FARMcurious Blog


FARMcurious is growing!

We’re a very small, family-run business and since conception we’ve always functioned in a bare bones capacity here at FARMcurious.  We’ve depended quite heavily on the generosity of volunteers and close friends to help us with our day-to-day tasks.  However, we’ve reached a point where we’re growing a bit bigger than our britches! While we’re not quite ready to hire paid help (someday!), we are ready to take on an official intern.  We’re thrilled to enter into this new phase of growth and we hope you’ll help us spread the word to find a good fit.  The description is posted below.  While we would prefer someone in the Bay Area, we may make exceptions for the right candidate. Will you help us share our job description?

Posted Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | By Nicole Easterday |

Jack London Square DIY Days

Find our booth at the Jack London Square Farmer's Market every fourth Sunday of the summer during DIY days.  We'll be there showing you how to plant container gardens, make vinegar, craft cheese, brew fruit wine and more.  Pick up a cheesemaking kit and learn how to ferment in a mason jar!

Posted Sunday, January 20, 2013 | By Nicole Easterday |

Brew your own fish emulsion fertilizer

Did you know you can make your own fish emulsion fertilizer instead of buying it in the store?  Fish emulsion is an essential product for the organic and natural home gardener for years, proving its effectiveness in feeding the soil and plants with biologically available nutrients while increasing soil and microbe health.

Posted Tuesday, October 02, 2012 | By Nicole Easterday |

Volunteers Needed for Eat Real Fest

Many of our followers have expressed interest in volunteering at our events - and for that we're incredibly grateful!  We do several large events every year and it takes a lot of hands to pull it off.

One of our busiest events of the year is coming up - Eat Real Fest in Oakland - and we'll need a good number of dedicated volunteers so if you're interested in volunteering read the details below then shoot us an email to be added to our volunteer list.

Posted Wednesday, September 05, 2012 | By Nicole Easterday |

Small garden tips and a book giveaway

My very favorite Bay Area gardening book is Golden Gate Gardening, a work of genius written by Pam Peirce.  I love the book so much that when I speak to serious SF Bay Area gardeners and find that they don't own it I'm shocked.

Posted Sunday, April 15, 2012 | By Alycia Lang |

A Fermentation Primer

Fermentation is an age-old practice that may date back to as many as 12,000 years ago during the Paleolithic period. That said, it's a practice that holds as much value today as it did thousands of years ago.  Not only is fermentation a time-honored way to preserve the harvest or create a mind-altering beverage, it's also a healthful and natural way to boost the nutritional value of the food.

Posted Tuesday, April 10, 2012 | By Nicole Easterday |

How to make sauerkraut

Fermenting cabbage into a cultural delicacy such as sauerkraut or kimchi is an age-old practice that is still appreciated today; indeed is experiencing a renaissance of sorts.   The good folks at Cultured in Berkeley plus the popularity of a class we're teaching at Workshop in SF on April 28 can attest to this new-found love of sour things.  How could we help but be inspired to write this post on how to make delicious fermented kraut and kimchi?

Posted Monday, April 09, 2012 | By Alycia Lang |

The glories and the trials of farm-fresh eggs

It's indisputable that free-range and farm-fresh are the best type of egg you will ever eat.  With their steep, rich yolks, orange as a midwestern sunrise and their thick whites that don't run across the pan, they astonish the newly indoctrinated.  The variety of colors heritage breeds lay can take your breath away before you've even cracked the thing open. If the appearance isn't enough to convince you of the superiority of a backyard egg, fresh eggs also boast a flavor like no other -rich and almost sweet at the same time with none of the heavy, slightly off flavor of your run-of-the-mill grocery store egg.

Posted Wednesday, April 04, 2012 | By Alycia Lang |

How to peel a farm-fresh egg

How to peel a fresh egg
Have you ever tried to peel a super-fresh egg straight from the backyard or farm and found yourself hovering over a piled of shredded egg pieces wondering what went wrong? Yeah, me too. I suspect all us backyard chicken-tenders have. Lucky you, I'm about to blow your mind with a little-known trick for peeling the freshest egg you can find.

Posted Wednesday, April 04, 2012 | By Nicole Easterday |

Our backyard homestead infant death trap

When you don't yet have a child, you don't really realize how toddler unfriendly your home is.  It takes a pint-size visitor or two to open your eyes enough to see that your backyard homestead could be an infant death trap. I used to be of the rather selfish mind that it was the parent's responsibility to keep their child safe and out of trouble when they visited my house.  Now that I'm three months away from having a child of my own all the preconceived notions are melting away.

Posted Friday, March 02, 2012 | By Nicole Easterday |