Sharpland Art and Permaculture

06/19/2026

The cookie lady is back! For the first time since Christmas, the smell of orange ginger cookies is in the air!

These will be available at tomorrow's market at Gracious Farm while suppies last! We use organic wheat flour, pure cane sugar, and our treasured, handmade sorghum syrup 😋

06/19/2026

The year of the volunteer continues 🍅

In case you hadn't noticed, we get pretty excited about our carefully curated collection of heirloom tomatoes. Still, they can't compete with the speed and hardiness of the volunteers that are showing up all over the property!

When a bird or squirrel mauls a nearly ripe fruit, it often gets tossed (literally) to the chickens or into the compost. Months later, the universal distribution system rewards us with rogue tomato plants. They're in the orchard, mixed in with the flowers and figs out front, or popping up anywhere the water and light are just right.

Sure, some are growing right where tomatoes stood the previous year, but others are determined to blaze their own trail.

These maters will inevitably outpace our intended plants by several weeks, reminding us that: A) Nature knows best, and B) the sweetest tomato doesn't always come from the vine that makes you work for it!

06/18/2026

Curiosity got the best of us, and it was worth a peek!

Chinese Purple is the smallest variety of garlic we grow, but size isn't everything. This one checks all the boxes:

✅ Easy to grow
✅ Excellent, strong flavor
✅ High in allicin for immune support
✅ Long storage life

We ended up pulling about 10 bulbs, but we're not getting too hasty. Chinese Purple matures early, but the rest of the patch, especially the larger varieties, still has two to three weeks to go.

After a big rain last night, our soil is saturated, so we'll pull the mulch back from the bulbs to help them dry out, reduce the risk of rot, and prepare them for curing. We may even tarp the beds for good measure, but hopefully southwest Ohio dries out for a few days and we can avoid that.

Good luck to all our garlic growers out there. We are so close!

06/17/2026

We've been talking about getting a freeze dryer for a while. It would be cool to win one! If you're into food preservation, the winner will be announced on 6/18.

🚨 GIVEAWAY CLOSED 🚨
I’m teaming up with HarvestRight for a chance to WIN a FREEZE DRYER 🤯✨
You guys know how much I love freeze drying, and I am SO excited to do this giveaway with you all!
Here’s how to enter 👇
✔️ MUST be following Harvest Right and The Homemade Mess
✔️ Like & share this post
✔️ Tag 2-3 friends in the comments
✔️ MUST submit the online entry form linked below
But wait, there’s more 😂

AND, if you are new to freeze drying, or have been thinking about getting one, I will be going LIVE with Harvest Right on June 10th at 6:30 PM CST for ALL things FREEZE DRYING 🎉
We’ll be answering questions, talking all things freeze drying, and you are definitely going to want to tune in because there MIGHT just be some more giveaways and discounts involved 👀✨
If you purchase a freeze dryer from me during this time, we will refund you the cost of the freeze dryer, should you win! ❤
GOOD LUCK ❤️
If I could give every single one of you a freeze dryer, I absolutely would. Seriously, I cannot wait to see who wins this one 🥹✨
⬇️ ENTER HERE ⬇️

https://harvestright.com/pages/the-homemade-mess-giveaway

***US and Canada Only. Winner will be announced June 18th!

*****you will ONLY get a winner notification from me. Do. Not. Fall. For the scams.

06/17/2026

Medicine is in full bloom around the homestead!

Many of our medicinal and culinary herbs are in peak form this time of year. With so much happening, we need to act fast to harvest and preserve their valuable flowers and foliage.

If you are curious, we've included names and a summary of each plants uses in the photo descriptions.

NOTE: While many herbal remedies are generally safe, you must consider your individual health. Nothing we share is medical advice. This information is describes traditional uses of these plants. Just because we use these doesn't mean that they are for everyone. Do your own research!

06/16/2026

Out with the old and in with the new. 🥕🫑🌶️

It's a busy week as we say goodbye to crops started in late winter and early spring. This has truly been the year of the carrot. We've pulled dozens of 4–6" roots since early May, with no idea how many pounds we've actually grown. But it's time to rip off the bandage and make room for summer plantings.

24 sweet peppers are now tightly packed in as a succession crop that maximizes this bed's potential. Peas, potatoes, garlic, and onions will be finishing soon. As they come out, we'll transplant some of these peppers to improve airflow and give them more room to grow.

More carrots will go in between the peppers, and once the parsley sets seed, we'll cut it out, drop in basil, and waste zero growing space.

Gardening like this can be a chaotic dance, but the results speak for themselves. Instead of one harvest, a small patch can produce several crops that feed us throughout the year.

Abundance takes planning, trial and error, and a little cooperation from Mother Nature. So far this year, we're grateful that she's been a supportive partner!

06/15/2026

Margo Sharp remembered to take some booth pictures at Sayler Park Sustains! Seriously, thank you to everyone who visited out booth. You made this our most successful day ever as a vendor. It means the world to this small, family business.

Thank you to our new followers and to everyone that shared their joy and enthusiasm with us on a beautiful spring day!

06/15/2026

We had an amazing time at Sayler Park Sustains! The music, speakers, attendess, and our fellow vendors made us feel so welcome!

This was truly our kind of event. So many of our booth visitors told us this is their favorite festival. They couldn't be more proud to have as a part of their neighborhood tradition. We felt appreciated and for our offering of handmade goods and the information we had to share.

Thank you to Jen and Mike for having us. Thank you to Crystal from Gracious Farm for encouraging us to speak and vend. Cincinnati Parks has a hidden gem in Nelson Sayler Park. Those beautiful oak trees kept us shaded and cool all day. We're already looking forward to 2027!

06/11/2026

Check out these two happy lads!

We have a lot of excellent volunteers around the property this year, and we’re letting the their flags fly. These sunflowers came from seeds the birds missed last year, and they’re making us so stinking happy. They’re big and right on the edge of our driveway, but once we realized what they were, there was no chance we were moving them.

The moral here is simple, it's okay to let it be.

By chance, complete accident, or even against our will, unintended things can bring unexpected joy. Now, not everything is a volunteer sunflower. Sometimes it's a chicken turd on your steps, but you get the point.

Have a great day, and best of luck finding the good in the unplanned.