The Backyard Pantry - From Ours to Yours

10/31/2026

🤍☁️ Yes, We Grow Cotton in Republic! ☁️🤍

Most people think of cotton as a Deep South crop, but it grows right here in Missouri, and it's one of the most fascinating plants in our garden! Right now our cotton bolls are popping open, and it never stops being magical to see real, fluffy cotton growing in our own backyard.

Here's what makes cotton so fun to grow:

🌺 Flowers that change color. Cotton blooms open a creamy white or pale yellow, then turn pink to deep rose by the next day. Each flower only lasts a day or two, so you might see several colors on one plant at once!

🌿 Hibiscus and okra's cousin. Cotton is in the mallow family, the same family as hibiscus and okra. If you look closely, you'll notice the flowers look a lot alike.

🐝 Pollinator and beneficial bug friendly. Cotton mostly pollinates itself, but bees still love visiting the blooms. The plants also have tiny nectar glands on their leaves that feed ladybugs, lacewings, and other helpful insects.

☁️ From flower to fluff. After the flower drops, a green pod called a boll forms. It takes roughly two months for the boll to mature, dry out, and crack open to reveal the soft cotton inside.

🧺 How to harvest. Wait until the bolls are fully open and the cotton is dry and fluffy, then gently pull it out of the dried husk. Pick on a dry day, since damp cotton can mold in storage.

🌱 Free seeds for next year! Every fluffy section, called a lock, has several seeds tucked inside the fiber. Pull the fiber away from the seeds, let them dry, and store them in a paper envelope in a cool, dry place.

💡 Fun fact: Separating seeds from fiber by hand is slow work, and that's exactly why the cotton gin was such a big deal when it was invented in 1793!

⚠️ Important note: Cottonseed is not edible for people or most pets, so keep the seeds for planting only.

❄️ Zone 6b/7a tip: Cotton needs a long, warm season, so we start our seeds indoors 4 to 6 weeks before our last frost and plant out once the soil is warm. A sunny, hot spot gives the bolls the best chance to open before frost.

🎨 What we do with it. Homegrown cotton is beautiful in fall wreaths, dried arrangements, and farmhouse decor. You can even try spinning it into thread!

Have you ever seen cotton growing in person? Would you try growing it? Tell us in the comments! 👇

10/31/2026

💜🐝 Why Catmint Has a Permanent Spot in Our Garden 🐝💜

If you're looking for a plant that's beautiful, tough as nails, and loved by pollinators, let us introduce you to catmint (Nepeta)! It's one of the easiest perennials we grow, and it earns its keep all season long.

🌸 Blooms for months. Catmint covers itself in soft lavender-blue flowers from late spring into fall. After the first big flush of blooms, give it a haircut by trimming it back about a third, and it'll come back with a second round of flowers.

🐝 Pollinator paradise. Bees absolutely swarm our catmint! Bumble bees, honey bees, and native bees all visit it, along with butterflies. It's one of the busiest plants in the whole garden.

🦌 Deer and rabbit resistant. The fragrant, gray-green leaves have a minty scent that most deer and rabbits leave alone. That makes it perfect for borders and edges where critters like to nibble.

☀️ Drought tolerant and low maintenance. Once established, catmint handles heat, dry spells, and poor soil like a champ. No fussing required, which makes it great for beginner gardeners.

🦟 A natural pest helper. Catmint contains a compound called nepetalactone, which research has shown can help repel mosquitoes. Planting it near patios and walkways is a great bonus!

🐱 Catmint vs. catnip: They're cousins in the same family! Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is the one that drives cats wild. Catmint is the prettier, longer-blooming garden variety, and while some cats still enjoy rolling in it, most don't go as crazy for it.

🍂 Fall care tip: Here in Zone 6b/7a, catmint is fully hardy. We leave the stems standing over winter to protect the crown and give beneficial insects a place to shelter, then cut it back in early spring. Fall is also a great time to divide larger clumps and share with friends!

If you want a plant that looks good, feeds the bees, and practically takes care of itself, catmint is the one! 💜

Do you have catmint in your garden? Tell us your favorite variety in the comments! 👇

10/30/2026

These boys are in Republic Missouri.

They work so incredibly hard. Let’s show them some love! Go give them a follow and invite your friends!

We are two young entrepreneurs, Liam and Brody.

We have been doing this for 1.5 years and loving it. We do everything ourselves, from printing and cutting out our own labels, to putting in an order for sticker paper, packaging, more product etc. Doing our own research, loading the trays of candies to freeze dry… to setting up our booth and canopy at different events, selling and networking with others.

We attend the Republic Chamber of Commerce meetings and are always looking for more opportunities to set up and sell our freeze dried candies and fruits!

Please give us a follow, If you have purchased from us before please leave us a review.

If you have an event, whether it’s a craft event, festival, customer appreciation event, father/daughter or Mother and Sons events etc anything where we could set up a booth, please reach out!

Check out our website if you’d like to order individual bags for a sweet treat. They make great gifts and stocking stuffers! 

10/30/2026

🧡🌼 Marigolds: The Hardest Working Flower in the Garden! 🌼🧡

Marigolds are one of our must-grow flowers every single year. They're beautiful, easy, and useful in so many ways. And right now is the perfect time to save their seeds for next year!

🌱 Why we love marigolds:

🐝 Pollinator magnet. They draw in bees, butterflies, and helpful insects like hoverflies and ladybugs, which snack on aphids and other garden pests.

🪱 Soil helpers. French marigold roots release a natural compound that helps suppress root-knot nematodes, tiny pests that damage roots. For best results, plant them thickly in a bed for a full season.

🍅 Great companions. We tuck them around our tomatoes, peppers, squash, and beans to bring in beneficials and add a pop of color.

🎨 Natural dye. The flowers make a lovely yellow-orange dye for fabric and yarn.

🍽️ Yes, they're edible! Marigold petals can be sprinkled on salads, baked goods, rice, and soups for color and a slightly peppery, citrusy flavor. Signet marigolds have the best flavor, while larger African and French types can taste a bit bitter. Only eat flowers grown without chemical sprays, never from a florist or garden center plant.

💡 Fun fact: Pot marigold (Calendula) is actually a different plant! It's also edible and one of our favorite apothecary herbs, but that's a post for another day. 😉

🌾 How to save marigold seeds (it's SO easy!):

1️⃣ Leave some flowers on the plant until the heads turn brown, dry, and crispy
2️⃣ Snap off the dried head and gently pull it apart
3️⃣ Inside you'll find long, skinny black seeds with tan or white tips
4️⃣ Spread them out indoors for about a week to finish drying
5️⃣ Store in a labeled paper envelope in a cool, dry place

🤯 How many seeds per flower? A single dried marigold head can hold anywhere from 20 to 50 or more seeds depending on the variety! Just a handful of flowers will give you enough to plant a whole garden next spring and plenty to share.

📝 Tip: Heirloom and open-pollinated marigolds grow true from seed. Seeds from hybrids may come up looking a little different, which can be a fun surprise!

Do you save your own marigold seeds? Show us your seed stash in the comments! 👇

10/29/2026

Someone gifted you bourbon but you don't drink? 🥃

Don't let it collect dust. Turn it into the most delicious homemade vanilla extract!

Here's the secret: "pure" vanilla extract from the store is just vanilla beans soaked in alcohol. The FDA requires it to be at least 35% alcohol, and most bourbon is 40% or higher, so that bottle already qualifies.

Why bourbon? It's aged in charred oak barrels, so it brings its own caramel and toffee notes that make the vanilla taste richer and warmer. It's amazing in cookies, pancakes, and holiday baking.

What you need:
🌿 6 to 8 vanilla beans per 8 oz of alcohol (Grade B "extract grade" beans cost less and work perfectly)
🌿 A clean glass bottle or jar

How to make it:
1️⃣ Split each bean lengthwise to expose the tiny seeds inside.
2️⃣ Drop them in and make sure they're fully covered.
3️⃣ Store in a cool, dark cupboard and give it a shake once a week.

It's usable in 8 to 12 weeks, but it keeps getting better. Many bakers let it go 6 months or more.

Pro tip: When it runs low, top it off with more alcohol and a fresh bean. One bottle can keep going for years!

No bourbon? Vodka gives a clean, classic flavor. Rum is sweet and warm. Brandy, wh***ey, and unpeated scotch all work too.

Divide into smaller bottles and gift to family and friends during the holidays!!

10/29/2026

🌱🫘 Why We Don't Pull Our Green Bean Plants 🫘🌱

It's the end of October and we're STILL picking green beans by the handful! If you've been tempted to pull your bean plants after the summer rush, here's why we leave ours in the ground:

🧺 Keep picking, keep producing. Green beans are a "cut and come again" crop. The more you harvest, the more flowers and pods the plant makes. As long as the weather holds, they'll keep giving.

🍂 Beans make a great fall crop. Cooler fall temps mean fewer pests and less heat stress, and the plants often get a second wind. Here in Zone 6b/7a, a mid to late summer planting can carry you right into fall. Just keep an eye on the forecast, because beans can't handle frost. A frost cloth or old sheet on cold nights can buy you extra weeks of harvest!

🌾 They feed your soil. Beans are legumes, and their roots work with soil bacteria to add nitrogen back into your garden. When the plants are finally done, cut them off at the soil line instead of pulling them, and leave the roots in the ground to break down. Your next crop will thank you!

🫘 Free seeds for next year, super easy! This is our favorite part. Leave a few pods on the plant and let them dry until they turn brown and papery and you can hear the seeds rattle inside. Then:
1️⃣ Pick the dry pods and shell out the seeds
2️⃣ Spread them out indoors for another week or two to finish drying
3️⃣ Store in a paper envelope or jar in a cool, dry spot

💡 Seed saving tip: Save seeds from heirloom or open-pollinated varieties. Seeds from hybrid beans won't grow true to the parent plant. Beans self-pollinate, so they're one of the easiest seeds for beginners to save!

So before you clear out your garden beds, give those bean plants a second look. They might have more to give than you think! 💚

10/28/2026

Adding to our list of products all natural beeswax candles! Formed by pouring hot wax and rolling by hand so each one is unique! 

10/28/2026

💜🐝 Meet Fern Leaf Lavender: A Bumble Bee Favorite! 🐝💜

If you've seen our bumble bees buzzing around a lavender with lacy, almost fern-like leaves, that's fern leaf lavender (Lavandula multifida), and it's quickly become one of our favorite plants here at Mounteer Farms!

Here's what makes it special:

🌿 That gorgeous foliage. Unlike the English lavender most people know, fern leaf lavender has finely cut, gray-green leaves that look like delicate fern fronds. It adds amazing texture to the garden.

💐 Blooms nonstop. This lavender sends up tall stems of deep purple-blue flowers and keeps blooming from late spring right up until frost. Deadhead the spent stems and it'll keep going all season.

🐝 Bumble bees LOVE it. Our bumbles are on these flowers from morning until evening! Because it blooms so long, it's a dependable food source when other flowers are finished for the year.

🌱 Easy to grow from seed. It often blooms in its very first year, which makes it a great choice for beginner gardeners.

👃 A different scent. Fern leaf lavender has a more herbal, earthy fragrance than sweet English lavender. It's not the best choice for baking or sachets, but it's a showstopper for pollinators and pots.

❄️ Zone 6b/7a tip: Fern leaf lavender isn't cold hardy here, so it won't survive our winters outdoors. Before the first hard frost, pot it up and bring it inside to a sunny window, or take a few cuttings to root indoors. You can also grow it as an annual and start fresh each spring.

Want to make your garden a bumble bee hot spot? Add fern leaf lavender to your spring planting list! 💜

10/27/2026

What a night! 🧼✨

Our old-fashioned lard soap class last night with Carmichael Creations was everything we hoped for and more. The room was full of over 50 curious minds, great questions, and so much hands-on fun. It's not every day you get to learn a skill that's been passed down through generations, and last night we got to do exactly that.

A huge, heartfelt thank you to Megan, Alyssa (LouLou), and Alysa (Allie) for sharing your time, your talent, and your story with us. From Megan's treasured family recipe from her Nana, to LouLou's passion for clean, safe living, to Allie's lard from her own heritage KuneKune pigs, you showed us what it truly means to honor tradition, the whole animal, and sustainable living.

We're so grateful we could collaborate to bring this class to our community completely free. Thank you to everyone who came out, rolled up their sleeves, and learned with us.

This is what homesteading is all about: sharing knowledge and keeping these skills alive. 💛

Go show Carmichael Creations some love and follow along with their beautiful work!

10/27/2026

🌼💙 Why We Love Borage (Even in October!) 💙🌼

If you've walked through our garden this year, you've probably noticed those fuzzy leaves and bright blue star-shaped flowers everywhere. That's borage, and it's one of our favorite hardworking plants here on the homestead!

Most people think of borage as a summer bloomer, but it's still pulling its weight in the fall garden. Here's why we leave it standing:

🐝 Late-season pollinator food. Borage keeps blooming right up until a hard frost, giving bees and other pollinators a much-needed food source when most flowers have faded.

🥬 A great companion for fall crops. We love it near our cabbage, kale, and other brassicas. Gardeners have long planted borage alongside these crops to draw in beneficial insects.

🌱 Free soil builder. Borage has a deep taproot that helps loosen compacted soil and pulls nutrients like potassium and calcium up from below. When it's done, chop it and drop it right in the bed or add it to your compost pile. It breaks down fast and feeds your soil for next season.

🌸 Next year's crop, planted for you. Let a few plants go to seed and borage will happily reseed itself. Here in Zone 6b/7a, you can also scatter seeds in fall for an early spring start.

🍵 Pretty and edible! The flowers have a light cucumber flavor and are gorgeous frozen in ice cubes, tossed on salads, or used to decorate baked goods.

Borage is one of the easiest plants you can grow, and it gives back all season long. If you don't have it in your garden yet, put it on your list for spring!

Are you growing borage? Tell us how you use it in the comments! 👇