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!
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.
As I look out on the pastures, I see a golden sea of cheery dandelions – and it makes me smile. Back in my unenlightened suburban days, I used to fight them: dig them up by the roots (and – oh, horror! – throw the roots away), apply “weed” killer. No more! We don’t use chemicals here, and we know that the pasture our rabbits and fowl consume is nutritious and unadulterated. It also means that we can freely consume any of the edibles that grow wild on our property, like chicory, plantain, wild violets, and our friends the dandelions.