It’s time for another garden update! Some quick background for new visitors: I garden in NE Minnesota where we have a very short Zone 3 growing season (this year’s last frost was June 8th). I use hugelkultur raised beds and apply permaculture methods throughout my garden. Nearly everything I grow are heirloom varieties and all […]
Category Archives: homesteading
Nose-to-Tail Eating: Marinated Pig Heart
Quite possibly the greatest service that you can offer an animal that is to be eaten- outside of seeing to it that they are well-fed, watered, sheltered, and cared for- is to let as little of it as possible go to waste. That isn’t always easy, especially in modern society where the meat we find […]
Pickled Garlic Scapes
I don’t know about you, but I love garlic. Looove it. I love adding it to pretty much everything I cook. I love how the smell lingers on your hands long after you’ve handled it. Some might find that gross. Not I. But what’s more, I really love growing it. I love the fact that […]
In the Garden: July 1st
It’s time for another garden update! Some quick background for new visitors: I garden in NE Minnesota where we have a very short growing season (this year’s last frost was June 8th). I use hugelkultur raised beds and apply permaculture methods throughout my garden. Nearly everything I grow are heirloom varieties and all are organically […]
In the Garden: June 15th, 2016
In my neck of the woods, the garden season is really only just beginning. We are typically frost-free from June 1st- September 12th or so. This year, we had a frost on June 8th. And although this gives us a very short window in which to get the bulk of our garden planted, grown, and […]
Raising Meat Rabbits: Easy Breeding Program for Consistent Food Production
Raising meat rabbits is a really easy way to provide healthy food for your family. And developing a breeding program that fits your family’s needs will enable you to do so on a consistent basis that takes the stress out of both over (and under) production. Today I’d like to show you my very simple […]
I’m a Terrible Farmer.
Do you ever have conversations with yourself…about yourself? Tell me I’m not the only one. Not that I’m so self-involved…or even that I’m crazy. I’m not. Really. But because we’re in the upswing of gardening season, when there is so much prep work to do, and every single naptime (in fact, every free moment) is […]
The Beauty of Sustainability
“There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in his hard work…” – Ecclesiastes 2:24 It was almost dark and we were still outside tossing large hunks of the rotten Mountain Ash tree that my husband finally cut down for me. It laid the foundation for the final […]
How to Treat Ear Mites in Rabbits {Naturally}
I remember the moment I realized I had become a rabbit farmer. It was last spring. Or, rather, a very warm day in late winter when I decided to drag all of my cages out of the chicken coop entry way where I’d been housing my meat rabbits during the cold months. I shook out […]
Home Canned Beef Stew
There’s a wintry mix covering our little homestead, the kids have the first snowman of the year standing in the yard, and I have warm homemade beef stew settling in jars on the counter top. But around here, “beef” comes in many forms…most often by way of deer or bear. So technically I have “venison/bear […]