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.
Are you wondering why we post frequently about about meatless meals, since we raise and process our own livestock? Does it seem contradictory to eat animals we raise and also eat vegetarian (or vegan) food? It’s really not…and it’s part of a healthy flexitarian diet.
Castor likes to conserve his energy until he needs to expend it, like when it’s mealtime…or there’s a strong possibility of belly rubs. Until then, he’s content to snuggle into his bedding and watch the goings-on from there.
Heard pigs are smart? Here’s some food for thought about the complexity of pig cognition.
I see this view of the barn every day, but it captured my interest (and merited a photo) on Thursday, when the light caught these bowls in an appealing way. Though largely monochromatic, dirty, and worn, it said “homestead” to me…where I often find myself dirty and tired, but where the adventure never ends! 😉
What does the image (or the haiku) say to you?
I can honestly say that I have numerous hatches under my belt: chickens, ducks, geese, and guinea fowl. Each hatch is different, and, sometimes, they don’t have good outcomes; fortunately, that’s not how they usually go. The last duck hatch, however, resulted in just one duckling emerging from five developing eggs. What in the world do you do with a single, lonely, duckling…in winter?
Another hatch is over, and there are six tiny chicks in the brooder. All hatched without assistance, and all are Olive Eggers…except one!
So maybe they’re not technically fossils yet, but the descendants of the dinosaurs clearly left their prints in what, the preceding evening, had been soft mud. Aged a few thousand years, they might become an exciting find for some future paleontologist.