Bye Bye Barn So, one really big thing happened this month that has taken a lot of our time, energy, and brain space. We essentially “sold” our old 100+ year old big beautiful barn to a reclaimed wood furniture company. The back of this barn started to cave in during the last month, so we […]
Homestead Monthly: July 2016 {weasel trouble, chicks, and the great harvest begins}
You Dirty Weasel We started out the month with sadness and heartbreak, unfortunately. If you’ve farmed for long enough, or experienced the loss of an animal to predators, then you know the feeling. The “something isn’t right here” feeling. For us, it was when Karl went out in the morning to let the chickens and […]
{Giveaway!!} “Fresh Eggs” Egg Carton & Label Stamp from Substation Paperie
Giveaway now closed- thanks for entering! The winner is Holly G. If you haven’t been oogling over Substation Paperie’s completely adorable, rustic and whimsical farming and homesteading-themed stamps, it must be because you’ve been too busy pulling weeds, baking fresh bread, or chasing chickens around… Lauren Elizabeth, owner of Substation Paperie makes the cutest designs for stamping egg […]
Homestead Monthly: June 2016 {garden boxes, blight-control, and babies}
Get Growing June was the month we officially got all of the gardens planted! We have three main garden areas this year, which is one more than the previous year, and two more than the year before that… somebody stop me! We (well, Karl actually) built two, 28-inch tall raised beds last month and we (well, […]
Homestead Monthly: May 2016 {mushroom growing, bee swarms, and homestead loss}
Fungus Farming At the beginning of May, Karl and I took an all-day class about cultivating mushrooms, taught by a local mushroom grower and wild mushroom expert. We learned so much, and it immediately ignited a new fire in us… a fire to grow fungus! I actually can’t believe I never seriously considered this prior to learning about […]
Homemade Organic Baby Chick Starter Feed Recipe {corn-free and soy-free}
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: […]
Homestead Monthly: June 2015
Turkey Hatching Fail Our egg-hatching track record is dismal. We made our first attempt to incubate eggs: 11 turkey and 1 duck. It turns out that turkey eggs are notoriously hard to hatch and the babies are very fragile during the first couple weeks of their life. I had never seen anything actively hatch before, […]
Introducing Ducklings to a Broody Duck
If you’d like to hear about life on the homestead, our crazy antics, and a story with a happy ending about a duck and her babies, well then- you’ll like this. And if you are thinking of putting some baby ducklings under a broody duck and wondering if that will work and how that might […]
Homestead Monthly: May 2015
Garden o’ Plenty In April we plowed up the garden and lightly tilled it to break up the sod initially. This month we fenced it in, built rustic black walnut tree gates, hand-turned all of the soil, raked it out and got it all planted. Our planting list this year: lots of tomatoes (like, 50 plants…anyone […]
The Homestead Monthly: April
Baby Ducks on the Way Fingers crossed! Lady Duck is sitting on a big ol’ nest full of eggs, expected to hatch in the middle of May. I collected ducks eggs for a little over a week and then put them all in the duck nest, hoping that one of the ducks would get the […]