Nettlesome Life Blog

seed packets laid out on a table
Winter Gardening 2026
For those of you who have been with me for a while I bet you are wondering, what about gardening? It’s been all about self-care lately. Well, the persephone period... Read more...
fresh lavender on a wooden table
Why Grow Your Own Plants?
Why growing your own plants is important. August in the garden is kind of wild and unkempt. Every plant is rushing to pass on their genetics and make new seeds,... Read more...
Nettle Risotto Recipe
Nettle Risotto Recipe
If you subscribe to my newsletter, you’ll have heard how I won the wild edibles lottery and found my go to source for nettles in the high desert. Not an... Read more...
What Plants are Good for Pollinators in Utah?
What Plants are Good for Pollinators in Utah?
Nettlesome.life by Kathryn I want to take a minute to talk about pollinators and flowers. There’s so much love among the “natural living gardeners” for dandelions. Yes, (Taraxacum officinale) does attract... Read more...
Garden Update May 2025
Garden Update May 2025
It’s been a long time since I’ve done a garden update. We had some priority changes over the winter and have down sized and reorganized. The weather has been quite... Read more...
Herbal Recipes: Spruce Tip Syrup
Herbal Recipes: Spruce Tip Syrup
Spruce tip season is quickly approaching! If you are new to wild edible and foraging, spruce tip syrup is a great way to start. Spruce trees are easy to find... Read more...
Garden Update: Winter 2025
Garden Update: Winter 2025
It’s March! That means I need to get my act together. Before I know it it will be time to plant all my seedlings out. This past weekend in Northern... Read more...
peaches being skinned on a table
Garden Update: August/September
Garden Update: August/September Tomatoes and Nectarines August /September is such a rush of a time in the garden. If you grow enough food to put away, to get you through... Read more...
Onions: plant, grow, harvest
Onions: plant, grow, harvest
Onion season is officially over for us! This week I finished trimming, cleaning and storing away our cured onions. Last year we grew enough to make it all the way... Read more...
Garden Update: June 2024
Garden Update: June 2024
“Mid summer is hustle time for a vegetable gardener” June is almost over. I’m getting this update in just under the wire. Summer for a gardener is definitely hustle time.... Read more...
strawberries ripening
Garden Update: May 2024
May and June are strawberry time in Northern Utah Technically, May has come and gone. It was such a busy month of planting and raining, prepping beds, food processing and... Read more...
Garden Update: March 2024
Garden Update: March 2024
“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.”                          ... Read more...
seedings in a pot under grow lights
Garden Update: February 2024
February is the time for garden dreaming and planning Depending on where you are in the world you might be thinking, “What kind of gardening is she doing in February?”... Read more...
Garden Update: Fall 2023
Garden Update: Fall 2023
Fall Gardening in Northern Utah Ok, I know many of you follow this blog for my garden updates and I am sorry it’s been so long. I did take pictures... Read more...
nectarines in a large bowl on the ground
Putting Up Fruit for the Winter: A Nectarine Harvest
Preserving Nectarines for Winter A little bit of exciting news! Our September nectarine was finally ready to be harvested in mid October… That meant lots of nectarines all at once.... Read more...
dahlias in a high tunnel
September Harvest Rush in Northern Utah
September Harvest Rush in Northern Utah Oh September, you arrive and leave so much quicker than I am ready for. How can 30 days pass so quickly? September is full... Read more...
close up of nectarines on a tree
High Desert Permaculture Garden Harvest in August
End of summer garden harvest in Northern Utah The light has changed and it looks like fall, but the leaves haven’t turned yet. The light has a warmer glow and... Read more...
freshly harvest garlic on the ground in piles
Garlic Harvest: My Favorite Edible Medicinal Plant
Garlic (Allium sativum), is hands down my favorite thing to grow. When I sold my house years ago I literally put in the contract that the move in date could... Read more...
rudbeckia flowers in a garden
Deer and grasshopper damage, a July garden update
Grasshopper plague in the high desert Oh my goodness ya’ll, I’m sorry it’s been so long. The summer has been so busy, and nature is really testing us this summer.... Read more...
head of cabbage in the ground
Preserving Veggies: From Cabbage to Sauerkraut
The Easy Way to Preserve Cabbage Preserving vegetables via salt brine (or ferments) might be one oldest ways besides drying. It’s so easy to do. You could teach your kids... Read more...
cabbage in a garden
Take a tour of my garden in May
Ok, so I know it’s June… Life has been so busy around here. As the days warm up and get longer, it’s a race against time to get all the... Read more...
On the Hunt for Morels
On the Hunt for Morels
Hunting for Morels in Northern Utah Alright, so it’s now the first week in May. It’s morel season. I’ve been waiting for the perfect conditions to come along for morels... Read more...
Garden Update_ April 2023
Garden Update_ April 2023
Gardening Season after the Wettest Winter on Record in Northern Utah Spring is finally here! In all it’s confused “warm and cold spell” glory. As of writing this all the... Read more...
Garden Update: March 2023
Garden Update: March 2023
Update: I wrote this blog post before we had another 3 snow storms that brought in 15-18 inches of snow depending on the spot in my backyard! One more is... Read more...
Garden Update: February
Garden Update: February
Starting Medicinal Herbs from Seed Indoors I seeded a new to me medicinal herb back at the new year and it just came up! The seeds are so incredibly tiny... Read more...
Fall Purple Corn Harvest
Fall Purple Corn Harvest
This year we grew purple corn as a filler for other corn plants that didn’t germinate. This was corn we’d grown a few years before and apparently a blood butcher... Read more...
Do You Know These Wild Edibles
Do You Know These Wild Edibles
4 Common Wild Edibles of the Intermountain West I know what you are thinking, that’s a picture of a bunch of weeds. Yes, it is a bunch of “weeds” because... Read more...
Garden Update: March 2022
The other day as I was pulling into my driveway I saw something purple at the edge of lawn. I knew immediately what it was, a crocus! We put these arbitrary dates on the seasons, to help us organize our lives, but really the plants know what’s up. They know spring is coming before we do. Even though we have a few more cold night in our future the plants know it’s fine to start the mad race of growth and fruiting. The mint is coming up and apple trees... Read more...
Beans and Soap a September Update
Beans and Soap a September Update
It’s mid September already, how can that be? The 2021 gardening season is quickly coming to an end. We’ve already had the night time temperatures drop to the 40’s! The... Read more...
Harvesting and Drying Herbs
Summer is such a busy time in the garden. There is constantly something to harvest. Sometimes it can get overwhelming come August, when you’ve got tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers all ripe and needing to be preserved. Herbs and flowers are one of my favorites to harvest because you can pick them, throw them on the drying rack and come back a few days later when you are ready. No need to wash and sterilize equipment or boil water. Drying herbs is the easiest way to enter into food preservation!... Read more...
The Birth of a New Garden
There is something incredibly powerful about planting a garden. Preparing new ground is like opening a book. The smell of freshly dug earth mixed with the verdant scent of cut grasses and weeds permeates the air all around you. When you are just starting out, planting a garden is often quite easy. You might just put down some cardboard, build a 4x4 ft bed from 2x4’s, and fill it with a bag of compost. Learning to Garden in High Desert of Utah At this point in my life, starting a... Read more...
A Plant Lovers Booklist
Beginner Friendly Gardening and Herbalism Books For my whole life I have had a fond love and keen interest in plants. As a child I was introduced to the natural world and conservation by both my parents through camping, gardening, and traveling to the US National Parks. It wasn’t until I decided to grow my own food that my interests became more focused. In the last year however, I’ve decided to go beyond just knowing a few common plants and really get to know the botanical world around me. Once... Read more...
My 12 Favorite Seed Companies
Seed catalogs are my vogue magazine equivalent. I love them and save them. Some of my favorite seed companies put in a lot of effort to make beautiful informative catalogs. Getting seed catalogs in the mail is an exciting event no matter the season, but when they start filling up your mailbox in December and January when you are snowed in, there’s nothing quite like all that color to really lighten the mood! Right now is an important time to stock up on seeds you love because many seed companies... Read more...
Garden Update_ August 2019
Garden Update_ August 2019
I can barely call this an August update, as August is now nearly over! I have been so busy with harvesting, processing and preserving the bounty coming out of our... Read more...
Tomatoes and peppers in my high desert garden.
Summer is in full swing here and I feel like I have perpetual dirt under my nails. Every evening requires scrubbing my hands and feet from the garden soil. The garden has kept me so busy with planting, weeding, harvesting and seeding new things for the fall. Yes, that’s right, it’s already time to seed some fall crops! Tomatoes are ripening, radishes are ready and the last of the spring crops are coming out. I’m eagerly awaiting summer squash, basil, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. I’ve planted a variety of chilies... Read more...
Backyard Edibles (Some Might Call Them Weeds)
Backyard Edibles (Some Might Call Them Weeds)
Curly dock and dandelions growing together in the space between the concrete patio and the brick patio in my yard. Read more...
Urtica dioica growing out of rocks
Welcome to The Nettlesome Life
Nettlesome. Causing annoyance or difficulty. As I write this post I’m sitting at my kitchen table sipping a homemade herbal tea blend, occasional watching the rain fall gently outside my... Read more...

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