I recently made whole wheat blueberry scones for an afternoon tea time enjoyed by the whole family. While the kids were home on Christmas break from school, they worked outside with my husband for a couple hours each afternoon on our land-clearing project. They’d build up an appetite long before dinner — and it was [...]
After the initial steps to hog butchering, making primal cuts and processing the pork chops, my husband packaged up the remaining roasts and ham steaks while I turned to mixing spices. The final step in our pig butchering adventure was the sausage making. We didn’t do it all on the first day of pig butchering, [...]
After the first steps in butchering a pig and making the primal cuts, we turned to the rest of the meat processing. We did one side as loin roasts and the other as pork chops. Next time, we’ll probably do both sides in pork chops — they have been amazing, incredibly flavorful and tender. The [...]
After the initial killing, hanging and gutting, butchering a hog involves making the primal cuts. Something we found very helpful was to have a cut chart handy. Even if you’ve butchered before, it helps to have a diagram available to guide your cuts. The one here is from the Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin “Butchering Livestock [...]
The first step in butchering a pig is the kill. But when your homestead has the quality of hobby farm, and the line between farm animal and pet is often blurry, the kill is a difficult thing. When you raise your own animals for meat, you truly understand and appreciate the sacrifice of life that [...]
We bought six day-old chicks to add to our egg laying chickens flock, brooding them in May and June and introducing them to the flock in July. Here are a couple pictures of them during the brooding phase, which we did in a large plastic tote in our garage: We rested the heat lamp on [...]
We’re turning part of our lawn into a vegetable garden. Blessed with a large, relatively flat backyard (and there’s no front yard to speak of; it’s mostly trees and very shaded) we decided to utilize some of the land for growing tomatoes, peppers, squash and melons this year. The area used as a garden by [...]
I’ve never tried keeping bees on my own, but have thought about beginning beekeeping for some time. Local honey is incredibly beneficial nutritionally speaking, not to mention delicious. Additionally, I would be able to harvest honey from my own hives without heating it (raw honey has the most benefits). However, we’ve lived within a homeowners’ [...]
Many Americans are turning to gardening as a way to raise some of their own food over the summer and ease the strain of high grocery prices, which are affecting more and more families on tight budgets. Candace at Garden of Blessings suggests Gardening for Snowflakes, which those clued in to the Snowflake idea recognize [...]
Our new pullets have been braving the cold weather and snowy days quite well. In taking care of our not-yet-laying hens, I’ve learned a few things about winter care for a small backyard poultry flock. These tips are for adult birds; any very young birds will likely need to be moved indoors to a heat-lamp-warmed [...]
