Wildflowers in a vase on your table, yes. But wildflowers in your food? Sure! Edible wildflowers pack a powerful nutritional punch, and look amazing when sprinkled over pancakes, salads, poached eggs, pizza—whatever strikes your fancy! Read on for the 10 rules for edible wildflowers.
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Composting kitchen scraps is a great way to reduce waste and produce nutritious food for your plants in the process. Even without outdoor space, you can still compost using an indoor system, or through compost pick-up services available in certain cities. Check out our favorite composting buckets and bins, along with a few tips for making the most of your composter. More

Specialty: Homestead and farm supply store with kitchen supplies, edibles, ornamentals, and animal/pet supplies

Price Range: ($$) Mid-Range

On a weekend getaway to the Santa Cruz Mountains, we stumbled upon this homesteader's paradise and it's the sort of place that makes us consider moving to the area permanently. If you visit, give yourself plenty of time to meander Mountain Feed & Farm Supply's eclectic and colorful maze of buildings, pathways, and gardens. By the time you leave, you'll be armed with the inspiration and tools for such worthy pursuits as canning, beekeeping, beer brewing, and sausage and cheese making. More

Fruit Picker from Lee Valley

• $15.50
• Lee Valley

OK, OK — most of us probably don't have apple trees in the back yard. (Although we wish we did.) But if you do, or if you're a weekend warrior at the U-pick apple orchards, this little tool might come in handy. It helps you pick fruit off high branches without resorting to a dangerous, wobbly ladder. Stick this on a broom handle, and get fruit off the higher branches with ease. More

Sure, you can use a colander just to drain your pasta. But what about using one to house a flower arrangement? Here's the cute idea executed with daisies and an old metal colander: More

Composting kitchen scraps reduces material waste, but this way of collecting the scraps also reduces time and energy waste. With a built-in receptacle flush with the countertop, it's so easy to just sweep kitchen scraps right in. More

Texas Tomato Cages

• $159.00 for a set of 6
• Texas Tomato Cages

My tomato plants are stretching up towards the sun and preparing for a takeover of the garden. Fortunately I've corraled those soon-to-be-sprawling beasts in Texas Tomato Cages, the best tomato supports I've ever used. They are an investment, but totally worth it. They don't rust; they fold flat for storage; and even summer storms won't knock them over.

20 inches or 24 inches in diameter. 60 inches tall, with optional 24-inch extensions. More

Those of you living in Austin, Texas, have one more reason to love your city. Green Bucket Composting is a local service that will pick up your compost and put it to good use on a nearby family farm.

What a perfect and convivial solution for us yard-less and garden-less apartment dwellers, don't you think? More

Having an herb garden in our kitchen is one of our favorite aspects of the space. We use fresh herbs in as many meals we prepare as possible and it's so refreshing and seriously convenient to get them fresh from our very own counter top! There are hundreds of herb pots on the market and we found a modern one we really like! More

"As the church bells chimed on New Year's Eve and the fireworks lit up the night sky, I vowed to dig up my lawn and grow at least some of my own vegetables and fruit. In a city garden barely larger than the average allotment, I could only dream of self-sufficiency, but over the next few years I would go on to grow dark, smoky-leaved cabbages, violet carrots, eight varieties of potato, speckled climbing beans and gnarled and exquisitely flavored heritage tomatoes. Vegetables that have now become the new backbone of my daily cooking and eating, and have signaled an important new order in the kitchen."
-- from the cover of Tender, A Cook and His Vegetable Patch More