — Carolynne P.S. Say hi below and tell me ONE thing you want to learn how to do! 👇

We’re nearly done! My sons (age 18 and 19) and I built this! We are adding a flagstone floor inside and stone walkway outside. We’ll plant a flower garden around it. There will also be a potting bench and shelves in the space in the center back. I’m so happy with how it came out!

We have made great progress on our 12' x 24' passive solar greenhouse build. It's coming along so nicely!! We are getting to the fun part now, starting to button this project up and do the finishing touches. What we have left to do: Build transom windows Install polycarbonate Build raised bed inside greenhouse Add trim Install venting equipment Eavestrough Install waterline What will be done next year: Insulating Sheeting the interior walls Building a work bench Finishing the floor (I am going to put patio stones down - might get to this this fall we will see) Add supplemental heat (thinking wood stove or pellet stove and maybe a forced air propane heater too) This project is looking like it's about $7,500 CAD to build ($9,000 CAD if you insulate and finish the interior walls right away). Got questions? Let me know in the comments!

Petunia update!!! Have the panels on!!! Just need the door, trim, and a few finishing touches!!! I love it! I would totally welcome any suggestions for keeping it warmer inside during freezing temperatures. In northeast texas, we can have freezes up through april, and I would love to start some from seeds in maybe february.