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.
Spring is chick season, and there are undoubtedly many people who are new to chickenkeeping acquiring their first chicks. It’s an exciting experience, but those who have gone before – if you will – have tips and “lessons learned” to share. One tip I’d like to share is about the importance of the poop board. Find out why it makes chicken raising so much more manageable!
Continue reading “Farm Fowl: In Praise Of The Poop Board”
It’s the second candling, roughly halfway through the incubation period. There’s good news and bad news, but overall, it’s looking very good.
Continue reading “Incubation Update: Pilgrim Goose Eggs – Second Candling”
Our lovely ladies have been laying, reliably, so I was able to collect a dozen huge eggs in short order. With luck and lots of hand-turning (and misting and cooling), goslings will emerge in a few more weeks!
Continue reading “In The Incubator: The Year’s First Pilgrim Goose Eggs”
Spring is the time of growth and renewal, as evidenced by the transformation of the farm landscape from austerity to verdancy. I’d read over the winter that it was easy to regrow a number of different common vegetables, so after I used green onions in kimchi, I decided to try my hand at regrowing the (root) ends that I’d cut off. Based on the green I see, it looks like it really does work!
Continue reading “Growing Things: Regrowing Green Onions”
Recently, we processed a group of roosters and while it’s not something I look forward to, I am filled with gratitude for the delicious meat from our pastured, non-GMO fed birds. As an occasional meat eater, I believe that it behooves me to use as much of the bird as I reasonably can, especially the bits that are edible but deemed “weird” or “exotic” (maybe adjectives that could describe me, too). This time, I was determined to make something tasty and enjoyable from rooster testicles…in the air fryer!
Continue reading “Offal, Not Awful: Rooster Fries”
The calendar may say that there’s still another week and a half until spring arrives, but the poultry say otherwise: the first goose eggs of the season were in the coop this morning. Along with those enormous beauties, the ducks left five of theirs, and I also collected two early-morning chicken eggs. Hooray for spring’s bounty!
Continue reading “Farm Fowl: Laying Like It’s Spring!”