Local gardeners are experimenting with straw bales, taking advantage of the internal composting to help their garden grow. As a little boy growing up on a Minnesota farm, Joel Karsten wondered why the ...

Terrible garden soil? Or even no soil? No problem. Yes, you can garden! Straw bale gardening uses a bale as the medium in which you plant. You won't have to dig in rocky or hard soil, and it creates ...

This year's growing season is not exactly off to an early start. But a local gardener has a suggestion: Plant your vegetables in a bale of straw instead of in the ground. It's a humble method with old ...

Planting vegetables in straw bales can be a lot easier – especially on the back – than traditional gardening in the dirt, according to local master gardeners. You don’t need containers and only a ...

My sister Laura and Grandma Josephine tending the chickens on the family farm. Yes, that is a little genuine Minnesota straw in the foreground. Because the straw bale generates heat as the straw ...

Slouching like a gardener on a hot summer afternoon, my straw bales are sagging under the weight of their growing load. Four humongous squash plants form a green umbrella with their large leaves, ...

When you hear about a straw bale building, you might think of a big bad wolf huffing and puffing. But these houses are not just in fairy tales. Builders in San Diego County are turning to straw bales ...