How to Care for Day Old Chicks - Your Complete Guide to Caring for Chicks from Day One!
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Getting Ready for Spring!
Winter’s on the Way Out! Well, for some folks spring weather is already warming your faces and gardens. Spring bulbs are blooming and you’re out working in the garden. For northern Illinois, where I live, these are all daydreams and wishful thinking! But today is March 1st and we only…
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Cooking Pork Hocks
You might also be interested in reading my post How to Cook with a Wood Stove. Locally Raised Pork We no longer purchase our meat from the grocery store. All of our poultry is raised at home and we buy grass-fed beef and naturally raised pork from local farmers. I…
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12 Ways to Save Money on Chicken Feed
Are you looking for ways to reduce your chicken feed bill? Tired of paying a lot more for home-raised eggs than for storebought? Tips to save $ on feed!
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Confessions of a Former Rabbit Killer
Confessions of a Former Rabbit Killer Hi. My name is Lisa and I’m a former rabbit killer. For the record, I never enjoyed killing cute little bunnies, quite the opposite. I did it because I felt I needed to. It has been several years since I last killed rabbits. Why…
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Sprouting Wheat For Chicken Feed
For an inexpensive source of wheat berries or other sprouting seeds, check into Starting a Buying Club. Sprouting Seeds and Growing Fodder I’ve read quite a bit about growing fodder for your livestock over the last year or so. It sounds like a great idea to give them some green…
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Resources for Small Farmers and Homesteaders
Helping Hands for Small Farmers In 2013 I shared an article designed to help my readers decide if a small farm business might work for them. Can You Make a Living on a Small Farm? has had quite a few readers. I wanted to expand on that post to…
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Bringing Home Heritage Turkeys
For more information, check out my post ‘How to Raise Turkeys.’ Raising Heritage Turkeys I’ve wanted to raise heritage turkeys since we move to our little homestead. Part of the reason is to increase our self sufficiency. In addition, I don’t like buying a bird that was raised in a…
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How to Make Jack Wax and Hard Maple Candy
Sweet Maple Treats – Jack Wax and Hard Maple Candy Jack Wax (also known as Maple Taffy, Sugar on Snow, or Syrup on Snow) and Hard Maple Candy are easy treats to make any time of year. The method for making each confection is similar. Read Sweet Maple by Michelle…
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Slow Cooking a Duck
See also How to Use Duck Eggs & Pekin Ducks for Sustainable Meat Production Slow Cooked Duck Meat Yesterday afternoon I put a duck in the slow cooker and let it simmer on low until dinner time. I poured some cranberry walnut dressing over it for flavor. You could use Italian…
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Pekin Ducks for Sustainable Meat Production
See also Raising Ducks for Meat & How to Butcher a Duck Raising Pekin Ducks For Sustainable Meat Production One of the reasons we homestead is to provide our own humanely raised poultry for the table. I began raising broiler chickens for meat and I like freezing them for winter. However,…
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How to Start the Best Seedlings Indoors for Your Garden
How to Start the Best Seedlings Indoors! Starting your own seeds indoors is a great way to b more self-reliant and save money on your garden! This project gives you control over the fertilizers, pesticides, and potting soil used. Starting from seeds also gives you a huge number of varieties…
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Butchering in Subzero Temperatures
Check out my posts ‘How to Cull Your Old Laying Hens’ and ‘Butchering An Injured Hen’ for more of my thoughts on butchering. Extreme Butchering Butchering animals in subzero temperatures is not an ideal situation. However, life doesn’t always work out the way we plan. Sometimes an animal is injured in the…
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Oatmeal Raisin Bar Cookies from Scratch
Quick Cookies for Busy Homesteaders For all of you busy homesteaders who have trouble finding time to get everything done, these are much easier and faster to make than drop cookies. You can substitute olive oil or melted lard for the melted butter. You can also use any other dried…
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Baking from Scratch on the Homestead
Check out my recipes for Homemade Muffin Mix, Dark Chocolate Cake, and Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins! Why Ditch the Mix? As a kid I remember making all of our own cakes, pies, cookies, and muffins from scratch. It wasn’t until I got a bit older that I remember having cake mixes…
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How To Skin a Chicken or Other Poultry
See also How to Butcher a Chicken How To Skin a Chicken, or Any Other Poultry I recently shared an article, Should You Skin or Pluck Your Home Butchered Poultry, where I shared my thoughts on the pros and cons of each of these methods of processing. You may choose to…