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.
When you think of cast iron, do you think of a huge black cauldron weighing a hundred pounds? Or a 10-pound frying pan? Yes, it’s heavy, but it’s also a superb piece of cookware, once properly “seasoned”.
Cast iron becomes non-stick after it’s been seasoned, which is a process that basically converts oil into a polymerized coating through heating.
Continue reading “Cast Iron Is Non-Stick Cookware…Seriously”
Perhaps you’ve heard of milk kefir? It’s a mesophilic culture that eats milk sugar (lactose) to produce a delicious, creamy cultured beverage that’s full of probiotic goodness. What’s mesophilic? It just means that the culture works best at a moderate temperature, like room temperature. Yogurt, on the other hand, is a thermophilic culture, meaning that it needs higher temperatures to work properly – which is why the milk is used in yogurt is heated. While milk kefir may look and taste somewhat similar to yogurt, I believe that the ease in making milk kefir gives it a major advantage over making yogurt. In addition, I’ve found that cold fermenting it can produce a wonderful product that’s superior to room-temperature culturing and that will allow you to keep milk kefir production manageable. Continue reading “Managing Ferments: Cold-Fermenting Milk Kefir”
If you follow us on Instagram, you’ve already met Audrey, our sourdough starter. With her assistance, we (and by “we”, I mean “he” because he’s the baker and I’m the fermenter..though, technically, sourdough is a ferment, too) have delicious, fresh, additive-free loaves of bread for our morning toast+cream cheese+alfalfa sprouts and our meatloaf sandwiches. We consider Audrey a treasured pet, and we try to ensure her health and happiness so she’ll continue to help us make great bread.
Sometimes, however, Audrey is unhappy. Not “hooch on top because she hasn’t been fed” unhappy, but more of the “I don’t like the flour you’re feeding me” unhappy or “it’s too cold in here so I’m slowing down” unhappy. We have pretty extreme fluctuations in temperature where we live, and Audrey is sensitive to it. Continue reading “Audrey Tales: Misbehaving Sourdough”
Have you heard of Tepache? It’s a probiotic beverage that’s made from the “waste” parts of fresh pineapple: the rinds and core. And, if you have chickens and/or ducks like we do, it’s zero waste!
To make Tepache, simply rinse a medium-sized pineapple and cut it up as you normally would, reserving the fruit inside for other fabulous ferments like pineapple water kefir. Chop the rinds and core up into large pieces and place the pieces into a gallon jar. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar, a cinnamon stick, and a few whole cloves. I don’t usually have cinnamon sticks or whole cloves on hand – a generous shake of both spices in ground form also works, but will result in spice “sediment” in your finished beverage.
You may already have met Audrey the sourdough starter (technically, Audrey II, mother to Audrey III – Audrey III lives with cool folks on a homestead in Australia!). She’s the key to the delicious loaves of bread we eat with our homemade soup, meatloaf sandwiches, and our incredible egg (thanks, ladies!) breakfasts.
Sourdough lends itself to beautiful boules, perhaps the most recognized shape for sourdough loaves, but we typically bake ours in a loaf pan so that we can easily make sandwiches. Making bread doesn’t have to take long or require herculean efforts, but the payoff is substantial: additive and preservative-free bread with simple ingredients, and in the case of sourdough, it’s a low glycemic index food. Sourdough bread is also acidic, so it doesn’t mold as quickly as other bread products. Interested in making your own? A simple recipe and instructions follow. Continue reading “Hello, Audrey: Making Homemade Sourdough Bread”
Should be obvious, right? We raise chickens, rabbits, and ducks. We’ve processed members of each of those groups (and Muscovy really does taste like beef!). People with whom we’re acquainted know this…and yet, countless times, they can’t – or don’t – seem to grasp why we won’t eat a chicken sandwich from some popular fast food place, or partake of catered BBQ. For the record: the aforementioned “people” doesn’t include our friends who “get it”.