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.
It’s another hot day here (in the 90’s), so refreshing beverages are in order. Today’s water kefir second ferments are luscious banana and sparkling kiwi. Refreshing and loaded with probiotics…and the flavor? Like drinking a fresh, creamy banana and a sweet/tart kiwi. Want to make some for yourself?
You know I like my slow cookers…and one staple in our household that we only make in our slow cooker is Spicy Beans. Inexpensive, nutritious, and very flexible, these beans are easy to make and even easier to enjoy!
Continue reading “Slow Food: Spicy Beans (with Fermented Jalapeños)”
I’m usually not a big fan of purple beets, but they’re the stars of a wonderful lacto-fermented beverage called Beet Kvass…a probiotic purple powerhouse!
So this was my first foray into the world of wild-fermented mead, and despite using raw honey and adding fruit to try to facilitate the ferment, after four days, there was no detectable activity. Puzzling. Not to worry, though…as a winemaker, I have plenty of yeast on hand, so I added a little slurry from a previously-made berry wine’s lees. I keep the slurry in the refrigerator to extend its life, so it took a while to come up to room temperature in the primary fermentor; when it did, though, it looked the way I expected: bubbly.
Continue reading “Bilbemel Update: Blueberry Mead (Melomel)”
So are you saying to yourself “what, pray tell, is a melomel”? Melomel is mead (a type of wine made from honey) plus fruit – and, more specifically, blueberry mead is a “bilbemel”. We’re big mead fans: Sky River Meadery (https://skyrivermead.com/) in Washington state produces some exceptionally fine mead that tastes like bright, fresh honey – with a delicious fruity note, similar to the fragrance of a juicy concord grape – in a glass. It’s crisp, slightly sweet, and it captures the essence of perfect summer days and industrious bees collecting wild pollen. In short, it’s spectacular. We have yet to find a comparable mead available locally, so we’re taking mead-making into our own hands. Continue reading “Wine Chronicles: Blueberry Mead (Melomel)”