Self-taught farmers confidently raising chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Our focus is on practices that are environmentally harmonious and respectful to our livestock. We appreciate the beauty around us, clean eating, fermenting, and responsibly utilizing the bounty of the land. If you like thinking for yourself, continuous learning, and connecting with the homesteader lifestyle, check us out.
Those gorgeous golden blooms just keep coming, so I had to get out there and pick some for both a wild-fermented dandelion-ginger wine and for (truly addictive) dandelion water kefir. I’ve really come to appreciate those precocious dandelions!
For this version of dandelion wine, I used the recipe found on Pixie’s Pocket’s blog: Wild Fermented Dandelion Ginger Wine. Amber has great recipes on her site (like the Goldenrod-Ginger wine I made last year) – check it out!
Earlier, I shared how we made several enjoyable products from 6 fresh grapefruit: wine (Wine Chronicles: Now Making Grapefruit), fermented syrup (Ferment This: Grapefruit Rind Syrup, No Food Waste: Grapefruit Rind Syrup Part II), and grapefruit water kefir. The wine’s not ready to taste yet, but the syrup and water kefir are great! The final item we made from the grapefruit is candied fermented peel. Interested in how we did it? Read on. Continue reading “No Food Waste: Candied (Fermented) Grapefruit Peel”
Have you heard of banana wine? Does it sound like something you’d make, even if you had bananas handy? Back in January, when we started the banana wine, it truly looked like dirty dishwater. It was this unappealing grayish-brown color from the cooking process (though it smelled wonderful). It was the first time we had tried making banana wine, and you just never know how a first run is going to go…which is one of the reasons I like small batch winemaking: you’re never stuck with five gallons of something you just don’t want to drink! Continue reading “Winecraft (Update): Banana Is Amazing!”
When we went out to do the evening feeding recently, we noticed that a Muscovy duck seemed to be limping as she came up the hill to the feeding area. Limping can indicate a relatively benign injury like a minor sprain or something more serious, like a bumble, so we caught the unhappy girl and took a closer look. What we found was unexpected, and a bit of a shock: her head and bill were bloody. We caught her and put her into a cage in the “infirmary” in the garage for treatment and observation. While you hope that none of your animals ever suffers an injury, in a setting where they free range with the threat of predators, it’s likely that an injury will occur at some point. Continue reading “The Importance Of The Farm (Animal) First Aid Kit”
The beautiful wild violets are popping up with enthusiasm around here. Shy and diminutive, they really merit inspection and – better yet – collection and use. Aside from their delicate beauty, they (flowers and leaves) are very nutritious and high in vitamins A and C. I was particularly interested in making beverages with them, in the hopes of extracting some of that lovely purple hue.
How time flies…our first goslings were hatched a month ago from our goose’s eggs. There were only 2 eggs (of her first 5) that made it to lockdown, so we kept our fingers crossed that both would hatch…and they did! We now think we have a little goose and gander, based on differences in their behavior and physical characteristics. Continue reading “Chinese Geese: Growing Goslings”