🍅Starting tomatoes from seed - what you need to know - Grow Sweeter Rhubarb & More

Published: Sun, 01/25/26

Updated: Fri, 01/30/26

Hello Rural Sprout readers,

It seems quite a few of us are gearing up for or are in the midst of this crazy winter storm today. Wherever you are, I hope you stay warm and safe.

Here in Central Pennsylvania, we’re expected to get snow up to a foot or more and have -15F windchills.

So, as long as we don’t lose power, it’s the perfect day to stay indoors and bake. I have fond memories of packing an overnight bag and heading up to my grandmother’s house with my mom to get snowed in. My grandparents really did live over the river and through the woods.

Longtime readers know that my dad was an off-the-grid homesteader for a long time.

But I don’t know that I’ve mentioned that this rather unorthodox lifestyle choice wasn't just on my dad’s side. My grandparents built a house way up in the woods when I was born. (My grandmother’s favorite joke was that they finished the bathroom the day I was born. So, my birthday always marked the age of the bathroom as well.) Their house didn’t have electricity for the longest time.

I have so many fond memories of that house.

Gigi had quite a collection of old kids' books on the bookshelves upstairs, and I loved reading in the sunlight up there. It always smelled pleasantly of dust and old books. They had a generator out back that would be fired up in the evenings so we could watch episodes of Hee-Haw in scratchy black and white on a tiny television. There was a huge old wood cookstove in the kitchen and kerosene lamps for light each night. And I learned how to sew on Gigi’s sturdy Singer treadle sewing machine.

I remember one winter, there was a big Nor’easter predicted for the weekend. So, rather than getting snowed in and losing power at our house, Mom packed us for the weekend, and we rode out the blizzard in my grandparents’ cozy, wood-heated home, baking cookies.

So, I’m baking cookies today and hoping I don't lose power. I hope you all stay safe and stay warm.

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That's all for this week, Rural Sprout Readers.

Sincerely,

Tracey Besemer

Editor in Chief

Rural Sprout

Owner

Almost a Homesteader

Penn Media Ltd
3 Culver Park Close
Kingsbridge DEVON TQ7 1LD
UNITED KINGDOM

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