These are the tools, supplies, and resources we use and recommend for growing, fermenting, and preserving at home — including many of the things you saw us use during From Seed to Jar.
You don’t need everything on this page to get started! These are simply our favorites if you’re looking for something you saw at the workshop or want to keep learning at home.
Some links on this page may be affiliate links, which means A Homemade Heritage may earn a small commission if you purchase through them, at no additional cost to you. We only share products and resources we genuinely use or recommend.
growing
greenstalk vertical planters
We use GreenStalks throughout our garden and love how much food we can grow in a small footprint.
They’re especially useful for families who want to grow more without having space for a large garden.
The Bomb Soil
We use The Bomb throughout our container garden, including in our GreenStalks, in pots, and in our raised beds.
It’s a rich, living soil that makes it easy to fill a pot, plant something, and get growing without having to mix a bunch of different amendments.
happy frog potting soil
When The Bomb isn’t available, Happy Frog is another potting soil we like for containers and GreenStalks.
It’s readily available in many garden centers, making it an easy option when you want to get planting without tracking down a specialty soil.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Baker Creek is one of our favorite places to buy seeds.
They offer a huge selection of heirloom and open-pollinated varieties, making it especially fun to experiment with vegetables, herbs, and flowers you may not find locally.
garlic
Garlic is one of our favorite crops to grow — and fall is the time to plant it!
We order seed garlic in late summer, plant it in the fall, let it overwinter, and harvest beautiful full bulbs the following summer.
Tubtrugs
We use Tubtrugs for just about everything around the home & homestead — harvesting vegetables, carrying soil, collecting weeds, mixing ingredients, and more.
They’re lightweight, flexible, washable, and one of those simple tools we constantly reach for.
garden tools
You don’t need a shed full of equipment to start growing food! A few good hand tools can handle most small garden and container projects.
Here are some of the simple tools we use around our own garden.
tomato clips
These little clips make supporting tomatoes and other climbing plants incredibly easy.
We attach them to string or supports to gently hold growing stems in place — especially useful when growing vertically and trying to make the most of limited space.
retractable garden hose reel
This is one of those garden upgrades we didn’t know how much we’d appreciate until we had it!
The hose pulls out when we need it and automatically retracts when we’re finished — making watering easier while keeping long hoses from becoming a tangled mess around the garden.
fermenting
Masontops Pickle Pipes
These simple silicone lids are one of our favorite ways to make small-batch ferments in Mason jars.
They allow fermentation gases to escape while limiting outside air — without having to remember to “burp” your jar.
Masontops Pickle pebbles
Keeping vegetables beneath the brine is one of the most important parts of successful fermentation.
These reusable glass weights fit inside Mason jars and help keep cucumbers, cabbage, and other vegetables safely submerged while they ferment.
digital kitchen scale
A small kitchen scale makes fermenting by weight simple and much more accurate than relying on teaspoons.
We use grams to weigh vegetables, water, and salt so we can easily calculate the correct salt percentage for a recipe.
ohio stoneware fermentation crocks
When you’re ready to ferment more than a Mason jar at a time, a traditional crock is a wonderful next step.
We use Ohio Stoneware crocks for larger batches of sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables.
real salt
We use Redmond Real Salt for our fermenting as well as everyday cooking.
It’s an unrefined mineral salt with no anti-caking agents, and because we calculate our fermentation salt by weight, it’s easy to measure accurately for each batch.
fermentation tamper
A tamper makes it much easier to press shredded vegetables firmly into a jar and encourage them to release their own brine.
It’s especially handy when making sauerkraut and other dry-salted vegetable ferments.
fermentation starter kit
If you’d rather not purchase everything individually, a Mason-jar fermentation kit can be an easy (and less expensive) way to get started.
Look for one that includes airlock lids and glass weights so you have the basic tools needed for small-batch fermentation.
Mason Jars
You don’t need special containers to start fermenting!
Mason jars are inexpensive, reusable, easy to clean, and perfect for the small batches we made during From Seed to Jar.
We especially like wide-mouth jars because they’re easier to fill and pack.
from the workshop kitchen
AHH Cutting Boards
Our cutting boards are handmade from solid hardwoods chosen for their beauty and durability.
Hardwoods create a strong, long-lasting cutting surface and are naturally less porous than softer woods, helping them stand up beautifully to years of everyday kitchen use.
AHH pickling seasoning mix
This is the same pickling seasoning blend we use in our fermented pickles.
It combines mustard seed, coriander, dill, peppercorns, red pepper flakes, allspice, celery seed, bay leaf, and cloves for an easy way to add classic pickling flavor to your next jar.