Do You Have Extra Eggs in the Spring? Hens naturally start laying extra eggs in the spring so they can raise a clutch of chicks. Since most hens don’t go broody and hatch their eggs, it’s up to us to collect these extra eggs for our table. Do you have…
-
-
Starting Cool-Season Crops for Spring
Starting Your Cool-Season Veggies Indoors If you live in a more northern climate, like me, you are probably just starting to think about getting your garden cleaned up and ready for spring. Warm weather crops, like tomatoes and peppers, will need to be started inside in a couple of weeks…
-
How to Raise the Best Chickens for Meat
How to raise meat chickens for your table. Should you raise heritage breeds or Cornish cross? Get started on your own source of meat from the homestead!
-
Garden Peas
Peas in My Garden I love planting peas in the garden. For many years we had rabbits eating them, so I rarely planted them anymore. In our new garden (well, going into the third year) we don’t seem to have as many pesky bunnies. So we ate lots of…
-
Planting Onions From Seed
See also How to Start Seedlings Indoors Growing Onions from Seeds or Sets? I’ve grown most of my storage onions from seeds rather than ‘sets’ for years now. Originally I started sowing onion seed because I wanted to try some new varieties. When you purchase sets your choices are…
-
Canning Cupboard
Storing Home Canned Goods For more information, read my post How To Store Your Home Canned Foods It’s important to store your home canned meats, fruits and vegetables properly. Cool temperatures and dark conditions help to retain the color, flavor, and nutrients of your canned goods. You also need to…
-
The Chicken Chronicles – Butchering an Injured Chicken
Butchering An Injured Hen One afternoon I went out to the chicken coop to lock up the hens, give them fresh water and feed, and collect the eggs. I noticed one of my older White Leghorns had blood on her feathers. I inspected her carefully for signs of vent picking.…
-
Loose Leaf Tea for Frugal Caffeine Lovers
Loose-Leaf Tea for Caffeine Lovers People love caffeine. They drink coffee, tea, and hot cocoa, or sip other caffeinated beverages such as soda or energy drinks every day…sometimes all day long. I won’t tell you that caffeine is a good thing, but I think that it’s ok for most people…
-
Making Broth on Your Woodstove
Homemade Broth on the Wood Stove Our wood stove really makes our house feel like a home. I love having the warmth in winter, plus it’s so nice to fill the tea kettle for hot drinks all day. We also cook on our wood stove quite a bit, reducing our…
-
The Chicken Chronicles – Marek’s Disease
Marek’s Disease We moved to this homestead in 2010 and I jumped headfirst into the chicken raising project. We had chickens when I was a kid and they free ranged around our yard and garden…no big deal, right? So how much trouble can chickens really be? I started out…
-
The Chicken Chronicles – Chronic Respiratory Disease
Chronic Respiratory Disease In December of 2010 I purchased 12 chickens from a lady on Craigslist. She was a teacher and hatched the eggs for her classroom. When the chicks were no longer cute, she brought them home and kept them in a drafty little coop behind her rented farmhouse.…
-
Cranberry-Orange Marmalade
See also How to Make Cranberry Jam and How to Make Jam from Frozen Fruit Cranberry Orange Marmalade Yield: approximately 15 half pints 20 oranges, washed 8 cups sugar 3 packages low sugar pectin 4 cups cranberry juice 3 cups cranberries, sorted and washed Using a medium cheese grater, remove the…
-
How to Clean Out the Root Cellar
How to Clean Your Root Cellar In March and April, it’s time to clean out the root cellar and finish up the last of your cold storage veggies. Many root cellar crops have long passed their ‘keeping’ limits by this time of the year. Beets, squash, pumpkins, carrots, cabbages, and…
-
Whole Grain Cinnamon Pancake Mix
Make Ahead Mix Saves You Time and Money! It’s nice to have baking mixes in the cupboard for whipping up quick breads, muffins (you can find my whole grain muffin mix here), pancakes and waffles, cakes…you name it. Walking down the baking aisle at the grocery store is a testament…
-
Seeds for Self Sufficiency
Heirloom Seeds Most gardeners purchase fresh packets of seeds each year to plant their garden. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course. However, if you would like to ‘save a little green’ and become more self sufficient, heirloom seeds are just the ticket! Heirloom seeds allow you to save seed…
-
Chocolate Pudding Muffins
Sounds decadent, right? Well, I ‘healthied’ it up for you and made this with whole grains and a real dairy pudding from scratch. I started out by using the Muffin Mix I’ve posted about umpteen times, then I used Homemade Chocolate Pudding in the middle. After you make the…