Gardening & Cooking for the Whole Food Plant-Based Lifestyle
Welcome to your source of gardening, herbalism, and whole-food plant-based lifestyle information!
My name is Jeanne Grunert and I moved to rural Virginia from the New York City area in 2007. I started Home Garden Joy in 2007 to chronicle my journey from stressed-out marketing executive to home-based writer and marketing consultant. Since then, I’ve discovered a passion for gardening, cooking, herbalism, and the joys of rural living. I love to share what I have learned and explore gardening tips, recipes, natural health, and plant-based lifestyle tips with you.
A Whole Food Plant-Based Lifestyle
I’ve always leaned towards vegetarianism but last year our family began a conscious effort to embrace a whole-food plant-based lifestyle. Although not strictly vegetarian, we now eat much less meat than we used to, and few, if any, processed foods. The results have been astonishing, with my own personal experience a 40+ pound weight loss, increased energy, and many nagging health problems disappearing.
This lifestyle isn’t anything new but the way our ancestors ate. It’s the food your grandparents or great-grandparents recognized as ‘real’ food. It goes along perfectly with my love of gardening, cooking, and herbalism. I explore many recipes and concepts related to whole-food plant-based lifestyles here on Home Garden Joy as part of my continuing quest for health and life ‘from the garden.’
Gardening Tips, Inspiration, and How-To
Home Garden Joy also includes over 1,000 articles on all aspects of gardening but with an emphasis on vegetable and fruit growing as well as organic gardening. I use few, if any, pesticides or herbicides on our farm, and I encourage you to do the same and ditch the commercial products in favor of old-fashioned techniques such as composting, mulching, companion planting, and crop rotation. After all, if your goal is to grow healthy fruits, vegetables, and herbs, why douse them with pesticides? It makes sense to ‘grow organic!’
About Our Farm
Our farm is called Seven Oaks after the seven acorns we planted from the white oak tree growing on my husband’s parent’s property in New York. The little oak trees are among the few on our 17 acres of loblolly pines. We planted a fruit tree orchard and grow apples, peaches, and pears, and also installed a fenced raised vegetable garden. I’ve added ornamental gardens and herb gardens, too. We hope someday to add a pond and to add collections of our favorite plants such as peonies and irises.
We are located in the piedmont area of Virginia near Farmville. The farm is not open to the public, nor do we sell produce (yet) to the public. I grow our food for my own enjoyment and to support our whole food plant-based diet.
Explore Home Garden Joy
- Our free Gardening Guides section includes monthly home garden tips, guides to composting and seed starting, and ideas for butterfly gardens and more.
- The blog offers over 1,000 gardening and country living articles, recipes, and more to inspire you.
- My books, available on Amazon, help you learn specific gardening techniques or cover topics in depth.
- We have an active community for Christian Herbalists on Facebook if you are interested in natural health.
Recent Gardening Blog Awards
