2 part-time homesteaders trying to leave the earth a little better than we found it
Did you know that a chicken can “collect” fertilized eggs for up to a week before she begins sitting on the eggs? And that the 21-day gestation cycle doesn’t start until she begins sitting on them? Which means that there’s a one-week period where that fertilized egg could become either a chick, or an omelette? Our … Continue reading Hatching chicks
The natural progression of homestead animal stewardship usually goes like this: laying hens (females only), then after you build some confidence with chickens, a rooster is added to the mix, then chicks follow shortly. Because poultry is so much fun, ducks and turkeys come next, then meat chickens. Then goats. Goats are the gateway quadruped … Continue reading The Joyful Chicken, Part I
For the first year here it felt like trying to drink from a firehose. Now in year number two, things have seemed much MUCH more manageable. I credit two pivotal points for me that turned it around. One, barn organization. The barn, while small, is centrally located on the front property and so, all projects … Continue reading Pastured Poultry > Free Range Chickens = Sanity + Sunflowers
We’ve wasted a lot of time and effort trying to outsmart our farm pests and farm livestock. For example: We’ve lined the base of field fencing surrounding a pig paddock with heavy driftwood in a feeble attempt to keep our pigs from rooting underneath the fence, only for them to toss those logs aside and … Continue reading Caught Blue-Beaked
Before we even started homesteading, I had a handwoven basketful of homesteader skills already under my hand-tooled leather belt. Not only did I make soap, but I made it out of tallow and lard that I rendered myself, and I made jams, sauces, and marinades out of the fruits and vegetables I grew myself. Long … Continue reading Some homesteading skills are more fun than others
I often joke that you can grow a chicken to table-ready faster than you can grow a cabbage. The modern variety of meat bird, Cornish Cross, is bred to grow very fast, from hatched to 4-5 lb roaster in just 8 weeks. Some homesteaders think this is terrible and unnatural, and opt instead for slower … Continue reading 8 weeks to chicken dinner
Near our house in the back is a steep weedy pugged (highly compacted) slope. Pretty much good for nothing other than a headache and poor footing. I had the idea last year to cover it with mulch to smother the weeds and perhaps level out the slope some. Well, our über free range layers (little … Continue reading Wattle retaining wall.
Maybe you have a fantasy about homesteading someday, and you have a vision of yourself wearing flannel and Carharts harvesting mountains of winter squash for your root cellar, and hosting apple cider pressing parties with your neighbors. You envision raising pastured cattle, who happily much on your luscious green grass, and you imagine quaint daily chores … Continue reading Homesteading is not as sexy as it sounds
Sigh. Josh and Gwen have been busy since the New Year. We’ve been quiet because for a few weeks there wasn’t much to report, and then all of a sudden too much, and we were too crabby to talk about it. This happens to be the coldest winter since we’ve lived in Washington, with most … Continue reading A rough start to the new year
For 4 days and 3 cool nights our friendliest chicken, the petite Rhode Island Red with black tail feathers, was missing. She stopped returning to the coop in the evening. We both leave for work in the dark and come home in the dark, so we looked around the property with a flashlight everywhere we … Continue reading The Dirty (Two) Dozen
Bellfern Homestead 