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.
Just short post today, but what I think is an interesting one, nonetheless. Always enjoying new discoveries, I happened upon something I’d not seen to date here: what looked like a clump of soap bubbles at the base of one of our maple trees. Have you seen this before?
Continue reading “Around The Farm: Arboreal Soap Art”
Have you seen the documentary “ReWilding Kernwood“? If you haven’t, it’s worth watching, especially if you love wild spaces and believe in the “leave no trace” philosophy. Here, we’ve been doing a bit of rewilding of our own property, for multiple reasons. It may look unkempt and unappealing to some, but the pollinators and animals that call our land home are big fans.
Continue reading “Musings: Rewilding The Farm (AKA The “Transitional” Property)”
It was the kind of day that snails celebrate: not too hot, and steamy with humidity. As the very small snails gathered at the White, two were talking excitedly. A snail with a spiral shell was aflutter, repeatedly asking about the Legend. Another tiny snail was waving her antennae nonstop, proclaiming that she had heard that someone had been told that the Legend had been sighted. Sophie took the chatter in with a bemused smile, then said, “little snails, gather around – we have news about Gaston!”
Continue reading “Short Read: A Snail’s Search, Part VIII”
As someone who currently lives in a humid subtropical region, I expect some heat and humidity in the summer. I do. But what I don’t expect is days-long stretches of heat and humidity that reach 110F with the heat index and nighttime temperatures in the 80s – heat waves that necessitate “excessive heat warnings” from the weather service that basically advise rational people to stay indoors. How, exactly, does a farmer do that?
Continue reading “Reality Check: The Melted Farmer”
Robins, plentiful around here, are hatching. Finding the cast-off shells from the successful hatches (and this one showed the signs of just that: the shell broken in the upper third, the inner membranes and blood vessels dry) is like finding a small, incredibly gorgeous treasure. Yes, a well-known jewelry retailer uses that hue as their “signature” color, but it belongs to the robins…and that beauty belongs to all of us.
Among the myriad plants that are currently blooming, the unassuming blackberries have also put forth their flowers. Enthusiastically. Seeing those white blossoms means that, in the heat of summer, juicy blackberries will hang heavily from the vines, inviting careful picking (lest the thorns should grab).
Yes, they may not have the glamor of the scarlet peonies, or the ethereal beauty of creamy elderflowers, but these blooms should still be appreciated for what they are: the precursor to one of summer’s most beloved berries.
May the pollinators reach every single bloom and may there be many succulent berries soon!