Our first spring chicks arrived safely last week in a scuttling, peeping cardboard box! The morning Ethan went to pick them up at the post office, the lady who has a strange phobia about handling birds was unfortunately working the desk. Somehow she’s always the one that ends up handing over the baby chicks. …
Category: Homesteading
Mothers And Sisters
There were two more sows who were due to give birth last week – Bess and Bacon. Both of them looked enormously pregnant. Their swaying bellies nearly brushed the ground when they waddled to their food dishes. Star, who is Bess and Bacon’s mother, had her piglets a week ago. She was very aggressive towards…
Eating Weeds
Anyone who has known me from childhood will remember that gathering and eating weeds has always been something I’ve done. I would run all over our apartment complex, finding edible plants to make picnics and feasts for my friends and family – and I still do! This time of year some of my favorite edible…
Cricket’s Twins
Our goat herd has gotten large recently, and feels a bit overwhelming. Two sets of twins again this year brought the head count up to 14. The newest twins, Cricket’s twin doelings, are up romping around with everyone now. In the midst of our kitty getting lost (and finding her way home again), I…
Piglets!
Any day now, for the past week, we’ve been expecting the piglets to be born. The mamas were huge and pregnant, and the first possible due date had already passed. We’ve got them in rotation with the cows right now – the cows eat hay, litter it around, and poo everywhere. When a pack of…
Losing and Finding
It already feels like spring – the peaches are blooming, summer seeds are sprouting, the potatoes are planted, and a few days ago the last of our mama goats kidded, and had twins! It’s been so busy, and there is so much to do in this nice weather before the summer…
The Evolution Of Butter
Butter is something I’m passionate about. I’ve always loved butter. Even when I was trying to be vegan in high school, I liked fake butter. Then, when I returned to the real thing, it was like being reunited with Truth, an experience of tasteful clarity that lightening-bolted Earth Balance off my grocery list for good….
Making Butter
Once I was travelling outside of Carcassonne in Southwestern France. I was passing through a small, small town, the kind they have there with the cobbled medieval streets that are made for foot traffic only, and trap foolish American tourists who think every road should be worthy of large vehicles. There was a small market…
Kefir, An Immortal Ally
I have bought and tried out many different milk cultures over the years – piima, viili, fil mjolk, heirloom buttermilk culture, Flora danica….there were more, but those were the ones I remember clearly. While all of these cultures made different and interesting forms of sour milk, there was one problem – they were incredibly…
Forgetful Mothering
Over the years I have witnessed so many different mothering styles among the animals. Just like people, there’s a big difference between mothers, from over-bearing mothers, to those who take things easy. They can range from: Psychotic Killer Mother: We’ve never had any like this on our farm, but a friend of mine with expensive…
Hard Frost In Florida
There was the first hard frost a few days ago. It was the first hard frost in several years. Ethan turned on a sprinkler in the corner of one of the pastures to make beautiful icicles during the night. The children woke up early the next morning, eager to…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 