Homegrown & Homemade
Seasonal pollen allergies are dreadful. There’s nothing worse than stepping outside on a gorgeous summer day and feeling your nose start to tickle and eyes turn itchy. You’ve got tissues shoved in every pocket, and you’re trying to finish your tasks as quickly as possible in order to retreat back inside as fast as you can. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to garden for hours, pick raspberries, …
Yep, I’ve been slathering lard on my lips. And honey, naturally. Join me, won’t you? My lips need extra TLC all year round: in the below-freezing winter weather the dry air really takes a toll on them, and in the warm summer months I spend a lot of time outside in the wind and parching-sun, and this Honey & Lard Lip Repair Cream has been a …
I’m pretty excited about this. As I get older, I find that the things that excite me are not…. normal. Natural, organic deer repellent that actually works? Yep, gives me butterflies. I don’t want a tropical vacation, I want sheep. And please don’t buy me flowers, I want heirloom beans and tomato seeds instead. No manicures or fancy dinners for this gal, give me new rubber …
Leave it to a beekeeper to drizzle golden sweet honey on top of ice cream! Honey pretty much goes on everything though, so you can’t fault me. Meat? Yes- honey-glazed ham, honey bbq wings. Vegetables? Yes- honeyed carrots, honey dijon dressing on cobb salad. And now, ice cream. Our beekeeping club has a booth at the local county fair every year, where for years and …
I get excited about a lot of things in life- like my first batch of homemade lard soap turning out awesome, finding a new product to keep deer away from our apple trees, or discovering Aronia berries… and even better, discovering that I can grow them myself. I love when I can grow things myself! These berries are becoming popular because of their incredible nutrient content. They certainly aren’t …
For many homesteaders and farmers, chickens are more than backyard pets- they are meat and eggs to feed the family, or possibly a source of income. The reality of farming is that if a chicken isn’t producing or earning her keep, then she’s got to go. They’re business, not something you name and let sit on your lap (oops!). Or maybe you got stuck with a mean, …
Farm fresh eggs: it’s either feast or famine around here! During the long days of summer I’ve got baskets full of eggs and I’m piling them on the kitchen table, the washing machine, and any other flat surface I can find. A good problem to have, I know… And then the days get shorter and the girls close up shop. Weeks and weeks go by …
Thinking about making your own chick starter feed, eh? When we first got our baby chicks, I was determined to be the best chick mother I could possibly be. This involved painstakingly researching exactly what they should eat, being over-protective, and taking waaay too many pictures. There were three things I knew before getting chicks: that I absolutely wasn’t going to feed them conventional medicated …
Spinach and Feta Eggs are my new obsession. We eat a lot of eggs on the homestead. Raising our own laying hens is so rewarding- they’re such characters, and the eggs that they produce are worlds above anything store-bought. There’s nothing like gathering an egg and cracking it – still warm- into the pan. This is what homesteading is all about! It’s really too bad …
Beekeeping, it ain’t easy. Between Karl and I, we’ve been stung over 30 times in the past 2 years keeping bees (haha, most of those are Karl). Now, that includes taking on some bold projects for a couple of newbies, like catching swarms and removing a huge colony from the neighbor’s house. I’m not sure that “bold” is a term that I want to describe …
