In Good Soil — From seed to the pantry

The name

Why In Good Soil?

The name comes from the Parable of the Sower: ‘As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience’ (Luke 8:15, ESV). That’s who we want to be: good soil, with good roots, faithful tending, and growth over time.

We’re a family homestead in Middle Tennessee, and we hope this can be a place to love God’s creation and love our neighbors as ourselves, where good things have room to grow.

The garden planner

Your ZIP, from planting through the pantry.

The planner is the free sowing calendar: frost dates, a week-by-week year, and the crop guides that follow the harvest into canning, drying, fermenting, and freeze-drying.

01
Enter a ZIP
We look up the zone and, when a station is close enough, the frost dates for that ZIP.
02
See the year
A rolling twelve months of what to start, transplant, and sow, counted from those dates.
03
Follow the harvest
Each crop guide carries the same dates into picking and the preserving notes.

Open the planner

Crop guides

When to sow, when to pick, how to keep it.

Every crop in the planner has a page counted from your frost dates. A launch set also includes harvest signs and preserving methods that link to tested guides.

TomatoesSolanum lycopersicumHarvest and preserve PeppersCapsicum annuumHarvest and preserve CucumbersCucumis sativusHarvest and preserve CabbageBrassica oleraceaHarvest and preserve Bush BeansPhaseolus vulgarisHarvest and preserve KaleBrassica oleraceaHarvest and preserve

All crop guides

Preserving

From the bed to the jar.

Canning, freeze-drying, fermenting, and drying. The notes name the tested method and link out for the process. They do not print times or pressures.

CanningBoiling-water and pressure-canning notes point at a tested USDA or NCHFP guide. Process times stay on those guides, not on this site.Freeze-dryingA home freeze-dryer can dry many garden crops. Follow the appliance manual. Freeze-drying is not a substitute for a tested canning process.FermentingCabbage and cucumbers have tested ferments on their crop pages. Kombucha is a separate kitchen project, with its own e-book in the shop.DryingDrying notes link to the NCHFP drying guide. Condition the food and check it before you seal the jar.

E-books

Three guides from the kitchen.

Wheat sourdough, a separate gluten-free sourdough book, and kombucha. From $14.99. Checkout opens in the shop.

Cover of Intro to Sourdough, a wheat sourdough e-book from In Good Soil

$19.99Intro to SourdoughThis book uses wheat flour.Bake wheat sourdough from a starter you keep on the counter.

Cover of Intro to Gluten-Free Sourdough from In Good Soil

$19.99Intro to Gluten-Free SourdoughA separate book from the wheat guide. Use certified gluten-free ingredients and dedicated tools.Grow a gluten-free starter and bake a crusty loaf, step by step.

Cover of Intro to Kombucha from In Good Soil

$14.99Intro to KombuchaCovers how to tell mold from normal SCOBY growth.Brew a first batch, from sweet tea to fizzy bottles, with pH checks along the way.