How to Grow Sweet Potatoes in Your Florida Backyard (What Actually Works Down Here)

This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

If you’ve ever stood in the produce section paying $3 for a single sweet potato and thought I bet I could just grow these myself — you’re right. You absolutely can. And if you’re in Northwest Florida or anywhere in the Panhandle, you’re sitting in one of the most ideal sweet potato climates in the entire country. Our long, hot summers that make everything else feel like a battle? Sweet potatoes are living for it.

We started growing sweet potatoes a couple of years ago as part of our summer garden, and honestly it’s become one of our favorite homeschool projects. The kids get to start the slips, watch them vine out like crazy across the bed, and then — best part — do a full-on treasure hunt at harvest time. My kids talk about sweet potato digging day the way some kids talk about Christmas morning. That’s not an exaggeration.

Let me walk you through what we actually do, what works in our sandy Florida soil, and how to turn this into a real learning moment for your kids.

Why Sweet Potatoes Are Perfect for Florida Backyards

Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are a warm-season crop that thrives in heat, tolerates our humidity, and doesn’t ask for much once it gets going. They’re also one of the few vegetables that does great in Florida’s sandy, well-draining soil — which is actually their preferred growing medium. They hate waterlogged roots, and since our soil drains quickly, that’s a feature, not a bug.

The Florida growing window for sweet potatoes is late spring through summer — typically April through June for planting, with harvest coming around 90 to 120 days later. Here in the Pensacola area, we usually get our slips in the ground in early May and harvest sometime in August or September before it starts to cool off.

Another reason I love this crop: the vines are beautiful and lush, the flowers look like morning glories (they’re in the same family!), and the whole plant becomes a living nature study. We’ve sketched the leaves and flowers in our nature journals more than once.

Starting Your Own Slips (This Is the Fun Part)

You can buy sweet potato slips from a local nursery or garden center, but starting your own from a grocery store sweet potato is genuinely easy — and it’s a fantastic project to do with kids.

What you need:

• 1-2 organic sweet potatoes (organic matters here — conventional ones are sometimes treated to prevent sprouting)
• Toothpicks
• A jar of water
• A sunny windowsill

How to do it:

Jab 3-4 toothpicks into the middle of the sweet potato and suspend it halfway in a jar of water — pointy end down, if there is one. Set it in a warm, sunny spot. Within a couple of weeks, you’ll see purple shoots emerging from the top and roots growing into the water.

Once those slips are about 6 inches long, you twist them off and set them in a separate jar of water to develop their own roots — usually takes another week or so. When you see good root development, they’re ready to go in the ground.

This whole process takes about 4-6 weeks, so we usually start ours in late March or early April. It becomes its own little Charlotte Mason nature study — we sketch the sweet potato at different stages, note changes in our journals, and it naturally leads to conversations about root systems, plant propagation, and why plants grow toward light.

Planting Sweet Potatoes in Florida Soil

Bed Prep

Sweet potatoes need loose, well-draining soil to form big, smooth roots. In our sandy Northwest Florida soil, this is actually pretty natural — but I still like to mound the soil up into raised rows about 8-10 inches high. This gives the roots room to expand without running into compacted ground.

We skip synthetic fertilizers entirely. A layer of finished compost worked in before planting is all they really need. If you’re not already composting at home, it’s worth starting — I wrote about how we do it with the kids in Composting at Home for Beginners: How to Start with Kids (and Actually Keep It Going).

Our chickens also help us here — their composted manure goes into the garden beds and the results speak for themselves.

Planting the Slips

Plant slips about 12-18 inches apart in your mounded rows, burying the stem and leaving just the top leaves above ground. Water them in well and then — mostly leave them alone. Sweet potatoes are not a high-maintenance crop. They’ll spread, they’ll vine, they’ll do their thing.

Make sure your kids have a good pair of kids’ garden gloves for planting day. My kids take garden work much more seriously when they have their own gear.

Watering

Water regularly for the first couple of weeks while they establish. After that, sweet potatoes are surprisingly drought-tolerant. In the middle of a Florida summer, we water about once a week unless we’ve had good rain — which in July and August, we usually have. The afternoon thunderstorm season basically waters our sweet potatoes for us.

Keeping Things Natural (Pests and Weeds)

Sweet potato vines spread fast and wide — which is actually great because they shade out weeds on their own. Once the vines get going, you’ll barely have to weed at all.

For pests, we deal mainly with sweet potato weevils and the occasional caterpillar. We keep things non-toxic — Wondercide is our go-to for pest control around the garden and the chicken yard. We also use food grade diatomaceous earth around the base of plants when we’re dealing with crawling insects. It’s the same stuff we use in the chicken coop — you can read more about our coop routine in Natural Chicken Coop Deodorizer and Cleaning Routine (What Actually Works for a Backyard Flock).

Our chickens free-range near the garden in the evenings and help with bug control too — though we make sure the vines are protected because those girls will absolutely munch them if given the chance.

Harvest Day — The Best Homeschool Field Trip Ever

Here’s how you know sweet potatoes are ready: the leaves start yellowing, the vines die back a little, and if you peek under the soil near the base of the plant, you can see the tops of roots peeking up. Around the 90-110 day mark, we do a test dig.

Harvest day in our family looks like this: everyone goes out in the morning before it gets too hot, the kids get their kids’ rain boots on (because the soil is always a little damp from morning dew), and we dig. I use a garden fork to loosen the soil a couple feet away from the base and then the kids get in there with their hands.

The gasps when a huge sweet potato comes out of the ground — every single time. It genuinely never gets old. They’re always amazed that something that big was hiding under there the whole time. That’s the 1990s childhood magic right there. No screen is going to replicate that.

Curing Your Harvest

Before you cook them, sweet potatoes need to cure. Spread them in a single layer somewhere warm (80-85°F) with good airflow for 10-14 days. This hardens the skin, heals any nicks from digging, and actually makes them sweeter. We usually cure ours in the garage. After curing, they’ll store for several months in a cool, dark spot.

Turning It Into a Real Homeschool Unit

This is where it gets fun if you’re a CM family. Sweet potatoes can anchor a whole unit study:

• Botany: Draw and label the plant at different growth stages in your nature journal
• History: Learn about how sweet potatoes moved around the world — they have a fascinating history with indigenous cultures and global trade routes
• Math: Weigh and measure the harvest, calculate how many pounds per plant, graph it
• Life skills: Cook with your harvest — sweet potato soup, roasted sweet potatoes, sweet potato muffins

If you want to extend the nature study even further, a pocket microscope lets kids look at the root structure and soil up close. My kids have spent a good hour looking at what comes up on a magnified sweet potato skin. It’s more interesting than it sounds, I promise.

A Few Quick Tips Specific to Florida

• Don’t plant too late. If you’re in the Panhandle, anything in the ground after mid-June is pushing it. You want a full 90-120 days before temps drop in the fall.
• Mulch matters. A layer of straw mulch around the vines helps retain moisture during dry spells and keeps soil temperatures more stable.
• Sandy soil is your friend — don’t try to amend it into clay. The natural drainage is exactly what sweet potatoes want.
• Save a sweet potato from your harvest to start next year’s slips. It’s free, it’s fun, and the kids feel proud that they’re continuing the cycle.

There’s something really grounding about growing food that your family actually eats. My kids helped plant those slips, they watched the vines spread across the bed all summer, they dug up the harvest with their bare hands — and then they ate sweet potato soup at dinner and they knew where it came from. That kind of connection to food and to the earth is exactly what we’re going for with this whole homeschool, backyard-farm, intentional-family life we’re building. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You just need a little space, a sunny window, and a sweet potato from the grocery store. That’s really all it takes to get started.

Go try it. I think you’ll love it.

📖 You Might Also Like:

• Composting at Home for Beginners: How to Start with Kids (and Actually Keep It Going)
• How to Start an Herb Garden in Florida Heat (What Actually Grows and When to Plant It)
• Morning Basket Ideas for Charlotte Mason Homeschool Families (What We Actually Do Each Day)

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I plant sweet potatoes in Florida?

In North and Northwest Florida (including the Pensacola area), the best time to plant sweet potato slips is late April through mid-June. You want at least 90-120 frost-free days for the roots to fully develop before fall arrives. Starting your slips indoors in March or April gives you a nice head start.

Do sweet potatoes grow well in Florida’s sandy soil?

Yes — actually better than in heavier soils. Sweet potatoes prefer loose, well-draining soil so the roots can expand without resistance. Florida’s naturally sandy soil is close to ideal. Just mound your rows up 8-10 inches high, work in some compost, and you’re in great shape.

How do I start sweet potato slips at home?

Suspend an organic sweet potato halfway in a jar of water using toothpicks (pointy end down). Set it on a warm, sunny windowsill. In 2-4 weeks, sprouts will emerge from the top. Once they’re about 6 inches long, twist them off and place them in a fresh jar of water to develop roots. When the roots are an inch or two long, they’re ready to plant. The whole process takes about 4-6 weeks.

How long does it take to grow sweet potatoes in Florida?

Sweet potatoes typically take 90-120 days from planting slips to harvest. In Florida’s warm climate, they can sometimes be ready closer to the 90-day mark. Start checking around day 85-90 by doing a test dig near the base of one plant to see how the roots are developing.

Do I need to cure sweet potatoes after harvesting?

Yes, and it makes a big difference! After harvest, lay your sweet potatoes in a single layer somewhere warm (around 80-85°F) with good airflow for 10-14 days. Curing hardens the skin, heals any cuts from digging, converts starches to sugars (making them sweeter), and dramatically extends their shelf life. After curing, they’ll keep for several months in a cool, dark location.

Best Rain Barrel Setup for Florida Homes (What Actually Works Down Here)

This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

If you’ve lived in Northwest Florida for more than five minutes, you know the drill. It’s bone dry for three weeks, your garden looks like it’s auditioning for a drought documentary, and then — boom — six inches of rain in two hours on a random Tuesday afternoon. The water rushes off the roof, floods the chicken run, and disappears into the ground before you can blink.

That used to drive me absolutely crazy. We were hauling the hose out to water the raised beds every evening during dry stretches, and then watching perfectly good rainwater pour off the gutters and go nowhere during our summer storms. Once we set up a rain barrel — and figured out how to do it right for Florida’s specific conditions — it genuinely changed the way we manage water around our little homestead. It’s one of those simple things that feels almost too obvious once you’ve done it.

So let me share what we actually use, what didn’t work, and what you need to know if you’re setting one up here in the Florida heat and humidity.

Why Rain Barrels Make So Much Sense in Florida (and Why Most People Give Up on Them)

Florida gets somewhere between 50 and 65 inches of rain per year depending on where you are. Pensacola is actually one of the rainiest cities in the continental U.S. We are not lacking for water from the sky. What we’re lacking is a way to hold onto it between those summer deluges and the dry stretches that can hit hard in the spring and early fall.

The problem most people run into is that they grab a barrel that’s not sized right, don’t account for overflow, or end up with a stagnant mosquito breeding situation that makes them want to rip the whole thing out. All totally avoidable with a little planning upfront.

What to Look for in a Rain Barrel for Florida

Size Matters More Than You Think

A single 50-gallon barrel sounds decent until you realize your roof can shed 600 gallons of water in a one-inch rainstorm. If you’re just watering a small container garden, one barrel might be enough. But if you’re watering raised beds, a chicken run, and some fruit trees like we are, you’ll want to think bigger — either a larger tank or a linked barrel system.

For most backyard homesteads, I’d suggest starting with at least a 50–75 gallon rain barrel and adding a second one linked to it if you have the space. Two linked 50-gallon barrels gives you a solid buffer without being overwhelming to set up.

Mosquito-Proofing Is Non-Negotiable in Florida

This is the big one. Standing water + Florida = mosquitoes. Your barrel needs to have a tight-fitting mesh screen over the inlet, a sealed lid, and all openings (overflow spout, spigot) need to be mosquito-proof. Don’t skip this step. A barrel with a loose-fitting top will become a mosquito nursery within days during summer. Look for barrels that are specifically designed with sealed lids and screened inflow, or add your own screen if needed.

Material and Color

Dark-colored barrels (dark green, brown, black) discourage algae growth, which matters a lot in our sunny climate. Avoid clear or light-colored containers — algae will bloom fast. Food-grade plastic or UV-stabilized HDPE is ideal since it won’t break down in the Florida sun.

How We Set Ours Up: A Simple, Working System

Step 1: Pick Your Downspout Location

Look at your gutters and think about where water needs to go most — usually closest to the garden or the chicken area. Our barrel sits right off the back corner of the house, about 30 feet from our raised beds and even closer to the chicken run. Gravity does most of the work.

Step 2: Elevate the Barrel

This is something a lot of people skip, and then they wonder why the water pressure is so low. Raise your barrel up on cinder blocks, a sturdy wooden platform, or a purpose-built stand — at least 12 to 18 inches off the ground. The higher it sits, the more water pressure you’ll get from the spigot. Even a little elevation makes a meaningful difference when you’re filling a watering can.

Step 3: Modify the Downspout

You’ll divert your downspout directly into the barrel’s inlet. Most rain barrel kits come with a diverter that keeps water flowing to the original downspout once the barrel is full, which is exactly what you want — you don’t want overflow flooding your foundation. Make sure your overflow hose is directed well away from the house.

Step 4: Link a Second Barrel (Optional but Worth It)

If you want more capacity, link two barrels together with a short piece of vinyl tubing and a bulkhead fitting near the base of the first barrel. The water level equalizes between them and you’ve effectively doubled your storage for very little extra cost or effort.

How We Use the Rainwater Around Our Property

For the Chickens

Our girls go through a surprising amount of water, especially in the summer when temperatures sit in the high 90s for weeks on end. We run a hose from the rain barrel spigot to refill the chicken waterer without dragging the garden hose across the yard every time. It’s one of those small conveniences that adds up to a lot of saved time over the course of a summer. If you’re managing your coop naturally and want to keep things low-effort, also take a peek at our post on Natural Chicken Coop Deodorizer and Cleaning Routine (What Actually Works for a Backyard Flock) — keeping the coop clean and the water flowing are two sides of the same coin.

For the Garden and Raised Beds

Rainwater is genuinely better for your plants than municipal tap water. It’s slightly acidic, free of chlorine and fluoride, and your plants just do better with it. During dry spells, we water our raised beds and herb garden straight from the barrel. If you’re still getting your Florida garden rhythm figured out, our post on How to Start an Herb Garden in Florida Heat (What Actually Grows and When to Plant It) covers which herbs actually survive our summers — and they definitely appreciate the soft rainwater.

For Nature Study and the Kids

Here’s the thing I didn’t expect: the rain barrel has become part of our nature study. My kids watch the water level rise after storms, we’ve talked about the water cycle in a very hands-on way, and we even used the overflow area to create a small mud kitchen zone that has provided approximately one million hours of entertainment. Very 1990s. Very wonderful.

If your kids are into outdoor observation, a pocket microscope is great for examining water samples, insects, and whatever else they scoop out of the garden after a good rain. Pair that with a nature journal and you’ve got a full-on Charlotte Mason water science lesson happening in your backyard.

A Few Florida-Specific Tips to Save You Trouble

Empty or use your barrel before a hurricane. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but a full barrel can become a projectile or a structural liability in high winds. Use the water down before a major storm and lay the barrel on its side if you have to evacuate or prep for a direct hit.

Check your county regulations. Most Florida counties allow and even encourage rain barrel use, and some offer rebates or even free barrels through local water management programs. Escambia County and Santa Rosa County have both had programs like this in the past — it’s worth checking before you buy anything.

Flush your first roof wash. The first heavy rain after a dry spell washes off a lot of debris, bird droppings, and residue from your roof. Some people use a first-flush diverter to route that initial dirty water away from the barrel. It’s a nice upgrade if you’re using the water for anything edible.

Clean your barrel once or twice a year. Rinse it out with a mix of water and a small amount of white vinegar to prevent algae and sediment buildup. Easy, non-toxic, and keeps everything running clean — very much in line with how we approach the rest of our home. For our other non-toxic cleaning go-tos, we love Grove Collaborative for restocking the basics.

Is It Worth It?

Honestly, yes — and not just for the water savings, though those are real. It’s the shift in mindset that I appreciate most. Catching rainwater is one of those small, intentional things that connects your household back to natural rhythms. You start paying attention to how much it rained, when the barrel’s getting low, whether the plants need a drink. It’s the same reason we keep chickens and do nature journaling and grow things from seed. It slows us down in the best possible way.

If you’re already composting (if not, here’s Composting at Home for Beginners: How to Start with Kids and Actually Keep It Going), a rain barrel is the natural next step toward closing the loop on your backyard ecosystem. Start simple, see how you use it, and expand from there. You don’t have to go all-in on day one.

One barrel, a solid spot near a downspout, and a little elevation — that’s really all it takes to get started.

📖 You Might Also Like:

• How to Build a Simple Chicken Tractor for Your Backyard Flock (Without Overcomplicating It)
• Composting at Home for Beginners: How to Start with Kids (and Actually Keep It Going)
• Natural Chicken Coop Deodorizer and Cleaning Routine (What Actually Works for a Backyard Flock)

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it legal to collect rainwater in Florida?

Yes, rainwater collection is legal in Florida and is actually encouraged by state water management districts. Florida Statute 570.07 specifically supports the use of rain barrels for residential water conservation. Some counties even offer rebates or free rain barrels through local programs, so it’s worth checking with your county water authority before you buy.

How do I keep mosquitoes out of my rain barrel in Florida?

This is the most important thing to get right in Florida’s climate. Use a barrel with a tightly sealed, screened lid and make sure all openings — including the overflow outlet and spigot — are fully sealed or screened. Never leave an uncovered barrel sitting open. You can also add a mosquito dunk (a natural Bti tablet) inside the barrel if you’re ever concerned, though a properly sealed barrel shouldn’t need one.

What size rain barrel do I need for a Florida home?

For a small container garden, a single 50-gallon barrel may be enough. But Florida storms can dump a lot of water quickly — a one-inch rainfall on a 1,000 square foot roof area can generate over 600 gallons of runoff. If you have a larger garden, fruit trees, or backyard chickens to water, consider linking two 50-gallon barrels or starting with a 75–100 gallon tank for better coverage during dry spells.

Can I use rain barrel water for my vegetable garden and chickens?

Yes, and it’s actually great for both. Rainwater is naturally soft, slightly acidic, and free of the chlorine and fluoride found in municipal tap water — plants and chickens tend to do well with it. Just make sure your barrel is clean, well-screened, and that you’re not collecting from a roof treated with certain chemical coatings. For edible gardens, avoid using water from roofs with old lead flashing or heavy moss-killer treatments.

How do I set up a rain barrel without tools or plumbing experience?

Most rain barrel kits are genuinely beginner-friendly. The basic setup involves placing the barrel under a downspout (elevated on cinder blocks for better pressure), attaching a downspout diverter to route water into the barrel’s screened inlet, and making sure the overflow hose is directed away from your foundation. No special plumbing skills needed — most setups can be done in an afternoon with basic hand tools.

Composting at Home for Beginners: How to Start with Kids (and Actually Keep It Going)

This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Honestly, I put off composting for way longer than I should have. I figured it would be smelly, confusing, or just one more thing on my plate that I’d eventually abandon next to the sourdough starter I gave up on in 2021. But then one of my kids dragged a banana peel outside, dropped it next to a fire ant mound, and said, “Mama, is this how dirt gets made?”

And I thought — yeah, actually. Kind of.

That question turned into a whole afternoon of digging around in the backyard, talking about decomposition, watching pill bugs do their thing, and eventually pulling out a book to look it up properly. It was one of those completely unplanned Charlotte Mason moments that ended up being better than anything I could have scheduled. And it lit a fire under me to finally just start composting.

If you’ve been curious but haven’t taken the leap yet, let me make it easier. This is the beginner guide I wish someone had handed me — simple, real, and absolutely doable with kids underfoot.

Why Composting Is Worth Starting (Even If You’re Busy)

Here’s the thing: composting isn’t just good for the planet in a vague, abstract way. For families like ours — with a backyard flock, a small garden, and a real commitment to a non-toxic, intentional home — it’s genuinely practical.

• It gives your kitchen scraps somewhere to go instead of the trash
• It produces free, rich amendment for your garden and flower beds
• It feeds your chickens indirectly (healthy compost = healthy soil = healthy bugs and greens)
• It’s one of the easiest, most concrete ways to teach kids about nature’s cycles

Down here in Northwest Florida, our growing season is long and our soil is sandy and nutrient-poor. Homemade compost is honestly one of the best things we’ve added to our garden — way better than anything bagged from the hardware store.

And if you’ve already got chickens, this whole system starts to feel beautifully connected. Scraps feed the compost. Compost feeds the garden. The garden (and the bugs in it) feed the chickens. The chickens feed us. It’s the kind of closed loop that makes total sense to kids once they see it in action. If you’re just getting started with backyard hens, our post on Best Egg Laying Chickens for Florida Heat (What Actually Thrives in Our Southern Backyard) is a good place to start.

What You Actually Need to Start Composting

Not much. Truly.

A bin: You can build one from pallets, buy a basic tumbler, or even just designate a corner of your yard. We started with a simple kitchen compost bin on the counter for daily scraps, then walk them out to a larger outdoor pile every few days. That’s it.

A system for collecting scraps indoors: A small countertop bin with a lid keeps things tidy between outdoor trips. Nothing fancy required.

The right mix of stuff to put in it: This is where most beginners get tripped up, so let’s break it down.

Greens vs. Browns: The Only Rule You Really Need

Composting is basically a balancing act between two types of material:

Greens (nitrogen-rich):

• Fruit and veggie scraps
• Coffee grounds and filters
• Fresh grass clippings
• Eggshells (technically neutral but we toss ours in)
• Fresh plant trimmings

Browns (carbon-rich):

• Cardboard and paper (torn up)
• Dried leaves
• Paper bags
• Straw or hay
• Paper egg cartons

You want roughly 2-3 parts browns to 1 part greens. If your pile smells bad, add more browns. If it’s not breaking down, add more greens and a little water. That’s genuinely most of the troubleshooting you’ll ever need to do.

What NOT to compost: Meat, dairy, oils, and cooked food with seasoning. We also skip anything we’ve treated with conventional pesticides.

Getting Kids Involved (This Is the Best Part)

My kids were into this way faster than I expected, because composting is basically just sanctioned dirt science. Here’s how we made it part of our regular rhythm:

Make Them the Official Scrap Collectors

Give your kids a job with a title. “Scrap collector” or “compost keeper” sounds way more exciting than “please throw the apple core outside.” Our youngest takes this role very seriously and will remind me if I accidentally throw something in the trash that should have gone in the bin.

Connect It to Nature Study

This is where it becomes living, breathing Charlotte Mason material. Once your compost pile has been going for a few weeks, dig into it with your kids and see what you find. Pill bugs, earthworms, and all manner of tiny decomposers will be working away in there. Pull out a pocket microscope and look at the material up close. Have them sketch what they find in a nature journal. Talk about why things break down and what role each creature plays.

This is the kind of hands-on science that sticks. Way more memorable than a worksheet.

Give Them Their Own Garden Patch

When you finally have finished compost — dark, crumbly, earthy-smelling stuff — let your kids dig it into their own little garden plot. There is something deeply satisfying about watching a child understand that the banana peel they threw in a pile six weeks ago is now helping their sunflower grow.

If you want to kick off a little planting project alongside composting, a seed starting kit is a great way to get them invested from seed to soil.

A Few Florida-Specific Composting Tips

If you’re down here in the Panhandle or anywhere in Florida, a few things work a little differently:

It heats up fast. Our summers are brutal, and that actually speeds up decomposition significantly. A pile that might take six months up north can break down in 8-10 weeks here in peak summer. This is a good thing — just make sure to keep it moist, because it can dry out quickly too.

Watch for fire ants. They love a compost pile. We’ve had luck keeping ants at bay by not adding any sugary scraps to the top layer without covering them, and by occasionally sprinkling food grade diatomaceous earth around the base of our outdoor pile. Same stuff we use in our coop — you can read more about our natural chicken coop cleaning routine if you’re curious how we use it there.

Leaves are gold. If you have live oak trees (and if you’re in Northwest Florida, you definitely do), rake those leaves and pile them up. They’re one of the best browns you can add, and we have more than we’ll ever run out of from October through March.

How This Connects to the Bigger Picture

I think about composting the same way I think about a lot of what we do around here — it’s just the old way. Kids in the 1990s watched their grandmothers throw scraps in a pile behind the garden shed. It wasn’t called “intentional living,” it was just called Tuesday.

When my kids dig in the compost pile, collect kitchen scraps, and watch a pile of banana peels and cardboard transform into something that feeds their tomatoes, they’re learning something that can’t come from a screen. They’re learning that nothing is really wasted. That small, daily actions add up. That they are part of a bigger system.

That is exactly the kind of education I’m trying to give them — and it didn’t cost me anything except a kitchen compost bin and a willingness to get a little dirty. If you’re looking for more ways to connect your daily home rhythms to your homeschool, our Morning Basket Ideas for Charlotte Mason Homeschool Families post has a lot of practical ideas for weaving that kind of thing in.

Ready to Start? Keep It Simple

You don’t need a perfect system. You don’t need the fanciest bin or a detailed spreadsheet of your green-to-brown ratio. You just need to start. Toss those veggie scraps in a pile, add some cardboard, keep it a little damp, and let your kids poke around in it. The rest figures itself out.

This is one of those things that sounds harder than it is — and once it’s part of your family’s routine, you won’t be able to imagine life without it. Promise.

📖 You Might Also Like:

• Morning Basket Ideas for Charlotte Mason Homeschool Families (What We Actually Do Each Day)
• Best Backyard Duck Breeds for Egg Production (What Actually Lays Well and Fits a Real Family)
• How to Ferment Chicken Feed (Benefits, Method, and What We Actually Do)

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I start composting at home as a complete beginner?

Start with a small countertop bin to collect kitchen scraps like fruit and veggie peels, coffee grounds, and eggshells. Every few days, transfer those scraps to an outdoor pile or bin and layer them with ‘browns’ like torn cardboard, dried leaves, or paper. Keep the pile slightly moist and turn it occasionally. That’s really all there is to it — no fancy equipment required.

What can kids do to help with composting?

Kids can collect and sort kitchen scraps, carry the compost bin outside, help layer browns and greens, stir or turn the pile, and observe the decomposition process over time. Giving them a dedicated role — like ‘compost keeper’ — makes it feel special and builds real responsibility and science skills at the same time.

Does composting smell bad?

A well-balanced compost pile should smell earthy, not offensive. If yours smells bad, it usually means there are too many greens (nitrogen-rich materials) and not enough browns (carbon-rich materials) like cardboard or dried leaves. Add more browns and turn the pile to introduce airflow, and the smell should improve quickly.

Can I compost if I have backyard chickens?

Absolutely — chickens and composting go hand in hand. You can give certain kitchen scraps directly to your chickens before the rest goes to the pile. Finished compost enriches your garden soil, which supports healthier plants and bugs that chickens love to forage. Just avoid adding chicken manure from your coop directly to a pile that’s still actively breaking down near food gardens without letting it fully cure first.

How long does it take for compost to be ready to use?

It depends on your climate and how actively you manage the pile, but most backyard compost is ready in 2-6 months. In Florida’s hot summers, it can break down even faster — sometimes in 8-10 weeks if the pile is moist and turned regularly. Finished compost looks dark, crumbly, and smells like fresh earth, not like rotting food.

How to Make Homemade Yogurt from Scratch (The Simple Way Our Family Actually Does It)

This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

I honestly cannot tell you how many years I bought those little plastic tubs of yogurt at the grocery store before I finally just… made it myself. And when I did, I stood there in my kitchen thinking why did I wait so long? It is genuinely one of the simplest real-food swaps we’ve made in this house, and it costs a fraction of what we used to spend.

With a family that goes through yogurt like it’s a competitive sport — on granola, in smoothies, in my oldest’s lunchbox, mixed with a drizzle of honey for an after-outdoor-school snack — making it at home just made sense. Plus, it fits right into what we’re already doing: teaching our kids that real food isn’t complicated, and that they can make most things from scratch if they slow down enough to try.

If you’ve been curious about how to make homemade yogurt but felt like it was some fancy fermented-food thing that required special equipment and a culinary degree, I promise you — it is not that. Come sit down. Let me walk you through it.

What You Actually Need

This is the part where I want to reassure you: the ingredient list is two items long.

• Whole milk (we use a half-gallon at a time — full fat gives you the best texture)
• Plain yogurt with live active cultures (store-bought is fine to start; after your first batch, you’ll use your own yogurt as the starter)

That’s it. For equipment, you need a heavy-bottomed pot, a thermometer, and something to incubate the yogurt in while it sets. We use our slow cooker method most of the time, but I’ll share a few options below.

One thing that helps us stay consistent: a good kitchen scale for measuring out our starter culture when we’re scaling up the batch. Not strictly necessary, but if you’re the kind of person who likes a little precision in your kitchen experiments, it’s worth having around.

The Basic Method (Step by Step)

Step 1: Heat the Milk

Pour your milk into a heavy-bottomed pot and heat it over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 180°F. This step is important — it denatures the proteins in the milk so your yogurt sets up thick instead of thin and weepy. Use a thermometer. Don’t skip this.

Once it hits 180°F, take it off the heat.

Step 2: Cool It Down

Let the milk cool to between 110°F and 115°F. This is the sweet spot where the cultures will thrive without being killed off by heat. In the summer here in Northwest Florida, our kitchen stays warm enough that this happens faster than you’d think. In the winter? Give it a little longer.

You can speed things up by setting the pot in a sink of cold water and stirring gently.

Step 3: Add Your Starter

Scoop out about a cup of the warm milk into a separate bowl. Whisk in 2–3 tablespoons of your plain yogurt (with live active cultures) until it’s smooth, then pour that back into the main pot and stir everything together gently.

Step 4: Incubate

This is where the magic happens, and you do basically nothing. You just need to keep your yogurt warm (around 110°F) for 6–10 hours. Here are the methods that work for us:

• Slow cooker method: Turn your slow cooker on low for 2–3 hours, then off. Wrap it in a big towel and leave it overnight. This is our most-used method.
• Oven method: Turn your oven on its lowest setting for a minute or two, then turn it off. Leave the light on. Set your yogurt in there, covered, and walk away.
• Instant Pot: If you have one with a yogurt function, use it. It’s foolproof.

After 6–8 hours, you’ll have yogurt. Check it — it should be set and slightly tangy. The longer you let it go, the tangier it gets. We usually aim for 8 hours overnight.

Step 5: Strain (Optional, But Highly Recommended)

If you like thick Greek-style yogurt — which we absolutely do — pour your finished yogurt into a cheesecloth-lined colander set over a bowl and let it drain in the fridge for another couple of hours. The liquid that drips out is whey, and it’s gold. We save it for smoothies, sourdough bread, or give it to the chickens. (Yes, they love it.)

Making It a Homeschool Moment

Okay, this is one of my favorite things about this recipe — it is a living science lesson. We talk about bacteria (the good kind), fermentation, and why temperature matters. My kids have started using words like cultures and incubate in casual conversation, and that genuinely delights me.

If you’re doing any kind of Charlotte Mason-style nature study or living books approach, connecting food to science is so natural here. We’ve used our yogurt days as a jumping-off point for talking about how fermentation works — and if your kids are already into that kind of thing, check out our post on How to Ferment Chicken Feed (Benefits, Method, and What We Actually Do) because it’s the same basic idea, just applied to the backyard flock.

My kids also love having a notebook to record their observations — what the yogurt looked like before, the smell after incubation, the texture changes. It’s simple living science that doesn’t need a curriculum. That said, if your kids love to document things, a good nature journal works great for kitchen science observations too, not just outdoor study.

Flavoring and Using Your Yogurt

Once you’ve got plain yogurt, the world is yours. We keep ours plain and let everyone sweeten their own bowls — raw honey, fresh fruit, a little vanilla. My youngest loves stirring in some homemade jam. During strawberry season (hello, March in Florida), we’ll make a simple strawberry sauce and swirl it right in.

We also use plain yogurt in:

• Smoothies (instead of store-bought kefir sometimes)
• As a sour cream substitute
• Mixed into muffin or pancake batter
• As a marinade base for grilled chicken

And yes, we save a couple tablespoons every batch to use as next week’s starter. You can keep this going indefinitely — we’ve been running the same culture chain for months.

A Note on Non-Toxic Kitchen Choices

One of the small things I feel good about with homemade yogurt is knowing exactly what’s in it. No thickeners, no added sugars, no preservatives. For a family that’s worked hard to simplify our ingredient lists and reduce what we’re bringing into the house, this is just one more win.

If you’re on a similar journey of cleaning up your kitchen and home, Grove Collaborative has been a staple around here for non-toxic cleaning and household supplies — I order from them regularly and it pairs really well with this whole “know what’s in your stuff” approach we try to live by.

For storing your yogurt, we use wide-mouth canning jars — quart-sized for the big batch, pint-sized for grab-and-go portions during the week. They stack neatly in the fridge, they’re easy to see through, and there’s no plastic involved. Win-win-win.

And if you’re into the whole batch-cooking, real-food, intentional kitchen world, our post on How to Make Elderberry Syrup at Home (The Simple Way Our Family Actually Does It) follows the same kind of rhythm — low effort, big reward, and the kids can help.

Troubleshooting (Because It Doesn’t Always Go Perfectly)

Yogurt didn’t set? Your temperature was probably too hot when you added the starter (you killed the cultures) or too cold during incubation. Thermometer check on both ends.

Too thin? Strain it longer, or try using whole milk next time instead of 2%.

Too sour? Reduce incubation time by an hour or two. Eight hours is usually our sweet spot.

Separated and watery? That’s just whey. Stir it back in or pour it off — totally normal.

You’ve Got This

If you are a real-food mama trying to do right by your family without losing your mind in the process, homemade yogurt is one of those things that just clicks once you do it the first time. It becomes part of the rhythm of your week — like feeding the chickens in the morning or doing a nature walk before lunch. Low effort, high reward, and genuinely good for your people.

I hope you give it a try this week. And when you do — report back. I love hearing when this stuff actually works for other families. That’s the whole point of sharing it.

📖 You Might Also Like:

• How to Ferment Chicken Feed (Benefits, Method, and What We Actually Do)
• How to Make Elderberry Syrup at Home (The Simple Way Our Family Actually Does It)
• Morning Basket Ideas for Charlotte Mason Homeschool Families (What We Actually Do Each Day)
• How to Detox Your Home from Toxins Room by Room (A Real Family’s Guide to Getting Started)

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does homemade yogurt last in the refrigerator?

Homemade yogurt will keep well in the fridge for up to 2 weeks when stored in a clean, sealed container. We use wide-mouth mason jars and they work perfectly. The yogurt may get a little tangier as the days go on, but it’s still totally good.

Can I use ultra-pasteurized milk to make homemade yogurt?

Technically yes, but the results are often thinner and less reliable. Ultra-pasteurized milk (UHT) has been heated at such high temperatures that it can interfere with how the cultures set. Whole, regular pasteurized milk gives you the best, thickest results.

Do I need a yogurt maker to make yogurt at home?

Nope! A yogurt maker is a nice convenience but absolutely not required. We’ve made yogurt successfully using a slow cooker wrapped in a towel, an oven with just the light on, and even a well-insulated cooler with warm water. The key is just maintaining a steady warm temperature around 110°F during incubation.

What is whey and what can I do with it after straining yogurt?

Whey is the thin, yellowish liquid that drains off when you strain yogurt to make it thicker. It’s full of protein and probiotics — don’t throw it away! We use it in smoothies, add it to sourdough bread, use it as a base for fermenting grains, or give it to our backyard chickens as a probiotic boost.

How much yogurt starter do I need per batch?

For a half-gallon of milk, you need about 2–3 tablespoons of plain yogurt with live active cultures. Make sure your store-bought starter (or saved yogurt from your last batch) actually says ‘live and active cultures’ on the label — that’s what does the work of culturing your fresh milk into yogurt.

Raising Kids Without Screens: What We Actually Do Every Day

This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Somebody asked me the other day how we keep our kids off screens all day. And honestly, my first instinct was to laugh — because it’s not some complicated system we engineered. It’s more like… we just rebuilt what a normal childhood used to look like before everyone had a glowing rectangle in their pocket.

I grew up in the ’90s. I spent summers outside until the streetlights came on. I caught bugs, dug in the dirt, built forts out of whatever I could find, and read books because there was nothing else to do after 8 p.m. That wasn’t deprivation. That was childhood. And I want that for my kids more than just about anything.

Now, are we screen-free? No. I’m not going to sit here and tell you we’ve never turned on a movie or handed someone an iPad during a long car ride. But screens are genuinely rare in our house, and our kids — honestly — don’t miss them that much. Here’s why, and here’s what we actually do instead.

The Real Reason Kids Reach for Screens

Before I get into our day-to-day rhythms, I want to say this: kids reach for screens when they’re bored and nothing better has been set up for them. That’s it. It’s not a character flaw. It’s not laziness. It’s just that screens are the path of least resistance when there’s nothing else pulling at their attention.

So the shift for us wasn’t about removing screens. It was about filling the environment with so many interesting, hands-on, real-life things that screens became… kind of boring by comparison. Which sounds impossible, but I promise you it works.

What Our Days Actually Look Like

Morning: Nature Study Before Anything Else

We start most mornings outside. Even in the Florida heat, the early hours are magic — cool enough to enjoy, and the backyard is full of things to notice. Our kids check on the chickens first thing, which has become this grounding little ritual. They count eggs, freshen the chicken waterer, and just observe. Who’s broody. Who’s acting funny. What bugs are scratching around in the run.

That naturally flows into nature journaling. We keep nature journals on the back porch table, and the kids sketch what they see — a spider web, a feather, a weird mushroom that showed up overnight. My older one has started identifying birds with the Sibley Birds guide, which has turned into a genuine obsession. I wrote more about this in our post on Charlotte Mason Nature Journal Ideas for Kids (What We Actually Do Year-Round in Florida) if you want the full breakdown.

Midmorning: Actual School Time

Our structured homeschool time runs about two to three hours, tops. Charlotte Mason-style means short lessons, living books, real conversations — not workbook after workbook. The kids stay engaged because the lessons are short enough to hold their attention without a screen in sight.

We weave in watercolor nature illustrations using Faber-Castell watercolors, copywork, and read-alouds. When math feels abstract, we take it outside — counting chicken eggs, measuring garden beds, sorting seeds. Concrete and real beats digital every single time for this age.

After Lunch: Free Play (For Real)

This is the part people ask about most. After lunch, we have a chunk of unstructured time. No agenda, no organized activity, no screens. And in the beginning? Yes, my kids were bored. They wandered around and told me there was nothing to do. I’d point at the backyard and say, go figure it out.

Within about a week, they stopped asking. Now they:

• Dig in the garden with their kids’ garden gloves and actually help plant things
• Use their bug catcher kit to find and identify whatever’s crawling around out there (Florida has plenty of material)
• Run around the yard with walkie talkies playing whatever game they invented that week
• Splash through puddles in their rain boots after a Florida afternoon storm — which is approximately every day in summer
• Build, draw, make up stories, bother the dog, argue, make up, and generally just exist like kids are supposed to

The boredom is the point. Boredom is where creativity lives.

Late Afternoon: Chores, Cooking, Real Life

This is where I think we’ve made one of the biggest differences. Our kids have real responsibilities, and those responsibilities eat up time that might otherwise go to screens.

The chickens get checked again in the evening — locked up safe, coop checked over, diatomaceous earth dusted around if needed. My older one can reference our copy of Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens when she has questions, and my younger one has his own kid-friendly chicken guide that he loves. Caring for animals is one of the most grounding, screen-replacing things I know.

We also cook together most evenings. Not every night — I’m not a saint — but most nights. Kids who are stirring something on the stove or kneading bread dough are not thinking about YouTube. And they’re learning something that will actually matter for their whole lives.

What We Do When They’re Restless Indoors

Florida summer afternoons get hot, and there are absolutely days when we’re stuck inside during a downpour or just hiding from the heat. Here’s what we reach for before we’d ever reach for a screen:

• Art projects — loose parts, watercolor paints, chalk pastels, or whatever’s on the art shelf
• Pocket microscope with things they collected outside — feathers, leaves, pieces of eggshell from the coop
• Board games, card games, LEGOs, audiobooks
• Read-aloud time — I’m always in the middle of a chapter book with each kid
• Baking something, even if it’s just muffins

None of this is fancy. Almost all of it is stuff that existed in 1993.

A Word About Imperfect Days

I want to be real with you: there are days this doesn’t go smoothly. Days someone is sick, or I’m underwater with work, or everyone is just off. On those days, yes — sometimes the TV goes on. I don’t spiral about it.

The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is that screens are the exception, not the default. When your baseline is outdoor play, real books, hands-on work, and living creatures to care for, a movie afternoon here and there doesn’t undo any of it.

And truly — if you’re building a homeschool rhythm that keeps kids genuinely engaged, you might be surprised how little they actually miss it. Check out our Morning Basket Ideas for Charlotte Mason Homeschool Families for more on how we start our school days in a way that sets a good tone before lunch.

If You’re Just Starting Out

If you’re reading this because you want this but don’t know where to begin, start small. You don’t have to overhaul everything at once.

Pick one thing from this list. Get outside for 30 minutes before anyone touches a device. Set up a simple nature journal and let your kids sketch whatever catches their eye. Put a bug collection kit in the backyard and see what happens.

Kids want to be outside. They want to do real things. They want your attention more than any screen. Sometimes we just have to make it easier for them to choose the better thing.

I don’t think we’re doing anything radical. I think we’re just doing what families did for generations before the internet arrived and rearranged everything. Dirt under fingernails, eggs in a basket, a chapter book at bedtime, and kids who know how to be bored and survive it. That’s the whole plan, really. And most days, it works beautifully.

📖 You Might Also Like:

• Charlotte Mason Nature Journal Ideas for Kids (What We Actually Do Year-Round in Florida)
• Morning Basket Ideas for Charlotte Mason Homeschool Families (What We Actually Do Each Day)
• Florida Homeschool Special Needs Resources and Support (What Actually Helps Real Families)

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get my kids to stop asking for screens all the time?

The most effective thing is to fill their environment with better options before boredom hits. Set up an outdoor space with tools they can actually use — a bug catcher, garden gloves, a nature journal — and establish a rhythm where outside time comes first before any device is even on the table. Most kids stop asking within a week or two once there are genuinely interesting things competing for their attention.

Is it realistic to raise kids without screens in today’s world?

Completely screen-free is a personal choice, but significantly reducing screen time is very realistic. Many families find that screens become much less appealing when kids have real responsibilities (like backyard chickens), unstructured outdoor play, hands-on crafts, and a homeschool rhythm that keeps them genuinely engaged. The goal for most intentional families isn’t zero screens — it’s making screens the exception rather than the default.

What do kids actually do all day without screens?

More than you’d expect. Kids who are given the chance tend to fill their time with outdoor exploration, imaginative play, art, reading, helping with animals or gardening, building things, and inventing games. The key is resisting the urge to fill every quiet moment for them — boredom is the engine of creativity, and kids who learn to sit in it come out the other side with something they made up themselves.

How do I handle screen-free time when it’s too hot to go outside in Florida?

Florida heat is real, and indoor screen-free time is absolutely manageable. Watercolor painting, board games, audiobooks, LEGOs, baking together, and using a pocket microscope to examine things collected outside are all great indoor options. Afternoon indoor time can also be a great opportunity for quiet reading or a longer read-aloud, which naturally replaces the screen without anyone feeling like they’re missing out.

Does less screen time actually help kids focus better for homeschool?

Many homeschool families — including those using the Charlotte Mason approach — find that kids who aren’t overstimulated by screens come to lessons with longer attention spans and more genuine curiosity. Short, engaging lessons are easier to hold attention through when a child’s nervous system isn’t already flooded from hours of fast-paced media. The results aren’t always immediate, but most families notice a real shift within a few weeks of reducing screens consistently.