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.
Winter may not have officially arrived, but it’s certainly felt like winter here already: I’ve seen a few snowflakes, and temperatures have ensured solidly-frozen hoses and slightly-frozen faces.
Continue reading “Haiku: Lofty Layers”
Finding the unexpected is one of life’s small pleasures. “Ordinary” beauty is all around us, even in some of the most unglamorous places. When you see it, take time to appreciate it – even if it’s the kind of ephemera that exists for mere moments.
Continue reading “Haiku: Fugacious Feathers”
Our laying flock must see us as egg thieves: each day – multiple times a day if it’s especially cold out – we collect their freshly-laid eggs. If a hen is sitting, we reach under her fluffy feathers and feel around for eggs – a treasure hunt, of sorts. Most of the girls in nest boxes enter a trance-like state, which I like to call “the zone”, and they don’t even seem to realize that an egg thief is there to take their eggs – they don’t move, protest, or do anything but remain blissfully docile. Most.
Continue reading “Haiku: Watching And Waiting”
Even though today is an unseasonably warm one, we’ve had several cold snaps lately that have caused temperatures to plummet below freezing. The plants have reacted accordingly: many simply dying on the vine, others becoming dormant. The colorful flowers of summer have all but disappeared…almost.
Continue reading “Haiku: Peeking Petals”
As the day grows darker, morphing from mild and breezy to downright gloomy and even ominous, my thoughts turn to why we, as a species, have made so little progress on averting (and now, mitigating) climate disaster.
Continue reading “Haiku: Rainy Day Ruminations”
What constitutes a “perfect” Fall day? For me, it’s cool temperatures that bring crispness to the air and a touch of frost to the grass; clear, deep blue skies; a kaleidoscope of fiery leaf colors ranging from gold to salmon to crimson; and the welcome softness of the season’s light. It’s this quality of the light, in particular, that always causes me to take a moment to fully recognize that summer has departed for another year.
Continue reading “Haiku: Fall’s Finery”