About These Guides
This site publishes practical reference guides on herbal remedies, small-space food growing and keeping a few chickens. It is written and maintained by one person, and it is deliberately narrow.
Who writes this
My name is Gen Xia. I keep a small garden, I have kept chickens, and I have spent years reading herbal medicine sources with a sceptical eye — the clinical trials where they exist, and the traditional sources where they do not.
I am not a doctor, a herbalist or a nutritionist. That is exactly why these pages are written the way they are: with amounts, temperatures and timeframes, and with an explicit note whenever something is traditional rather than tested.
How the content is researched
Every page is built the same way:
- Start from the question people actually ask. Not a topic, a question — and answer it in the first sentence.
- Find the numbers. Space per bird, depth per crop, degrees, hours, ratios. If a claim has no number behind it, it usually is not useful.
- Check against primary sources where they exist. For health topics that means clinical trials and systematic reviews, not wellness blogs. Where evidence is weak or mixed, the page says so.
- Include the caveats. When not to use something, who should avoid it, and what the common advice gets wrong.
- Correct it when it is wrong. Pages carry a last-updated date.
What you will not find here
- No medical advice. These pages describe what is traditionally used and what has been studied. They do not diagnose or treat anything. See a doctor for anything that persists, worsens, or worries you.
- No miracle claims. Where the evidence for a herb is thin, the page says the evidence is thin — even when that makes the page less exciting.
- No undisclosed advertising. Some pages contain affiliate links to books or kits mentioned in the content. They are disclosed on every page that has one, and they never determine what a page recommends.
How the site is funded
Two ways, both disclosed:
- Affiliate links. If you buy a book or kit through a link on a page, a small commission is paid at no extra cost to you. This never changes the recommendation — several pages recommend against buying the thing they link to, or say who should skip it.
- Display advertising. Ads are served by Google AdSense. Advertisers have no input into content.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, out of date, or contradicts better evidence, it should be fixed. Pages carry a last-updated date so you can see how current they are.
Editorial standards in short
| Principle | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Answer first | The first sentence after the heading answers the question |
| Numbers over adjectives | "2–3 sq ft per bird", not "adequate space" |
| Caveats on the page | Who should not use it, and when to see a doctor |
| Say when evidence is weak | Traditional use is labelled as traditional use |
| Disclose commercial links | Every affiliate link is marked on the page that carries it |