The Gothic Homesteader

Ok, so I have been in the Phoenix Metro with its awesome Goth sceen ( thank you, PhxGoth.Com ! ), but my heart is not in this overly hot, urban spread.  My heart is longing for my wide open spaces, plenty of room for my Gothic Garden and Dark Veges, and room for a cat or a dog to run free!  I know we will never have that here in Phoenix, so it is time to start scouting for where we will settle long term... and it needs to be rural. When you consider where you are going to settle homesteading, bit it rural like us or urban like we have been, you have to take many things into account.  One of the key ones is where is your soul at rest.  In the big city, I get depressed far worse than were I can get out, go adventure, raise big gardens, and have animals.  But you have to go were your heart is. So, Gothic Homesteading - rural version, here we come big time! ~ Morria

I am just so delighted to have discovered this book: Black Plants by Paul Bonine!  He has complied an engaging book with 75 Black Plant choices for the garden.  Easy are stunningly photographed for the readers pleasure, giving this book a coffee table quality not just one for the Gothic Homesteader's bookshelf. While there are many other black plants out there, Paul Bonine has chosen some of the most majestic and offered them to us in full color splendor!  I persoanly am thrilled to learn a few plants  I grew up with made the list.  Among them: Black Hollyhock, Purple Leaf Elderberry, and "Ace of Spades" Ornamental Sweet  Potato.  All in all a wonderful book, and a must have for any Gothic Homesteader or Gothic Gardener! ~ Morria

When people thing of Goth's and gardens or even homesteads, one of the first images that comes to mind is Morticia Addams.  Love her, hate her, admire her, she is the First Lady of Gothic Gardening.  African strangler plant, rose's for their thorns, hemlock, hensban, and poison ivy, she grew at her bidding.  And grow they did. The Addam's Family house had a large greenhouse built on, as many Gothic style homes did.  These were known as a conservatory.    What is a conservatory?  It is typically a glass room connected to a house on only one side, and is used for a greenhouse or sun room.  They were first used in the 1600's to try to grow citrus and other non-native plants in colder areas.  Morticia used her's to grow exotic plants year round. While our Gothic homesteads might not look like Morticia's (who wants to grow poison ivy? Not I;  itchy, itchy, itchy !), but we are unique in our own righ...