Many animals have come and gone on this farm, but none leave behind their abundance quite like the pig. Hands down, pigs give us more diversity than any other animal. Sure, some of it takes work on our part. The belly, for example, needs some help to become bacon. But that is precisely the beauty […]
I always feel a little extra trashy when I drag a big old bottle of the world’s cheapest vodka up to the register at the liquor store. There’s this urge to explain myself. “It’s not what you think! I’m not trash, I promise! It’s for extracts. Yes, extracts. No, I don’t actually drink this stuff…honest.” […]
You say po-tay-to…I say po-tah-to… {Wait, does anyone actually say po-tah-to?} What I actually say is: potatoes are awesome. I’ve probably mentioned it more than once, but in my garden, there are two vital crops that play a prominent role in feeding my family year-round: tomatoes and potatoes. Hundreds of pounds of each are harvested […]
There are many seasons that I look forward to…gardening season, canning season, hunting season…and of course, berry season. Wild blueberries are abundant in my corner of the world, especially in areas where forest fires have occurred. And every year, I get all-out anxious about the prospect of filling up gallon after gallon of this delicious […]
Welcome to this week’s Traditional Homestead Quick Tip! Today we’re going to talk about how simple it is to make from scratch one of your baking staples: vanilla extract. Pure vanilla extract from the store can be pretty spendy. And don’t even get me started on the artificial stuff…just say no. To make your own, […]
Once upon a time, there lived a girl who thought that cream soups were bought from the store. And even though it made her gag just a little as she scraped the remaining snot-like remnants of oddly-yellow-colored contents from the inside of a can, these said cream soups were, after all, edible. Right? Ugh. There’s […]
I’ve been having an intense love affair with “real” milk for about six months now. And by “real”, I mean the stuff fresh from the cow. Not my cow {someday I hope}, but from the local dairy that our small fishing town of 1,500 people are so incredibly fortunate to have. I don’t take much […]
There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of a baking project and suddenly realizing you’re missing an ingredient or two. That is when one must get creative and either find a substitute or make your own. I find myself in this predicament more often than not since I try to rely mostly on food […]
