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.
There’s a volunteer sunflower growing close to the duck coop. It was probably a stray seed that the fowl missed, a seed that luckily landed in the damp soil where it wasn’t spotted and then germinated. This sunflower turns its face to the sun in the morning, as if to greet the new day. I like sunflowers, and I especially like the ones that just pop up (seemingly) out of nowhere.
Making food and drink from edible wild-growing plants is truly a gift that brings us closer to the land and its bounty. It illustrates, in a very practical way, the benefits of not using chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers): we don’t have to worry about what’s been sprayed on our property…because nothing has been. And that means I can collect the frilly white flower heads of wild-growing Queen Anne’s Lace for jelly and know that I’m getting exactly what I think I am and nothing extra.
Continue reading “Farm Foraging: Queen Anne’s Lace Jelly and Syrup”
The last group of guinea eggs for the year hatched at the beginning of the week. As with most hatches, not all of the eggs made it to the finish line…but we do have six healthy keets scurrying around in the brooder now.
Continue reading “Hatching Tales: The Year’s Last Guinea Hatch”
It’s still really hot here – like sweat running in rivulets down your face after about 5 minutes in the heat hot. Even the breeze (when there is one) is hot. Ugh. Now imagine that you’re wearing a thick fur coat and your primary means of dissipating body heat is from your ears, through your breath, or your nasal mucosa…and your sweat glands don’t really do the job. Sounds perilous, right? For outdoor rabbits, it can be. When the heat index (temperature + relative humidity) is this high, we take extra steps to help rabbits survive the heat.
Continue reading “Rabbits And Heat: A Dangerous Combination”
I was gifted a black currant plant last year. It managed to survive the winter, bloomed, and today – to my profound amazement and delight – I spotted two berries!
It was a misty morning, with humidity so thick that you could actually see it in the low-hanging fog. The grass was soaking wet with dew – and because of the high humidity, so were we…but there were chores to be done, and many interesting things to be seen!
Continue reading “Around The Farm: Fog, Fledglings, and Flowers”