A Farmish Kind of Life (Amy Dingmann)

Pigs are just some of the animals we proudly raise here at Clucky Dickens Farm. When people find out we butcher our hogs at home, many of them ask, "So are you gonna render lard?" But, of course! There are many ways to render lard but our family opts for the two most convenient methods possible: our slow cooker or our electric roaster. Let me explain to you how to render lard using both methods. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) First, let me show you how we render lard in a slow cooker. How to render lard step 1: cut up your pig fat. Cut the fat into small chunks. We discovered that approximately five pounds of hog fat will fit in our 6 quart slow cooker. When the slow cooker is pleasantly full, cover it and set the slow cooker on low. How to render lard step 2: cook overnight. Let the pig fat cook on low for about 8 hours, or overnight. After 8 hours—or in the morning—your fat will start to look like...well, really fatty bacon. How to render lard step 3: strain off the liquid fat. Set up whatever straining system works best for you. This was our we render lard and use what we have set up: It's a 2 quart glass bowl with a colander set inside. The first colander is lined with cheesecloth—in our case, an old but clean flour sack dish towel—and then has another colander set inside of that. Now take a look at your hog fat. It should be starting to liquefy. Ladle that good stuff off. Pour that into your strainer set up. Catch all that wonderful strained liquid fat. How to render lard step 4: pour into containers for storage. Measure and pour into whatever containers you want. The first time we made lard with a slow cooker, we used 1 pint plastic storage containers. Let it cool off. It starts to turn white as it solidifies. (Our kitchen light makes it seem more yellow than it actually was.) Lard will keep in the fridge for a couple months, or the freezer for a year. But you'll be using this lard in so many things, you will be lucky if it lasts you that long! Looking for recipes that use lard? Check out Lard: The Lost Art of Cooking With Your Grandmother's Secret Ingredient How to render lard step 5: repeat the process. Now you know that awesome process I just explained? Repeat that until there isn't any liquid left in the slow cooker. We checked our slow cooker every 15 minutes, for another 2-3 hours, continuing to strain off liquid. (Optional) Step 6: Make Cracklins. So what do you do with all those chunks left in the strainer and at the bottom of the slow cooker? Those could be future cracklins! In a slow cooker they don't get crispy, so you need to dump the bits that are left into a cast iron fry pan and fry them up to get what most of my relatives think of as cracklins. Then again, we are northerners. Southerners might have a totally different reference point for what cracklins are. Feel free to educate me in the comments. How to render lard using an electric roaster If you're able to pay closer attention to your lard project—or you have a lot more pig fat to deal with—you might consider using your electric roaster to render lard. I would not suggest using the electric roaster overnight. The process is essentially the same as the slow cooker method, except for a couple things: You can put way more pig fat in the electric roaster—I mean, really, load that baby up! Some folks put a cup or two of water in the electric roaster so the fat doesn't stick in the beginning of the melting process. Set your electric roaster at the lowest setting you can (ours is 150 degrees). You will be tempted to turn the heat up so it all melts faster, but don't do that! You do not want to burn your lard. Rendering lard is a process. Regardless of whether you use the slow cooker or the electric roaster, this process takes time.

Because I’m a gal who writes and talks about butchering, I’m often asked, “Doesn’t butchering animals bother you?” The conversation usually goes something like this. Someone: You seem to really love and care for your animals. Me: I do. Someone: And you can still...butcher them? Me: I can. Someone: How? (I guarantee you my husband and sons have never been asked that. Just sayin'.) So let’s dig into this question that often ends up in my email inbox or my Facebook messenger. Does butchering animals bother me? (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) My short answer to the does butchering animals bother you  question is no, butchering animals doesn’t bother me for two reasons: it puts food in my belly and I like to know where that food came from. The longer answer is not necessarily more complicated, but sure gets into some “stuff.” I'm not sure what it is about human nature, but we seem to have a morbid fascination with the fact that someone could both treat an animal kindly...and then kill it. There's an unspoken assumption floating through the mainstream that states you can't raise animals humanely or give them a happy life if you plan to put them on your plate. That if something has eyes and was cute as a spring baby, you can't possibly be kind and loving and still intend to kill them come autumn. You have to be hard ass and detached and not care at all. Wait. Being a homesteader and raising and butchering animals means you have to be detached and not care? I completely disagree. You have to care. If you didn't care on some level, raising and butchering animals would be a ridiculous waste of your life. It's dirty. You get kicked and bit and rammed and pecked and pooped on. You make your entire schedule around animal needs, birth to death. You spend the winter getting ready to do the process all over again. And you're never ever going to get rich. In fact, you'll probably spend nights sitting at the kitchen table with your husband scratching your head and re-figuring your budget again...and again... It seriously would be easier to just go to the grocery store. I am so not kidding when I say that. Butchering animals is way more work. I think sometimes we want to make farm folk out to be people who don't care because it's uncomfortable to think about the alternative. That someone might scratch the ear of a pig they know in two weeks will end up as bacon. Or might toss out treats in the front yard for the chickens who at the end of the month will be in the stew pot or on the grill. Here's the thing. The fact that we can sit around and discuss whether or not it bothers us to butcher an animal we’ve raised proves how much society has distanced itself from where its food comes from. It proves to me how easily we can get our food today. For much of society, eating has become a completely un-involved process. Not too many generations ago, you didn’t eat unless you were somehow involved in the process. I guarantee you the pioneers were not emotionally lamenting over taking the life of a deer, chicken, or cow. If they wanted dinner, that’s just what they did. And that’s not to be crass. That’s not to say our great grandparents or pioneer relatives had no emotion at all. But let’s be clear, eating meat is an involved process. An animal is born and lives and dies to sustain your life -- and we shouldn’t be flippant about that. It’s just that I don’t think the pioneers spent hours upon hours mulling over their thoughts about it like we do with each other on social media. It’s just how life was. And, for some of us, describes how life still is. "Butchering animals? No. Not me. I don't think I could even bring myself to butcher a chicken." I often hear, "Props to you, girl...but I don't think I could butcher a chicken.

The great thing about social media is that it gives us an opportunity to talk. Which, oddly enough, also happens to be the trouble with social media. Friends, let's talk about how a farm(ish) girl approaches social media etiquette. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) It's a big wide world out there with lots of things going on. Occasionally my social media newsfeeds blow up with a virtual fist fight that spreads like wildfire. It's at that point it's time to give some farmish advice about how to behave on social media. Farmgirl social media etiquette #1: If you wouldn't say it to someone at a fried chicken dinner, don't say it online: I haven't quite figured out why yet, but folks sometimes forget that the power of their words doesn't diminish because they are typed instead of spoken to someone's face. Social media has a sometimes magical (and sometimes downright stupid) way of making people braver than they would be if forced to say the same thing to a person in real life conversation. I like to just imagine that I'm sitting at a big chicken dinner with y'all, and I think it could be helpful if everyone used this imagery. If you wouldn't say it to someone who was sitting across from you at the table...maybe don't type it out on social media. M'kay? Farmgirl social media etiquette #2: Let's be honest—we really aren't okay with people disagreeing with our point of view: As a kid, I used to hear people say there are two things we don't discuss at the table: religion and politics. There's a reason for that—they are two topics that people have strong opinions on, and attach big parts of themselves to. Social media didn't catch on to that rule though; there's a current notion that it's everyone's right to discuss everything all the time, and social media provides the perfect platform to do so. I've talked to the animals in the barn about this and I've decided that as much as we'd like to say that it's fine and dandy for all of us to have differing opinions in the big land of (as the kids say now) 'Merica and beyond, I have to call bluff on a bug chunk of the population. If folks really were okay with people having differing opinions, they'd let whatever the current topic of argument is die down. Mary thinks this way, Susan thinks this way, Joel thinks this way. Great. I've got to go weed the garden and clean the pig barn. Let's move on. Farmgirl social media etiquette #3: Some people like fishing. Don't take the bait: I live in Minnesota, land of a bazillion lakes, and I know a thing or two about fishing. The fish that end up in trouble are the ones who take the bait. If we can get real for a second, some people on social media are baiting others into arguments. I know that post looks innocent (much like that Gulp bait I'm using to hook a fish), but it's deadly. Bite the bait and you'll get hooked into an argument. Sure, you're not going to end up as dinner on someone's plate (like my fish), but you will get angry, stressed out, say things you don't mean, and possibly ruin friendships. Seriously. Spit out the bait. Farmgirl social media etiquette #4: Farmish folk are humble. Stop assuming the post is for/about you: I understand there are people out there who do vague posts (see above point about "baiting") but sometimes you're just reading it wrong. People have asked me, "What do you think this post is about? Do you think she's talking about me? Do you think she's insinuating ____? Do you think he means _____?" He might. Or he might not. You could ask him (the person who wrote it) instead of me (the clueless one). Or you could realize that if it doesn't specifically mention you, it's actually not about you. I know. Mind blown. Farmgirl social media etiquette #5: Tone is important...and almost always gets screwed up.

When we decide to jump into the homesteading life, it makes a lot of sense that we would have a lot of homesteading questions. A. lot. It's important for all of us to realize that a) questions are great and b) there aren't any dumb ones. We need to ask all the homesteading questions that we can! (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Homesteading questions: "This might be a dumb question, but..." Many farmish adults of today didn't grow up in farmish families. They did not come from parents who lived as homesteaders. Or back to the landers. Or preppers. They were not raised in a household where everyone knew how to can. Or grow tomatoes. Or butcher a chicken. Or sew a quilt. Which means lots of people (author included) need to learn how to do stuff. We need to learn about all those homesteading things. So we need to ask homesteading questions. We need to ask questions without feeling that they are dumb. We need to have a community where people can ask "what is this type of weed that's taking over my garden?" without being laughed off the internet. Homesteading questions: "You're the only person I can ask this..." Now that I've been living the farmish life for some time, I get asked about lots of "dumb questions". People email, message, or in real life ask me at least 20 times a week, "This is probably a stupid thing to ask but..." You guys, stop telling me your questions are "dumb". They aren't dumb. Who is it that decided what questions are and aren't okay to ask? These questions, which I have been asked in the past week, are not dumb: is an air pistol is a good decoy for home defense? (no, please don't use a "decoy") how do chickens mate? (the roo jumps on the hen's back) how big is a cord of wood? (4ftx4ftx8ft) is a maple the only tree you can tap? (no) do hens need a rooster to lay eggs? (no) why do you need a boy goat if all you want to do is milk the girls? (because like women, goats need to give birth to have milk) how does a kill cone work? (you put the chicken in head first, pull their head down, and cut their jugular) do your kids have to take standardized tests as homeschoolers? (depends on what state you live in; here in MN, yes) how do I attach chicken wire/netting to posts? (staples for wood posts or zip ties for metal/plastic posts) are chickens vegetarians? (they are omnivores) is there a difference between jelly and jam? (jam has seeds, jelly doesn't) And on and on and on. Homesteading questions: Y'all, none of these are dumb questions.   Now. Lest you think that I'm a constantly bubbling fountain of knowledge, there are a billion things I don't know. I'm still learning every single day. Want to hear my "dumb questions"? Most recently: I asked for identification on a "pretty flower" on my Facebook page and the comments immediately exploded with "MILKWEED. DON'T KILL IT." I've lived around milkweed my entire life but had NO idea THAT flower was MILKWEED. I washed a rag that was soaked in paint thinner in the hopes of re-using it because I was trying to save money. I found out you don't wash paint thinner rags, you throw them away. (I had to wash that load of laundry three more times before the smell of paint thinner even thought about coming out of the clothes...) I had never used a lawn tractor until age 36. Had no clue how to use one. I am 36 now, if that gives you any clue as to how new this revelation was. I still don't know how to read a sewing pattern but I have this huge fantasy that I'm going to make my own clothes. I can run a chainsaw. I can weld. But hand me a weed whip? Clueless. And on and on and on. This. This is milkweed. Homesteading questions: "So, I've always wanted to know..." Ask "dumb questions". Homesteading is not some secret club where only the cool kids get to know the code....

As a homesteader, it's tempting to want to do all the things. How do I know this? Because homesteading is awesome, and I want to do all the things! Unfortunately, this is the perfect ingredient for becoming an overwhelmed homesteader. There is not one single homesteader out there who does everything that falls under the category of homesteading. I'm not kidding! You simply can't do everything, nor are you supposed to. Sometimes we get in over our head, but we don't want to admit it. I'm here to tell you it's completely and totally okay to scale back. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Overwhelmed Homesteader: Jack of All Trades, Master of None You've all heard of chicken math, right? You start with four chickens and pretty soon you have forty. Well, this so-called chicken math can be expanded to homestead math which is similar in the sense that you start with chickens and then you need goats and then you need a cow and then you need more gardens and then you need bees and then....kind of like Idlewild Alaska talks about in this funny piece. Homesteading can be fun—as well as fulfilling—and it's easy to want to take on more and more. But we have to be careful because there is a big difference between I can do a ton of things on this homestead kinda sorta well and I can do a few things on this homestead really, really well. One of those things works out. The other often leads to an overwhelmed homesteader who is  buried under produce that's rotting or crying in the chicken coop or just. plain. burnt. out. Maybe last year you could comfortably handle 12 chickens and then decided you'd do even better with 60. Maybe you were right or maybe you were really wrong. Maybe you discovered you liked goats so much that suddenly your 2 goats became 10. Or 23. Maybe your one small garden turned into two huge gardens. And a corn patch. And a grapevine. And some apple trees...and maybe you're still wondering why you're so busy. Listen. I'm going to give it to you straight. Adding things to your homestead, be it animals or gardens, generally means that you're asking yourself to do more with the same amount of time and money as when you had less on your homestead. Sometimes, unfortunately, our resources get stretched too thin. It's very, very easy to become an overwhelmed homesteader. Feeling like an overwhelmed homesteader? Re-evaluate the purpose of your homestead If you feel like an overwhelmed homesteader, it's a good idea to re-visit the purpose of your original homestead dream. What were the things you wanted to do when you first started homesteading? What were your dreams and plans for the future? Why did you decide to start homesteading in the first place? And is that what you're doing now, or did you follow a wayward train track of increasingly out of control plans off a cliff? One thing new homesteaders commonly get sucked in to is raising animals for other people—family and friends. Raising vegetables or meat or eggs or animals for other people is great—if you want to do it—but it's a whole different ball game than just having a few for yourself. Another thing that can be tempting about living on a homestead is the prospect of raising enough chickens, pigs, or garden goodies to sell. I've sometimes heard homesteaders say, "But if I have the space, what's 100 more chickens?" I will tell you what it is. It's one hundred. more. chickens. Sit back and take a moment to think about why you're on the homestead. Why are you doing what you're doing? If what you're currently doing doesn't ring true to the purpose of what you and your family wanted to do, it's time to gather the troops and re-configure. Homesteading can be challenging; it's even harder when you feel like an overwhelmed homesteader who veered down a different path than the one you...

It's one of those controversial chicken raising topics: should you help a chick hatch? Some say yes, it's your duty, while others say you should let nature take its course. It's hard to know what to do. If you're looking at a chick who has pecked through their shell, has been working on it for a significant amount of time, and isn't progressing...should you help? (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Should you help a chick hatch? Do I ever help a chick hatch? I do know people who have been successful in helping a chick out. I also know that assisting with a hatch takes a lot of patience and careful work. Sometimes the survival of the chick has little to do with the fact that their hatch was or wasn't assisted, and has more to do with the reason they were having trouble hatching in the first place—which unfortunately is almost impossible to identify while they are still in the shell. In my many years of incubating, I've tried to help four mostly hatched chicks. Only one of those chicks survived. In the other three cases, it was obvious they weren't "supposed" to make it out.  Two died soon after hatching and one ended up being euthanized. I don't care what anyone tells you—having to euthanize a chick that you helped out of a shell is way worse than watching it struggle to get out of a shell. The one chick that did make it was the oddest situation I've seen yet in an incubator. The chick was trying to come out breech. His bum and one leg were sticking out of the shell and it was almost as though he was trying to get traction with his one leg to pop the rest of his body out of the shell. I decided to help him hatch. The shell came off pretty easily. He had trouble walking for a few days but he ultimately survived. In 90% of cases, if a chick can't make it out, I assume it isn't strong enough to make it in the outside world. If you do decide to help a chick hatch, know that the chick might not live, or might be fine...or might "survive" but have "other issues"— which means you've possibly increased the work for yourself. A friend once helped a chick from a shell that had completely misshapen legs. The chick struggled to walk and my friend did everything she could to help him get around. He required a lot of extra attention and work. That's not to say that every chick that struggles to get out will have time consuming issues. Every situation is different, and since none of us speak chicken language, it's sometimes difficult to decide what to do. Do my friends help a chick hatch? It's great to have friends who have been there, done that to give advice. I asked some of my homesteading buddies share their experiences and opinions on whether or not they help a chick hatch, and they had a lot to say. Heather from TheHomesteadingHippy.com: "We tried to help a chick when the shell seemed to be stuck...and learned that was a bad thing to do."  Maat van Uitert, TheFrugalChicken.com: "You should only try to help a chick hatch if it's partially zipped the shell, but hasn't advanced at all in the past 24 hours, assuming the chick is at term. It can take a while for chicks to fully zip, but in my experience, if it started, but has gotten stalled, it might be malpresented." "You can carefully chip at the shell along the zip line, giving the chick a chance to complete the zip after every chip. It's best to allow the chick the chance to complete the hatch process itself and to interfere as minimally as possible. You want to make sure you're not causing more harm than good." "Despite popular belief, interfering doesn't necessarily cause the chick to be less healthy, especially if the chick made it through the full 21-day hatch, pipped on time, and began zipping. It just means that the chick needed a little extra help completing the hatching process." 

Back when I was brand new to chicken keeping, my flock was the most entertaining and inspiring thing I'd ever invested in. I devoted way more time than I should probably admit to watching them, discussing them, researching them, sitting with them, talking to them, and planning how I could increase their numbers. The excitement of a new chicken owner is totally insane. As it should be. But twelve or so years later, they're just chickens. I don't mean that to be crass or uncaring. I just mean they're part of everything else in our life, lumped into one hectic, ridiculously chaotic mass. The ingredients for our life are now labeled Everything We Have To Do. Directions? Toss in blender. Puree. Dump into bowl. Smear on calendar. You know what? It's been a long time since I just went out and sat in the yard with my chickens. I used to sit with chickens and feel the grass tickling the underside of my cross-legged lap, watching the chickens get braver and closer until they'd take the treat I'd brought with me from my fingers. They'd sit next to me and make happy noises. We'd sprawl out in the sun. I'd look at the sky and contemplate life and ponder, with an exhale of deep contentment, how awesome my newfound simple life was. All these years later, I'm the proud owner of a big red barn, more chickens than I can count, pigs that run around their pasture like dogs, and gardens sprawling over more square footage than my house. This simple life? This life where we would get away from it all? Where somehow because the daily to-do list was "fulfilling", we'd melt away into peaceful oblivion? It's still busy. We still meet ourselves coming and going, it's just that the things we're doing in the middle look different. Life, whether simple or not, fills with the required tasks of said life. It gets busy. Busy becomes normal. Normal becomes unappreciated. We do this with everything, though. Babies. Husbands. Houses. Puppies. Jobs. What starts off as a magical adventure becomes an everyday part of life that we rush by. We're comfortable with the fact that life happens and continues and goes on—rinse and repeat until the end of our time. And all this time, my chickens keep pecking around the yard. I give them food and water and hope they come in at night. I grab the eggs they give me like it's nothing—those same eggs that as a new chicken owner, I checked for a gazillion times a day, because the whole concept that I could walk out to the chicken coop and collect a miraculous oval of awesome for my breakfast completely floored me. Our first egg, 2010 Now it's just normal. It's everyday stuff. Things happen and we don't see them happen. I mean, we see them happen, we know they're happening, but we don't look. We don't see. We don't care. Wait. We don't care? That's what I'm saying. Do we care? And if we do, how would anyone else know? And I know that life changes. I get that what we spend our time on morphs into familiarity. I understand that life looks different as we move through its time and space. We grow up, we get older. Things are less of a big deal. But it's been a long time since I sat with my chickens. This is the part they don't tell you—that the things we love and obsess over will someday become just another part of the process of getting through the day. And while comfort and familiarity are good, they often skew our perspective. We generally know more the longer that we do something, but are we actually wiser? Sure, we get better at it, but do we appreciate the improvement? It's like the realization that we speed through pages of type when we used to stop for every single word, sounding them out and feeling their shape in our mouth before they tumbled over our lips. Is magic as magical if it happens every day? I used to sit with my chickens. The barn stands there, stoic and majestic, whether I take time to sit with the chickens or just tos...

In a perfect homesteading world, gardens would always flourish, barns would always be full of thriving animals, and the kitchen would always kick out a steady supply of wonderful goods to keep everyone going. But since we all know there is no such thing as a perfect homesteading world, let's have a little chat about something we all deal with: homestead failure. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) Now, on a certain year, your gardens might be the best they've ever been. No kidding. Virtually weed free and so productive. That might be the year that your hustle isn't to keep up with weeding, but instead to get the amazing bounty into the house and processed before the next basket of goodness comes in. I mean...there are so many baskets of goodness... So, that means it's a good year on the homestead, right? You've succeeded. You showed this homesteading thing who the real boss is. Yeah, you're winning. You rock. I mean, unless you look in your barns. Oh my word, that year you had the awesome gardens? That year you wanted everyone to come and see the fabulous produce you were pulling out of your ears? Yeah. Don't let those people go near your barns. Homestead failure. It happens. See, I know what happened. Because I've been there, too. The same year that you're pulling the most amazing harvest ever from your garden...your pasture is overgrown with weeds taller than you. Let's be honest—you couldn't find a cow if you had one out there. And don't forget that one of your chicken moms killed each and every one of her chicks as they hatched. One of your pheasant moms abandoned her entire clutch of babies. You had to cut your out-of-control rogue chicken flock of 60ish laying hens and their rooster friends by 2/3. You lost an entire incubator of pheasant eggs. And the worst part? You cringe to even admit this, but you forgot to order meat birds. I mean, who forgets to order meat birds? So, sure. People can drive up to your farm and gush and ooh and aah about your amazingly lush, weed free gardens that are literally exploding with produce, but you're really hoping they don't go anywhere near your barns because friend, they are all sorts of chaos. And you don't want them to see that. Why? Because even though you succeeded in the garden, you're sorta feeling like a homestead failure. Homestead failure. It's part of the game. As a homesteader, you need to realize that there isn't time for everything, but that there is a time for everything. (See the difference?) As a homesteader, you have to understand and accept that every year will be different. That you will be a homestead rockstar at some things and a homestead failure at others. Next year, you might have amazingly productive barns, but also have a garden that struggles to pop out enough tomatoes to fill the canner even once. The year after that, you might not even plant a garden. Because, Life. The year after that? You might decide to fill your barns with llamas. Or shut down your chicken coop for a whole season. Every year is different, and you can't always predict what will happen. You will be a homestead rockstar. And a homestead failure.  And it's completely okay. Homestead failure keeps us humble. I can plan all I want and have things worked out to  perfect "T", and it doesn't matter. Come to terms with the fact there is so much about homesteading that is out of our control. We really can't do it all, as much as we may want to. There is only so much time. And yet, the crazy thing is that next year...you might be surprised at how much more you can do. Every year is different as far as what you can handle. What seemed easy last year isn't easy at all this year. What you fly through this year might be impossible next year.

When stepping on to the pathway of frugality, there are a lot of tips tossed around that deal specifically with saving money and being more thrifty. But I think there are a few big things we often forget about regarding the topic of frugal living. So here are three tips that can help you live a more successful, productive life of frugality...and they have nothing to do with money. Seriously. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Frugal Living Tip #1: Stop turning frugal living into a contest with others. The only person you should be competing with in the mighty Battle Of Who Saves More is the person you used to be. Are you spending less than you did last month? Score. Here's the thing: you can't compare how much money you're spending with another family. There will always be circumstances or issues that make your situations different. So stop worrying that your neighbor only spent $150 on groceries last month when you just spent that last week. Worry about you. Frugal Living Tip #2: Understand that your attitude about frugal living matters. Instead of being nit-picky, be supportive of others who aren't as far on the journey of frugality as you. There are ways to make suggestions about saving money that are helpful, and there are other ways to make those same suggestions and sound like a jerk. It is important that we know the difference. Years ago, I sat in a group of women and the conversation got around to saving money. Everyone was talking about all the things they'd been doing to be more thrifty; some of the women quite haughty in their exposition—turning it into a contest, one gal trying to outdo the next. After a bit, a mom in the group mentioned that she'd taken her daughter out for her birthday for ice cream. Gasp! You guys, you would have thought the mom said she'd went on a shoe shopping spree or gambled her entire paycheck away at the casino. A good chunk of the women sitting around "politely" blasted the mom for the birthday outing saying she could have done something cheaper and did they really even need to go out? As the "polite" comments kept coming, you could see the mom shrink in her chair and totally clam up. Finally one gal—who up until that point had remained quiet—said, "You know, ladies? We all take our own path to frugality. Every step matters. We all get there in our own time." We all take our own path to frugality. Every step matters. We get there in our own time.Share on X When you're seeking a more simple, frugal life, it is a journey. It takes time. You don't wake up one morning and have all the answers. You can always learn more. And Lord knows, things always come up that put a detour right in the middle of your path. How much more difficult is it to do something like trimming all the fat from your budget when everyone you talk to says you're doing it wrong? Like I mentioned earlier, when trying to live a more frugal life, you shouldn't be comparing what you're doing with someone else—but it sure helps to have an open-minded support system while you're doing it. Frugal Living Tip #3: Learn to take advice. Consider this: Someone posts an article online titled How I Fed My Family on $45 a Week. How long does it take before someone reads it and immediately starts punching holes in the author's advice? Usually, not very long at all. You may also enjoy... The Only Way a Garden Will Save You Money Instead of reading the article and looking for pieces of advice they can put to use in their own life, some readers go into a that would never work for me because mode: I have more kids. The cost of living is higher where I am. I can't eat the foods she's suggesting. I don't have the time to do what she's suggesting. It's Tuesday, and the sky is cloudy. Listen. And believe me when I tell you that I mean this with all th...

As a Minnesota farm(ish) girl, I'm well versed in the art of how to keep warm. When fall rolls around, it's time to button up and start the unavoidable descent into colder weather. I mean, we all know winter is coming... Cold temperatures can lead to extra expense if you're bumping the thermostat up every time the outside mercury drops, so here are a few of the things we do to keep warm here at Clucky Dickens Farm before we even touch our thermostat. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Keep warm and layer up! Dressing in layers isn't just for outside activities. This works for inside the house, too. Layers work because they help to trap air and insulate you better. I don't have any shame in admitting that sometimes I've got a pair of yoga pants on under my jeans. And maybe like, a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt on top. Maybe I should try some fleece-lined yoga pants? And y'all know they make fleece-lined jeans, right? Warm and toasty is the name of my game. Pile it on! Tuck those layers in. What I will not admit to you, however, is how old I was before I actually learned that tucking in my bottom layer would help to keep me warmer. Oh, sure. It makes total sense now...total sense. Cover your dang feet and your head! If you're walking around the house barefoot and complaining you're cold...just stop. Stop right now. Cover your feet with wool socks like maybe these or these or these and a nice pair of slippers (these keep my feet warm). Heat escapes fastest through your extremities, so make sure those puppies are snug! Wear a stocking cap if you're cold—even when you're sleeping. Remember "Ma in her kerchief and I in my cap"? Y'all, that wasn't for fashion. Keep yo' heads warm. Keep yo' feet warm. Carry on. Drink something warm. Coffee. Tea. Hot Cocoa. Cider. Russian Tea. Even a mug of hot water will do the trick. Liquid warms your insides and the mug warms your hands. Score! (This is the same reason that soup and stew is such a favorite menu item in the fall and winter!) Go outside and come back in. When the temps recently started to drop, my husband and I were out for a couple hours working around the farm. When we came back in, my husband commented how bloody hot it was in the house. Now, we both knew that's only because we'd both been working outside, but isn't it amazing that our feeling about the temperature is relative? A house set at 64 seems cold, until you go outside and work where it's 30. Then 64 seems really cozy. Get moving and keep warm! This is grade school stuff and we all know this—when your blood is pumpin' you're warmer. The problem is that in the winter, we want to go into hibernation mode and we move less. Make use of the ten minute tidy and move around your house quickly picking things up. Or do a hardcore scrubbing of the bathroom using mostly elbow grease to finish the job. It's amazing how much warmer we can feel when we're workin' hard! Eat. Listen. I know you want to be gorgeous and fit into your size-whatever-jeans, but trust me when I tell you this: the time that the temps start to drop is not the time to start restricting calories. Your body is able to deal with colder temps much easier if it is properly fueled. That means eating enough food and drinking enough water. Take care of your body so it can take care of you! Bake. The same reason you don't want to make bread, pies, cookies, or roast vegetables in the summer is the same reason you should do it when the temps outside turn chilly. I don't consider the constant running of the oven to be wasteful because what's coming out of it is stuff we're going to use anyway (even if I bake it and it goes into the freezer for later). Some of my favorite things to bake when the temps turn cold: Homemade Hamburger Buns Honey Wheat Bread

If you're like me, you know that bacon is the stuff that dreams are made of. I really believe that through the power of bacon, we can make the world a better place. With that in mind, I'm gonna show you how to make homemade bacon in five lil' steps. BACON. (Mmmm. Bacon.) (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Now—to be clear—this is how we go about makin' homemade bacon at Clucky Dickens Farm. If you do a google search of how to make bacon, you will come up with lots of different recipes. Our process requires uses a wet cure/brine and we utilize a smoker. Everyone has their own thing and their own preferences. The great thing about making your own bacon is the more experience you have with making it, the more tricks you will figure out. Step #1 to homemade bacon: find a pig belly Bacon comes from the belly of the hog. It's the underside of the pig. Some pigs are better for makin' bacon than others. A really long-bodied pig is going to provide you with a much longer slab of belly meat than a shorter-bodied pig. If you don't raise your own hogs, you'll need to find some pork belly from someone local or a butcher. The availability of this will totally depend on where you live. We raise our own pigs because a) pigs are awesome, b) we're lucky enough to have a place to do so, and c) well, bacon. Little tip: We've made homemade bacon for several years now and what we've discovered is it is best to make the bacon before the pork belly cuts go into the freezer. In years past, we have frozen all the cuts from the pork belly to make bacon at a later date. No, no, no, grasshopper. This year we took the pork belly and immediately started this process at the very end of the butchering/processing excitement. You can really tell the difference in the taste of the bacon. (Although if you do already have the pork belly frozen and want to make homemade bacon, don't let this stop you. It's still going to be awesome.) Step #2 to homemade bacon: brine/cure Some people refer to this part as brining, others refer to it as curing. Whatever it is, it's the longest part of the bacon process—unless you count raising the pig. We've experimented with several different brines/cures but here is what we've settled on using thus far: Homemade Bacon Wet Brine: (Printable recipe at bottom of blog post!) To one gallon of warm water, add... 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup white sugar 1 cup salt (canning salt or kosher salt, not iodized salt) 1 tsp pink curing salt/Insta Cure #1 (not #2) (We have also used this recipe using 1 Tbsp of pink curing salt. It's all about your comfort level with the whole nitrate argument.) Mix until dissolved. Place your nicely trimmed pork belly chunks into a five gallon pail. Pour the brine over the meat, and keep adding more brine made with the above portions until the meat is completely covered with liquid. (It usually takes us 2 gallons of brine to cover the meat in a five gallon bucket, but your experience may be different.) Fill a plastic bag with water and set it on top of all of this. The water filled bag will prevent the meat from shifting or floating to the top of the bucket. It is very important that the meat stays completely submerged in this brine for 10-14 days—not just for flavor of your homemade bacon, but for the safety of your gut. Cover the bucket and set in the fridge for 10-14 days. This works especially great if you have an extra fridge (like—ahem—a beer fridge). You do not need to stir what's in the bucket. Just let it sit undisturbed. Be patient and dream of homemade bacon. Note: Look ahead in your calendar and figure out what day you're going to tackle the next three steps. It's going to take some work and attention so you want to make sure you've got a day you can make it happen. Step #3 to homemade bacon: smoke 10-14 days later, you're ready for the awesome and the magic!

Life as a homesteader is awesome and rewarding and I wouldn't want to live any other way, but let's have an honest conversation about the biggest homesteading challenges you will face when you  decide to live this life. Here are the three most common... (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Homesteading Challenges #1: Time There are only 24 hours in a day, and you're going to wish you had 36. There are so many things we want to do as homesteaders because homesteading is awesome. And because homesteading is awesome, we tend to overfill our homesteading plate with more than is humanly possible. I mean, that's what people tell me anyway. (wink-wink) Also, homesteading is closely connected with Mother Nature—you're on her time schedule, not yours. So while you want to plow the field or plant the garden on a certain day, Mother Nature might have different plans. And you can't change her mind. This can be frustrating—especially if you're a homesteader who works another job off the homestead. You're always trying to fit those homesteading things into the hours that you're home, and Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate with your days off. If chicken butchering day is scheduled and it happens to be pouring rain or tornadic winds or the one day that it's 110 degrees....gah. Mother Nature. Can't we work together? Homesteading Challenges #2: Money Fantasy Homesteader might have us believe that moving to the country is going to simplify your life and fix all your money woes. Hear me now: Fantasy Homesteader is full of it. Moving to the country isn't going to fix your money problems. It will simply replace the money problems you have now with different ones. The money you were spending on one thing will be shifted to pay for something else. For instance, you may be saving money on groceries, but now you've got a bill at the farm and feed store. Fantasy Homesteader has us all believing things like when something breaks, we will pull the part we need out of our scrap pile and put everything back together like new and it will all work out. And sometimes that happens, and it's awesome when it does! But hear me now, friends. That's not always the way it works. Sometimes you have to go buy the part. Sometimes you have to pay to replace the thing. And many times, it's not as inexpensive as you hope it is. Financial homesteading challenges are real. You're going to move to your homestead with big plans and lists of things you want to do. And some of those things will get done...but not nearly as quickly as you want them to get done. Why? Because the money required to make those things a reality has been sucked up by the reality of things that already need to be dealt with on the homestead. Homesteading costs money. Real, actual money. Yes, you can barter for some things. Yes, you can repair some things yourself. Yes, you can try to save as much money as possible when things come up. But if you think you're going to move to the country, raise some chickens, plant a garden, and never again be saddled with wondering how you're going to pay for something...you need to read some different blogs and books and magazines. I'm just sayin'. Oh. And regardless of what the blog or book or magazine article says, the reality is that most of us won't make as much from our homesteading as we hoped we would. Your ability to make money from your homestead has a lot to do with many things, including: what you can do on your actual homestead—just because you want to grow raspberries doesn't mean you can the proximity of your homestead to people willing to pay for what you're selling the time and patience you have available to deal with customers There is a big difference between homesteading and running a small scale farm. Let me say that another way: a homestead and a small scal...

As a homesteader, it's easy to get hung up on all the things we don't know. We're always looking for that other homesteader who knows more than us. Because of this, it can sometimes catch us off guard when someone wants our advice. Me? A homestead expert? Are you kidding? Yes, you. Let's talk a little bit about your homestead expertise and why other people need to hear about it. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) You're a homestead expert on your own experiences. Homesteading encompasses a huge field of experiences, and everyone has their own homesteading stuff they've dealt with. Not everyone has knowledge about the same homesteading skills, and that's okay. When we moved to our farm several years ago, I assumed everyone around us who had farmed or homesteaded longer than us knew everything about everything. So I would ask someone who had cows all my questions about raising hogs. I mean, aren't farm animals...farm animals? (I can hear you laughing. It's okay.) I would ask chicken farmers about hay. I would ask someone who had a bunch of apple trees a ton of questions about my raspberry patch. I would ask someone who grew amazing tomatoes about their best tips for homemade bread. It didn't take me long to figure out that while homesteaders know a lot of things, there isn't a single homesteader out there who knows everything about everything. We've all got things we know about and things we are downright clueless about. Why? Because we don't have everything on our homestead. You can't be an expert in everything, but you can be an expert in the things you've experienced. You haven't dealt with everything on your homestead, but you have dealt with things. See the difference? Value the experiences you have. People can learn from you, homestead expert. Don't discredit the experiences you have had just because you know someone out there might know more. As a homestead blogger, this is something I honestly struggle with. There are at least 4,923 articles I should write—but haven't—because a) I mistakenly believe that most people won't find the information useful, or, b) I figure someone knows more than me about it and is more qualified to answer that question. Thank goodness I have readers who kick my butt about that. "Amy, write an article about how to build an incubator from a cooler." "Amy, did you write that article about how to build a fodder system yet?" "So...do you have any articles on how to deal with a mean rooster?" "You know what I could use an article on? Why my bread never turns out." "What kind of meat birds should I raise, Amy? What do you think?" Everyone's experience in homesteading can help someone else. Sure, there are lots of people who might know what you know. But there are also people who don't. You might learn something in your first six months raising chickens that someone else hasn't dealt with in six years of keeping chickens. Just because someone has been homesteading for years doesn't mean they've experienced everything there is to experience. Part of being a homestead expert is learning to ignore the haters. Everyone has had their own experiences, and along with that comes their own opinion. Don't be afraid to tell your homesteading story just because you think someone will tell you you're wrong or inexperienced or don't know what you're talking about. If your advice is truly based on your experience, how can they tell you you don't know what you're talking about? People can have conflicting bits of advice because people have different experiences. It's fine. Don't take it personally, and don't let it keep you from sharing what you know. (And if someone is really rude regarding your advice or experience, maybe remind them that we should all be interacting with each other like we would at a good ol' fas...

Death. It's that very real part of homesteading that no one really likes to talk about much. Dealing with animal death on the homestead is a touchy subject, but it's one that really can't be ignored. If you have animals on your homestead, you will, at some point, deal with death—generally, for one of four reasons. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Death on the homestead: animals raised for meat Whether you choose to butcher at home or send your animals away to be processed, death comes to us all, little chicken. There is no way to get around dealing with animal death on the farm if your purpose in raising a certain animal is that they will eventually end up in your freezer. Death on the homestead: old age No matter what anyone says, we bond with our farm animals. The longer they are around, the stronger that bond. It's hard to walk into the barn and discover your favorite goat or horse or cow has suddenly died. Animals can live a long and happy life at your homestead—and hopefully, they do!— but nothing lives forever. Death on the homestead: euthanization of sick/hurt animals Animals get sick. Animals get hurt. Animals have issues that can't be remedied (or cause us to consider financial ramifications for keeping them alive). It's hard to make the decision regarding the life of your animal who has been sick for an extended period of time and isn't showing improvement. It's a tough call to know what to do when your animal can't walk or get up or move at all. Being a homesteader means tough life and death decisions—in the most literal sense of the phrase. Death on the homestead: predators When predators visit your homestead, there isn't always a happy ending for the animal they're after, or the predator themselves. At our farm we've lost animals to fox, eagles, dogs, hawks, raccoons, owls, as well as many predators I haven't actually seen in action. Again, it's part of homesteading with animals. And sometimes, despite your best predator proofing tricks, they'll still find their way in. Death is a way of life on the homestead. Simply put, death comes with the territory of homesteading. It's difficult to write a blog post about it, however, because in trying to say something like "it gets easier" or "you'll get more comfortable with it", it's almost always scooped up and taken the wrong way. People want to argue semantics—usually people who aren't homesteaders, because those of us who do deal with death on the homestead know our feelings surrounding it are hard to describe. When reading an article, we tend to "understand what the author meant" regardless of the way they've probably fumbled through it. But I think it does get easier in a sense...even though that still doesn't sound like the right word. The first time I had to euthanize a sick chicken, I cried. A lot. The most recent time I did it, I didn't cry at all. Does that mean I've lost respect for the animals I raise? I don't think so. I deeply appreciate and care for the animals we raise here. I just think death is part of the package, and it's become an odd sort of farm normal for me. Man. Talk about fumbling through the explanation of feelings... Is our discomfort with death on the homestead because we're more removed? I often try to imagine what it was like in 1850 out on the prairie. I wonder if people sat outside the lean to contemplating how someone could take the life of a chicken in order to eat supper, and whether or not it made them sad. I mean, I don't intend to come off as super tough and callous, because I'm not. It's tough to be the one to deliver killing shots to 3 pigs you've raised. Butcher day isn't really my favorite day on the calendar. There is always a sort of serious solemnity to it. But I do think the fact that we can devote so much brain space and social media cha...

Chicken butchering day is quite an event here at Clucky Dickens Farm. When we butcher, it's usually no less than 50 birds at a time. I'd like to share with you the open air chicken butchering set up that we've come to use after several years of chicken butchering experience. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) First of all -- if you aren't quite sure how to butcher a chicken, let me explain how to do that. If you already know how to -- let's take a look at all the items we use (in the order they are used) in the processing of our birds. Ready? Chicken Butchering Set Up Item #1: Kill Cones Also known as restraint cones, these are cones that the birds go into upside down, head first. The cone part keeps their wings from flapping, and you pull their head down through the hole in the bottom to cut their jugular. You can buy kill cones or you can make them yourself from heavy plastic or a similar material. If possible, it's nice to have adjustable cones (or make inserts that will go inside of them) so you can use the same cone for butchering different sized birds. Remember, there is a big difference in the size of an egg bird, a Cornish Cross, and a turkey. With a large cone, the egg birds might fall through into the bucket below. With a small cone, Cornish Cross birds will not fit to the bottom of the cone to pull their head through. Normally you would attach the kill cones to a wall or a fence post. We built this stand out of recycled materials around the farm and it has worked out well for us. It is sturdy and the ledge on the bottom holds the buckets at just the right height to catch the blood with minimal mess. You may also like: 10 Tips for Home Butchering Chicken Butchering Set Up Item #2: Propane cooker and large stockpot (aka turkey fryer kit) After a bird is dispatched but before you pluck it, you have to scald the bird in hot water (145-160 degrees) to help release their feathers for plucking. A turkey fryer kit is the perfect set up to get this done. In the photo, you can see a green stake to the side of the fryer with a wire coming from it. That green stake is to hold the display from a digital thermometer (and the wire is from the display to the actual thermometer in the water). It is very helpful to have a thermometer so you can monitor the temp of the water. It will be obvious the water is cooling down if the feathers aren't plucking as easily...but it's nice to know the water is cooling down before the chicken plucker informs you there are issues. ;) Pro tip: Know that if you're doing a lot of birds, you may have to add water as your chicken butchering event goes on. All the dunking and swirling of the birds usually means there will be some water lost. If too much water is lost, the thermometer will no longer sit below the water level, and your birds won't be able to be dunked as completely. Pro tip: Also, remember if you add water, you'll have to wait for the water in the fryer to get back up to temp—especially if you are filling from a cold hose. This is okay, though. It gives people a chance to catch up on their chicken butchering job or take a swig or two of coffee. Chicken Butchering Set Up Item #3: Chicken Plucker Here at Clucky Dickens Farm, I've never hand plucked a chicken. I give props to those of you who have. We have used many kinds of chicken pluckers since we began our chicken butchering adventures: everything from a small drill style chicken plucker to this large drum style plucker my husband built. It's similar to a Whizbang...but with a few modifications like a chute out the bottom for the feathers to collect into the tote. It keeps the mess in one area instead of having feathers spread all over the yard. A somewhat similar chicken plucker would be the Yardbird. If you're looking to build your own drum style chi...

It's one of the dividing wedges that can be driven straight through the chicken community: should you use supplemental light for chickens during the shorter days of the year? (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) A hen's egg laying is triggered by sunlight. When the days get shorter, egg production falls off. Chickens need 14-16 hours of light per day to continue laying eggs for you. One way to combat this lack of sunlight in the colder months of the year is to add a light on a timer in the coop to "trick" the chicken's pituitary gland and help ramp up normal egg production again. The argument for or against supplemental light for chickens goes as follows: Those who don't use supplemental light for chickens argue that adding light to the chicken coop to trick a hen's body into laying year-round is unnatural and wears them out faster. Those who do use supplemental light...basically need eggs. We do use supplemental light in our chicken coop. My particular homestead journey dictates that if I'm feeding you in one of my barns, you need to produce something for me. Farm life. It's rough, yo. Additionally, I personally have not felt that the use of supplemental lighting has decreased the life span or egg laying years of any of my feathered friends. But I say that with the caveat that in almost ten years of keeping chickens, the vast majority have not died from old age, but from predators in our yard or chicken adventures they did not return home from. Did I mention farm life is rough? What I will say about supplemental light, if you choose to use it, is this: Use a timer. You will not be as awesome as remembering to turn the light on as you think you will be. Use a regular ol' bulb. 40-60 watt is fine. Provide a total of 14-16 hours. Any less and you're wasting electricity. Any more and you're just being a jerk. Pay attention to the sunrise and sunset and do the math to figure out how much extra light you need to add to total 14-16 hours. Set the extra light to come on in the morning, not at night. For instance, instead of having your light come on at 5pm and stay on until 9 pm, set the light to come on at 3 am and turn off at 7 am. Why? When a light suddenly clicks off at 9 pm in the winter, it will be pitch black in the coop and you may have some chickens who didn't make it to their roosting spot, are stuck at the feeder, aren't by their best buddy hen, etc. However, when a light clicks off at 7 am in the winter, it's already light out and the chickens can see what they're doing and go about their merry day. The thing you need to be honest about if you don't use supplemental light for chickens... Now to be clear, I don't care either way. I always assume you're going to make a choice regarding supplemental light for chickens because it's the best choice for your particular homestead. It doesn't matter to me if you put a disco ball with a spotlight in your chicken coop. You do you! But it's the occasional hypocrisy that I encounter that gets to me. What I wish we could all be honest about is this: some folks cry that giving a chicken supplemental light is unnatural and mean. Okay. Just a question, but where are y'all gettin' your eggs in the fall and winter? Because what I see happening sometimes is that people play the less light is natural and it's cruel to make a chicken lay eggs like that in the fall and winter and then those same people run off to the store to get their fall and winter eggs. The store. Where I'm just gonna throw this out there... ...but I'm guessing all the eggs sold at the store are laid using supplemental light. You do you, but let's not be hypocritical. If you're not using supplemental light because you think it's cruel and unnatural to ask chickens to continue to lay the same amount of eggs in the fall and wi...

Friends, I'm going to be bold and give you my opinion about something chicken-ish. Ready? Here goes: I think it's perfectly okay if you don't free range your chickens. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) When I first became a chicken mama m-a-n-y years ago, before everyone and their brother was on Facebook, there was an overriding belief across online forums and chat rooms about chicken mamas who free ranged their chickens. No one really came out and said it (ok, some people did) but you could feel it hanging on the breath of our conversations: chicken keepers who free range their birds are more awesome than chicken keepers who do not. And honestly, I bought into that for awhile. I was probably caught up in some sort of crunchy backyard chicken elitism, but all I could think about was the day I'd be able to let my own chickens out to free range. Why? Because then I'd be doing a proper job of raising my precious chickens. Yes, then I would be awesome. I'd get a free-ranging chicken keeper crown and sash and entry to an exclusive club. I would know that I was doing better things than all those people who (gasp) just let their chickens out into a (gasp) run. We free ranged our chickens for a couple years at our home prior to the farm, and we free ranged our chickens for several years after moving here to our farm But we don't free range our chickens anymore. And I'm here to tell you that not free ranging your chickens is completely and totally okay. Trust me. It's fine. Free range chickens are fun to watch, but... A friend who was bummed out that we had locked our chickens up told me, "chickens dotting the yard is what makes a farm a farm." I admit, I really enjoyed seeing our chickens out and about in the yard. It was sorta Norman Rockwellish. But a big thing I didn't enjoy? Watching dogs or fox or eagles come into the yard and haul my chickens (or their chicks) off. With free range chickens, there were other things to deal with as well—some of them minor annoyances, other things that became major annoyances when all snowballed together. I mean, you do realize that wherever a chicken goes—anywhere on your property, or your neighbor's—they leave little white and green blobs of evidence that they've been there? What do you mean you don't free range your chickens? "Do you free range your chickens?" "We used to. We don't anymore." When I'm in this conversation, there's usually a sort of pause and then a silence after my answer. It's almost like they don't know what to do with that information. Because people assume since I'm that farm(ish) girl with that one blog, that I'm raising my chickens correctly (read: free ranging them). I mean, real chicken mamas free range their chickens, right? It probably says that somewhere on a t-shirt or a bumper sticker. Maybe I'll make a t-shirt that says, "real chicken mamas do whatever works best for their chickens on their property with their lifestyle, and sometimes that will go against the popular crunch-tastic homesteader line of thinking" That's sort of a lot to fit on a shirt, though. But if you don't free range your chickens, you're being cruel...right? "Isn't it cruel to have chickens if they can't free range?" Wait. What? Cruel is keeping 100 chickens in the space that is meant to comfortably keep 10 chickens. Cruel is forgetting to feed your chickens. Cruel is leaving them without clean water. Cruel is kicking your chicken around like a football. But choosing not to give your chickens roam of your property? That doesn't mean you're cruel. At this time, my chickens do not have roam of our farm.... ...and my chickens are happy. I spend time hanging out with my chickens. I bring them treats. I built them a fodder system, and I bring them green yums every day.

Let's talk about healthy eating for a second, shall we? Because even as homesteaders, we sometimes need to be reminded how to eat like a homesteader. (Or maybe it's just me who gets caught up in convenience and ignores the fact I'm basically living in the middle of an elite grocery store?) So today I'd like to share with you a super simple homesteader diet that might keep you on track with making the right food choices most of the time. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Please don't let the word "diet" freak you out. This isn't complicated at all. I'm not selling anything, there's no app or book or 21 day meal plan here. I'm just talking about how I have learned to frame food and meals in my mind as a homesteader. And if it helps you, too, that's awesome! It occurred to me the other day that most diets (meaning weight loss plans) boil down to a couple things: a) Not eating more food than you're using the energy of. In other words, moving your body more than you're shoving things in your mouth. b) Eating decent food. Not basing the majority of your food consumption on Oreos and boxed macaroni and cheese. Now there are a million and two different eating plans out there and even though they basically boil down to points a and b above, people all need different framework to get there. Some people count calories, some people count carbs, some people focus on eating from certain food groups in certain ratios...there are lots of different options for calculating and following a weight loss/diet thing. In the past, those things have worked for me—for awhile. And then I get frustrated. Mostly because I'm a bit of a perfectionist and if I miss a day of logging stuff into an app or go over my calorie count because there was a birthday party, I'm pretty sure I've ruined my entire body, have failed at The Diet, and I make myself feel better with ice cream and marshmallows in ridiculous proportions. Yes. Me. That girl that has that one farmish homesteading blog. So I got to thinking, since some people need to "frame" their way of eating differently—author included—awhile back I started thinking about my eating as the homesteader diet — and my daily food choices need to focus on three things: food from the garden, food from the barn, and food from the kitchen. I think I'm on to something. Hear me out. Step #1 of the homesteader diet — eat from the garden: I'm talking produce from a garden, orchard, etc. As a homesteader, hopefully that's your garden or orchard. But as a Minnesota gal, believe me—I understand we can't all grow all the things. So eating from the garden means making sure you're taking in fruits and veggies (fresh, frozen, canned/jarred) from your garden, or someone else's—which includes the grocery store. Obviously the closer that garden is to being your own garden, the better. But when it comes down to it, choosing to eat peaches or kale from the store is better than Twinkies, right? Step #2 of the homesteader diet — eat from the barn: Whether it's chicken, pork, rabbit, eggs, or other animal products like lard, make sure that food from the barn also makes up part of your day. You're raising those animals, right? They're going into your freezer, right? This is what you should be basing your eating from—not frozen pizza from the store. Hopefully the meat/animal products come from your barn, but a local homestead or even the grocery store is great. Again, a pork roast or a whole chicken from the local grocery is better than basing your day around some frozen super processed conglomeration with 40,000 ingredients...right? Step #3 of the homesteader diet — eat from the kitchen: Here is where things get tricky, and where I diverge from what a lot of different health gurus say—which makes sense because I'm not a health guru. (Or a doctor.

If you are thinking about trying your hand at baby chicks, that’s awesome! You're totally in for some fun. But first we should have a little chat about five things baby chicks need in order to have a safe and happy life at your homestead (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) 1. Baby chicks need a brooder with bedding: If not hatched by a setting mama hen, your chicks will need a brooder, which is basically a safe place to stay warm. It can be fancy, but it certainly doesn't need to be. You can use something as simple as a plastic tote or a kiddie pool. At our farm we've now made temporary, removable brooders in the corners of our coops, using just a few pieces of scrap wood. When the chicks outgrow the brooder, we simply remove those two pieces of wood and give the chicks run of the coop and access to the outdoor run. Need ideas of how you can make your own brooder box for your little balls of fluff? Check out these articles: 5 Easy DIY Chick Brooders - A Prairie Homestead Cheap DIY Chicken Brooder Box - The Easy Homestead Chick Brooder Set Up - The 104 Homestead 6 Easy Brooder Ideas - Timber Creek Farmer Your brooder will also need bedding. We normally use pine shavings because they are absorbent and smell lovely, but other options include straw, newspaper, or grass clippings. The most important thing is that the floor of the broody isn't slippery. 2. Baby chicks need a heat lamp. A heat lamp is a necessity for new chicks. You need to start them out in a brooder that's about 95 degrees. Remember, they are little fluff balls without feathers so they need help to stay warm! (You can also use a chick brooder heating plate—an option that has become more popular in recent years—but I've not yet tried these. It's on my to-do list!) A digital thermometer is helpful for knowing the temperature of the brooder, but the chicks will let you know if the temperature is okay for them. If chicks are clumped together under the heat lamp, that means they are too cold. If chicks are all pressed against the sides of the brooder, it means they are too hot. Chicks all spread out and doing their baby chick things are happy baby chicks. Some people ask me what color heat bulb they should use: red or white. You will hear all sorts of advice about this. Many folks suggest using a red bulb because it may keep chicks from picking at each other, and will also hide the appearance of blood if they do end up picking at each other. Folks also suggest red heat bulbs because they aren't as bright. Since the heat lamp is on 24 hours a day in those first weeks of the chick's life, some people suggest that the bright light from a white bulb interferes with a chick's ability to sleep. It's really personal preference. Although I keep red bulbs on hand, I prefer to use a clear/white heat bulb. They're generally cheaper, easier to find, and I've not had any issues with chicks picking at each other or not being able to sleep under a white light. Another reason? Pictures and video of baby chicks turn out better under a white light than a red light. Just sayin'. Also, be aware that it costs money to run heat lamps—so plan your chick orders accordingly. If you are not in a rush or working within a certain time frame, you may save some money waiting to order your chicks until it's not 30 degrees outside. Anything that creates heat sucks a lot of electricity (and therefore costs more money) so just be aware of that—the colder it is when your chicks arrive, the longer you'll be running a heat lamp. Consider this to be some friendly advice from a Minnesota farm(ish) girl. 3. Feeders and waterers are more things baby chicks need. Chicks need access to food and water. Some folks prefer the long tray type feeders, others prefer the mason jar shaped feeders. It’s really personal preference. Well, actually chick preference.

Sure, it’s never going to be the "old days" again, but we can use some of great-grandma's timeless advice to help out with our modern day homesteading adventures. Here are 5 ways I think we can still homestead like great-grandma once did. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) 1. Use what you have. Great-grandma was a master at making things last and getting the most out of what she had. She knew how to use leftovers. And talk about creative? She tweaked many things to work for different purposes. Nowadays we have fancy words for that like repurpose and upcycle and DIY. But to great-grandma, it was just the way they did things. Great-grandma was a builder. A creator. A dreamer. A how can I make this work betterer. A do-it-yourselfer. Let's face it—if the internet would have existed when great-grandma was homesteading, she would have owned the niche with her blog. Great-grandma didn’t care much about fads or the newfangled contraptions. She would have lovingly told you that you do not need a brand new heated roosting pole. You do not need a pre-built nesting box. And you sure do not need to buy Mason jars to drink out of—because those should be filled with stuff you’re canning! So whether you need to learn how to build a round pen from materials you have on hand or what to substitute in a recipe so you don’t have to make the trek to the grocery store, you can homestead like great-grandma by remembering a piece of advice she loved to give: use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. 2. Want to homestead like great-grandma? Do what works for you. The great thing about the internet is it can provide you with a plethora of information—which is great, because unlike great-grandma, many of us didn't learn about homesteading from our relatives. Thank God for the interwebs! You can learn about practically anything by searching for a blog post, video, or images. I mean, I'll be completely honest with you. The only reason I learned to can spaghetti sauce way back in the day is because I sort of knew how to navigate my way around YouTube. The bad thing about the internet is that it shows you everything that everyone is doing—which can sometimes makes us feel like those are all things we should be doing, too. Pinterest can be a gold mine of ideas or a breeding ground for feelings of inadequacy. There are many different ways to homestead; your way will be determined by where you live and what resources you have available to you. You may be an urban homesteader, a small scale farmer, a big time homesteader, or just simply call yourself "farmish". I personally like the definition of a homesteader as explained by Harold Thornbro of Small Town Homestead. Regardless of what you call yourself, you can homestead like great-grandma by remembering to homestead in the way that works for you. And maybe great-grandma was lucky she didn't have to see what homesteaders were doing halfway across the world, complete with instant updates and Instagram filters. But, lucky or not, the truth is Great-grandma wasn't caught up in this, and she would have told you not to waste your time with it either. 3. Provide for yourself first. The terms self-sufficiency and self-reliance have something in common: self. And I know that focusing on self seems, well...selfish, but hear me out. We've all seen the inspirational memes about not being able to fill up someone else's cup if your own is empty. And we know that airlines tell you that in an emergency, you should put on your own oxygen mask before you try to help those around you. Great-grandma knew these things were true. She took care of herself and her family so they could all take care of others. Great-grandma had a heart of gold. She’d give the shirt off her back to anyone who needed it. But she also knew that in order for her family to help clothe ...

It's a question I get a couple times a month from blog readers, newsletter subscribers, or Facebook followers: I want to homestead, but my spouse doesn't want to. How do I convince them? Now, I'm not a marriage counselor. But there are a few things that I think are important to keep in mind when trying to convince your spouse to homestead — a situation that often comes up as the modern homesteading movement becomes more and more popular. Grab a mug of something, and hear me out. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Want to convince your spouse to homestead? Well...what's your specific situation? With any couple that disagrees on embracing life as homesteaders, there is generally one of four situations to explain the differences in said excitement about jumping into the homesteading life. Which one describes the situation you're in? Both of you are new to homesteading; one of you is excited to start, but the other doesn't want anything to do with it. One of you grew up as/currently is a homesteader, but the other person doesn’t want that lifestyle. One of you has no homesteading experience, the other does and doesn’t want back into that lifestyle. Both of you were (or currently are) homesteaders, and one of you doesn’t want to do it anymore. Figure out their specific objections: The way to convince your spouse to homestead will have a lot to do with what their specific objections are, many of them having to do with what situation you/they are coming from. Here are a few objections that are pretty common. "You don't know what you're getting into." Let’s be honest. Maybe they think that by choosing to homestead, you will be taking on too much. Maybe they think you’re being unrealistic about what homesteading challenges you're signing up for. Maybe they’re skeptical because your intense (but admittedly sudden) love for homesteading came from seeing a couple pins on Pinterest. And maybe you followed those pins down a rabbit trail and an hour later you were convinced that you needed to make homesteading your new life. Maybe you have a brother/best friend/co-worker who is doing it and you want to be just like them. Can you not handle death? (Because death is a pretty common thing on the homestead.) Do you have issues with taking on big projects and then not following through? Do you not like mess, dirt, or being outside? (Don’t laugh. I’ve talked with people who want to have goats and chickens and a huge garden, but cannot for the life of them handle being outside for longer than three minutes). Maybe you're trying to convince your spouse to homestead because you're absolutely sure that homesteading is going to save you a ton money. Friend, homesteading doesn’t always save money. In fact, depending on who you ask and what kinds of issues they’ve run into with homesteading, you might hear them say that homesteading isn’t any cheaper and in some ways, it's more expensive. "I don't have time (or the desire) to help you." Maybe your significant other isn't necessarily against homesteading, but knows they won’t be able to help (or flat out don't want to) and don’t want their inability or lack of desire to help to be a constant fight between the two of you. Brutal honesty here? If your spouse supports you in your desire to homestead but straight up tells you homesteading isn’t a game they want to play, you can’t get mad when they’re not playing it. "I'm not moving to the middle of nowhere." When trying to convince your spouse to homestead, you need to be clear about what you mean by homesteading. Perhaps they think you’re talking about moving to a 180 acre fix-it-up farm when you simply want to put a few chickens in the backyard. Modern homesteading encompasses a very large niche, let’s make sure that you’re on the same page about what’s even on the table. So, how do you convince your spouse to homestead?

Menu planning is a great way to save money and stay organized. It can also help you eat like a homesteader by making the most of all that homegrown and home raised food you have in your freezer and on your pantry shelves. But some people feel menu planning is just a frustrating time-consuming mess that does nothing but cause more stress. Is that you? Are you nodding your head in agreement? Let’s see if your menu planning frustration is caused by one of these five common reasons, and then we can look at some suggestions for how to make meal planning work for you. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Homestead menu planning issue #1: Schedules in your house are messed up and people aren’t eating at the same time. Oftentimes when we talk about menu planning, we assume the family is sitting down to eat at the table together. A nice family meal, right? Right. But there are some seasons on the homestead (like planting and harvest) that can lead to some late, eat on the run, or more people than you expected at a different time meals. And, let's be honest—as modern homesteaders, we have many commitments that take us off the homestead. How many of you have looked at the calendar and thought, “gee, when is the next time we will all be together to eat supper?” See Tuesday through Friday? Yeah. Not a lot of  "together as a family" meals going on. Menu planning through the chaos of life can be frustrating, to say the least. Especially when you're dreaming of putting on a big spread every night that your great-grandma would be proud of. How to re-think menu planning: Understand that having all the fixins for sandwiches or salads is still menu planning. See, one of the main benefits of menu planning is that it saves money. The meal you're planning doesn't have to be a big fancy Pinterest famous meal. Planning ahead to have the fixings for sandwiches is a better use of your money than stopping at the fast food joint on the way to practice or the meeting. Use your menu planning calendar —we make use of a giant dry erase board in our dining room—to let everyone know that tonight’s meal is sandwiches, chips, and cookies for grabbin' on the go! (And then make sure you've prepped those items to be quick to grab!) Make use of  Crock-Pot or Instant Pot meals that people can serve from when they are able to eat. Some great posts with recipes to check out are: Instant Pot and Slow Cooker Meals -- 104 Homestead White Bean Chicken Chili - Attainable Sustainable Homemade Baked Beans in the Instant Pot - Attainable Sustainable 45 Most Popular Crock Pot Recipes - The Country Cook 10 Best Instant Pot Recipes for Everyone - Damn Delicious Homestead menu planning issue #2: Forgetting to prep for the meal. Deciding what to make is only one part of the meal planning process. Another really important part is remembering to do the required prep for the meal. You can have the best intentions of serving a fried chicken dinner on Friday night, but if you forget about the chicken in the freezer until Friday at 3 pm, you probably won’t be serving it. It's great to eat from the freezer that you've worked so hard to fill but successful menu planning means you have to keep on top of the items that are needed and the prep work involved to make the meals happen as intended. How to make it work for you: Our weekly menu plan is written on a dry erase board in the dining room. If something needs to be thawed or an ingredient needs something special done to it, we note that on the board, usually with a asterisk. When the chicken is taken out of the freezer, we erase the asterisk. That way at a glance, I can look and see if there is something that needs to be taken care of for an upcoming recipe and it can be on my radar. Homestead menu planning issue #3: Trying to menu plan too far in advance.

Raising chickens. Growing vegetables. Baking bread. Becoming a homesteader is a huge step into a great adventure, but before you get started, let's look at five common homesteading mistakes that folks make when they first start out on the journey. Hopefully this information can help you avoid the same issues—or at least know what to watch out for!) (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) 1. Getting too big too fast: This is first on our list of homesteading mistakes because almost every homesteader does it—author included. It goes along with the excitement of becoming a homesteader. Speaking from my own experience of filling the farm up too fast, here’s why you need to be careful. The problem with getting too big too fast is not just that you get overwhelmed by going from 0 to 60 in four days. It’s also that when you fill your farm up right away, you don’t have the time and space to figure out what works, what doesn’t, and to deal with it accordingly. Consider this: where are the low spots on your property? Where does the sun reach? Because of the placement of the buildings, does the ice ever thaw from the north side of the barn? Can you keep chickens in that one barn, or is a better spot for them the shed on the other side of the yard? Will the goats work in the east pasture, or is there something poisonous growing there? Filling your farm up too fast may also find you suddenly overwhelmed with feed costs. It's really easy to forget that those adorable chicks and goat kids and piglets will grow into adults who eat a lot more than they do as babies. You might have the space to take every single one of those adorable little animals home...but friend, they all need to eat. Every day. Adorable? Yes. Give me all the ducks? Yes. But you ALSO HAVE TO FEED THEM ALL. And sure, you were going to free range your birds to cut down on feed costs. But when the neighbors get a dog that frequently gets loose to play chicken football, you suddenly realize you don't have room in the barn for 60 chickens/ducks/turkeys to stay safe all day. And feeding 60 chickens is a lot more money than, you know, feeding the 12 chickens your husband suggested you keep. Whether you assume (or hope!) an animal (or plant) is perfect for your farm doesn't really matter. The reality is that not all animals (or plants) will work at your farm. Or some will work but with way more effort or modifications than you realized. I mean, it makes sense that your pigs would have worked in that one spot. But they kept getting out because their self-made mud hole has become the perfect place to get under the fence. Now you either need to run electric or move them to the other side of the farm. But before they move to the other side of the farm, you have to fix one wall of their would-be shelter... And you know that's all gonna take time. Or money. Or both. In all honesty, punting and changing and fixing is always part of any farm, regardless of how many animals/plants you have, how fast you fill your property up, or how long you've been homesteading. But by slowing your roll just a bit, you may find the constant surprises a little easier to deal with. 2. Counting your (customer's) chickens before they hatch: What's interesting about homesteading math is that 2+2 doesn't always equal 4. Sometimes it equals a big fat zero. It's common to become a homesteader and realize that you're raising things people want and will pay money for. You get wrapped up in the idea that you can make all the dollars with all the things you're raising and growing and creating at your farm. And maybe you can. But be careful or you'll be a victim of another of these homesteading mistakes! I've had many friends who are new to homesteading decide they were going to make a list of customers (and even take deposits) on animals that they hadn't even b...

If you're a homesteader with a coop, barn, or room to roam in the country, you've probably been asked to raise animals for a friend at one time or another. The question usually sounds something like this: “You’ve got some space. Can I just put a goat/cow/horse/few chickens at your homestead?” Since moving to our farm in 2011, I've been asked this many times. And while I love to help people out, me being asked to raise animals for a friend would be similar to me asking someone, “hey, you’ve got room at your place—can I just have my two teen sons live with you? I mean, I'll send food with them…” But I digress. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Let's be clear, being asked to raise animals for a friend is different than being asked to re-home their pet — in which case they don't expect to get the animal (or anything from it) back. Raising an animal for a friend or family member refers to folks who basically want to board their animal(s) at your homestead—usually for free—or want to add animals to your homestead that are intended for their freezer camp. If you've been asked to raise animals for a friend, here are five things to consider before you say yes. 1. Do you actually have the room to raise animals for a friend? Sometimes when people look at your homestead, all they can see is that you may have more space than they do, or that you're not surrounded by other houses and a highway. But there is more to keeping an animal than how much acreage you have. So, yes, you might have acres, but do you have an available stall/barn? A big enough coop/run/yard? Enough fencing (and the right fencing!) to contain the animal? Do you have enough pasture for the animal to graze? And do you have somewhere you can stick that animal if you need to separate them from the animals you already have? Your friend's new animal should fit into the system you're already working with. And trust me—it can look like you have enough "space" for an animal, and yet that animal can make things really crowded on your farm. Some animals come with attitudes that take up a lot of room, or workloads that take up a lot of your schedule. Another thing that people will sometimes say is, "You've already got 50 chickens, what's 50 more?" in some effort to convince you it's not really that much more work. Which I suppose is true. I mean, it's sorta like someone saying, "I realize you already have 5 teenagers, what's 5 more?" Wait... 2. Do you personally have experience with that species? What I learned early on in the homesteading game is that not every farmer knows about every animal. Which is to say that a homesteader with cows might know nothing about chickens, and a homesteader with ducks doesn't necessarily know anything about lambs. So, sure. I may have room for an extra animal, but I may also know nothing about the kind of animal my friend is asking me to raise for them. And guess who has to deal with that animal if it's living at my homestead? It's important to know how to deal with the animals on your property on both their good days and their bad days. Taking in an animal you have zero experience with could be a negative situation—especially if that animal ends up to have any issues that you need to deal with.   3. Consider your relationship with the person who is asking. You're being asked to raise animals for a friend...but how well do you know this "friend"? Is it your co-workers uncle’s neighbor? Or is it your brother? And is your relationship with that person such that you can call them and tell them their animal is being a jerk? An issue? Isn't going to work out with your own animals? Will they be mad at you if your animal kills theirs while you’re at work? Are the things that happen with the animal on your farm going to cause drama within your relationship with said person?

Chickens are often called the gateway animal. And while many of us won't (and maybe shouldn't) admit to how many chickens we have, there's one thing for certain: we always think we need more. There is always the option of buying chicks, but today we are going to discuss the pros and cons of a more self-sufficient way to add chicks to your farm: hatching chicks by way of an incubator or a broody hen. We have done both ways of hatching chicks here at our farm several times so let me walk you through what we have found to be the pros and cons of hatching with either a broody hen or an incubator. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Pros to hatching chicks with broody hens The great thing about hens that go broody is that they can turn in to mama hens—and 9.9 times out of 10, mama hens are completely self sufficient in caring for their chicks. That means hatching chicks this way is super easy for you! One important pro worth specifically pointing out is that a batch of chicks hatched from a broody hen (and kept with their mama) do not need a heat lamp. Mama hens are nice and warm and if you turn a heat lamp on to keep those baby chicks warm, you will be cookin' your mama hen. She will not appreciate it—trust me. Those chicks will climb right under mama when they are cold. Mama does not need extra help. Have you seen all those feathers she has? Generally speaking, you don’t have to separate mama hen and her chicks from the rest of your flock because mama hen will protect her brood —no questions asked! The plus about this is that you don’t have to make any special arrangements to integrate the grown chicks into your existing flock at later date. While hanging out with mama, and going wherever she goes, they're already integrated. Cons to hatching chicks with broody hens First of all, if you've got a plan for hatching chicks this way, you have to have a broody hen—and that's a nature thing. You don't have much to do with it. Sometimes hens won't go broody when you want a batch of chicks, and other times they will go broody when you're actually thinking you need to decrease your numbers. If you do find yourself with a broody hen, you should know that broody hens can be mean. It's not that they purposely try to be psychotic, they're just being protective of their nest. And you may find yourself with a peck to the hand if you get too close to what they're guarding. Occasionally, broody hens won't stay on the nest long enough to complete a hatch (21 days). They get bored at 14 or so days, abandon the nest, and don't come back. This is not to be confused with some broody hens who do step off the nest momentarily to get food and water. Other broody hens never leave the nest once they start setting. If you're paying close enough attention to your chickens, and have determined a clutch of eggs has been abandoned, you can try to finish them in an incubator. But the success of this will depend on just how long the eggs were left and how much they cooled off. Sometimes the hatch will be slower, sometimes it won't happen at all. In rare cases (it's only happened once in the ten years we've had chickens) you will have a broody hen who just doesn't know what she's doing. We had one hen who appeared to have killed all her chicks as they hatched and then left the nest. Again, it's super rare—but it does happen. If you do have a broody hen hatching chicks for you, you will have to be more careful about what waterers you have set out, if there are any small holes in your fenced chicken run, etc. Basically, you will need to do a little baby proofing to your coop and outdoor run—if they aren't free range. If they are free range, it's all up to Mama Hen. Pros to hatching chicks with an incubator Unless you're setting eggs under a broody hen,

I wouldn't give up my life as a homesteader for anything. It's an amazing way to live a life, but it hasn't been easy. The struggle with homesteading can be very real. In fact, looking back on our journey, I would say there are certain kinds of people who actually might have a bit harder time with homesteading than others. Check out these 10 types of people who may struggle with homesteading or have issues dealing with the homesteading life. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) 1. Control freaks If there is one thing that you will very quickly learn on a homestead, it's that you're not in control. You can plan, you can have goals, you can have everything figured out to a T, and it can go the complete opposite way than what you thought it would. If you're someone who can't punt or be flexible, the struggle with homesteading will be a rough ride for you. 2. Clean freaks Let me just come out and say it, homesteading is dirty. It’s messy. You’re gonna get your hands in something you don’t necessarily want to have them in. Between the mess of animals and the dirt of gardening, you're gonna spend a lot of time in the shower! Those snazzy chicken coops you see on Pinterest? They're snazzy all right. If you want to put a chandelier or a love seat in your chicken coop, that's your choice. Just know it's going to be covered in dust and/or poop about 2 minutes after you snap that sweet picture for Instagram. 3. Can’t deal with death Homesteading isn't for the faint of heart. If you’ve got animals on the homestead, death will be part of your homesteading experience. This is a big part of the reason that some folks really struggle with homesteading. Sometimes death is sad, like when your favorite goat dies from old age. Sometimes death makes you angry, like when the neighbor's dog or a fox sneaks in to wipe out your entire flock of chickens. Sometimes death is what was planned to happen because it's part of the process of filling your freezer. No matter the reason, death is never pleasant to deal with. Some folks can handle it easier than others. If you already know that death is extremely difficult for you to handle, you may want to re-think homesteading (with animals). 4. Out-and-Abouters who are never home There are many homesteaders who work outside the home—in fact for most homesteaders, it's the only way they can afford to have the homestead. But you need to match your specific kind of homesteading with your real modern day life. If you work from home, you probably have a lot different options as a homesteader than someone who works a 9-5 with a two hour commute each way. Also understand that deciding to leave for the weekend to go to the lake is a little more difficult unless you have someone you can trust to take care of your homestead while you're gone. Part of your struggle with homesteading will be that your Ma Ingalls old-fashioned homesteading fantasy had one thing you don't have – Ma Ingalls at home. 5. Spendthrifts There will always be an argument about whether or not homesteading saves money. And really, it all depends on your perspective. For instance, some people will say that homesteading affords them quality food. Other people say it’s not really saving money, because if they weren’t on a homestead they just wouldn’t buy those foods. Another example is some folks look at the cost of homesteading as an investment in their health; for example: "have you compared homesteading with the cost of cancer?" Other folks will counteract that with, "yeah, I have. I still only have $35 left to get me through the week, though, so..." What is worth pointing out is this: regardless of whether your perspective identifies homesteading as a money saver in the long run, homesteading will cost you money at various points, and it has to come from somewhere.

What makes something a go-to homemade bread recipe in my house? It has to taste good, it has to be easy, and it shouldn't take all day. A simple recipe that doesn't take a ton of ingredients is helpful, too! (Trust me, I've got complicated recipes I make, too. But this post is not for them!) I present to you my five favorite go-to homemade bread recipes that I use here at Clucky Dickens Farm. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Crusty Round Loaf This bread has so many uses—one of which is eating straight from the oven with a stick of butter. I did not just say that. Ok, yes I did. Crusty Round Loaf can work for small sandwiches but can also work as bread bowls for a soup or salad. You can bake it with an egg wash if you want a shiny crust, but it's completely delicious and divine without the shiny crust. It's up to you. One Rise Baguette I love One Rise Baguette because it's super fast to make (you can knock it out from beginning to baked in 90 minutes). It's the perfect bread to make when you find out someone is dropping by for dinner or when you remember you were supposed to bring bread to that one get together. There are a few ways we normally use this bread. First is for garlic bread: slice the long way, slap some butter and garlic along the inside, stick it back in the oven (wrapped in aluminum foil if that's your thing) and warm it up until the butter is nice and melty. You can also make cheese bread with this bread by slicing the long way, spreading garlic and butter on the inside, sprinkling with mozarella cheese, and then setting in the oven (both sides open faced) and warming until the cheese melts. The third way we use this bread is for "hand sandwiches" —no, that's not a typo. If you slice this bread the long way and then cut it into sections, you can make sandwiches, similar to sub sandwiches. The reason we've come to call them hand sandwiches is that you cannot eat a sandwich on this bread that is wider than your hand. It's very filling, especially once you get all those sandwich ingredients on there! So the width of one hand has become our measuring stick when making sandwiches with these. Pro tip: Sticking your section of bread in the toaster oven or oven with a little butter and garlic before you put the sandwich together is super yumtastic. Just sayin'. Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread I had a lot of people ask me for a recipe that was actually for sandwiches, and so I published a post on the only actual "sandwich bread" we make: Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread. You can make this with all white flour—I've done that when I'm out of wheat flour and don't want to trek to the store. This recipe makes two loaves, but I usually double the recipe and can make 4-5 loaves. By the way, if you're going to raise that much dough, you need something pretty big to raise your dough in. I'm lucky to have this super old bread dough riser thing that my parents found at an antique shop and bought as a Christmas gift for me many years ago. Yes, I understand you're jealous. I'm jealous of myself sometimes. Honey Wheat Pan Rolls Somewhat related to honey wheat sandwich bread is a lovely recipe for honey wheat pan rolls. And yes, you can make these with all white flour. This is my go to recipe when someone asks me to "bring the buns" to a family get together. These rolls easy to make, they don't take too long, and the recipe makes two 9x13 pans—24 rolls. English Muffin Bread If you're looking for something a little different but something that isn't going to take a ton more time, English Muffin Bread is a good choice. I love this bread because it has the consistency of English muffins without the work of making individual muffins. It bakes in a small casserole dish and is perfect for slicing, toasting,

As soon as the temps start to dip, the most common question I am asked is this: Amy, how do you keep chickens water from freezing in the winter? How do you keep their water open so they can drink it when the daytime high is below zero? I can tell you the one way I’ve found to keep chickens water from freezing in the winter. Here's me being real with you. Ready? The one way to for sure keep chickens water from freezing is for you to walk your lil' self out to your chickens two or three times a day and change the water . For. Real. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Now, that's probably not the answer you were looking for. You're looking for a trick to actually keep chickens water from freezing. A tip. A way you can leave them unattended all day and they'll have a fountain of awesome to drink from when it's -50. Let's talk about this, okay? I'm going to share with you some realities about water intake, some safety and cost issues with heated waterers, how I feel about the many non-electric tips floating around social media, and what exactly I do as far as water for my chickens in the winter. Amy, listen. I need to keep my chickens water from freezing. My chickens will die of thirst if their winter water isn’t open 24-7. Let's state this for the record, because I know I'll get emails from people saying I'm mean. I absolutely believe that it’s important that chickens have water. People who leave their chickens without water until they are dying of thirst are jerks and should have their chickens confiscated. But let’s think about this, okay? Here are a few things to keep in mind. Let's look at you and your winter water intake Yes, we should all have water available—but that doesn't mean we are always thirsty or even paying attention to the need. Do you walk around with a glass of water in your hand all day? Think about it. Do you drink as much water as you're supposed to, especially in the winter? Are you thirsty when it's -20? I'm not asking if you should drink water when it's -20, I'm asking if you do drink (as much water as you should) when it's -20. I'm trying to make a point here.You are worried about how to keep chickens water from freezing, but your chickens aren't necessarily thirsty or even thinking about water when it's -20. Stop to consider this: let's say you go out to the barn and the chickens water has frozen. The fact that there was frozen water in the bowl means your chickens didn't want it all. I mean, honestly—the chickens were not perched there trying to gulp with their little chicken beaks as a lightning fast layer of ice blasted across the surface of their water, pushing their faces out of the bowl. Your chickens drank some and then they went off to do wintery chicken things. They came back and the water was frozen. They went off and did wintery chicken things. They are not dying of thirst because when you go back out to the barn, you're going to give them more water. Kind of like when you're busy because you're stuck in traffic and out of coffee. You're going to be okay. Promise. Let's look at nature While we worry about how to keep chickens water from freezing, let's remember that birds in the wild do not always have water available. This I have to make sure my chickens have access to fresh, unfrozen water 24-7 is. Not. Mirrored. In. Nature. There are many folks who have said well sure Amy, you can change their water 2-3 times a day because you’re home. a) Actually, I’m not always home and b) your chickens getting water in the morning before you leave for work and then again when you get home is seriously fine. Because here’s the other thing. If you do have a waterer that’s heated and they are so thirsty that they drain it while you’re at work...it’s not going to get filled until you get home anyway, right? Let's look into the past

Whether you're looking to brush up on old homesteading skills or delve into a completely new adventure on your homestead, modern technology gives us so many options for how to increase our homesteading knowledge. In fact, I sometimes think we have so much homesteading information right at our finger tips that we forget how lucky we are! Some of you may be wondering where do I myself go when I need homesteading information? What resources are the ones that I use? Well. Let me tell ya. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) See, I didn't want this to just be a list of random links that you can easily find by googling homestead information all by yourself. Instead, this is a list of my favorite homesteading channels, podcasts, and blogs, along with a few that were suggested to me -- and I will differentiate between the two so you know what I actually listen to/watch/read and which are resources I'm just discovering myself. But wait, there's more! Instead of giving you a general link to the home page for each of these suggestions, I've chosen a specific video, episode, or post that I think is especially worth checking out. You're welcome. Learn Homesteading Skills on Blogs My go-to method for researching and learning homesteading skills is and probably always will be blogs. Maybe it's because I'm a writer. Maybe it's because I read fast. Maybe it's because blogging is pretty well-established as an information source, and there are some amazingly helpful bloggers out there! Flip Flop Barnyard Jenna is a smart and strong homesteading wife and mama who just keeps treking along on her homestead journey in the face of much adversity. On her site you can learn about many things, such as raising pigs, homemade udder balm, or how to make a rag quilt. The 104 Homestead The purpose of Jess's blog The 104 Homestead is to teach people how to homestead where they live, whether it's an itty-bitty city lot, or a big piece of land in the middle of the woods. Jess has taught me many things—like how to make homemade Fire Cider, and the dang easiest way to peel tomatoes for processing. And if you've ever wanted to know how to correctly clip a chicken's wings, Jess can show you how to do that, too. Timber Creek Farm At Timber Creek Farm, Janet raises vegetables for their table, and raises animals for fiber, eggs, meat and companionship! Wasting less and being more self sufficient is her ongoing goal. Janet has a wealth of experience and from it has come lots of informative articles like When Can Chicks Go Outside?, Free Range Ducks Pros and Cons, Dyeing Wool With Natural Plant Dyes, and How to Freeze Eggs (for later use!). A Farm Girl in the Making Once up a time, there was a husband and wife who decided that maybe one day they would live a life outside of suburban America. It's a good thing they did, because from it came Ann's blog, A Farmgirl in The Making. I've frequented Ann's blog and I've learned a lot—from raising turkeys on the homestead to how to build a DIY boot rack. Ann writes about lots of stuff—from gardening to canning, as well as raising chickens, ducks & goats. Check out her site and see what you can learn! Grow Forage Cook Ferment Colleen writes about a great many things—foraging, gardening, cooking from scratch, and permaculture—but the posts of hers that I am forever grateful for are How to Make a Gallon of Mead and 15 Easy Mead Recipes for Beginners. Learn Homesteading Skills on Podcasts A very close second for learning homesteading skills is podcasts. What I love about podcasts is that I can stick my earbuds in while I'm kneading bread, cleaning, doing chores around the farm, or any number of things—and I can be learning something at the same time. Listening to podcasts seems to be a great multi-tasking tool—it can also keep you entertained when you drive to work!

Old fashioned weather prediction tips have always interested me. As a little kid, I realized I could predict a soon-to-come severe thunderstorm by watching for a certain flip of the leaves on our oak trees. Now I'm all grown up and live on a farm. I'm too far out to hear tornado sirens. And as a rule, I don't watch the news. While I can access the radar on my smartphone (and sometimes get weather alerts), I've found they aren't always accurate—even when they are GPS based. So how in the world do I deal with the weather and know what's coming? (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) It is important to know that severe weather is coming, and yet I've found a trend in the last several years that feels like mainstream, technology based weather prediction leans heavily towards hype in what I can only assume is some over-effort to keep people informed and "protected". Unfortunately, not only does that not help anything, it can actually backfire. If people feel the weather forecast is wrong most of the time, will they listen when it's actually right? What ever happened to looking at the sky? Paying attention to the way the air feels outside? Noticing how your animals are acting? Seeing the signs that nature gives us? I guess it's hard to do that when a lot of people don't spend a lot of time outside anymore. Today let's talk about weather folklore and old fashioned weather prediction tips. Stick a few of these in your back pocket, and you'll have a decent idea of what the sky is going to do next. Old fashioned weather prediction tips I grew up hearing... Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight: This weather saying has old roots and also scientific basis. It holds true if you live in certain areas on the planet and your weather patterns move west to east (not more north to south, as sometimes happens.) Because of this weather movement and the fact that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, if you see a red sky in the morning (the east), the rising sun is illuminating an approaching weather system (coming from the west). If instead you see a red sky at night (the west), the setting sun is illuminating the departing weather system, and decent weather is generally to follow. Sun dogs mean a change in weather: Sundogs are formed by ice crystals in the atmosphere and appear as patches of light next to the sun. I grew up hearing that sundogs meant a change in weather was coming. Other people use sundogs as an accurate predictor of rain. But as I've gotten older, I've come to know sundogs often mean what some old timers claim they mean: today will be clear as a bell and cold as hell. If a dog is eating grass, that means it will rain: While it sometimes seemed to work out to be a predictor of coming rain, many people say there is no scientific basis for it. Others say that dogs can sense the atmospheric pressure change before a storm, which gives them a bellyache and causes them to eat grass. When morning dew is on the grass, rain will never come to pass: I've mostly found this to be true here in Minnesota, and as it turns out, there's a scientific basis for it. If the night is clear (no clouds), the ground cools sufficiently to allow due to form. And if there are no clouds...good weather is ahead, right? Leaves will flip before heavy rain or a storm: Although some people thought I was nuts when I was little, the leaves on some trees do seem to flip or turn over before a storm. Leaves can become limp in response to abrupt changes in humidity that generally come with a storm, and this allows the slightest breeze to flip them over. This is also the reason I bought my very first FoxFire book: pre-internet, it was the only place I'd ever seen leaves flipping over before heavy rain mentioned, and I finally felt validated.

In the spirit of both honesty and self-improvement, I've got a little something today not only for homesteaders, but for those of you who lean more towards prepping as well. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Now, let's first get this out of the way. Prepping means different things to different folks. For some, traditional homesteading is prepping. Learning skills like baking bread from scratch, canning, gardening, or how to butcher a chicken or a pig prepares you for self-reliance and sets you on the road to self-sufficiency. For others, prepping also delves into BOBs, BIBs, MREs and stocks of water, gasoline, and ammo. I've often heard it said that not all preppers are homesteaders, but all homesteaders are preppers. And yet, I've met a few homesteaders who do not store water, gasoline, or ammo, and have no idea what a BOB or a BIB is. So clearly, people define prepping in different ways. Regardless of what you include in your definition of being prepared, I think there is something we need to get real about: If your aim is self reliance and self sufficiency—whether that's in order to run a farm or run for the hills—you need to be healthy. I will let that sink in for a bit. Because here's the thing. Some of you are saying, yeah, duh. Some of you are saying that's the entire reason I started homesteading/prepping: because I wanted to get healthy. But let's be honest: some people spend way more time talking about it than actually doing it. Some of us know people like this. Some of us are people like this. And believe me, I get it. It's much easier—and a lot more fun—to talk about living off the land than it is to actually live off the land. It takes far more time and way more effort than what most people realize when they're just talking about it. Get real about your abilities I'm all about being super honest, right? I am not above occasionally stopping at Starbucks if I happen to be in town and grabbing a treat. I don't always choose the old fashioned, simple way and I don't make every single thing that we eat from scratch. But friends, you cannot run a farm or run from zombies if you're eating more junk, processed food than not. You cannot run a farm or run from zombies if you lounge on a couch or sit at a desk for the majority of your awake hours. You need to move your body. Or in other words, you need to walk the walk instead of just talking the big talk. There is nothing more obnoxious than a homesteader or a prepper telling you how to take care of physically taxing issues on your homestead or how to deal with the zombies when they can't even climb a flight of stairs without getting winded. There is nothing more ridiculous than a homesteader or a prepper thinking that when the time comes they will, by virtue of being a Homesteader or a Prepper, be automatically ready to handle what's thrown at them. Tell me again how you're going to spend all day hunting for your food when you don't even have a clue where the rabbits, deer, and turkey are right now? Live right now like you're going to live when things get hard or challenging or tough. In other words, jump into it right now so you have to deal with things that are hard and problem solve the challenges. I say that because we have learned so much in our 8 years here on the farm. It blows my mind that there are people out there who think if times get tough, they will just automatically know how to do things on their property. Or that secret property they're going to run off to. Or that they're going to be able to handle a exponential increase in physical activity when right now they can barely lift a bag of cat litter. Or that they're somehow going to be able to deal with the elements when right now their exposure to any elements is only from the house to the car and the car to work.

One of the great things about raising your own pigs is having a full freezer after hog butchering is done. And while we all love homemade bacon, ham is a favorite as well. So let me share with you how we brine a ham (and then smoke it!) here at our farm. While most people think of ham as a giant cut from the back end of a pig, you can actually make ham from any pork roast that you cut. At butcher time, we always cut several smaller pork roasts instead of two giant hams from each pig. We do this because packaging is easier, and it also allows us more flexibility in what we do with the pork roasts. After choosing a pork roast (or several!) to make into ham, the first thing you need to do is brine the ham. Some people call this "curing" a ham -- brining is a type of curing. To brine a ham is basically to wet cure a ham. Brining takes several days, and it's essential to the process of making a good ham. Please realize that making a ham from the pigs you have raised is not going to be an immediate thing -- it's definitely a process. Good things come to those who wait. How to brine a ham NOTE: This is how we brine ham at our farm, it has worked for us for many years. There are also other theories and ways to do it. Do your own research and then go make some ham. :) Here's the method we use to brine a ham. For 7 pounds of pork, we did: 2 1/4 cups kosher salt 2 cups brown sugar 1.5 tsp pink curing salt <-- needs to be this, not table salt NOTE REGARDING CHANGE IN AMOUNT OF PINK SALT: This recipe was changed in March 2023. Our old, handwritten recipe stated 2.5 TBSP of pink curing salt and so that's what we used (and originally published on this site) for many years. However, in March 2023, after receiving multiple questions/comments about the "excessive amount of pink curing salt", we did an experiment to compare the 2.5 TBSPs in the original handwritten recipe to the current "safer" suggestion of 1 tsp of pink curing salt per 5 lbs. of meat. While nitrites were never our concern (after doing our own research regarding pink curing salt and nitrites, as well as nitrites that naturally occur in nature/vegetables) we did find that there is not a huge difference in the taste or "saltiness" of the meat by only using 1.5 tsps of pink curing salt for this recipe. So as a more cost effective and resource conserving method, we have changed the recipe to use only 1.5 tsps of pink curing salt. 1 tablespoon pickling spice 1/4 cup molasses 6 qts of water, divided Place all ingredients (except water and pork) in a large food grade bucket. Bring two quarts of water to a boil and then pour over what's in the bucket. Stir to dissolve. Then pour four quarts of cold water into the bucket. Stir until well combined. Then carefully place your pork roast(s) in the brine filled bucket. It is very important to remember that when you brine a ham and while this brine is working its magic on the pork roast, the pork roast needs to stay completely submerged. You can do this by turning a dinner plate upside down and putting it on top of the pork roast. For extra insurance, we usually fill a Ziploc bag with water and place it on top of the plate to make sure the pork roast doesn't come poking out of the brine. Some people suggest turning or flipping the roast in the brine solution every day or so, but we've never done this. The pork roast needs to brine one day for every two pounds of pork. In other words, a seven pound roast would need to brine at least three and a half days. This bucket of future ham needs to be refrigerated for the entire brine time. Plan accordingly! Brine for the total weight of pork or the weight of the actual roasts? If you are brining a bunch of smaller cuts equaling XYZ, the brine will obviously go through the cuts faster than one big roast equaling the same XYZ. In other words, the brine will go through an 8 pound roast much slower than it will soak in...

Folks who are interested in homesteading often ask me what animal(s) they should start with on their homestead. Should they get chickens? Ducks? Goats? Quail? Rabbits? A milk cow? What are the best animals for a new homesteader? Help me, Amy! I don't know what to choose! (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Things to consider when choosing the best animals for a new homesteader: Your particular homestead: space/acreage: Are you urban or rural? Do you have a quarter acre? 40 acres? 400? neighbors: Are they close? Will they report your noisy rooster or goat, or are they the kind to take care of the homestead if you go on vacation? buildings/fencing available: We moved to an established, working farm where many things were already in place. Our home before the farm required building chickens coops and runs. Do you have fencing already available? Or will you need to fence a pasture? predators: Is the biggest threat going to be the neighbor's half deaf dog? Or will you be on the look out for fox, coyote,and eagles? And if so, do you have the skill, materials, and knowledge to keep your animals safe? Your time/money/resources available: your job/commitments: Many homesteaders work a "regular 9-5 job", but it's important to realize your homestead option may be different (or more complicated) than someone who is home more often. How much time do you spend running kids to events? How often are you gone on the weekend? help available: Are you single? Are you married with 8 kids? How much man, woman, and child power do you have at your disposal to assist with animal "stuff"? money available: Do you have the money to invest in an animal and what they need? Keep in mind, a large animal has bigger potential problems than a smaller animal—and bigger problems often require deeper pockets. What the purpose is for getting an animal? Eggs/Meat/Fiber: Thinking of selling chicken eggs? Do you want to raise and butcher your own hog? Trying to figure out how to choose the best meat chicken for your homestead? Do you understand the process that comes with keeping an animal that provides for you in an eggs/meat/fiber way? Other reasons you may consider an animal for your homestead are companionship, protection, or entertainment. There is nothing better than Chicken Television. Just sayin'. However, one reason you should not get animals on your homestead is because you feel like homesteaders are "supposed to have animals". Getting animals for this reason will cause you headaches that are completely unnecessary. We started here with chickens and quickly added goats, pigs, and horses. Within a few years, we realized that goats and horses weren't our thing, and we started trying things like pheasants and turkeys. Currently, we raise chickens (layers and meat birds), ducks, turkeys, and pigs. Might we add something in the next couple years? Absolutely. The advice we all give but don't follow? Here's the truth... When experienced homesteaders are asked about the best animals for a new homesteader, most will be cautioned to not fill up too fast. In other words, don't try all the animals you've ever wanted to have all at one time. We've all said it, myself included. And it's decent advice. It's super easy to get overwhelmed. Since animals are exciting and chicken math is a thing, almost every single homesteader I know has filled their farm up too fast. But. While it's good, sound advice to go slow, the only way to figure out which animals work on your homestead is by having those animals on your homestead. There are some things you're just not going to know about certain animals (or your homestead's ability to support them, or if you will enjoy them as much as you thought you would) until you actually bring those animals to your homestead. But what are the best animals for a new homesteader?

We keep both ducks and chickens here on our homestead and I'm often asked which I like better. If you're looking to decide between ducks and chickens, here are a few similarities and differences between the two that may help you make your choice. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) We jumped into ducks and chickens ten or so years ago while at our previous home. Chickens worked out really well—but ducks were such a disaster that I swore I'd never have them again. Never. Ever. However, last year,  in a moment of weakness I lifted the duck ban—and they've been perfect here at the farm! I am a walking example of why it's really important to understand the similarities and the differences between the two species. Similarities in ducks and chickens Both lay eggs You'll definitely get eggs from your duck and chicken hens. While most everyone knows about chicken eggs, duck eggs tend to have a richer taste, command a higher price (in some areas), and are sought after for baked goods or homemade mayo! Both can be raised for meat Both ducks and chickens can be harvested for meat, although there are definitely breeds to choose if you're specifically looking for meat—for instance, you could try Cornish Cross/Broilers for a fast growing meat chicken and Pekins/Jumbo Pekins for a fast growing meat duck! Psst. If you're looking for help choosing which meat chicken is right for your homestead—because there are several breeds to choose from!—check out my ebook Choosing the Best Meat Chicken for your Homestead. Entertainment I've often said that we have no need here for television because the animals keep us entertained. Whether it's watching the chickens chase after a treat, or watching ducks dunk in the pond, both sets of feathered friends are sure to keep you chuckling. Differences in ducks and chickens Mess factor The first thing you'll hear about ducks is that they are messy. And they are. Ducks love their water and they love to make a mess with it. And if you are not realistically prepared for the water mess than ducks can make, you may end up banning duck ownership for ten years. Seriously, if a duck can get something sopping wet, that thing will be sopping wet. On the flip side, some people say that chickens are more destructive than ducks because chickens scratch at the ground and also make craters for dust bathing. So, chickens scratch up everything, ducks make everything wet. Everyone makes a mess of the farm. It's your job to figure out what kind of mess you'd rather handle. Roosting Chicken roost at night and require roosting poles in order to smile. Ducks do not roost and instead take a nap on the ground. Nesting boxes Chickens need nesting boxes, ducks have ground nests. Personalities While some people have super friendly ducks, that's not been our personal experience—except for Einstein, our crested Pekin. But he was...a "special" duck.  If I want to go outside and hang out with a feathered friend, the chickens are generally much more likely to come hang with me than the ducks. Why choose between ducks and chickens? Keep both! We no longer free range our chickens at our homestead, but we have several outdoor runs. And bonus for the ducks, one of those very large runs is in a spot on our homestead that is almost always wet—which makes it a great area for the ducks to hang out! Because of the lay of our particular homestead and the area available to us, we have no issues with keeping ducks and chickens separate. However, there are plenty of folks that keep ducks and chickens together, either because they are free ranging or because of housing/space available. How safe is multi-flock housing? from 104 Homestead Keeping ducks and chickens together from The Cape Coop If you decide to keep ducks and chickens together,

Working around the homestead gives you a lot of time to think about the simple life. And in my deep thoughts 'round the farm, I've realized that modern homesteaders have created a bit of a problem. See, we've monetized the concept of simplicity. You guys, we're selling the simple life. We're marketing it. We're dressing it up, giving it a cute label with a nice font, and putting it out there for everyone to see. And buy. We've given the simple life a website and a podcast and a few hundred Instagram hashtags. We've made it popular on Pinterest and YouTube and we've created reality television around it.  We've turned the simple life into an infomercial where for five easy payments of 19.95, you too can learn what it takes to live more simply. We've got courses and ebooks and membership sites. People want to know what we do and how we live and we've got way more places and platforms to share it on than we actually have time to spend sharing. Somewhere along the line money and fame and popularity and importance got involved, and we messed up the whole thing. (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) The simple life isn't easy. And that's why it works. It goes without saying that the simple life isn't easy. It's hard work. In fact, I believe that's actually one of the main reasons the simple life is simple. People are so busy with their hands, with the day to day effort involved in running a home or a farm, that they don't have time or energy to involve themselves in the drama of modern life—or anything they don't need to get involved in. Modern homesteading puts a weird new spin on all of that. We want to keep ourselves busy with homesteading and simplicity and hard work— kind of like great-grandma did—and then we also have the internet, a huge platform to share what we know. A huge platform to learn from and showcase our life. A huge platform to get muddled up in, forget why we're doing what we're doing, and lose our way. In all honesty, it's weird to talk about this. In fact, I almost feel like a hypocrite because, hi, my name is Amy and I run a decently successful homestead blog. People come to me for advice and suggestions about homesteading and simplicity and frugality—and I love that they do! I'm happy to share. I've got a podcast. I've written books. I'm doin' the things. That's the thing about the internet—it's great for sharing knowledge. It's great for learning homesteading skills you don't yet have. Without it, I would have never been brave enough to learn to can spaghetti sauce. The internet is also great for connecting with people who are interested in the same simple life that you're trying to attain. But I think there is a fine line between all of that...and missing the point. The root. The why for what we're doing. It happens. I've talked to many homestead bloggers who say that sometimes they are so busy writing or teaching or speaking that they don't have time to *do* the things they are writing or teaching or speaking about. Putting the simple life out there for people to see can be tricky When you turn your passion into something you put out there—especially if you somehow turn it into your job—you have to be very careful about the line you walk. And while I do believe we all have the responsibility to teach others what we know—because that's how these skills continue to exist—you have to be very careful where that takes you. I mean, if you don't take a picture of the pie you baked, did you even really bake it? If you don't post online about the issues you had in the barn this morning, did they really even happen? For many of us, I think that's the point we've arrived at. In the quest to document and share the life we live, we sometimes complicate a really simple thing. It's one thing to allow people to live vicariously through your homesteading ...

Someone give me a pen and a paper. I'm gonna sit down and write a handwritten letter. (Well, I mean, after I finish this blog post.) (Don't want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) When I was younger, I had many pen pals. Even as an adult—before Facebook’s popularity—I found a pen pal through an old fashioned living/homesteader forum. And though she and I are now friends on Facebook, we do the vast majority of our communication by way of a handwritten note, letter, or card. The majority of people I’ve asked say they love to receive handwritten letters or cards in the mail. It lets them know someone is thinking about them because they put the effort in to sending them something special. However, most of those people I asked admitted they don’t send handwritten mail. While a few people said they don’t send cards or letters anymore because the cost is prohibitive, the majority of people I asked said they don’t send handwritten mail because it simply takes too much time. Time. You know, that thing we were supposed to be saving with all the technology and advancements we add to our lives? (That’s a whole different blog post, though, so…) Our communication now may be faster and more efficient, but is it actually better? Is it to be considered an improvement that we can blast off a paragraph's worth of response in less than 15 seconds?  In some ways, maybe. But I’d argue that it’s not better in all ways or every situation. See, the thing I’ve realized is this: regardless of the reason for the death of the handwritten letter, the quality of our communication has changed because of it. And this is much deeper than what it first seems at face value. A handwritten letter requires time to write each word. I sat down to write a letter to a friend last week and was amazed at how much longer it takes to w-r-i-t-e out the very same words than if I were to type them out on Facebook. Do I want to write that paragraph about what the chickens/my kids/the neighbor did yesterday? Do I want to write out what I think of my friend’s sister’s boyfriend? Or should I leave it out? What’s really important or pertinent to this note? And how long will my 40-year-old hands and fingers hold out to continue this pen-and-paper letter? Which got me to thinking—if people had to hand write all their emotional, dramatic, political explosions, would there be as many of them? Or would we get better at sighing and scrolling past because it wouldn’t be worth our effort to drag out a pen and paper? Communication happens much faster now—and it's changed what we allow to be said.   A handwritten letter devotes complete attention to the person you’re writing to. On social media, it is not uncommon for me to have several chats open at once. And while I can get a lot done in a short amount of time, I also haven’t fully given myself to any of the conversations I’m having. You can’t be scatterbrained about who you’re writing to when you’re using a pen and paper. There’s not enough room on the kitchen table to be working on 12 letters at once. You have to focus on one person at a time—which brings with it a sort of importance and reverence for the individual that’s being written to. A handwritten letter means a break in the day. It might have something to do with the fact that to write a letter, it requires that you take a break from what you were doing, but I tend to think that sitting down to work on a handwritten letter is just as enjoyable for the writer as it is for the receiver. I would argue that in the days when the handwritten letter was more common, people knew how to take a break every once in awhile. We could learn a lot from taking time for the handwritten letter. It’s more than just words on paper. It’s a break within a way to connect. But one of the biggest changes I see that’s come along with the ...

A new friend asked the other day, "do you have an blog post or a podcast episode on why you decided to be a homesteader?" As it turns out, while there are a lot of things I've talked about in this blog and on my podcast, I've never really talked about why we started homesteading.  (Listen to today's podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) So, what exactly prompted our head first dive into this crazy life? (Or wait. Was it head first? Or was it more gradual?) Join today me as I talk about some stuff and things like:  -- Where we were before the farm -- How we ended up at the farm -- Our original plans for the farm, what worked...and what didn't -- What happened when life happened -- How I got lost in our plans and "got away" from homesteading -- What I needed to do to get back to it -- The importance of knowing your reason for homesteading and what your goals are -- How to determine what's extra and if it needs to go Links I may have referenced in today's show: Find me on MeWe at my personal account, the Farmish Kind of Life discussion group, and the Farmish page Episode 52: The Importance of a Handwritten Letter (and I swear I'm not a hypocrite) That time I asked other people why they homestead  That time I explained why I call my life farmish Backwoods Home magazine (it's back in print!) Self Reliance magazine (by the same people that publish Backwoods Home) It's super awesome to open your freezer and see that its full—here are 5 ways to make sure that happens The really sweet chicken butchering set up we've figured out Why homesteading veterans actually need homesteading newbies Use our homeschool mission statement project as a sorta kinda guide to write a homesteading mission statement Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.

There's something that smart homesteaders continue to do, and that's learn. This revelation came about the other day when I made sun tea—for the very first time. I can hear you now, asking Amy, you've seriously never made sun tea before? True story. And the simple act of sticking some tea bags in water and setting it out in the sun sent me on a path of deep thoughts about the importance of continuing to learn new things around the homestead. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) In order to continue being successful at homesteading, you have to keep learning. How else are you going to take your homesteading journey to the next level? Join today me as I talk about: -- The reality that you really don't know what you don't know -- How continuing to learn increases your self-sufficiency -- Why it's important to teach people about the homesteading things you know -- The importance of being part of a community when it comes to learning -- Project: list out the things you do know and what you don't know—and why it's really hard to make that list -- Examples of things I do know how to do—and the many things I don't -- Why we tend to get stuck in the information we currently have  -- Why you shouldn't feel dumb or overwhelmed if you don't know something -- How modern homesteading gives us the option to be afraid to screw up—and why that doesn't help Links referenced in today's show: Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce Living Free in Tennessee - Nicole Sauce's podcast How to make sun tea in a mason jar The how-to of fermenting chicken feed The Backyard Herbal Apothecary by Devon Young Why YOU are a Homesteading Expert Homesteading Questions: There are No Dumb Ones The Gift of Community Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.

To be a successful homesteader, you also need to be a fixer. But I'm not just referring to hands-on fixing, I'm also talking about the ability to move past just complaining towards taking action on the issues we're dealing with. And believe me—there's a reason this has been on the forefront of my mind lately. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) A few thoughts from today's episode: — There is a big difference between blowing off steam and pointless complaining—and you will know if you ask yourself is there productive action after the complaint? — People complain for lots of different reasons: It's a way to bond with people. If you don't complain, you fear that people assume your life is easy. Complaining is easier than making the (usually) uncomfortable choice that will bring about the solution to the problem. — When an issue arises on your homestead and you complain and don't fix it, you're just making noise. And you can't run an effective homestead by just making noise. — How many times have you heard someone complain about their aggressive rooster, or that their free range chickens are tearing up their yard—but they don't take steps to remedy the situation? They just post again in another forum, asking the same exact question. — It is most effective to focus your efforts dealing with things within your circle of influence/things you can control (health, children, issues at work or on homestead), and give less effort to worrying about the things in your circle of concern (the weather, the national debt, terrorism). — Don't get caught up in complaining about the stuff you can't do anything about. It only takes you away from the stuff that you actually have to do on the homestead—and I know you have enough to keep you busy. — When you complain, be willing to take action on the things you're complaining about. What are you going to do about it? — Complaining is sometimes the way to identify what we need to learn more about. — Pay close attention to what's going on around you and figure out solutions to what you may be dealing with in the future—but don't get stuck in the complaining part. Move into action to make things better for yourself, your family, and your homestead. — There are a lot of people out there who do nothing but complain. They are hard to be around. Don't be like them. — There are also people who are dealing with a lot of stuff and they complain very little. As in, yep, there's a struggle, now let's figure out what to do. Be like them. Links referenced in today’s show: Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce Join the A Farmish Kind of Life group on MeWe Should You Keep a Rooster? (episode 15) Five Truths About Free Range Chickens (episode 7) Habit 1: Be Proactive (FranklinCovey.com)  Smart Homesteaders Keep Learning (episode 54) Check out all the episodes of the Farmish Kind of Life podcast Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.

Feeding Cornish Cross chickens the right way is so important. If you overfeed them, you will end up with leg issues, heart attacks, and early death. So how much food should they eat? What does it cost to raise a Cornish Cross from day old chick all the way to freezer camp? Let me share with you the stats and tips I've learned after seven years of raising them. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) Amy, hold up. If Cornish Cross need such special care, why raise them? Why not raise a bird with more room for error? We've tried other meat birds, but choose to raise Cornish Cross because when all is said and done, we get the most bang for our buck with this breed. Dollar in, dollar out, it's the most efficient bird to raise for the meat you get. If you're trying to figure out what kind of meat bird is right for your homestead—because Cornish Cross aren't always the best choice—you can check out my book Choosing the Right Meat Chicken for Your Homestead, which compares five different chicken breed options that are often suggested to raise for meat. New to feeding Cornish Cross chickens? If you are new to raising and feeding Cornish Cross chickens, you may not realize how different they are from other chicken breeds. Cornish Cross birds are bred to grow fast. If you don't feed them correctly, they will grow too quickly and that's when you start to see sloth like birds that do nothing but sit and wait at the food pan for their next meal—partly because they're lazy, but also because they can't walk due to leg issues. You will also have chickens die off early because their hearts can't keep up with the growth. The best way to explain Cornish Cross is by telling you about a dog we used to have when I was younger. He used to bring us his food bowl when he was hungry. We thought it was cute, so we'd refill it. Every. Single. Time. You can imagine what happened. Cornish Cross are like that dog because they will try to convince you every time they see you that they are hungry and need to eat and if you don't feed them right now, they are going to die. And so the first time you raise them (just like our first time raising them) you may find that you're going through a ton of food—and totally overfeeding them. Which means they grow too fast. They have lots of issues. They die early. So let's talk about a better way to feed them. Suggested stats for feeding Cornish Cross Let's be clear: you cannot free feed Cornish Cross. You have to pay attention to how much you are feeding them. According to the back of the 50 lb bag of meat bird feed that we purchase, it states that (in a perfect world) in 8 weeks, 10-12 pounds of food will raise a Cornish Cross to a 5 lb. dressed product. (Dressed means feathers gone, insides gone, cleaned, bagged, ready for the freezer. Basically, what you'd be buying at the store if you went to purchase a whole bird for supper.) So. 1 bird. 8 weeks. 10-12 pounds of feed = 5 lb dressed bird. Which means—using the 12 lb per bird amount—50 birds would require 600 pounds of food total over the course of 8 weeks, or 12 (50 lb) bags of feed total. Doing the math, if it is suggested that 12 bags of feed will raise up 50 Cornish Cross in 8 weeks, that means you're feeding a little more than a bag a week to a flock of 50 birds. But is this realistic? Well. Let's see what we did. Our stats for feeding Cornish Cross (CC) In full disclosure, our stats are from CC raised in a very (very) large coop. My commentary on free ranging/chicken tractoring CCs is at the end of this blog post. We started with 50 chicks. One died the day after shipping. It is not uncommon for this to happen. We raised 49 birds all the way to butcher day. I fed 900 pounds (or 18 bags) to 49 birds in 8 weeks and had an average dressed weight of 5 lbs. 900 pounds is 300 pounds above what the suggested feeding is for...

To be an efficient homesteader, it's important to pay attention to what's going on around you...and then prepare accordingly. But what exactly should you be paying attention to? What should you ignore? And how do you use that information to prepare accordingly? That's what I'm talking about in today's episode.  (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) A few thoughts from today’s episode:   There are people in society—both homesteaders and non-homesteaders alike—that don't pay attention to what's going on. Some people do pay attention, but don't think far enough ahead to see how one thing affects the other. (This conversation originally started with people being concerned that farmers wouldn't be able to—or didn't—get their corn in at the begining of this last growing season, and how that would—or will?—affect future supply and prices.)   We have to be careful what we're paying attention to and who we are getting our info from. When you get information from any kind of media, one side is often blaming the other for what is happening—even when they're talking about the same thing. Do not get sucked into this. You cannot effectively prepare for the future when you're caught up in who is to blame.   Take the info you hear with a grain of salt, read between the lines, figure out how it actually affects you -- and then prepare accordingly.   "Prepping" is a thing now, but understand, so much of what is done as "preppers" didn't used to be called prepping.   Prepping doesn't always mean ammo, water, and bug out bags. It can be as simple as knowing Christmas is coming and you should really get started on knitting that blanket so you don't get behind.   Things we should always be working on, not just because we're afraid it was a bad year of gardening or we've heard drama in the news -- Grow food, raise food, store food. Plan for next year's garden and next year's barn Greenhouse, cold frames, bring your planters inside Consider what animals you have on the farm and be realistic about what you need/can afford to raise/feed Ferment animal feed, grow fodder Be careful that your foray into self-sufficiceny and self-reliance in certain areas isn't actually costing you way more than it needs to Learn to barter and use it as much as you can. You will stretch your resources! Learn a skill. The more you know how to do, the more prepared you will be for whatever is coming your way. Learn about food and how it works in your body -- understand fat, protein, and carbs Eat what is actually available and makes sense to eat. Most of us are eating more than we need simply because it's available. Links referenced in today’s show: Holler Roast Coffee My (brand new!) Patreon page Episode 55: Smart Homesteaders Fix the Problem Learn Homesteading Skills: my favorite blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.

Homeschooling is sometimes considered the self reliant way to go about education. We've been a homeschooling family since 2007 and are often asked about our journey of homeschooling on the homestead. Why did we decide to homeschool? How did it work for us? What were the pros and cons? Is there anything we would change? That’s what I’m talking about in today’s episode.  Note: The actual "how-to" of homeschooling depends on your reasons for choosing homeschooling, your educational beliefs and goals, and also what state you live in! If you'd like direction with that, feel free to email me: amy@afarmishkindoflife.com  (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) The (absolutely cliff notes version) summary of today's episode:   What made us decide to homeschool? My husband's work schedule—and also because I just wanted to.    Why did we continue to do it? The longer our kids weren't in the public school system, the harder it would have been for them to go into it. The longer we homeschooled, the more our views conflicted with mainstream education.   What curriculum did we use? We are much closer to unschoolers than "homeschoolers" and therefore learned mostly from real life experiences and interests on our own timeline. And yes, unschooling works. My 16 year old passed the exam to start full time college as a high school junior.   What are some things to set up for kids to learn about on the homestead? Life on the homestead is just what happens on the homestead, and you do not have to set that up curriculum style. You won't even realize all the things you are teaching your kids just by them being involved in the things that happen on a homestead.   What would I change if I did it over? When you're in charge of your kid's education, there are so many things you can worry about and I realize (now that we are so close to the end) that 99% of what I worried about or cared about never really mattered and caused me a lot of unnecessary stress.   Pros of homeschooling - Flexibility with time Family time, family time, family time! You can learn about something as long as you want or can move on because you already understand it. You have time for super big, hands-on projects. My kids have had a lot of time to build in the garage (welding, building guitars, etc). They've also had huge amounts of time to hone certain skills. You generally don't get super skilled at a musical instrument in 20 minutes a week. My kids can and do spend hours a day working on this stuff. Cons of homeschooling - can be a lot of work, mental stress  You have to provide opportunities, people, and other teachers (when necessary) for your kids  -- which seems obvious, but it can be overwhelming if you are hyper focused on "I am self sufficient!" and try to do everything yourself. Although it's "self sufficient", it can also take a village. People will still critique what you do and don't do -- even within the homeschooling community. You will not get away from that.  It can sometimes be hard to find your people within the homeschooling community. You can put a lot of blame on yourself when your kid is struggling, especially if someone else feels they should already be at a certain point in their learning or development. Links referenced in today's show. Off Kilter Brownies (grain/gluten free brownies) The Hmmmschooling Mom website Life of Fred (math) Story of the World (history, great projects!) Colton's music page Simon's music page Why kids need to see you fail Why you're not always the best teacher for your kids Support my content through Patreon  Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of ...

Time management is definitely important on the homestead. But before we can talk about how to manage our time, we have to assess how much time we realistically have to manage. That’s what I’m talking about in today’s episode. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) Summary of today's episode:    Not everyone has time to bake a batch of bread—simply because they're not home long enough to do it! Not every family has time to sit down and eat a meal together. Modern homesteading means there is sometimes a disconnect between the homesteading life people want to have, and the reality of the actual hours they have at this point in their life to devote to the journey they envision.   Homesteaders who work full time outside the home certainly deal with their own set of challenges, but sometimes people who don't have as much time are actually more efficient with their time.   Oddly enough, being home (or being a full-time homesteader) gives you so much flexibility with your time that you can actually end up being less efficient than you thought you'd be.   Your normal is your normal—and that makes it hard to objectively (without tools) assess your time use and where your pockets of wasted time are.   When you are busy, you should look busy. If someone was to peek into your life at that moment, they should be able to tell that you're busy just by watching you.   Use the tools in the links below to figure out what hours in your day are left after the "essentials". You can also set a timer for 10-15 minutes, and then write down everything you did in that 10-15 minutes. Then repeat. You may be amazed to find out what your time is actually spent doing, or what you're not doing when you know it's being tracked.   Time savers can save a lot of time, but not if we're just using them to fit more stuff in. Technology can be amazingly helpful, but it can also be a major time suck.   Links referenced in today's show We Drink and Farm Things minisode #20: Drink and Live a Frugal Farmish Life It's Not About Money...except when it is (my frugal living book) 059: Homeschooling: Our Journey with Self Reliant Education Off Kilter Brownies (grain/gluten free brownies) Tool #1: Time Calculator Tool #2: Where does the time go - find out if you dare Tool #3: Where does the day go? Tool #4: Time tracking tutorial Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.

Homesteading will definitely keep you busy! But in order to run an effective homestead, you need to manage your time effectively. So let's dig into some tips about homestead time management. (Did you check out the first part of this episode about time assessment? It's a good place to start!) (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) Summary of today's episode: Write down your to-do list on paper or a dry erase board (daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally) Have a family meeting so everyone is on the same page. (Did you forget about something else that was on the schedule already?) Realistically prioritize your to-do lists Keep a freezer inventory list, and check off what you use when you use it. Make a master grocery list that's in the order of the store you primarily shop at. ...or order your groceries online and schedule pick up for when you're in town. Plan your meals out. Seriously. Keep a rainy day/snowstorm list made up of those inside tasks that should be saved for when you can't be outside. Understand your house will be messier in the middle of harvest season. It's okay. You can't be two places at once. ...but also understand that if your house is impossible to ever keep "picked up", you need less stuff. Keep a farm journal. It saves you time in planning. Make your day as long as possible...without being ridiculous. Determine what your priorities are on the homestead. ...and then realize what needs to go because it doesn't line up with your homesteading priorities. (TV? Volunteering?) Routine, routine, routine. Do what needs to be done first. Save the things that can be done when it's dark for when it's dark. Farm out what you can. Ask for help when you need it. Tap into people's strengths and skills and give them the tasks they are best suited for. Learn skills that make things run more efficiently - it's the whole reason I learned to use a chainsaw. Fix what's broken. Replace what's not efficient. Upgrade/automate when possible. Streamline your systems. Put away your tools! Stay on top of the issues so they don't become bigger issues. Use available technology and modern improvements to tools. Don't get caught up in doing things the old fashioned way. Pay attention to and be honest about where your time is going. Use a timer if you have a problem with rabbit holes. Multi-tasking doesn't always save time. Understand each season on the homestead has it's own chaos and calm. Don't kid yourself that life will calm down in the next season. You. cannot. do. it. all. Make sure to take time for you. Links referenced in today's show: 060: How Much Time Do You Actually Have for Homesteading? Episode list of the Farmish Kind of Life podcast The Survival Podcast episode 2500: The Audience Speaks My Three Things from Living Free in Tennessee Homestead Menu Planning Tips How to Do it All Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.

The homesteading community is so important, right? Sure. But do we understand why it's important? Or what the biggest threat to it is? In today's episode, we talk about the one thing I think hurts the homesteading community most, and could be the death of the homesteading community if we allow it to happen. Hopefully, this episode will help you steer clear of a certain mind trap we can sometimes get stuck in when we're on the quest to become more self-sufficient and self-reliant. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) Summary of today's episode: It's common for homesteaders to talk about not wanting to be around people or that they don't like to talk to people. Ironically, these homesteaders are often the same people that are super active on social media. We are created for community! We are wired to be in relationship with each other. People want to talk with other folks who are living the same lifestyle as they are. Just because we're learning self sufficiency, it doesn't mean we don't need each other. We learn how to handle all the things alone, but that doesn't mean we're left alone. The homesteading community is important because there are a lot of skills to learn, and the community is where we learn those skills. The homesteading community is also important because it's your support system made of people who understand what you're trying to do. The most detrimental thing to the homesteading community? It's when we start to believe we don't need community, or that we can do it all alone and don't need anybody else to teach or support us. Your job in the homesteading community is to figure out the skill you want to learn, then learn the skill, then teach that skill to someone else. However, there are a few things the homesteading community can sometimes get wrong: 1) being adamant there is only one way to do things, 2) criticizing other homesteaders for the way they choose to run their homestead, and 3) trying to be a homesteading purist. We need to stop assuming that the hermit feeling the homesteaders on the prairie had was something they wanted. It's entirely possible that the homesteaders on the prairie would be jealous of the community we have available now and would ask us why are you trying to do this alone? Links referenced in today's show: Recipes on A Farmish Kind of Life TSP episode #2500 A Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group A Farmish Kind of Life Facebook page A Farmish Kind of Life Instagram account Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.

Decluttering as a homeowner is important, homesteader or not! But homesteaders are a tricky bunch—as frugal people, we tend to save a lot of stuff so we can reuse as much as possible. In today's episode, we tackle the topic of stuff and how it can be a problem on the homestead. I also offer tips on a few pretty simple ways for how to deal with the stuff that might be taking over your home, your homestead, and your productivity. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) Summary of today's episode: Why should you declutter your homestead? Too much stuff leads to overwhelm, which leads to inactivity It gives you more space so you can take on more projects or add to the homestead in an organized way Helps you figure out what’s important and a priority on your homestead It can save you money - if you’re disorganized, you can’t find stuff, so you buy stuff you don’t realize you already had. If things are organized, chores take less time—decluttering effectively manages your time for you. How to declutter your homestead: You have to be in the right mood, for sure. But don’t let “I’m not in the mood” be a deterrent for weeks on end. Often suggested method #1: Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo ("does the item bring you joy?") Often suggested method #2: Have you used it in six months? Often suggested method #3: 30 day challenge to remove a bag or box worth of stuff from your house everyday. The super not-fancy-just-be-an-adult method I use -- Pick a spot, work on it, move on.  Grab a few boxes or tables: Don’t need, do need, think about it. Divide items into the boxes, then deal with each box. Make it a team effort only if it’s helpful. Links referenced in today's show: It's Not About Money...except when it is by Amy Dingmann (that's me!) The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo Episode 061: Time Management for Smart Homesteaders Farmish homesteading group on MeWe A Farmish Kind of Life on Facebook A Farmish Kind of Life on Instagram A Farmish Kind of Life on Pinterest   Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.

There are several myths or beliefs about homesteading that tend to persist in the mainstream. If you’ve been homesteading a while, you’ve probably heard a lot of these things—and can chuckle about the fact they aren't true. And maybe—if you're honest—you can maybe remember back to when you were asking some of these same questions because you didn't realize these things were myths! (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) Summary of today's episode: Here are 25+ myths or beliefs about life on a homestead that I've encountered, in no particular order: Roosters only crow in the morning. You need a rooster to get eggs. Goats will eat anything! Why do you need a male animal if all you want to do is milk the female?  A rainy day is a day off.  Life in the country is slower paced. All corn is sweet corn.  Chicken lay eggs in the morning. Chickens lay eggs in a nesting box.  Chickens will be friendly if you feed them treats.  Brown eggs come from farm chickens, white eggs come from store.  A small homestead/hobby farm doesn’t take much time.  A small homestead/hobby farm/farm will pay your mortgage. Your homestead activity/needs will be completely financially sustained by what you grow/raise/create on your homestead.  You must get up early to do farm chores.  You can be completely self-sufficient on your homestead and raise everything you need.  You can’t eat fertilized eggs.  You’re not a real homesteader if you work off the homestead.  All homesteaders are (conservative Christians, hippies, homeschoolers, prepping for the zombies, etc.)  "Must be nice you got your land for free..."  Homesteaders never leave their homestead. You’re cheating if you use modern conveniences for old fashioned living.  "You must save so much money by raising your own food!"  You can’t homestead on less than 120 acres (or whatever their magical number is).  You can’t homestead if you don’t have both a garden and animals.  "Funny, you don’t look like a farm girl from a music video..." “You’ll get caught up. Just work a little harder.” “Just find someone to watch your farm if you want to go on vacation.” “I wish I could do what you do, but I just don’t have time.” Links referenced in today's show: Episode 021: There Are No Dumb Questions About Homesteading Episode 064: Homestead Decluttering - The Why and How Episode 015: Should You Keep a Rooster Episode 006: Does Homesteading Save You Money? Farmish homesteading group on MeWe A Farmish Kind of Life on Facebook A Farmish Kind of Life on Instagram A Farmish Kind of Life on Pinterest Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.

Gift giving at Christmastime—or any other time—is meant to be a joyous occasion, but often ends up with a lot of chaos and stress. We hold on to traditions that no longer work and often spend more money than we should. In today's podcast episode, I share some ideas and stories with you from our own creative gift giving—both for simplicity and frugality's sake—that will hopefully inspire you to do something different this year as a Christmas gift giving challenge. (Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!) Summary of today's episode: Weird traditions that we hold on to/things we do: Staying involved in big gift exchanges after the family gets too big Feeling like we have to purchase a gift for someone "because it's Christmas" Buying gifts for people who need nothing Buying gifts that people do not need and will not use Forgetting why you're giving a gift Realities to think about: Christmas changes as we get older. There is a huge difference between gifts as a kid and gifts as an adult  One click shopping has changed what "it's the thought that counts" means. Ideas for how to change your Christmas: cut down your gift list exchange names put an age limit on extended family gift exchanges cut yourself out of extended family gift exchanges completely—seriously, you can do this “something you want, need, wear, read” give experiences instead of things Secret Santa "White Elephant" things that only fit in a stocking Our favorite ideas for exchanging (stories in the podcast!): Only exchange second hand gifts Only exchange homemade gifts Refill the stuff the receiver uses all the time (groceries, lumber, feed, etc.)   Links referenced in today's show: Episode 064: Homestead Decluttering – The Why and How Farmish homesteading group on MeWe A Farmish Kind of Life on Facebook A Farmish Kind of Life on Instagram A Farmish Kind of Life on Pinterest Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.

We raise all of the meat we consume—except for beef, which a friend raises and we exchange pork and chicken for. But what surprises some people is that we also butcher all our own meat here at the farm. Is this the next skill you're ready to add to your self reliance and self sufficiency bag of tricks? Let's talk about the reasons you too might want to butcher your own meat. (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Butcher your own meat? Growing up, it was my normal. While I didn't grow up on a farm, I did grow up in a family of hunters. We usually had several deer to process every year, and people would come over and we’d have a big gathering to get the job done. I remember my sister and I standing on chairs pushed up to the table so we could reach to help with the process. It was our normal. If you wanted meat in the freezer, this is just what you did. So after growing up, getting married, and eventually moving to a farm, it was never a question of who would do the butchering of the animals we raised. My husband (also a hunter) and I both knew how to do it, so we decided to take on the job ourselves. For what reasons do people not want to butcher their own meat? There are a few common reasons that people give for not wanting to butcher their own meat. It’s a lot of work/time. And this is absolutely true. It is time consuming and a lot of work—especially if you're butchering a larger animal. They don’t know how or are afraid they’re going do something wrong. When you don't yet have the skill set, it can certainly seem overwhelming! But a great piece of advice my husband gave me was that even if you cut in the wrong spot or separate a cut of meat "incorrectly", the meat is going to taste the same. Too emotional/ I can't kill an animal I raised Some people want to raise their own meat for a multitude of reasons, but aren't able to complete the end of the process because they can't wrap their head around killing something they have raised. I also know some people who say I could butcher my chickens if I didn’t have to be the one to kill them. Once they are dead, then I could continue the process. Once the animal is dead, it's easier to separate themselves from the process. Too bloody, don’t want to deal with the mess. If you butcher your own animals on site, there were certainly be a "mess" to deal with—and some people don't deal well with that part of raising animals for meat. 7 reasons to butcher your own meat 1 - You don’t need to haul animals anywhere. Once our animals get to the farm—or are born on the farm—they never leave the farm. We do not have a livestock trailer here and it’s been a long time since we’ve needed to borrow one. We get our feeder pigs small enough that they actually can go in extra large dog kennels in the back of a truck. It's a very closed system, and we don't have the extra stressor of having to load/trailer the animals to an off site butcher. 2 - You’re going to get all the parts you want in the way that you want them. There are some butchers out there who can cater to the specific things you want—and that's awesome!—but it's generally not the norm. If you're looking to keep parts of the animal that aren't what people usually request (organ meat, fat, bones, carcass, etc) it's not always easy to get it back. Additionally, some folks want specific cuts or things done that aren't what the butcher usually does, and it messes up their efficient system when they step out to fill your specific request. By butchering your own meat, you guarantee you will get what you want in the way that you want it without any specific instructions. 3 - Less expensive to butcher yourself After the initial investment of tools, choosing to butcher your own meat at home is absolutely going to be less expensive. Time is money, and in this case if you've got the time to butcher,

Many people think I'm a gardener but here on the homestead, the chickens, pigs, ducks, turkeys, and other animals are really my forte. When it comes to gardening, I'm little more than a toss some seeds at the ground and hope for the best kind of gal. So the concept that one could grow a year's worth of food in their garden is mind blowing to me, and I had to find out more on how to make this happen. (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) I recently had the opportunity to talk with Melissa K Norris of Pioneering Today, and she taught me a lot about the prospect of growing more food on my property and helped banish the feeling of overwhelm (meaning, hyperventilation followed by I-give-up) that often happens when I try to dig into this. Melissa's new book The Family Garden Plan: Grow a Year's Worth of Sustainable and Healthy Food digs into how to increase your harvest and maximize the space you have using organic and natural methods to raise a year's worth of the fruits and vegetables your family enjoys by using her super fabulous step-by-step plans and charts. Okay, but be honest. Can you really grow a year's worth of food in your garden? While Melissa says it's totally possible to grow a year's worth of food, she is also quick to point out that even the pioneers—who many of us aspire to be like—did not grow 100% of their own food. Melissa suggests starting the process of growing a year's worth of food by planning to grow a year's worth of one particular crop. You can grow other crops—and she highly recommends it—but she also advises that you start slowly. Begin with one crop, the one your family eats the most of, and year after year you can add more and more crops to your year's worth of food plan. By trying to grow a year's worth of food in this way, you won't get overwhelmed and quit. This approach is attainable. It's do-able. And it's realistic. When planning to grow a year's worth of food, how do you figure out how much you need to plant of what crops? It's not as much as work as you think, Melissa says. It is, however, important to figure this out for your family. For instance, my family goes through a lot of tomatoes, peppers, and squash, but doesn't use hardly any green beans or radishes—which might be the complete opposite of what my neighbor is raising and using. If you actively plan your menus on the homestead, you're already ahead of the game in figuring out this puzzle. You know which individual fruits and vegetables your family consumes. If you're not a menu planner, you can start keep tracking now. Start keeping track of what fruits and veggies your family eats every single day. Tally it for a month, then multiply by 12. With that final number, you can start to figure out what things you will need to plant in your garden. After determining if those fruits and vegetables you're eating actually grow where you're living, and whether or not preserving those items is realistic for you, you can go about doing the math to figure out how many plants will need to be planted to net you what your family needs. And how in the world do you do that? Actually—Melissa already did the work for you. And I told her I loved her. Because friends, math is not my favorite subject or my strong point. Melissa has—among many other things—a chart in her new book, The Family Garden Plan, that will help you figure this out! How much does each plant give you on average when it comes to needing your cups? If you need 100 cups of green beans to get you through the year, how many green bean plants does that require? My gal Melissa has got it figured out for you. If I'm going to grow a year's worth of food, is this going to take a ton of space? It will obviously depend on the crop you're choosing. For instance, root crops take up more space than if you are doing something  that can ...

You're doing a few/some/all of the homesteady things, right? Then why does your aunt/brother/neighbor think you're not doing enough? Let's dig into how the homesteader label can help, how it can hurt, and how to respond if someone says you're not really a homesteader. (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Sometimes the topic for my podcasts or blog post come directly from my listeners or readers -- such is the case with this email I received from a listener named Amber after a frustrating conversation at a family get together. Read Amber's email below. Maybe you can identify with it or have had a similar experience: "Dear Farmish Amy, I don’t really feel very farmish, but I want to be farmish. I’m 32 and live alone in a little house on a couple acres with a dog and two cats. I don’t have chickens yet but I’m working on it. I cook from scratch as much as possible and last year learned to can tomato sauce. I have a super tiny garden. I hang my clothes out on the line. I DIY whatever possible. I’ve learned to knit. I am just now trying to make sourdough starter for the first time and I’m also considering trying to do kombucha.  I’m writing because of something a relative just said to me. She said someday if I ever moved to a bigger place in the country I’d be a big girl homesteader, and the conversation that followed made it feel like she was implying that right now, everything I’m doing is pretend or not enough. I know you have talked about urban homesteaders, and I have many urban homesteader friends, but I’m actually not urban, I’m out of the city on a couple acres.  I thought I was on the right path, but now I can’t help feeling like there is more to do and more to add. Is there something that defines a person as a homesteader? Is my aunt right? Am I just playing pretend? If so, at what point is it no longer pretend and can I consider myself an actual homesteader? Thanks for your podcast, so glad to have stumbled upon it and I’m binging my way through all your episodes. Love, Amber" Oh, friend. What you are doing is very real. You’re the one weeding the garden. You’re the one cleaning up the tomato splotches from canning. And anyone who says you're just pretending needs to come help you do some work. But this whole homesteader label thing. It always gets me wondering... The homesteader label - does it help us...or not? What is the big deal with this label? To be honest, this homesteader label didn’t exist when we were looking for our farm. I think it’s really something that’s grown out of the internet and social media and people needing to figure out how to group themselves with other like minded people. After all, labels can help when they help you find your people. But labels can also be super restrictive and judgey and not helpful at all. What do you think defines you as a homesteader? At what point do you feel like you could call yourself a homesteader? Is it right now? Then claim it. Is it when you reach a certain future point you've determined in your head? That's okay, too. But be careful. Because when you dig in to a strict definition of what makes a homesteader, it can get a little complicated. Does the fact that I live on five acres with a big red barn mean I’m a homesteader? If I didn’t have the big red barn but I had chickens in a lean-to off my garage would that make me a homesteader? And if I only had chickens but ate fast food seven days a week, would I still be a homesteader? If I can one batch of tomato sauce, am I a homesteader? If I bake five loaves of bread a week, does that make me a homesteader? Or am I only a homesteader if I have animals? But what if I have animals, but I don’t grow vegetables and I don’t cook from scratch and I don’t DIY and I don’t...am I homesteader? Was my uncle who raised pigs and chickens and had...

I am frequently asked questions about homesteading with kids, especially little ones. My family came to homesteading later in life—my sons were turning 8 and 9 when we moved to the farm. So while I can answer some questions of the the ins and outs of homesteading with kids, there are also some phases of life we didn't experience on our farm, because we weren't here yet.  Thankfully Teri Page from Homestead Honey (author of Family Homesteading: The Ultimate Guide to Self-Sufficiency for the Whole Family) does have experience with that and was willing to sit down and talk with me. (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Teri and her husband started homesteading in 1999, pre-children. So from the very beginning, their kids were immersed in the lifestyle. For them, it wasn't even a question of are we homesteading with kids? It was more this is our life and the kids were along for the ride because homesteading is what their parents did. What are the pros of homesteading with kids? We all know that when electing to live as homesteaders, there is so much stuff we have to learn. As a homesteading family, you get to learn that stuff together. Your kids will see you learn, fail, adjust, and make decisions. There are a ton of life lessons that happen on the homestead that are hard to get elsewhere. I also think kids have a much deeper understanding of the circle of life and what it requires to get food—vegetables or meat—from the land to their plate. They have a much deeper comprehension of that process and how much works goes into it. Teri agrees, and offers that homesteading with kids is really all about the values you want to share with your kids— you're out in nature, connected with plants and animals and something bigger than yourself. You are teaching your kids how to be self sufficient, work hard, and respect other beings. As Teri sees it, the homesteading lifestyle is an outward expression of those values.  Teri says, "the homesteading lifestyle is about creation—making and doing—and it's the ultimate gift I can give to my kids." What are the cons of homesteading with kids? There are things that can be tough about homesteading with kids. For instance, growing up on a homestead that raises animals for meat brings with it many challenges in dealing with the reality of life and death—both for the kids, and as the parent witnessing the emotions the kids may experience. When involving kids, sometimes the reality of what is and isn't possible on the homestead can also be a tough discussion. Sometimes money is tight, space is limited, or schedules are full. "My kids' wishes and their desires (of what they want on the farm) doesn't always mesh with the adults' desires," says Teri. "If it were up to my kids, they'd have baby chicks every day of the year! I mean they are adorable, but sometimes reconciling the reality of this is what we can do and this is what we can't do can be tough."  Having a life off the homestead can sometimes be tough as well. "I love traveling and I love being able to take the kids out on adventures," says Teri, "but it's so hard to find house sitters and animals sitters and it can be hard to get away for periods of time to do some of those adventures. It doesn't happen as often as I'd like. Especially now as the kids are getting older, I feel like the time we have with them to do those kinds of things off the homestead is really fleeting. When we talk about are we going to get cows again, are we going to get goats again, there is part of me that is really hesitant because I know that not only do I want to do those (traveling) adventures, but my kids are also getting into a phase of life where they may want to choose their own adventures." "How do you know what tasks are age-appropriate when homesteading with kids?"

Making plans and setting goals for the homestead can be exciting, but also overwhelming. Let's talk about how to work through three stages of homestead goal setting to help you most effectively plan your next year of homesteading awesomeness. (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) These stages of homestead goal setting will work if you're brand new to homesteading or have a new property, but will be a little different and more specific if you've been at it for awhile. With a little experience under your belt, you may find different ideas for stage 1—and more realistic admonishments in stage 2. The first stage of homestead goal setting is brainstorming! My friend Tom Domres from Small Scale Life calls this stage "The Insanity"—and that's a great way to describe it. Because this is the stage for all the ideas. All of them. This is where you dream about all the options you have—while silencing the inner critic. This is when you toss a bunch of things at the wall—because some of them will stick. It's where you think about all the things you've ever wanted to do along your homesteading journey. It's time for dreaming about things like why yes, I'd love to grow horseradish and garlic and comfrey and plant more apple trees and... And wouldn't it be a great idea to build a smokehouse? And you know what chickens I've always wanted to raise? Black Copper Marans. Those chocolate brown eggs... And I've always wanted to make a huge fenced and netted free ranging area outside the meat bird/turkey coop. This is such a fun stage! Here is an example of the giant sheet of paper I keep on my office closet door where I do my homestead brainstorming and planning. (This one was the beginnings of my brainstorming for the 2020 homestead. Oh, if we only would have known what was coming...) It's fun to do this stage with someone else, perhaps your spouse. Just make sure you're both in stage one and that neither of you move into stage 2 until stage 1 is exhausted. Stage 2 of homestead goal setting? It's the Come to Jesus Talk. If stage one was the sweet, dreamy little angel on your shoulder telling you that you can do everything your little homesteader heart desires, stage two is the devil on the other shoulder telling you that you will get absolutely nothing done. Stage 2 is the necessary opposite of Stage 1. This is where you get really honest about: — the resources you have available, whether that's time or money — what you're willing to do — the stage of life your family is in — and all the other stuff that's happening in your life that has nothing to do with homesteading. The problem is that the new year comes in the winter. And this is the time in Minnesota where all we can think about is when the snow will finally be gone and it will be above freezing outside. Because of this, we tend to storybook things a bit. The bugs weren't that bad last year. And I know the garden got away from me, but that's because... (fill in excuse that you're pretty sure won't happen this year. Maybe.) We're stuck in our homes waiting for the growing season and baby chicks and we tend to gloss over the reality of some homesteady stuff that made us curse, cry, and emptied our bank accounts last year. **Not my blood, thankfully.** Hindsight should be 20-20, but sometimes the staring at the frozen tundra makes us look back over the past year with rose colored glasses. I'm talking about things like, Amy, seriously. You tell yourself 14 times that you need to go out to the barn before you actually go out to the barn because you’re so busy with your writing. Or, Amy you have never once in your life planted all the seeds you order.  Or, Amy, you already tried fermenting feed last year and you couldn't keep up with it. Or, Amy, remember that one time you had 23 dozen eggs in your garage fridge and couldn't find people to buy them all?

Christmas traditions can be a very special part of the holiday season. However, since Christmas traditions are often specific to a family, we're often unaware of the great things that families outside of our own are doing to celebrate the holidays. Today we're talking about fun things that other farmish folk families do in honor of the Christmas season. Who knows, you may find something new you'd like to start with your own farmish folk! A very special thanks to all the readers and listeners who answered my quick call out on my Facebook page, my MeWe page, and via my newsletter. Thank you for being willing to share your Christmas traditions! Some of my own Christmas traditions... The funny thing is that sometimes you don't know you're creating Christmas traditions. When the kids were little, my hubby would take one kid and I'd take the other and we'd go Christmas shopping. Then we'd meet for lunch, switch kids, and continue shopping. The boys could shop for their brother and the parent that wasn't with them, and hubby and I could shop for each other. We didn't think we were making a tradition. It was just a time saver. Until December of 2011. We were freak-out deep in moving to the farm—our closing was December 27th—and Hubby and I had taken care of most the shopping early and also online. On a quick shopping trip a couple weeks before Christmas to grab toilet paper and dish soap, our oldest (then 8) asked, "um, aren't we going to do that Christmas Shopping Day thing?" In my haste I told him everything had been taken care of, and we could grab something for Dad/Brother online. My tough 8 year old sat down in Walmart and cried, saying, "but the Christmas shopping day is our tradition!" Y'all there was no time to make the Christmas Shopping Day happen, but we made it happen. I still don't know how we got it to work. But we did it. Because apparently we'd created a tradition without realizing we'd created a tradition. Another of the Christmas traditions we have is to make a birthday cake on Christmas Eve night and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. This tradition has somehow managed to persist since the kids were little, even though we have differing faith beliefs in our household. Christmas traditions from readers and listeners: "I have several Christmas traditions that we do. One is every since I married my husband 20 years ago, just the two of us take a moonlit and sometimes snowy Christmas Eve walk down our lane in the woods. Another is Christmas morning, after Santa gifts are done, we have a big breakfast of creamed dried beef, toast, hash browns and eggs. When my kids were younger we would watch all the Christmas cartoons and have popcorn while snuggling on the couch, and put milk and cookies out on our special Santa plate for Christmas Eve. There are many more traditions we have but those 3 are out favorite." -- Midge "I get our kids each an new ornament for the tree based on whatever they are interested in that year. We have everything from Disney characters to Scooby Doo—and of course some farm animals—on the tree. I also write the year and which kid so we know years later. This year we laid them all out in order and looked at them before placing on the tree. The kids are 10 and 4 — it was something I started without realizing and they love it!" -- Robyn "A Christmas tradition for me was doing somewhat of a Secret Santa, but for ugly pajamas. Everyone that would be spending Christmas Eve with us would draw names on Thanksgiving and whatever name you got, you tried to find the ugliest pajamas for them to wear on Christmas Eve at our family party. This would be a fun and funny way to spend Christmas Eve. Alas, that tradition isn’t followed anymore by my family as that tradition, as well as the farm, stayed with the ex. Hope you’re well. And Merry Christmas to you and your family." -- Alvin "We put put a piece of straw in an empty manger each time we do a good deed for others to make a ...

The great thing about raising meat chickens is that we have a lot of chickens in our freezer—which means we often having chicken for dinner! Because of that, we've often got chicken carcasses or frames leftover to use. We're all about using as much of the animal as possible, and the best way to make use of a chicken carcass is to make homemade chicken broth. (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) The process of making homemade chicken broth is so simple. We do this whether we are piecing out a whole chicken for chicken on the grill or a fried chicken dinner. We also do this if we have roasted a whole chicken for dinner.  If you have chicken (or any bird, really) you should absolutely be making your own homemade broth. The great thing about homemade chicken broth... Know how your grandma doesn't measure when she cooks? The great thing about making homemade chicken broth is that I don't really need to measure. I make the broth with what I have. If I have two chicken carcasses, that's what I use. If I only have one, I use that. If I've roasted a chicken and deboned it, I toss the carcass and all the bones in. The thing with chicken broth is that most of us are making it to use in other recipes. You can always doctor it up later if needed. For me, the whole purpose for making chicken broth is to get one last thing out of the chicken carcasses instead of just tossing them in the garbage. Ingredients for homemade chicken broth What you will need for homemade chicken broth isn't complicated: chicken carcasses, some veggies, some spices, and enough water to cover everything. How to make homemade chicken broth? You take all that goodness, put it in the pot, and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for several hours. Take the large chicken/bone/veggies pieces out. Strain what's left of the broth. Cool. Done.  Seriously, that's all it is. Super not complicated. There's a more detailed printable recipe at the bottom of this post for those of you who like measurements. But understand the measurements are totally just a guideline. Use what you have, leave out what you don't. Tips for making your homemade chicken broth While you can cut up carrots, celery, and onions to make this broth, here's another option. We have a container in the fridge where we toss the ends of and peelings from vegetables we've used in other recipes. If you're making homemade chicken broth, you can totally add these veggie scraps to your broth.  While I do add spices to my homemade chicken broth, I don't add salt to my chicken broth. Instead, I add salt when making the meal I use the chicken broth in.  What to do with your homemade chicken broth? You can just eat it straight. It's really super tasty and rich. :) You could make some homemade noodles and whip up a batch of chicken noodle soup. Chicken broth is also great to have to add to chicken/pork/etc in a slow cooker/Instant Pot recipe instead of water. We generally freeze our homemade chicken broth in quart or gallon sized bags. After the broth has cooled, I measure it and pour it into a bag, ensuring enough space is left for the liquid to expand as it freezes. I lay the bag flat on a cookie sheet in the freezer and let it freeze. Freezing them flat means they will take up less space in the freezer. If you have a pressure canner, you have the option of canning your broth.  Homemade Chicken Broth A super simple way to make use of the entire chicken -- make chicken broth! So easy, you will wonder why you ever thought to buy broth at the store. 2 chicken carcasses3 to 4 carrots, cut in large chunks3 to 4 celery stalks, cut in large chunks1 to 2 onions, quartered1 tsp rosemary1 tsp thyme1 tsp garlic10 black peppercornsenough water to cover all ingredients in the pot Place all ingredients in large pot.

Want to use less stuff? Let's dig into a different way to look at the issue: the actual reasons using too much stuff started, why it happens in areas of our life we're not even aware of, and how that may be the key to helping us use less stuff. (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) This article is not about seeing if you can fit all your trash from the year in a tiny little box—this goes deeper than how much we're throwing away. This is about what comes before worrying about how things are packaged or what we're going to do with it all when we're done. Why do we use too much stuff? Because it's there. And it's cheap. I don't need coffee—really, I don't—but I drink a lot of coffee. And I got okay with drinking a lot of coffee because it didn't hurt at all to buy it. The "problem" is that now I've found some really great coffees (small business, small batch roasts like Holler Roast) that I really like that are more money than what I can get at the grocery store. And to buy that really great coffee would cost me a lot more money for the amount that I drink. What are my options here? I have two: buy cheaper coffee or drink less coffee.  And the answer to this question is really what's underneath our issue of using too much stuff. In the past, things were more expensive and less readily available because giant corporations weren't the ones producing the things. Things got cheaper when we wanted the convenience of readily available options. And I don't just mean available for you and me, I mean for everyone. You know how a l-o-n-g time ago it was only the wealthy that could afford meat? And now, hundreds of years later, we have fast food joints pumping out more burgers and chicken sandwiches than we know what to do with? That's how we ended up with feedlots and giant chicken houses and cheap meat. It was the only way to supply for the demand. You know. We needed (cough) more stuff (cough). More stuff for less money. Years ago, this wasn't anything I considered when I questioned how to afford my favorite small batch coffee or locally raised meat. I just fell into the if I'm going to be able to afford to have all the things I want, I need to buy the cheaper versions frame of mind. Yeah, it wasn't fair. Yeah, I wished I could buy the better stuff and support my local peoples. But I "couldn't". But with age comes wisdom. And along the line I realized it's easier to afford the better stuff—the stuff that's priced at the true cost, not the cheap-labor-crappy-food-giant-corporation-version cost—when you're scaling down to what you actually need.  Side note: I understand that some of you are in a stage of life where you have to buy the cheapest thing available. I've been there, too. I know what it's like to walk into the grocery store with $10 and wonder how to make it stretch. Please take what you can from this topic that works right now, and save the rest for when you're in a different place financially. Some people pay more for organic because they feel like they are voting with their dollars. Regardless of how you feel about the validity of the organic label, chances are that if you pay more for what you eat, you’ll be more careful with how you use it. I can spend $7 on a quart of conventional heavy whipping cream or I can spend $6 on a pint of organic heavy whipping cream. If I buy the organic, you better believe I'm going to use it sparingly. Which is really how I should be using it anyway. And maybe that's the point. Things are so readily available, and in the grand scheme of things, cheap, we sometimes pour/cut/use/eat more than we really need to.  Read that again. Use less stuff? Ok. But I still expect what I want to be available... Have you ever been at the store when the shelves are bare? When they're out of an item? When a shipment didn't come in?

Organization is important on the homestead, and if you're anything like me, it helps to write things down. Here are 9  lists I keep to help with my homestead organization  (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Note: You'll find I haven't created these lists for you—I don't have anything for you to download and fill in. The reason why is that everyone's set up is different and the way I keep track of things might not be the way that works for you. If you're absolutely in love with the idea of me creating a set of lists for you to fill in, email me at amy@afarmishkindoflife.com. If I get enough requests, I'll pull up a chair to the computer and design something awesome. Otherwise, just take a gander at the very much pen and paper examples of what I use in my own home. Homestead organization list #1: what's happening this week/month/season? While it can be easy to look at a calendar and know what's happening this week, it's good to sit down and connect with your family about what's going on longer term. It is good to figure out what needs to be done at what point, and then work backwards to figure out when you need to start those projects! Is this the month you have to butcher the chickens? Move the wood pile? Clean the back of the barn to get ready for a new animal? Go through your pantry and figure out a new way to organize it? Maybe this is the season to watch the grapes and find that perfect moment when they're ripe but before the yellow jackets attack. It's hard to have all hands on deck when not everyone knows their hands are needed. It is so helpful to sit down with family members and make a "what's happening" list so everyone is on the same page. Homestead organization list #2 - what you need to remember for next year This is a list you make this year (as the year progresses) to help remember things you will need for next year. I usually keep this list in my farm journal. Did you end this gardening season realizing you need new tomato cages? More tomato cages? Do you need to replace the solar fencer? Do you need to start your seeds earlier? Later? Did the netting around the main garden get a huge rip in it after the last storm of the year? Do you need to fix the floor in the back chicken coop before you can put birds in there again next spring? It's no fun to be standing in the garden next year and realize oh, that's right. We were gonna... This list is very helpful to compile all the things for next year's homestead so you won't be behind. Homestead list #3 -  future plans/goals This is the long term list of things that will take more time, money, or require that something in your life changes. You may know you want to add a porch to the front of your house, but it may need to wait until your old windows are replaced and paid for. You may know that you want to build a bigger chicken coop, but that might need to wait until you fence off the back pasture. This list is for things that will take more budgeting, planning, time, and/or muscle. And it will keep your homestead more organized if you write these things down! Homestead list #4 - costs associated with what you're raising/growing Sometimes people make this list because they plan to sell what they raise or grow, and want to know they're charging enough to make a profit. But even if you don't plan to sell what you raise or grow, there are two reasons you should still keep this type of homestead organization list. First, it helps you know if it's a cost efficient adventure for you, or if you need to change something up regarding your feed, etc. But secondly, people who are interested in homesteading and raising/growing their own food will often ask you about your costs when they're in their research phase. If you don't keep track of your homesteading stats, your answers won't be as helpful to them.

What happens when you need to make the decision to take a break from homesteading? What happens when you have to start over as a homesteader? Let's look at some reasons you might consider starting over on the homestead, and why it might actually be a good thing. (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Starting over on the homestead can happen for many reasons. - finances - natural/personal disaster - a move - farm-wide/flock-wide illness - major change or problem on your property - the stage of life you're in - your current set up isn't working - because you simply need a break I bring this up because sometimes you have to make a hard decision. And what I’ve found in the homesteading community is sometimes there are a lot of people who are faced with a hard decision and don’t want to talk about that hard decision because they are afraid of what other homesteaders might think or might say. There are a lot of you should or you coulds that tend to fly around when people need to take a break from or start over on the homestead. And although they’re often meant to be helpful, they’re often not when you’re in that situation. Why am I bringing up starting over on the homestead? Well. I didn't really publicize this, but we actually butchered all the farm animals on our homestead late last fall (2019)—egg birds, ducks, everything—with the intention of starting over in the spring. This wasn’t an easy decision. We've never not had animals on our farm. So, it’s not as if I walked out to the barn one day and just decided on a whim, “off with their heads”. Having said that, it really did make sense for us. -- We don't overwinter pigs. We buy feeders in the spring and butcher them in the fall. So pigs weren't part of this decision. -- We do overwinter ducks. But we were planning on switching from Pekins to Muscovies in Spring 2020. Knowing that, we decided it didn't make sense to pay to feed them over winter to then butcher them in the spring.  -- We obviously overwinter our egg birds. However, we had a really tough run with our Brahma egg birds. I think it may have just been this particular batch of birds, but they never really laid well for us at all. We're talking 3 eggs a week from 12 hens at peak. We knew we would be replacing this batch of chickens come Spring 2020, so it didn't make sense for us to continue to feed them through the winter. **Everyone runs their homestead differently. I know some people don't agree with culling birds that are no longer producing, and allow them to live out a long happy life on their homestead. Our homestead runs with the rule that if you're here, you need to be providing something for the money I'm putting into you. To each their own. Pros of starting over on the homestead: Even though it wasn't an easy decision to make, getting rid of everything gave me the opportunity to do many things. I could: - Assess what our farm is for. I had the brain space to think about whether our homesteading why, purpose, or direction had changed. - Figure out our homesteading priorities. Emptying the barn gave me a chance to step back and say, “hey, wait.” People often move to the homestead with many plans, and sometimes move forward with those plans because it's the next thing on the hamster wheel. Oftentimes you’re so busy, you don’t have time to step back and consider if it’s actually the next best step. - Go back to the drawing board. I got to ask myself if we are doing the right things for our homestead—feed-wise, seed-wise, etc. I was able to make a list of what needs to be fixed, changed, built, moved, or taken down without having to deal with animals in the process. - Re-ignite my love of homesteading. Sometimes you need that time without animals to remember why you love having them on the farm. Sometimes you need that year without a garden to remind yourself...

Winter is hard. It's long. It's dark and cold. I mean, at least where I live. Winter can be difficult as a homesteader, especially if you are north. There's no dirt. There's no grass. Everything is frozen. Nothing's growing. And if you have animals, you're shoveling show or chipping ice to get to them. Like I said, winter is hard. (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) This is the stuff that people don't talk about. We talk about how to deal with winter for our animals, but we rarely talk about the reality of winter for the actual homesteader—at least not how it relates to mental health. I’m not saying this isn’t an issue other times of the year. Mental health is always important, and there are many stressors on a homestead that can make mental health an issue year round. And yes, mental health is an issue across the board, not just for homesteaders.  But today we’re talking about the reality of winter, and the special situations we can find ourselves in as homesteaders. Why winter is especially hard: three reasons 1. If you're having a hard time in the winter, you will often be told you just need some sun. Clearly the short, dark days affect us physically, and Seasonal Affective Disorder is a valid thing. And sometimes sun and Vitamin D are the answer. But I often think there are deeper issues about winter on the homestead that people fail to make a connection about. For instance: 2. Many people say winter is the time to take a break. The earth is taking a rest and it’s what we should do, too. The problem is that sometimes taking a rest and not having enough to do is bad. Staying busy keeps you out of trouble. Trouble doesn’t always refer to jail. Sometimes trouble refers to places in your head that you shouldn't be spending time in. The "break" of winter gives you time to sit—and think—and spend time with mental demons that you're able to keep at bay in the much busier spring, summer, and fall of homestead life. 3. Related, sometimes the “rest” of winter gives us enough pause to bring issues to the surface that need to be dealt with. Financial situations. Relationship issues. Commitments we’ve said yes to that we need to let go. Parenting drama. And it’s good to deal with issues. But in the quiet and dark and cold of winter, sometimes those issues can feel suffocating and overwhelming. Sometimes the homestead is the place that saves you. There is life. There is nature. There are miracles everyday. In winter, you have to look harder to find those things. Some people welcome the quiet and peace and break of winter, but if you're not in the right brain space, it's not quiet or peaceful and it's not a break—at all.  I bring this up because: I really struggled this past winter. At a low point, I brought it up on my farm page on Facebook. And although I didn't give voice to how deep in a hole I was, I did receive many comments and messages. Because of all the resulting conversations and the different ways people approached my post, I decided I would make a blog post/podcast/video about the topic. I don't think we talk about it as much as we need to. When the winter is hard, it's so common for people to say you just need sun or that things will be better when you can see the green grass. But I think for many people it's deeper than that—especially homesteaders who are used to being so busy—and a lot of my Facebook messages and emails tapped into that. We had some great, honest conversations.  Why it’s hard to talk about what to do when you're struggling: In all honesty, different things work for different people. And regardless of what will help you, you have to be in the right frame of mind to hear it. So while someone can suggest all the things that will actually help, if you're not ready to hear it or are too far into a pit to listen, it doesn't matter. Even so,

One of our favorite ways to prepare a chicken is to smoke it, so I'd love to share with you the steps we use to brine and smoke a chicken for our dining enjoyment. Bonus: this recipe will also work for a turkey! (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) Why do you brine a chicken before smoking it? I mean...can't you just toss a fresh chicken in the smoker and let 'er go? Well, I wouldn't. It won't be as tasty—and it's probably going to be d-r-y. Brining is the process of letting meat soak in a water/salt solution before you smoke it. The meat soaks in the liquid and salt during the brining process and it helps to keep the meat moist while smoking. There are many brine recipes out there, and once you figure out what you like, you can add many spices and herbs to your brine—however the salt and liquid are essential to the process. Our brine is very simple. It's just a gallon of water, 1 cup of canning salt, and 3 Tbsp minced garlic. How to brine a chicken before smoking You can brine a whole chicken or pieces of chicken. Our most recent smoking episode had us brining the breasts, legs, and thighs from four large chickens. The reason we did pieces is 4 whole chickens will not fit in our smoker, but 4 pieced out chickens will. Here's how we brined the pieces, which also works for whole chickens: Heat 2 quarts (1/2 gallon) of water to boiling. Add the salt and garlic, stir, and let cool a bit.  Add the water/salt/garlic solution to a food grade bucket. Add 2 quarts (1/2 gallon) cold water and stir to help bring the temp of the brine down even further. You don't want to put your raw meat into super hot water. We don't want it to cook, we want it to brine. If you find that you don't have enough brine for the amount of meat you're using, just increase the brine recipe—doubling or tripling as needed. Place the meat (pieces or whole bird) into the five gallon food grade bucket. Cover the bucket and place in the fridge. Let sit for at least 24 hours. You can also let your meat sit in the brine longer if you wish.  When you are done brining the meat, take the meat out of the brine, rinse briefly in cold running water, towel the meat off (clean flour sack towels or paper towels) and then let the meat sit on drying racks for a bit to further dry off. Although this dry time is optional, a dry surface on your meat will help the smoke flavor adhere better to the meat. How to smoke a chicken after brining We have a Masterbuilt electric smoker. We have no complaints about it other than the size! It has served us well. We plan to build a smokehouse in the future to keep up with all the smoking we do here of our home raised meat. Your smoking situation may differ, but with our smoker: We turn the power on and set the temp of the smoker to 180 Set the timer on the smoker to 24 hours -- we do this because we have found if the smoker takes longer to get the meat to temp for some reason, (if it's a cold day, etc), the smoker will turn off when it hits the time you've set it for. So we set ours to 24 hours and watch the temp of the meat, not the timer on the smoker. Fill the wood tray with wood chips. We give the smoker ten minutes or so to warm up. Load the smoker up with meat. Insert a meat thermometer into the meat. Set the alert temp on the meat thermometer. (Our meat thermometer has a poultry setting of 175 degrees.) Let the smoker do its thing. After an hour of smoking chicken, we bump the temp of the smoker to 200. Every hour of smoking requires another load of wood chips to the smoker. Be attentive to your smoker. When the temp of the meat is correct (175-180 on our meat thermometer) it's time to take the chicken out. Remember it will be hot as you're loading up your tray with all the smoked goodness! The breasts, legs, and thighs of four large chickens (6-7 pounds each) took 2.

Homesteading is no place for cowards! Here are five reasons you will need to bring some courage with to the homestead—and if you're already living the homesteading life, this list will help you realize you're tougher than you maybe thought you were. (Don’t want to read all the words? This blog post is also a podcast—just press the triangle play button on the little black bar at the top of this post!) #1 You have to be brave enough to learn new skills.   I remember the first time I canned a batch of spaghetti sauce. I knew nothing about canning—so little in fact that I didn't even realize the difference between a pressure canner and a water bath canner, and I assumed that any canner full of anything was going to explode all over my ceiling. After I successfully canned my first batch of spaghetti sauce, there was still fear when I popped open that first jar. Was it going to kill us? Were we going to die from a spaghetti dinner? Y'all, I've come a long way. Whether you show it or not, learning a new skill can be scary. I still remember learning how to use the chainsaw, maneuver the skid loader, and drive the tractor. I also remember that I wasn't completely excited to learn any of those skills. But it's important that you learn the skills that are needed to run your homestead because it brings efficiency to your homestead. When it was only my husband who knew how to run the bigger stuff on the farm, it really slowed us down. I mean, if my husband buries the skid loader in the back field, who is going to drive the tractor to pull him out? ;) Learn to use the things on your farm -- even if it's scary!   #2 You have to be brave enough to move forward, even with conflicting advice. There are a lot of what ifs as a homesteader. And if you're a smart homesteader, you will ask a lot of questions of other homesteaders. But here's the thing: you can get a lot of conflicting advice and opinions about so many things on the homestead. I mean... Should you feed chick starter? Should you use heat lamps? Should you keep a rooster? Should you sell your chicken eggs? Should you disbud your goats? Should you free range your chickens? Should you use black plastic for weed control in the garden? Should you raise animals for your friend? Should you butcher your own meat? You have to be brave enough to choose an answer and move forward. While it is good to put some thought into what you're trying to figure out, if you don't pick one or spend too much time in "I don't know, what do you think?"— that's called analysis paralysis. And it gets you nowhere.  Be brave enough to pick a path and move forward so you can continue growing and building and experiencing life as a homesteader!   # 3 You may have to kill an animal. If you raise animals on your homestead, death is part of the equation. I still remember the first time I had to euthanize an animal. The chicken was really sick, really miserable, and no one else was home. My options were to let the chicken suffer until someone else (read: husband) got home or I could do it myself. I did it. And then I cried. The biggest hang up I hear about when it comes to raising animals for meat is the killing. Many people say they are fine before the animal is dead, and fine after the animal is dead, but it's that moment of taking the animal's life that a lot of people struggle with.  And that's very normal. And very okay. Because you're human. Consider this: maybe you're not culling/butchering/euthanizing your own animal, maybe the animal in question is a predator you need to protect your animals from. It's fine to say when the predator wanders into your yard that you're going to just take care of it. And some people will and it's not an issue at all. But some people have second thoughts. See? Life on the homestead is scary—for so many reasons. #4 Actually, the fact that you even have animals on the homestead requires bravery!...

Have you ever walked through the grocery store and looked at all those pre-made items like mayo, ketchup, and sour cream? Have you ever wondered how you could DIY your pantry and start making those things yourself? I had the opportunity to talk with Kris Bordessa recently about how to DIY your pantry -- and her book Attainable Sustainable: The Lost Art of Self-Reliant Living. (That's an affiliate link, friends.) Kris was so fun to talk to (listen to the actual interview by pressing the play button at the top of this post!) and she blew my mind about how easy some of these pantry items are. Y'all, why are we buying this stuff pre-made at the store? Why should you DIY your pantry? The great thing about DIYing anything is that it's a step towards self-reliance. "It's really an awareness thing," says Kris Bordessa of Attainable Sustainable, "and getting to the point where you realize oh, I can probably figure out how to do this at home." Homemade mayo and homemade salad dressing? Yep. Simple. For me, the choice to DIY my pantry is because I hate going to the grocery store. The less I go, the happier I am. By learning to make my own pantry items, my grocery list is much shorter. It's a move from buying pre-made items to buying ingredients—and those ingredients often help you make multiple items. Kris says, "People eat every single day. For a lot of people, that (means going to) the supermarket. What's going in your cart every single week that you could replace, that you could do at home instead of buying?" Choosing to DIY your pantry also means you will use less single-use plastic. Which works out great because condiments in glass jars look way cuter anyway. ;) Additionally, if you DIY your pantry it will save you money, and let's be honest -- what you're making is going to taste better, too! DIY your pantry by starting with condiments Condiments are a great place to start your DIYing, because you can make them regardless of where you live. Garden space or permission to have chickens doesn't matter. I have enjoyed making my own chicken broth, salad dressings, BBQ sauce, mayo, relish, and ketchup for awhile now, but after talking with Kris, I was inspired to try making my own sour cream. She shared with me two recipes: a simple homemade sour cream, and a thicker creme fraiche style sour cream. Both are easy and only take two ingredients! Easy! Homemade sour cream is SO easy, and so delicious. Two ingredients!! I'm already making my own ketchup, so Kris also inspired me to start making my own mustard. Who knew THAT was so easy?? Again, the most basic way to make it is only two ingredients! No lie—and the recipe is in her new book! Bring out the brats we made from our home raised pork. Let's turn these jars into mustard! I'm continuing to make my way through her new book, and have plans to tackle homemade Caesar dressing, hummus, apple cider vinegar...the list goes on! Too busy to DIY your pantry? When I talk to people about moving towards a more from-scratch based life, the common response (from a place of excitement or frustration) is Gah! We have to make everything from scratch! No, friends. You don't. Going from zero to 60 is a good way to end up in burnout mode. "I'm a big proponent for doing one thing at a time," says Kris. "Is there one little thing we can tackle each day that will start working us towards (a DIY pantry)? Find something you use a lot that you could replace easily." Hear that? Kris says it's okay to slow your roll. It's good to DIY your pantry, but don't feel you have to DIY your pantry all at once! Do what you can, do what you have time for. My dog even hops up in the chair to check out Attainable Sustainable: The Lost Art of Self Reliant Living Need help to DIY your pantry? *Remember, you can hear our actual interview by pressing the triangle play button near the top of this post!*

I've always kept a freezer list/pantry list of what's on hand here at the homestead. But what about keeping a pantry journal — a list of what we actually use? It was first suggested to me in my Grow a Year's Worth of Food interview with Melissa K Norris, but then Nicole Sauce of Living Free in Tennesee recently talked about it again in Build Your Pantry the Right Way and my brain just happened to be in the right place to hear the logic of it. ***Hear this blog post as a podcast episode by pressing the triangle play button near the top of this post!*** What is a pantry journal? Lots of people write down when they are out of a certain item—that’s called a shopping list. But do you know how often you buy peanut butter? Cat food? Do you know how long a jug of laundry soap lasts for you? How about a 25 lb. bag of flour? Putting those items on a grocery list is great because it means you will remember to buy or order it. But it doesn’t tell you how often you need to buy those items. It's important to track what you have and what you need, but it's also important to keep track of how often you need to replace it. Why you should keep a pantry journal There are four reasons that keeping a pantry journal can be helpful. Visual representation of what you’re using: I’m a visual person. My husband knows this, my kids know this. If mom needs something explained, it needs to be visual. In order for me to really get a grasp on how much we are using and at what rate we are going through it, I need to have a visual representation and record of that. Helps you decide how much you need to store: The most helpful use of a pantry journal is in your prepping. You can’t know what you need until you know what you use. By keeping track of what you use in a week, a month, or a year, you will be better prepared to, well...prepare. Tells you how short you are if there is a "panic": Fear does crazy things to people. And while there are some folks that will hoard in an emergency just because, there are also some people out there who, when faced with an OMG we’re out! situation, don’t really know how much they will need to get by and totally overestimate—not because they’re a jerk, but because they really don’t know. Helps you know how much you can give to someone else if they are short: In a panic or another emergency situation, you will know people who run out of stuff and they may ask if you can spare something. Can you? If you don't know how much you need to have on hand for your own use, how will you know what you can give to others? How to keep a pantry journal The how to of keeping a pantry journal depends a little bit on how your brain works. It also depends on how big your family is and how old or helpful your family members are. One option is to start by documenting every time you deplete something. Just tossed a bottle of laundry soap? Write it down in this month's journal page. Went through four loaves of bread this month? Write it down.  The drawback of this, especially just starting out, is that if you happen to run out of vanilla this month and you just started keeping track, it will appear as though you went through a bottle of vanilla in a month—which may or may not be true.  Another drawback is if you have family members who aren't on board with (or don't remember to) write things down as they are emptied, your documentation won't be accurate at all. A second option is after shopping, write down everything you bought in a spreadsheet—then mark the items off when they are depleted. This method is potentially more accurate but clearly takes a bit more planning and work. I love spreadsheets, but I find that anything that is stored in my computer gets forgotten about when I'm in the kitchen. Again, I'm a visual person. I need to see it in front of my face at the time that makes sense for me to do something about it. Note: If you're going to write things down after a shopping trip,

Life can toss many situations at us that will force us to be stuck at home. It could be a long term illness, the weather, the choice to stay home more in order to save money, or many other things. Today I'll share 9 ways that you can use technology to ward off isolation in times such as these.   *Hear this blog post as a podcast episode by pressing the triangle play button near the top of this post!*   If an isolation situation happened 100 years ago, people were isolated in the most dire sense of the word. You could only socialize with who was in the same room/house with you. If you were lucky, you could get a letter off to Uncle Joe—but it might take weeks to hear anything back. We sometimes take for granted all the options available to us today to connect with others via technology. If we use these options for good, they can provide a positive uplifting connection in uncertain or stressful times. Note: I know there are people who try to stay away from using too much technology. Every family is different, and certain individuals might have a hard time with how they process to much time online. I would caution you to not let fear control your choices: your kids will not automatically turn into zombies who won't do anything else if they're given more than the "recommended" amount of screen time. My kids are living proof of that. However, having said that, do what works for your family.   *Did I miss something? I only know what I know. If there is an app or website I missed that you think should be included, drop me a line at amy@afarmishkindoflife.com.*   9 Ways to Use Technology to Increase Connection:   1: Video Chat There are many options available for video chats: Facetime, Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, SnapChat, etc. I've seen people use these tools to have mock dinner parties, to join each other for a morning cup of coffee, or to have an evening cocktail with friends. Also, many music schools have moved to video chat type music lessons. It's neat to see how people are making use of technology to keep their conversations going! My favorite app for this is Marco Polo. You can do chats one on one or you can form groups where multiple people can contribute to the same chat. (Only one person can chat at a time, however.) Great way for quick, informal connection! Coffee is always better when you're with a friend...even if you're on a screen! 2: Live streams Livestreams are easy to do on apps like Facebook or websites like YouTube, and I've seen a couple neat ways that people have used them to connect to each other. I've seen local musicians do a live stream concert from their living room (and then attach a venmo or paypal link if you want to donate some money towards the gig.) I've also seen a lot of churches move to live streaming recently—even my little church in my little town has started putting things out on Facebook Live. I enjoy doing live streams on YouTube and plan to increase my frequency of them. Wondering how a YouTube live stream works? I'm on video, and you (and everyone else that's watching) is in a live chat—you are NOT on video. I can only see what you're typing, which means you can ask me questions or comment to what I'm saying, and I see it in real time. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the notification bell if you want to know the next time I'm going live. (Bonus: if you miss the live stream, it's still recorded and you can watch the replay—although obviously, the replay doesn't allow you to contribute to the live chat.)   3: Catch up on podcasts/YouTube/blog posts to learn a skill If you find yourself with extra free time, why not use it to learn a skill you've been wanting to learn? Learn to sew, crochet, knit, bake bread, build a gate, eviscerate a chicken, butcher a pig, or make egg nog. Having time on your hands is a great time to put those hands to good use. What kinds of things do you want to learn? I love recording podcasts for you!

Although it's never enjoyable to go through hard times or times of crisis, they hold many lessons for us to learn. The trick is to find something useful about the tough times and not waste the potential lessons. Today we're talking about 10 lessons that I think people can learn in times of crisis.   *Hear this blog post as a podcast episode by pressing the triangle play button near the top of this post!*   I want to believe our current society can have just as much oomph as generations who came before us and dealt with whatever the crisis was of their time. Sure, some folks will need a kick in the pants to get there—but as my great uncle who lived through the Great Depression often told me when he was still alive, there were those people who needed a kick in the pants back in the 30s and 40s, too. A crisis has a way of shaping the people of its day, and I think our current health and economic situation has the potential to do the same. And if this ends up being one of those things that "makes it into the history books", the other thing that will make it into the history book will be how we, as a people, responded to it. Currently, I see a lot of bickering about what the American government is or isn’t doing, or how they're handling things, if they are or aren’t shutting things down, or what the status of Covid testing is. I offer this: how about we let our government officials do whatever they are or aren't doing and we, as a people, apart from our government, start getting to work to help each other. It sounds like a great idea. And it also sounds like something that's happened before. I think the reason we refer to the Greatest Generation as such is because they pushed up their sleeves, got to work with what needed to be done, and made it through. And in the midst of that, there were so many lessons that were learned in their day to day life while going through the hard times they lived through. So what lessons can you learn in the middle of hard times and crisis? 1. What You Know What skills can you share? I spent this past weekend teaching a lot of people how to make bread, answering questions when their first attempt didn’t turn out, and tweaking recipes for people who didn’t have certain ingredients. Bread baking is a skill I have and information I can share with those who need it. But let's look past skills that are often classified as homesteading skills. This isn't just about how to start seeds or how to bake bread. The skill you can share with people may be how to stay calm. It may be how to comfort others. It may be how to entertain kids when you’re about to pull your hair out. It may be medical skills. It may be budgeting skills. It may be "I play guitar really well and so I can hop on a live stream and make people smile". 2. What You Don't Know Ever heard the saying you don’t know what you don’t know? In times of crisis, there will be things that happen that you have to respond with um, I’m gonna have to look that up online or I’m gonna have to phone a friend on this one. I’ve been on video chat a few times with my friend Tom over at Small Scale Gardening asking him about my seed starting set up to make sure I’m doing it right. I’ve been talking to my friend Nicole from Living Free in Tennessee about some financial strategies. Hard times are the time to take note of what you don't know, admit that you don't know it, and then find someone to teach you those things. 3. Where the holes in your preps are You can prep all you want but you really don’t know how well you’ve prepped until it’s tested. In this current situation, I’ve heard lots of homesteaders say we were fine for ourselves but realized we hadn’t prepped for our animals long term. Another Minnesota homesteader explained it like this: prepping to be snowed in for a week and having enough feed for that, is totally different than prepping for a shortage of feed. This feels like preparing for a snowstorm and then coming...

I think we can all agree that chickens are great. And while some people get chickens simply because chickens are awesome, today I want to talk specifically about getting chickens for the purpose of laying eggs. There are several things to consider when choosing what kind of egg birds to get! Let's talk about 5 common mistakes people make when choosing which egg bird breeds to bring to their homestead. *Hear this blog post as a podcast episode by pressing the triangle play button near the top of this post!* 1. Don't choose an egg bird because the breed is "cute". Or beautiful. Or trendy. Just because the breed looks good on Instagram doesn't mean it's going to be what you want for your homestead. Many years ago, before we were at the farm, I decided at one point I wanted Silkies—because Silkies are cute and fuzzy and basically a cross between a bunny and a chicken, right? However, Silkies don't lay a ton of eggs, the eggs they do lay are small, and it takes them longer than most chickens to even start laying. A couple years ago we were due to replace our flock of laying hens, and since Brahmas were taking the internet by storm (thanks to a video of an enormous Brahma rooster...) I decided that Brahmas were what I wanted. However, I once again failed to fully research the breed and we ended up short of the eggs we were hoping for from the amount of chickens we were feeding. 2. Don't decide on a certain breed of laying hen for their supposed “personality”. Everyone claims that Buff Orpingtons are a calm, friendly, and social breed—so that was one of the breeds we started with many years ago. We must have got a bum flock, because our Buff Orpingtons were anything but calm, friendly, and social. Be careful when people describe an entire breed based on personality. A breed may tend towards certain behavior, but individual chickens may vary. I would be more apt to choose a breed on how likely they are to sit on eggs or how long it takes them to start laying than how likely they may be to take a treat from my hand. 3. Don't fail to consider where you live. There are chickens that tolerate heat much better than they tolerate cold, and vice versa. There are chickens who are better suited for free ranging and foraging than others. Again, it's a "generalization", but certainly something to consider. Look at the climate you live in, as well as how your property is laid out for feeding, and take those things into consideration when choosing the best egg bird breed for your homestead. 4. Don't overlook how many eggs the breed actually lays.  How many eggs does your family need? Are you selling eggs to family/friends/neighbors? How many eggs are you hoping to get per week? There is a lot of math involved in getting chickens, and one of the most important is to know that different breeds lay different amounts per year. If you want a lot of eggs, check out breeds like Leghorns, California Whites, or Barred Rock (as well as many others). Conversely, if you don't want/need a lot of eggs, keep in mind that you probably don't want a coop of 25 of these hens—or you will quickly become overwhelmed (or need to find more egg customers!) Likewise, if you do want a lot of eggs, make sure the egg breeds you're choosing lay a lot of eggs. If you're hoping for dozens and dozens a week, you're going to need quite a few Brahmas or Silkies (for instance) to make that happen. Remember to compare stats among hatcheries and in articles that fellow backyard chicken mamas and papas have written. Take into consideration that while some hatcheries may state a certain breed lays a certain number of eggs per year, actual homestead stats may differ. Do your research. Note: For those of you who want a whole rainbow of egg colors to do "eggscape pictures", understand that some of those beautiful egg colors come from chickens who don't lay very often at all.  While there is nothing wrong with various colors of eggs,

When it feels like the world is crumbling around you, and so many people need help, how do you know who to help first? Who is the most important person to take care of?  You might be surprised to find out it's not anyone out there.  Nope. The most important person for you to take care of is the person reading this blog post.   *Hear this topic much more in depth by pressing the triangle play button near the top of this post!* My inbox has seen a lot of emails lately from well meaning folks asking how to figure out how to help all the people, and also how to deal with the overwhelming sadness and frustration that comes with not being able to help everyone who is currently struggling. A word of caution before you go out and try to save all the people: the most important person for you to take care of is yourself.  Self-care is different for everyone... Taking a break to drink some tea and relax in a bubble bath might be your thing, but that's not necessarily what we're talking about. Self care means a lot of things and it's different for everyone. Tea and bubble baths make really good graphics for social media, but those aren't things I would choose if I need to take care of me. Maybe self-care looks like dancing in the kitchen to swing music, planning a bigger garden, stepping away from social media, walking on the banks of a river, or deciding to remove yourself from certain commitments, conversations, or obligations. ...but "taking care of you" doesn't just refer to popular self-care methods Self care has become quite a buzz phrase, but it really should refer to taking care of yourself in all the ways—physically, mentally, financially, spiritually—your whole person. While bubble baths, a glass of wine, or good music might be helpful in some ways, we need our entire being to be filled up in order to help others best. The truth is, we can't always help.... I have had so many people ask me for flour and yeast in the last couple weeks. People know I do a lot of baking and probably have some flour and yeast on hand, and they want some of what I have. Listen. There is nothing I want more than to give everyone in the world flour and yeast—or at the very least, spin myself into overdrive and bake for them. But if I gave flour and yeast to everyone who has asked me for it in the last couple weeks, I wouldn’t have any left here to use for my own family. In a from scratch family, flour doesn't last that long. 25 pounds of flour lasts my family about 2 weeks. And if I baked for everyone who has asked me to bake for them (which I would love to do) I would use up the resources I have here—and then be in the same situation as everyone else who is looking for flour and yeast. That doesn't fix the problem at all. It just changes who is dealing with it. It's hard to want to help everyone. We're taught from an early age that we should help whenever we can, and when we can't, we're just being selfish. However, the current situation many of us find ourselves in has us questioning what is the best way to help in such an overwhelming situation when resources are short. I have friends whose small businesses will probably not recover from this. That's not being dramatic—that's a level headed assessment they've made. I have friends who own businesses who are currently trying to figure out how long they can pay their employees, and what to do when they get to the point they can't anymore: do they let them go and hire them back? And will there even be an opportunity to hire them back? You and I hear these things and want to help everyone. We want to send them scads of money that we might not even have. It's hard to want to help everyone and not know how to move forward. We just see there is a problem and know we want to fix it and overwhelm ourselves in the process. ...but we are most helpful to others if we help ourselves first. So what can we do? Put on your own oxygen mask first.

I recently received this question in my inbox, and it was the perfect mash-up of many questions I've received in the last couple weeks regarding my thoughts on the uptick of sudden interest in homesteading and self-reliance skills due to the current health and economic issues we are facing. The email said: Hi. Curious what you think about all the people who are buying tons of baby chicks and all the seeds suddenly trying to prepare to feed themselves. Does that make you mad? Does this create shortages for you? Or are you just happy people are getting in to it? If so, do you think it will last? After thinking through my answers, I decided I'd turn them into a post here. My thoughts were also recorded more in depth in a podcast episode, which you can find by pressing play on the black bar at the top of this post, or by finding episode 87 of the Farmish Kind of Life podcast in your favorite podcast player/podcatcher. Am I mad about people's sudden interest in homesteading and self reliance? I'm not mad that people are getting into homesteading and self-reliance stuff. I don't have a monopoly on it. I don't own the concept of being farmish. And any homesteader or self-reliance supporter who acts like they do, should have their motives questioned. You're not creeping on my turf by wanting to bake bread or get chickens. In fact, I welcome you to the club. Does people's sudden interest in homesteading and self-reliance create shortages for me? Personally, it's harder to find some baking supplies and ingredients, like flour and yeast. But that also means I get to be creative—like Ma Ingalls, you know? Homesteading is all about using what you have. And when you don't have something to use? You find something else to take its place. Or you change what you're doing. Lately, I've been grocery shopping once a week. In and of itself, that's not really that big of a deal. The issue is that if I can't find something during that grocery shopping trip, I have to wait until the next grocery shopping trip. I'm not going to drive to several stores looking for something that I don't really need. If I can’t find something, I’m not going back tomorrow to check again. I'm also not going to order a bunch of ingredients on Amazon that I don't really need because I think it's most responsible to not overload an already stressed system with "wants". Because of this, there are a few things we've not had in our house for about a month.  And it's fine. What's funny is that social media is a buzz with posts like our kids will remember this quarantine as the time mom baked from scratch and we sat down as a family and we had real food for the first time because we had time to cook. But my kids will remember this as the time Mom made fried chicken using a pre-made envelope of batter instead of making her own because she was trying to save the flour we had for making bread. And it's fine. Shortages affect people differently. While they're not necessarily fun to deal with, I do think they allow us to be creative in ways we might not have explored had there not been a shortage. It's all about perspective.  Am I just happy people are getting into homesteading and self-reliance? I'm very happy people are taking interest in more self-reliant living! I just hope that people who are buying up the flour, the yeast, the baby chicks, the seeds, (or whatever you're seeing shortages of in your area) are putting the stuff to use. I hope that if they don't know what they're doing, that they ask. That's why I (and other homesteaders) am/are here. I think it's very important that homesteaders pay attention to how they are talking about (and to) people who are new to homesteading and self-reliance. The reaction should not be “OMG, all these people are getting into it and they don’t even know what they’re doing and they’re going to waste everything and screw everything up!” Will there be people who waste?

Today's episode is my answer to a reader question I received, and I thought it was so timely, I moved it ahead of some other podcast/blog post topics I had planned. (If you have a question or topic you'd like me to tackle on the podcast, drop me a line at amy@afarmishkindoflife.com) "Amy - How do we deal with friends and family who disagree with us and are so polar opposite from us about this whole Covid thing? I feel like this is just pitting everyone against each other and I just want to turn everything off and to go sit out in my chicken coop. But is that the right answer? I have seen you post on social media about how important it is to continue to be positive and post positive things on social media. So explain to the class how it is that you aren’t just sitting all alone in your barn and drinking beer until this passes. -  Jeremy" In episode 88, I tackle: things to keep in mind when communicating with people who disagree with you understanding when stress, fear, and exhaustion are talking and listening knowing when it's time to step away for your own sanity how to continue communicating (on social media) without losing your mind why it's important to continue to be a light for others. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button in the black bar near the top of this post, or find episode 88 of the Farmish Kind of Life podcast in your favorite podcast catcher. Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  

As more people consider self-sufficiency and self-reliance, I am asked the question, “but is it worth it?” I find the question often comes when people realize it requires some money to step into this lifestyle. If you’re gonna get chickens, you need a coop. If you are getting baby chicks, you need a brooder and heat lamp. If you’re gonna have a raised garden you need supplies to build that. An acquaintance asked the other day, “with all the stuff you have to invest to get started, is it actually worth it?” Valid question.   **My thoughts were also recorded more in depth in a podcast episode, which you can find by pressing play on the black bar at the top of this post, or by finding episode 89 of the Farmish Kind of Life podcast in your favorite podcast player/podcatcher.**   The reality is that at some point you realize it’s going to cost something to do this self-reliance thing—be it time or money—and you may end up questioning if it's worth it to raise/grow your own when you can get it at the store for way cheaper and way less work. I took the words out of your mouth, right? So is it worth it? It really boils down to where you’re coming from and what your goal is. Here are my thoughts. The first year of anything new is usually the most expensive year. Whether we’re talking about a building a chicken coop, fencing a pasture, or building raised garden beds, getting the infrastructure in place will cost money. But, once it’s done, that part is done—until you decide to expand or improve or change something. So yes, the first year is expensive, and you should be honest about that going in. Deciding to raise your own means you're switching from a conventional diet. I can’t raise a chicken for cheaper than I can buy a conventionally raised chicken in the store. I go to the store and see a 5 lb chicken for 5 or 6 bucks and I’m like how can you do that? Last year it cost me over $8 to raise a 5 pound bird—and that was only the cost of the chick and the feed. And that’s just regular ol’ feed. I remember a couple years ago when a dozen eggs at the store were 88 cents a dozen. At the time, I was selling mine for $2.50 a dozen because to sell for any less than that wasn’t worth my time. So when you get caught up in stuff like that, it can feel like it’s not worth it. But, sidenote: the fact that larger corporate farms can sell their stuff for that cheap should make us stop for a second and say hmmmm. Another side note: I get that some people are living a really really frugal life out of necessity, and they have to make choices based on that. They're either scraping by because that’s what their income dictates, or they're scraping by because they are trying to reach some goal and they’ve cut out a lot of stuff to get to that goal. And I can’t fault people for buying the cheapest thing possible because friends, I have been in that place. And I can’t fault people for making the economic decisions they have to make when they are in a place where they’ve got to make those decisions. That’s called being responsible. So if you are someone who is scraping by and I tell you hey, raise your own meat birds, it only costs $8 or $9 a bird to grow them out (not including heat and your time or any processing costs if you don’t do it yourselves..) you’re gonna look at me and say, “I can get a whole bird for $5 at the grocery store.” And you're not wrong. But if you are in a position where you’ve got some wiggle room, I think it’s important to look at your options. Because here’s the thing. When we’re talking about cost and if it’s “worth it”, we have to… Compare apples to apples when talking about if it's worth raising and growing your own food Deciding to raise your own food puts your food in a different category than what you might be buying at the store. So you have to compare those prices accordingly.  Y'all, I couldn’t afford to buy the sort of pork that we raise if we didn’t raise it.

**My thoughts were also recorded more in depth in a podcast episode, which you can find by pressing play on the black bar at the top of this post, or by finding episode 90 of the Farmish Kind of Life podcast in your favorite podcast player/podcatcher.** I was listening back to episode 89 of the Farmish Kind of Life podcast (about the power of raising and growing your own food, even if it's small scale) and it hit me: I’m talking about how every little step towards self-reliance is a step in the right direction—a step away from the system. And then I started thinking of society as a system. Social media as a system. The mainstream media as a system. And then through my earbuds while I did chores, I heard myself talk about taking back control of things that are yours to control, and not giving up that power to people who shouldn’t have it. And then I thought about society and social media and the mainstream media as the system, and I thought about how much all of that fuels our emotion. And I thought about how much control they get to have to be in charge of our emotions like that. Hear me out. Because I think we need to make some changes. If you need to step away, do it. But... I’ve talked a bit about how it’s important to step away from what you need to step away from when you feel you need to do that. And I still think that’s important. I briefly took social media off my phone. It was an interesting experiment -- but it also brought up a lot of issues. Stepping away is still an option. Saying peace out and just hanging out in your barn is still a valid solution. But it hit me what if that’s not the only solution? What if right now, the point is that we get to figure out that we don’t have to let the system control our emotions? Stick with me here. A point for my conspiracy theory friends What if making things yucky out there is part of the plan? What if getting the peace makers to say peace out, I can’t deal is part of the plan? What if making social media a negative, dramatic place to be is part of the plan? What if making people angry and panicky and annoyed and frustrated and on edge is part of the plan? I mean, it's just a thought... A point for those people who need to be reminded a little something about the Karens and the Facebook Nazis People who post stuff or say stuff and get you riled up really don’t care that at suppertime you’re still fuming, or that their post made you freak out at your husband or kick your dog or yell at your kids. They. don’t. care. Seriously. Read that again. They don’t care, and we’re sucking all that stuff into us and letting it ruin our entire day. What if us being able to stand in all that stuff and say, “you don’t get to ruin my day” is really about taking control and having power? I don’t mean we yell just as loudly as everyone else about whatever we think. Because when everyone is yelling, no one is hearing anything, and then they just want to yell louder. But what if this is the chance for us to show how much control we actually have over our own life? And yes, having control can sometimes mean you choose to say “I turn everything off. Right now”. That IS showing you have control over your life. But what if having control over your life is also being able to stand in the midst of opposition or disagreement or chaos and say you don’t get to control how I feel, you don’t get to ruin my day, you don’t get to force me to get up on the wrong side of the bed. And I do not want to be sing-songy. At all. That’s not me. But maybe this is a time for us to realize how much we do control in our own life. And take back the control of the things we’ve given up. Like, our emotions. Like our mood. I walked outside the other day and I looked up at my barn and I was like “wow. Have you seen my barn?” My barn stands here while I’m all angry off at the world and moping around. My amazing barn that I’m so blessed to have that is filled with kitten...

No podcast episodes, YouTube videos, or blog posts for a month? AMY, WHAT IS UP?? Here is my explanation of where I've been for the last month. Let's dig deep about the path you're on—not only as a homesteader, but as a person. In this episode, I give words and voice to some things that a lot of people are currently thinking about... Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  Links mentioned: Dandelion Jelly recipe: https://www.homestead-acres.com/how-to-make-dandelion-jelly/ Resources: Farmish Kind of Life Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/afarmishkindoflife/ Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmishlife YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5

I happened to mention in last week's episode that my kids don't have a bedtime, and I got a lot of questions about it. Our life here tends to go against the grain of mainstream "normal" in a lot of ways, and let me tell you—it can be tough to go against the grain sometimes! Today, we dig into some uncomfortable truths about the concept of "normal": what it actually means, how it serves us, how it trips us up, and how we're often unwilling to give other people the same acceptance for their "normal" that we demand for ours. Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  RESOURCES: Farmish Kind of Life Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/afarmishkindoflife/ Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmishlife YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5

When you hit a stage of life where things are ending or changing, we often ask ourselves (author included), okay, now what? And it's easy to fall in to the trap that says there isn't anything next because we're too old or that season has passed. Come on, you guys. We always have options. There is always a next phase of life and we can do just as much with it as we did with the last one. Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  Your homework after listening to Episode 93: Make a list of who you answer to. Ask yourself what you really want to do. Ask yourself why you've stopped growing or digging. What's holding you back? Links Mentioned in Episode 93: Why Now? Why Not? - Wildefern Farm  We Drink and Farm podcast Resources: Farmish Kind of Life Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/afarmishkindoflife/ Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmishlife YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5 Email me: amy@afarmishkindoflife.com

Today is the first official Random Audience Questions episode, where I answer questions that have been sent in by YOU. Today we tackle: sunburn, wearing skirts, mean roosters, preserving vegetables, and vegetarian/vegan friends. Do you have a question to submit about homesteading...or life? Email me at amy@afarmishkindoflife.com or message me at the social media accounts listed in the resources at the bottom of this post. Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  Links mentioned in Episode 94 057: Feeding Cornish Cross Chickens - How Much Should They Eat? 015: Keeping a Rooster Resources: Farmish Kind of Life Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/afarmishkindoflife/ Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmishlife YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5 Email me: amy@afarmishkindoflife.com

Today I am deep thinkin' about tribes, support systems, and groups of friends. Life is a process of growth and change, so let's talk about how to find your tribe, what the actual purpose is of that tribe, and what to keep in mind when you feel like it's time to step away from that tribe.  Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  Links mentioned in episode 95: Sauerkraut recipe I use: https://foodfitnessfamily.com/fermented-foods-part-1/ Latest Farmish Life in Five video: https://youtu.be/uRGhhnpx86w Resources: Farmish Kind of Life Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/afarmishkindoflife/ Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmishlife YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5 Email me: amy@afarmishkindoflife.com

Ever felt guilty for eating that piece of cake? Ever felt guilty for indulging in that one opportunity? Today we talk about both food and life in general as we explore the concept of eating the cake while you can still taste it.  Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  RESOURCES: Farmish Kind of Life Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/afarmishkindoflife/ Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmishlife YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5 Email me: amy@afarmishkindoflife.com

It's our second Random Audience Questions episode, where I answer questions that have been sent in by YOU. Today we tackle: feeding meat birds, "keeping up", firearms, turkeys, and guilty pleasures. Do you have a question to submit about homesteading…or life? Email me at amy@afarmishkindoflife.com or message me at the social media accounts listed in the resources at the bottom of this post. Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 97 057: Feeding Cornish Cross Chickens -- How Much Should They Eat Fried Radishes Recipe 061: Time Management for Homesteaders 064: Homestead Decluttering  A Farmish Kind of Life is now on Spotify and TikTok! RESOURCES: Farmish Kind of Life TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@farmishkindoflife Farmish Kind of Life Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/afarmishkindoflife/ Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5 Email me: amy@afarmishkindoflife.com

  "It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war." Today we talk about the importance of being both peaceful and a warrior...because you CAN be both. Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 98 Farmish Kind of Life Bonfire Store (tshirts!) Ready Amy Fire Away Facebook page Ready Amy Fire Away Facebook group Ready Amy Fire Away Instagram Ready Amy Fire Away MeWe group RESOURCES: Farmish Kind of Life TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@farmishkindoflife Farmish Kind of Life Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/afarmishkindoflife/ Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5 Email me: amy@afarmishkindoflife.com

Have you heard about the concept of being a gray man? As originally explained to me, “being a gray man” was for a SHTF situation. A gray man is the prepper who doesn’t go around telling everyone how much ammo and food they have stored. It’s the person who has the gear and knows how to use it, but they don’t go out dressed like Mr. (Or Ms.) Tacticool. Being a gray man is about blending into your surroundings. It’s basically, I am confident that I know my stuff, but I’m not going to flaunt that I know my stuff, because in a SHTF situation, that could make me a target. Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  The concept of being a gray man certainly applies to homesteading and prepping; but I’m starting to think it can apply to some of the other stuff going on in the world today—socially and politically. I hope this is something you will do a little thinking about and perhaps apply it to your life as we head into the second half of 2020. The way I see it, America is sitting on a powder keg right now. And I think we have to have a conversation about the fact that your right to say what you think about what you’re doing or where you stand on some issue doesn't need to be some ego fueled messy tirade that’s gonna get you in trouble. Let’s say that as a homesteader/prepper, you have a certain amount of water, food, ammo, and seeds stored. And let’s say that you talk about those things as a way to teach people and help them be better prepared. That’s one thing. But talking about those things as a way to prove yourself as worthy or better prepared or look at how great I am is totally and completely different. Consider your approach I’m in a weird spot as a voice in the homesteading community (and various other communities) because I do want to teach people and I do want people to feel open to discuss things in those communities. But I also feel like I have to be careful about what I say, especially when I’m not in those communities. I’m glad to live in a place where I can speak up and say what I think. But some of us need a reminder that speaking up for what you believe in doesn’t mean you have to be an obnoxious jerk. Some people need a reminder that their method of speaking up and their reason for doing so might make them an obnoxious jerk. And outspoken obnoxious jerks can be targets. When you get down to it, the gray ones are the well prepared, but quiet ones. They’re feisty, but you might not know it. They’re ready to act when needed, but they don’t get involved with the circus. In other words, don’t just jump on the bandwagon and get angry. It means keep your ego in check. It doesn’t mean just sit back and let things happen. It means pay attention and get involved at the right time. I’ve always liked the concept of “it’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for.” What does this look like? A couple days ago, I was working in my cute little zen herb garden, and I appeared to be a pretty quiet little farmgirl. But in my ears, I was listening to a pretty harsh, straight to the point, no BS book about using violence as a tool in self-defense against asocial behavior. Sweet little farmgirl, y’all. Watch out for the quiet ones. Grab your "be careful of the quiet ones" shirt at https://www.bonfire.com/silent-majority-1/ When I talk to people about gray man stuff, I find there can be a lot of ego involved. And ego is such a gross word, right? Nobody wants to admit they do anything because of ego. But a common response to gray man tactics is “but it’s my right to…” or “I’m proud of what I’ve created here (or what I believe) and people need to know where I stand…” Okay. I get it. But.

Keeping yourself safe on the homestead is important! Today we're giving lots of homestead safety tips, and also some tips for safety when you're away from the homestead. I hope you find them helpful. If you have any others to suggest, please leave them in the comments! Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  Safety on the homestead Thankfully, there is no shortage of homestead safety tips, and there are probably a gazillion tips that could be added to this blog post! We could do a whole episode on homestead kitchen safety, homestead barn safety, or homestead equipment safety. Many of the homestead safety tips below could be fleshed out into their own blog post, which means this article is basically a sort of checklist where you can say yep, I’m on top of that, or wait, I need to research that tip a little bit more.  And remember, friends—there is a huge difference between being paranoid and being prepared. Homestead safety tips Get a dog. Dogs are nature's alarm system. They are sure to tell you when something or someone is in the yard, in your house, or when something just isn't right.   Use security cameras. I wasn't a fan of these when we first got them at our farm because they felt like an invasion of my peaceful utopia, but it turns out they are a really good way to ensure your utopia stays peaceful. (Or to know exactly what happened if that utopia was breached.)   Put up gates and fences. Will a gate or fence always stop someone from trying to access your property? Not necessarily. But will it slow them down? Yes, it will.   Have a way to defend yourself. Firearms as a way to protect your family and your homestead. If this is something you're interested in or want to know more about, you can visit my other Facebook page Ready Amy Fire Away or join my private Facebook group Amy's Private Range: The Round(s) Table.   Teach your kids firearms safety. Firearms safety is important for everyone. Check out this explanation of the basic rules of firearms safety from another site I run.   If you’re leaving your homestead on vacation, don’t broadcast it all over social. Don't let people know your homestead is empty or that you've got a friend "checking on it" while you're gone. No one needs to know how great your vacation was until you get back home.   Make sure your equipment and tools are in working order. Keep up on maintenance. Fix what needs to be fixed as soon as you realize it's broken. Remember, a dull knife is much more dangerous than a sharp one.   Teach the members of your homestead know how to use the equipment and tools. Not only will this increase productivity because more people will have the know how to complete a task, it is also helpful to help get you out of a bind if you find yourself in a mess with a piece of equipment.   Have a storm or disaster plan for people and animals. Know what's going to happen in an emergency if one should arrive, not just for the people in your house, but the animals on your homestead.   Keep animals safe from predators. Different homesteads deal with different kinds of predators. Be open to suggestions from others in how to remedy those situations.   Lock your doors house and car. Yes, even if you live in the country on a dead end dirt road.   Take keys out of equipment—tractor ATVs, skidloader, etc. Yes, even if you live in the country on a dead end dirt road.   Hang up your keys in the same spot. Always. If there is an emergency and you have to leave fast you don’t want to be hunting down keys in coat pockets, mom’s purse, the table, the bedroom...  

It's another random audience question episodes/blog posts where I answer the questions you send me. Today's topics (which are discussed more in depth in the podcast episode) include packaging chicken, the gym vs. the farm, homeschooling, the state of the world (August 2020), and "nice farmgirl nails." If you would like to submit a question for a future episode/blog post, please email it to amy@afarmishkindoflife.com.  Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  Packaging chickens   "I have a question that I'm not sure if you have answered yet in another episode. When you butcher, do you process them all as full chickens or do you cut everything out separately with the breasts or the legs separately? I ask because I haven't started this whole meat raising thing yet, so I'm used to finding a recipe, then going to the store and buying that specific type of meat. Like, if I need chicken breasts, I buy a package of 4-5 breasts and they are ready to go. How does that work in your world?? Has the way you cook changed since raising your own meat?" —Katie   After we butcher chickens, we package them whole—simply because piecing them out would add another step to our butchering set up. It's not hard to piece out a chicken, and if that's something that works better for your purposes, you can totally piece them out before you package them.  Generally we will take a chicken or two out of the freezer to thaw, then cut the breasts out for a recipe (like chicken tacos) and then grill the legs, thighs, and wings. Or we will thaw a couple birds, roast them, and then pick the meat from the bone to be used in recipes. It's a little different to get used to how to use your chicken if you're used to being able to buy multiples of one piece of chicken (like legs, thighs, or breasts) but it's certainly something you can adjust to, if needed. Good luck! The gym vs. The farm   "I saw your TikTok about being glad to be back at the gym now that things are starting to open up. I’m wondering if you can tell us how you got the motivation to go? Were you just itching for things to open up again, or did you have to drag your butt there? Because I’m in the 'I should but I don’t want to' stage of existence. Also, can you speak to the topic of 'why a farm girl would need a gym membership'? Because part of me feels like I should go but the other part of me says I live on a farm, I do enough physical work.” —Lainey   When we think "farm" we often think "big farm". I think it's important to realize that not all farms are the same. While my farm keeps me busy, I don’t throw hay bales or feed bags every day. Farms are a lot of work, but just because you can lift 100 pounds doesn't mean you can run. Just because you can lift 100 pounds doesn’t mean your legs are strong or that you’re flexible. So while farm work can be a workout, it's often times not a sustained total body workout, multiple times a week. That's one reason I go to the gym. The gym is important to me because physical activity is tied to my mental health. Having said that, the Covid shutdowns got me in a funk where having to stay home made it easy to just continue staying home after things started opening back up. What actually inspired me to go back to the gym was seeing a friend asking for childcare a couple hours a week so she could just have some time at the gym. There I sat at home with a pretty flexible schedule—and two teenagers able to go off and do their own thing! It was the boot my guilty, lazy butt needed to get back to the gym. There are days I don't get to the gym. Obviously the farm is in the busy season right now and sometimes it just doesn't work to go....

Ever been paralyzed with fear about a situation you're facing? Ever been stuck in a loop of complaining about what's happening in life? Let's talk about an important question we can all ask ourselves that helps us live a solution based life. Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  Solution-based life: Stop complaining. There's something that happens when enough people get together in conversation: they eventually find something they can agree to be angry about and then they complain. I don’t have to give you examples of this because I guarantee you can see it going on around you, even if you’re not a part of it yourself. But you probably are a part of it—at least occasionally—because it's so easy to get sucked in. Conversations focused on what’s wrong and what apocalypse is coming next get us all fired up. In a strange way, they even make us feel good—righteous and validated. But they generally don't do anything to change the situation. Information overload  In today's world, we have access to information 24-7, sometimes only seconds after something has happened. The problem with everyone having so much access to information is that people think if they know about it, they can do something about it. With our globally connected world, we have come to imagine we can do stuff about the problems happening everywhere. Y’all, we can’t. There are issues in this world that are too big for you to take on.  Now, that’s not an excuse to throw up your hands and do nothing about everything, but it is a dose of reality to say this is something I have control over and this is something that's way too big for me. Believe me, the smaller things are where we need to start. Start small. Look around. What can you do? A lot of people have talked about what's coming down the pipe. The phrase "coming economic depression" is even being thrown about. Sometimes the problem can feel overwhelming, as in holy moly, I think there might be an economic depression coming and I don’t know how to deal with that. You need to break it down. What can I do right now? What can I do right here? If you are standing in your kitchen, your yard, your barn, garden, or shed, look around. What can you do right here to make life better today, tomorrow, or a year from now? You have options. Be creative. Dig in. If you are second guessing your financial stability, start small. Trying to attack your mortgage payment might be too overwhelming for your mind right now. Start small. For instance, go through all those extras that are coming out of your bank/PayPal every month—you might be surprised at what you find—and cancel them. Yes, the box subscriptions, Amazon Unlimited, Audible are cool. But does the cost work for you right now? And do you actually even use them? (Ahem, speaking to myself—the gal who has every intention of reading all the books via Amazon Unlimited but never sits down to read. C-a-n-c-e-l.) (Looking for a much deeper financial/frugal living conversation? Check out my book: It's Not About Money...except when it is.) I've heard people are worried about getting chicks next year. But hey, you’ve got chickens and an incubator! Hatch out some chicks and sell them to friends and family. Sure, they might be mixed breed. But if there is a chick shortage, a mixed breed that will lay I-don’t-know-what-color-eggs is gonna be better than not being able to get any chicks at all. People are talking about seed shortages. Y’all, are you saving your seeds? If not, now is the time to explore this. Not only will it help you out, but it might help your friends. You can give them away, sell them, or use them to trade/barter.

Talking to people can be difficult. Conversations in a society where people are divided and tensions are high can be especially tough. Today we are talking about why it's hard to talk to people, and sharing tips to keep your conversations productive. Listen to the podcast by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at your favorite podcast catcher. How to talk to people begins with how to listen. A discussion/conversation is two people who are listening to each other and responding to each other in a productive manner with the intent to move the conversation along. What we commonly have now are not conversations and they are not discussions. We don’t listen to understand, we listen to reply. Someone makes a point you disagree with, and you’re not listening anymore—you’re formulating in your head what you will say as soon as they take a breath. We don't talk with people, we talk at them.  Productive online conversations begin with reading what was actually posted. How many people read a post and then comment, not responding to the actual post but instead respond to what they heard in their head or where their brain went when they read that post? Someone can post about selling apple pies for $10 each on Thursdays from 3-7 pm at the XYZ Farmers Market, and people will ask in the comments: What time is the farmers market? Do you have cherry pies? How much are the pies? Is this the Tuesday or Thursday Market? Which market are you at? I'll take a pecan and a peach pie. Where can I pick them up? Sometimes we use people's posts as a place to put our opinions. I recently posted on Facebook, “If you are on Parler or Mewe, drop your link here so I can follow you”. From that post, I got comments and messages like: I don't have time for social media and I'm not joining another platform. Facebook is evil but I don’t know where else to go. What else are you using? I tried MeWe and Parler. They didn’t work for me. Okay, I get it. I totally do. But my post was simply asking for links of people who were on those platforms—that's all.  It's become an epidemic of sorts. Half reading what is written, responding before taking all the information in. And that's just one of the issues. We've become more bold, and we like conflict. I touched on this topic in Social Media Etiquette: Tips from a Farmish Girl . My first tip was, “if you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face at a fried chicken dinner, don’t say it online.” The problem is in current times, I think there are a lot of things that people would say—and are saying—at a chicken dinner that they never would have said before. We want to fight. People want to be mad. And in an ironic way, me even doing this topic proves that. I’m frustrated with people being unable to talk to each other. I’m frustrated that people can't leave stuff alone that doesn’t apply to them. Conflict gives us something to talk about. It’s much more exciting to talk about things going wrong than things going right. Think about it—sitting down to read a book or watch a movie where there is no conflict would be pretty boring. Conflict is what moves the story along. So, conflict is part of the game and will always be part of the game. So how do we handle that conflict in conversation without being jerks to each other, or deciding we’re going to hole up and just never talk to anyone again? Why do people have such a hard time talking to each other? I recently asked on MeWe: “Why do you think people have such a hard time talking to each other right now (in person or online)? What's behind the breakdown in conversation? Why is there so much anger and so little movement forward? What is wrong with communication right now?” A few of my friends were willing to share their thoughts,

It's another random audience questions podcast episode (and blog post) where I pull five questions from my giant mason jar of topics you've sent in. Today's questions are about my favorite podcasts, multi-generational living, my circle of friends, quitting a side hustle, and Ruth Stout gardening. If you'd like to add a question to my jar for a future episode please email it to amy@afarmishkindoflife.com or message me on social media. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  1 - The podcasts I listen to: I'm a regular listener of your podcast and enjoy the wisdom you share with your listeners. Just like you, I like to listen to podcasts while working on our homestead. What podcasts do you listen to? Thank you. Sincerely, Karen Thanks for your question, Karen! I love listening to podcasts. I have many that I listen to, but the ones I try to catch every episode of are: Living Free in Tennesse The Survival Podcast Unloose the Goose Cabinet of Curiosities Lore American Shadows The Box of Oddities 2 - Pros and cons of multi-generational living: I’m a long time listener and I’ve heard you mention occasionally that at some point in your adult life, you, your husband and kids, and your parents all lived together in a multi generational home. Was that experience intentional? I’m curious if you can talk about the pros and cons of that experience and why (to my knowledge) it’s not how things are set up anymore. My wife and I are considering multi-generational living with our four kids (ages 3-10) and her parents. It’s something we’ve always considered, but as we look at the state of the world, we think about making this move a lot more. I’m just wondering if there is a negative side to it. I’m guessing there is. Thanks for considering my question. -Brad Back in the day it was always our plan to buy a piece of property, put two houses up on it, and have a sort of family commune where we all lived together—but how this all panned out for us was a lot different than we planned. Back in 2007 my husband and I sold our little house on main street with the intention of pooling our money with my parents to buy a piece of property. Our house unexpectedly sold in 24 hours, and so we asked my parents, hey, can we crash in your basement for a bit while we work to find this farm? Long story short, a little bit ended up being four years. (Remember the economy in 2008-2009? Yeah. That's a whole 'nother podcast episode.) When we found our farm (the place we are in now) my parents sold their house and moved up to the farm with us. You are correct that we no longer live multi-generationally. My parents ended up divorcing (which had nothing to do with our living arrangement ;)) and are both remarried now. There are lots of pros to multi-generational living, and also some things to be aware of: Pros:  Many hands make light work. Super productive. Working as a team. Pooling your resources. Be aware of: People need their space. Set boundaries so resources aren't taken advantage of. Someone's problem is everyone's problem. Possible disagreement over parenting strategies/life choices when other people are always in close proximity. I don't regret our time living in a multi-generational home. I think there are many benefits and things to be gained from it. Just be sure you have good communication and are able to sit down and discuss your expectations/concerns before you get into it, and make sure the communication lines stay open once you jump in.   3. My circle of friends:  I sometimes wonder if people in the podcasting world all hang out together. Do you and Nicole Sauce know each other?

Building the life you want is a sure step towards self-sufficiency and independence. But what if you don't know what you want that life to look like? What if the question of "what do you want" is too big to answer? Let's work through the how-to of determining what you want, as well as the importance of being able to say no in order to make that life a reality. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. I recently shared the following image on social media: decide what kind of life you really want...and then, say no to everything that isn't that. There was a lot of support and cheering to the image, but one gentleman gave this response: Serious question, I’m 49 and I have never figured out what I want to do. What can I do to help the process out, or is this it? If so, I did complete my mission to raise my kids...but I mean [I'm asking] for me. That's a good, valid question. What if you don’t know what you want? What if you’ve never been asked? Or what if you knew what you wanted but now you’re in a different stage of life, looking around with some freedom and thinking, wait. What is it that I want? How do we figure this all out? Sometimes the Big Picture helps, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes when we think about what we want life to look like, we can make it really complicated. We think big picture, and we think far off into the future—almost like we're answering "what do you want to be when you grow up" all over again. That might be the exact approach you need to take, but it can also be overwhelming. Sometimes in order for us to get the concept moving, we have to start small. Maybe what you know right now is that you don’t want to have to get up at 430 am anymore. That simple statement is a really great place to start in order to grab some ideas of what you want life to look like. Making a list helps A great way to attack what you want your life to look like is to make a list. Start with little bits of what you want. Add little bits of what you don't want. (Believe me, once you get started, you won't need any help continuing.) After you've made that list, take a look at the items you want and don't want. Your next step is to determine how you get there. As in, how do you bring about the things/situations you want? How do you get rid of the things/situations you don't want? And remember, this doesn't need to be all long term, especially if that's too overwhelming to think about. You can make lists for today. Tomorrow. Next week. By Christmas. Five years from now. Deciding on the life you want is really just setting goals In a way, it’s like the goal setting conversations I used to do with my teens every Monday. We'd all write down our goals for the week and post them for everyone to see. Not only did it put our commitments out there "publicly", but it also helped us keep each other accountable. Knowing each other's goals meant when we saw each other doing stuff that really wasn’t helping us reach those goals, we’d call each other on the carpet about it. Calling each other on the carpet meant poking each other to say no to the things that weren't pushing us towards the goals we'd set—i.e, the life we wanted. Reaching those goals means saying no - sometimes to a lot of stuff. Recently, a friend from Minneapolis decided it was time to move. The stuff had hit the fan, he felt it was no longer safe to live where he lived, and he announced, “we are out of here”. Saying you want to move is not as easy as just moving. It’s a whole process. It disrupts your life, your work, the plans you previously had. But my friend's end goal was to move as quickly as possible. There were a lot of things he had to say no to in order to make that happen. And a lot of those things frustrated him. But to reach the goal, you have to stay on track. Decide the life you want, and say no to what isn't that. You have to keep asking the question. And it's tough. All through my teens,

Today we are tackling the topic of freedom of speech—it's a huge topic that's been on my mind lately because of things happening out in the world. Not just because I see certain things being censored online, it's also how I'm seeing people react to that. So today we're digging into this topic and giving you some ways to look at freedom of speech as we move forward. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  Let's start with a metaphor. Let’s pretend that I invite all of you to a campfire at my farm, and I say it’s a happy wonderful place where anyone is welcome for conversation and friendship. And everyone starts having conversations. And then I happen hear you talking about church, or being a vegan, or cops, or your brother and his boyfriend getting married, or being pro-life or pro-choice, and every time you open your mouth, I talk over you. Or I move you away from the campfire where no one can hear you. Friends, this is no longer a campfire where anyone is welcome for conversation and friendship. And this, my friends, is what social media is turning into. Now, if I don’t want certain things talked about at my campfire, that’s my right because it’s my farm. But I can’t go around telling people that my campfire is a happy wonderful place where anyone is welcome for conversation and friendship if I'm also going to tell people what they can and can't talk about. Free speech: what does it actually mean? The crazy thing is that we've got a lot of people saying they believe in free speech. We've got people super angry that some of these campfires (or social media) are censoring people, mostly themselves. But at the same time, they get angry when someone at a campfire starts blasting off an opinion they don't like. They usually end up asking the person who has the campfire to tell that person to leave because, “you can’t say that here!” Free speech means it’s okay to have an opinion and it’s okay to voice that opinion -- even if someone doesn’t agree with you. It would be super cool if this actually meant voicing that opinion in a respectful manner, but let’s be real. This is America and we are humans and most people start frothing at the mouth about the rightness of what they believe. The thing about free speech Here's a really cool thing about free speech. If you’re sitting at the campfire with someone who is spouting off opinions that you don’t agree with, and you think they have crossed the line into jerk territory—you can pick up your chair. You can move your seat at the campfire. I don’t think that free speech was ever supposed to mean threatening to bash peoples' skulls in. I think it was more supposed to have to do with when we don’t like something the government is doing, we can go ahead and express that. In any event, go ahead and say the super tough and super cool things you want to say—because then I get to decide how I interact with you after that. It's really a win-win for both of us.  Freedom of speech is hard. People are figuring out that freedom of speech is actually difficult to sit nicely with. Because if it’s okay that I say what I want, it’s okay that you say what you want. And that’s really easy if we agree with each other. And it’s even pretty ok if we agree to disagree with other. But when we flat out disagree on something that we believe so hard core in the pit of our very stomachs, for most people, it’s really hard to contemplate freedom of speech in all of that. In real life, most people have a really hard time if someone strongly believes a certain thing that totally goes against what you believe in. But if you actually believe in freedom of speech,...

Last week I was gone for a magical week, deep in the woods of extreme northern Minnesota, a stone's throw from the Canadian border. A week spent deep in the woods gives a person a lot of time to think and you generally come back to your normal everyday life with some thoughts. Today, I'm sharing those deep thoughts from the woods here with you. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  The problem is, when you spend a lot of time away and have some moments of clarity, you come back to a jumbled up world and it can be really hard to reacclimate yourself to what's going on here in real life. It's been a bumpy ride to say the least. But I offer up my three thoughts to you in the hopes that maybe one of them will help untangle something in your head, too. Deep thought #1: Prepare for then, but live in the now Somewhere while packing the last items into the truck for our annual cabin trip, it occurred to me, this could be our last real family vacation. By next September, our oldest will be graduated from high school, possibly college, and will be a full fledged adult. Our youngest is only a year behind. And that thought sat in the back of my head as we drove up and unpacked our gear. But somewhere along the first trip out on the 4 wheelers it hit me. I can focus on the fact it might be his last trip to the cabin as a kid and be sad, or I can pour myself into the moments of this vacation and actually experience them. And then, I realized something else. We’re all doing the same thing as it relates to what’s coming next for our economy, for our society. We are so caught up in what might be coming around the bend that we’re missing what’s happening right now. Now, I do think it's important to prepare. I myself am someone who likes to try and think two steps ahead. I think that's a responsible thing to do. But not to the detriment of the life you're living and breathing in right now, at this moment.  It's okay to peek at what's coming around the corner, but make sure you've got your feet on the ground where you're standing. Deep thought #2: The trees have answers Because the air is more clear and the woods chill me out, I generally go to the cabin looking for brilliant answers— for the way around everything, or for a solution to whatever is the current issue in my life. This time though, the answers just weren't coming and I was getting frustrated. The second to the last morning that we were at the cabin, I started the coffee pot, sat at the table in a sort of silence that is almost suffocating, and I penned the following free verse poem. A Tree in the Woods In this place where I can see my breath at the kitchen table, Where making a pot of coffee is not as easy as Running the faucet Clicking the power switch Waiting a few minutes to pour your cup, Where stepping off the deck means Greeting a bear, Where the changing leaves are your television. In this place where we haven’t seen another Human being for five days Not on the trails. Not on the roads. Not in the woods. Where the world could have stopped Blown up Ended And we wouldn’t even know Unless we turned on the radio. In this place where I come for clarity Answers Perspective Where I usually come out on the other side with A deep refreshing Cleansing sigh And a big idea A solution A plan But this time is different There is no cleansing sigh I’m here and I feel like I’m Holding My Breath. And Like an impatient two year old I want the answers Demand the answers The sky and woods laugh at me and say Sit back Watch Breathe. And I look and all I see are trees. Trees being trees.

It’s another random audience questions podcast episode (and blog post) where I pull five questions from my giant mason jar of topics you’ve sent in. Today I answer your questions about homesteading skills, family issues, snow removal, leaving Facebook, and crocheting. If you’d like to add a question to my jar for a future episode please email it to amy@afarmishkindoflife.com. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players.  1 — Homesteading Skills I have a random question. Like you, I’m increasingly concerned about what the next 3, 6 and 12 months are going to look like in our country. I’ve been a suburban/ urban “homesteader” for about 10 years with the goal of getting land and making a home for myself and my sons that is more sustainable, safer, and from where I can earn an income that’s not dependent on an office in a big city. I don’t need to earn my whole income from a farm. I can do consulting from anywhere I have an internet connection. My question to you is what skills would you focus on getting prior to moving to a homestead? Gun use and safety of course. Butchering? Animal husbandry? Carpentry? I should add I’m a 51 year old single mom of 2 boys in their early to mid teens and they are fully supportive of this move. - Wendy It’s awesome that you have the freedom of consulting on the internet! I would just caution you—and this is obvious, but I’m still gonna throw it out there—when you’re looking for property make sure there is decent internet. There are pockets all over that still don’t have reliable internet, so if your work is internet related, that needs to be number one in your property search. As far as the skills to work on, there are so many that you could start researching and working on, but it really has to do with what you plan to do on your homestead. “Homesteading” is a pretty huge word and means a lot of things. The skills I use the most often here would be butchering, carpentry/fix-it stuff, and gardening/preserving the harvest—and trying to use the equipment (skidloader, tractor, chainsaw, power tools)!  I would say the first thing is to dig into “what” you want to do as a homesteader. You’re already a suburban/urban homesteader. What are the things you really absolutely want to have and do on your land? Do some dreaming and then concentrate on those skills. The great thing is that we live in a time where information is so easy to get, which makes learning what you want to learn much easier than it was for our ancestors. Other links to check out:  The Most Important Homesteading Skill Smart Homesteaders Keep Learning 2 — Family Issues Hey Amy! I wanted to submit a question for your mason jar. A little background first. My family was once considered to be close knit but, unfortunately, fell apart roughly 20 years ago due to disagreements I'd rather keep anonymous. Some members still speak but we haven't all been in the same room for a very long time even for holidays. Without pointing fingers at just one person, we all could make a better effort in spending time together in my opinion, but there seems to be a problem of "I only want you in my life when it's convenient for me, what you do for me, and as long as you live your life the way I do I accept you". My question is: Is it ever ok to cut family members out of your life, do I allow them to walk away, or is there any other way to handle this I haven't learned yet? That being asked, anytime I try to set boundaries I won't hear from them until they need something or I "apologize" for not jumping at their beckon call. I put the word apologize in quotations because I feel obligated to and feel like I'm just trying to keep...

Earlier this week I went down a rabbit hole that we will call Something Doesn't Quite Line Up Here which lead me to a bunch of question-asking and research. And because that rabbit hole was so deep, Cinderella didn't get her work done to make that today's podcast episode topic. So today's episode is instead a recap of all the other stuff I wrote about during the week: those itty bitty daily thoughts that have been milling around in my brain and that I write about daily here on A Farmish Kind of Life. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.  Today's episode includes itty bitty thoughts about: Decorate for You Here’s the thing I’ve learned: your life doesn’t have to sparkle for anyone else, it just has to sparkle for you. Just Do the Next Thing Maybe life is less about knowing what "needs" to get done and more about tackling the things that "come up"—and considering that maybe things don’t actually "come up." Beautiful Boring Someone recently told me she liked to talk to me because I had a boring life. Here's why I'm totally okay with that. The Way Things Were Deep thoughts about life back in the day and why it's okay to let go of things. In Tiny Houses on Little Farms I got to thinking about my great uncle, who lived through the Great Depression, and what'd he'd have to say about us getting all caught up in what's happening out there in the big wide world. A Lesson Learned from Two Tall Guys That thing where you feel like your kids become the parent and you're the kid because you know the advice they're giving you is on point. Bookmark ITTY BITTY THOUGHTS and come back to check out what I post tomorrow! I’d love your thoughts on today’s post in a comment below or via email at amy@afarmishkindoflife.com. RESOURCES: Daily posts here at the website: https://afarmishkindoflife.com/category/itty-bitty-thoughts Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5 Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife Email me: amy@afarmishkindoflife.com

I think most of you know that I’m a writer. Like, not just a gal who writes blog posts, but a real live fiction author (under a pen name) as well. So, today we're talking about NaNoWrimo (Nano...what?), why writer-type-folk should consider taking part in it this November, and—for you non-writers—lessons I've learned from my participation in NaNoWriMo that absolutely and totally apply to other areas of life. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.  What is NaNoWriMo? NaNoWriMo started in 1999, and stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's basically a ginormous annual challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November. Fifty thousand words, you guys. Thirty days, you guys.  Who takes part in stuff like this? Crazy people, obviously. Crazy people like me. I take part in it. I even get excited for it, like Christmas y'all. NaNoWriMo has grown into a year round website that helps you track your words, provides pep talks from well known authors, and gives you a place to talk to other people who are taking the same crazy challenge as you. (Like 455,080 authors that participated in 2019. Wut??) NaNoWriMo is now a non-profit, and their programs support writing fluency and education. Their programs now include National Novel Writing Month in November, Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July, the Young Writers Program, Come Write In, and the “Now What?” Months in January and February. And it's not just a crazy challenge or a cutesy project. Some big names and big books started as NaNoWriMo projects. Books like Water for Elephants, The Night Circus, Wool, Fangirl, The Darwin Elevator, and Cinder.  How much is 50,000 words? So, 50k words in a month. Wut? Those of you who aren’t writers probably can't wrap your head around word counts because you're used to counting pages. Traditionally (you know, back when I was in college and books were printed on paper) we were told to figure 250ish words to a page. With that line of thinking, a 50k manuscript will net you a 200 word novel. **But with new formatting and ebooks and all those things, the concept of “pages” has kind of changed. But why? Why would you even try write 50,000 words in a month? To see if you can. Back in 2013, I heard about this super cool thing—NaNoWri...something. I had yet another story idea in me and was looking for a kick in the pants. I thought 50k words? whatever. No way. But I have this story idea in me, so why not? And I did it. I looked down towards the end of the month and saw I had passed 50k words and I cried. I had actually done it. This will be my 4th year doing Nano. Early in my fiction writing career (pre-2013) I wrote romantic comedies. But then I got comfortable enough to write the kind of stuff I really wanted to write—psychological thriller, mystery, dark fiction type stuff. So that's what I write now. My first NaNoWriMo project, The Me You See, was published in 2014. My second, The Visit,  I didn’t finish, but it's on the list to go back to. My third, Opposite of Gray, is currently being edited. My 4th (2020!) will be a novel called Snap about current events and human nature as told through the eyes of four people in a small town. Things I’ve Learned From NaNoWriMo Pre-NanoWriMo, I had it in my head that the first draft of a book took at least a year to write. We needed time to think and consider and mull over and wait for the muse to show up. Nano was absolutely THE thing that taught me I can write 50k words in a month. Nano taught me that I can complete that goal by averaging 1667 words a day. Some days I wrote less, some days I wrote way more. I learned that if I apply the seat of my pants to the seat of my ...

It’s another random audience questions podcast episode (and blog post) where I pull five questions from my giant mason jar of topics you’ve sent in. Today I answer your questions about feeder pigs vs raising piglets, ghost stories, people’s opinions about kids and farm work, teaching other homesteaders how to butcher, and my thoughts on being away from Facebook. If you’d like to add a question to my jar for a future episode please email it to amy@afarmishkindoflife.com. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.  1 — Feeder pigs vs. raising piglets We are considering getting into pigs and are curious what went into your decision to buy feeders every year vs doing your own piglets. The husband and I are at odds about this and we’re hoping you could give some insight into why you don’t do your own piglets. - Ellen Farm babies are adorable, but in our couple years of doing piglets and goat kids, I learned that farm babies just aren't my thing. Keeping a mama pig means overwintering a pig. It means breeding that pig—which means keeping a boar, borrowing a boar, or doing artificial insemination. Having babies means dealing with all the extra worry that comes with having babies (and all the extra steps to dealing with those babies). And then you have to find new farms for those babies—which means dealing with people who think they want those piglets. There is nothing wrong with trying the whole piglet thing out, it's the only way you will know what works for you and your farm. We tried it here, and our experience taught me that I'm totally okay with paying someone else to deal with moms and dads and piglets. 2 — Ghost stories You’ve mentioned in a few episodes that you believe in ghosts and that your kids don’t. Tell us a ghost story that you’ve experienced. - Nita To be clear, I'm not a “hey, I saw a ghost floating in the cemetery” kind of person. It’s more of a “there’s something else here” kind of thing. I will tell you two stories; a spooky one about a house we looked at to buy where my dad and I had the same experience in similar rooms in the second story, and sorta charming story about a kid who used to leave green crayon marks all over our house...before we had kids. (Listen to those stories on the podcast by pressing the black player button at the top of the post and finding minute marker 8:27 -- they're too long to write out here!) 3 — People's opinions about kids and farm work I’m wondering how you figure out what jobs your kids should have around the farm? I seem to be caught in the middle of half my family saying that I make my kids do too much and some of the rest of the family says that kids can do more than we think they can. I know you moved to the homestead when your kids were younger, how did you decide what they would help with? And did you ever internally struggle with they’re doing too much/not enough. And what did you say to people who said they were doing too much or not enough? - What To Do? This is an issue whether you live on a farm or not. This is just a thing that boils down to people always feel the need to comment on how other people's kids are raised. How do you figure out what your kids should help with? You know your kids. You know what they can handle. You know what you need them to handle. Parenting is finding that balance between what's too much and what's simply a challenge they need to surmount. That's everything from can they collect eggs without dropping them to can they carry a knife around the farm to are they big enough to do this particular job on butcher day. Helping on the farm is about helping them grow as people, not about what your mom sister brother fellow homesteader thinks is enough or too ...

If you are someone dealing with big emotions (anger, fear, frustration) regarding what's happening out there in the big wide world or what might be coming around the bend, today's writing is for you. You can read it below as an itty bitty thought or you can press play above to listen to it as a podcast. The main topic starts at minute marker 5:58.   Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.    Heading into this week is weird. I know as a writer I should have bigger, better words to describe what I'm feeling,  but weird is all I can come up with. Friends across the pond tell me they're going into another lockdown. Many of the schools local to me are going to total distance learning again. But the main event whether you're participating in it or not, is tomorrow's presidential election.  I've been talking to friends on both sides of the aisle and what I hear is fear tension anger panic anxiety did I mention anger? Because there is anger.   I wasn't sure what I wanted to say today as an itty bitty thought or a podcast I don't know how to approach all of this and that and everything. So I will go with what I like to focus on in times of chaos and unknown.  because maybe it will help you, too.   Here’s what I want you to focus on. No matter who you think should win. No matter who ends up winning. No matter what comes because of the person who wins. When you wake up the day after election day or the day after or the week after or whenever after there is one thing you need to remember: the chickens still need to be fed.   And it’s such a simple statement and for me it makes sense because I have chickens. If you don’t have chickens I hope you realize what I’m getting at. Your kids still need to be fed. Your significant other still needs to be held. The wood stove still needs stocking. The tomatoes still have to be canned. The bread still needs to get in the oven.   There are things that still need to be done regardless of what is happening in the outside world out there, beyond your doors. I want you to  see these things as a comfort.   These things that become our normal and that we pass by to get to other things. These things we fly through in order to find out what's going on in the world or what's happening next. I find these things particularly comforting in times of chaos or when I don't know what's coming next.   I don't know who is going to win the election. And I don't know what will happen after it's done. But I will put one foot in front of the other in a house with my husband and kids with our tiny little life and we will continue on. Because that's what people do. It's what people have always done.   In times of chaos, in times where you feel like things don't make sense and are out of control and you don't know what is going to happen next remember, you do know what's going to happen next: the chickens still need to be fed.     -- Amy Dingmann, 11-2-20 Remember to bookmark ITTY BITTY THOUGHTS and come check out my daily posts here at A Farmish Kind of Life RESOURCES: Episode 33: Supplemental Light for Chickens? Be Honest About This... Daily posts here at the website: https://afarmishkindoflife.com/category/itty-bitty-thoughts Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5 Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife

As a homesteader, a lot of my audience is conservative. As a fiction author in an artist community, most of the people surrounding me are liberal. I have friends and family all over the political spectrum so from both a professional and a personal perspective, it's been interesting to maneuver life the past week listening to the comments, arguments, and opinions from both sides. My answer to all of this, as if little ol' me has the answer, is a piece I wrote called And I Hope. I hope it applies to you whether you live in America or not. I hope it applies to you no matter who you voted for, if anyone at all. I hope it is something you can listen to or read as a pause or a breath or an opportunity to reflect on your focus—and fine tune things if necessary.  You can read it below as an itty bitty thought or you can press play above to listen to it as a podcast. The main topic starts at minute marker 5:24.   Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.    Here are the things I hope for you today and tomorrow and all of your days.   I hope if someone wants to listen to Christmas music really early because it makes them smile that you let them. I hope that you have a friend who can eat all the black jelly beans that you don’t like. I hope you have enough yarn to finish your hat I hope you have enough hot water for a really long shower  I hope you can remember all the items you needed at the store even if you forgot your list and I hope that when you smile at the cashier, they look up and smile back.   I hope all those things, and other things too like I hope that right now you can act like an adult because kids are watching I hope that you don’t let two people who don’t even know your name come between you and the people who do. I hope you don’t completely surround yourself with people who think exactly like you. I hope you know the issue isn’t social media. I hope you’re always thinking about and searching for a better way to do things. I hope you understand that how you acted before the election and how you acted after say more about you than how you voted, if you voted at all.   I hope you know that people don’t need to know where you stand on an issue, they need to know how you stand as a person. I hope you realize the loudest person in a group doesn’t usually speak for the majority of the group, the loudest person is just really loud. I hope you’re not living for conflict. I hope you’re not driving the conflict. And if you are, I hope you get tired of it I hope you fail to find a payoff for it And I hope you stop.   I hope you realize that in a nation so divided, no one wins. I hope you understand there is a difference between unity and conformity. I hope you know this is not an apocalyptic novel and I hope you know this is not a fairy tale. I hope you understand this is actual real life and I hope you realize that nothing that little ol you or me does or doesn’t do today will even be seen by the mainstream media or the individuals who ran for office. But it will be seen by the people who live with you, By the people who do life with you. By the people who will be affected by what you do or don’t do.   So I hope you have a friend over for a fried chicken dinner. I hope you take two hours to talk on the phone when someone calls and just can’t handle it anymore. I hope you realize there are bellies to tickle and leaves to rake up and cookies to bake. I hope you know there are mugs of coffee to be poured and quilts to snuggle under and love to be made.

Today's podcast episode is a mash up of two previous itty bitty thoughts, as well as a continuation of them. I hope you find today's thoughts inspiring and motivational as we maneuver our way through 2020 and beyond. There's also some homework, if you'd like to get involved! Also, if you listen to today's episode, you will know what #cheetodust means, and why we should start using it. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.  Worry First, check out my previous Itty Bitty Thought: What I Worry About Here are further thoughts—and some homework—after you visit the above link: Back in episode 77, I did an episode called Because Winter is Hard: Mental Health for Homesteaders. I’m going to ask you to do something to help me build a future episode. This idea actually didn’t come from me, it was actually suggested by a listener who goes by “Kelley from the Northeast”. She suggested: I think it would be a great idea to have an episode where you have other people write in on how they get through the winter and maybe you'll get some novel ideas. What a great idea! I've got an inkling that Winter of 2020 is going to be hard for a lot of folks. Maybe that's you, maybe it's not. If you'd like to help build an episode and blog post to motivate and encourage others through the winter, comment below or drop me an email about how you plan to get through winter 2020. You can email me at amy@afarmishkindoflife.com Forget First, read through my Itty Bitty thought called The Thing We Keep Forgetting. Then, continue here: What I want to point out is that we need that time to be angry and frustrated—that's part of the process, so don't squash it down. But the next step is to remember you still have a pulse and as long as you’re alive here there is something you’re supposed to be doing. I don’t know what that something is for you. You might not know what that something is for you. But I encourage you to spend some time thinking about it.  Do not get stuck in the idea that you will get started when this blows over or that it’s pointless to do anything because you don’t know what’s coming. Make a plan and go for it. If things change (and they will because this is life) then you adjust. But you can’t adjust anything if you’ve spent this whole sitting on the couch licking Cheeto dust off your fingers. My plans and thoughts: dream big I've had time to think and time to plan. To be completely honest, when I think about A Farmish Kind of Life, I get confused about where it’s going. I started this website years ago and I've talked about the homesteading journey as I understand it and as I've lived it. But now we've found our groove, we know what works and doesn't work for us, and I've wrote and spoke about the majority of those things.  Eventually, one gets to a point where they think okay, now what do I talk about? If you’ve been here at the podcast/website for awhile you have seen how this has gone from all about homesteading to all about a lot of different stuff. I had a listener email me the other day giving me some very kind words about the itty bitty thoughts I had recorded back in episode 109 and she said “it’s almost like you’ve moved from homestead podcaster to motivational podcaster.” And maybe that's what I am now. I’ve also had a couple of you ask if I’m going to put my itty bitty thoughts into a book. Maybe I'll do that. The point is, the benefit in being “farmish” is that I can morph into different things. And I think it’s important to realize that at this point in life and technology and connection, we can do that. So while I don’t think this site or my podcast is going anywhere anytime soon,

There is a balance to be struck between striving to do all the things, and realizing when you’re at a stage in your life that you’re already busy doing other things. While it's important to dream, make goals, and draw up plans, today I want to talk about honoring the reality of where you are in life. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.  It's important to make plans. I'm all about dreaming and setting goals. But today I'm backing up a bit and getting honest about life, because for some of you, hearing just do some dreaming and make some plans! is the exact opposite of what you need to hear. I was 24 when I had my first kid, and 25 when I had my second. And I remember shortly after the second was born, I sat on the deck, exhausted and sobbing. My husband asked me what was wrong. "I'm afraid I'll never write again. I will never have time. I can't do all of this." And I pulled out a book by some author who by my estimation had "a bazillion books out". I shoved it at my husband's face and said, "Look at her. She is doing all the things." And my sweet husband looked at me, his wife with an almost 13 month old and a brand new baby, and said, "You and her are in different places. How old is that author?" When I told him she was 42, he told me to stop comparing myself to her and live my life. "If I know you," he said, "when you're 42 you'll be back to writing all the books just like that author." "What if I'm not?" "Then you're not. But it's not like you're going to forget how to write. It's part of who you are." I don't know if my husband remembers that conversation, but it was huge for me and I totally stuck it in my back pocket. Fast forward to last week when I was making a huge business plan for the novels I plan to release under my two names in 2021. And it occurred to me while I worked on it: guess how old I turn in 2021? 42 years old. I recently shared this story with another writer, who said he really appreciated the honesty. As  a new dad, he was scraping by on writing 10 minutes a day and wondering, “is this is all there is?” I remember those days. I remember the days of trying to get an article done in 20 minutes because that’s how long I had before the kid woke up again. While that writer and I are close to the same age, he and his partner just had a baby. So even though he and I graduated almost the same year, he's currently getting up with a baby every few hours and I’ve got a kid who turns 18 in a few months.  Two totally different places in life. Which makes all the difference. My reality now? My husband works weird hours. My kids are almost adults. Our house is wildly independent. We’re all on different schedules. I often say that there isn’t a moment in a 24 hour period where there isn’t someone awake in our house doing something.  So when people ask how do you have all the time to do what you do, I want you to understand at this point in my life, I spend a lot of time alone—meaning, not being needed by anyone else—either because they aren’t home, they’re sleeping, they’re at work, or they’re doing their own thing like recording music or doing their college classes. So I am currently free to do the crazy things I’ve got up in my head—and that I’ve had up in my head!—because there are so many other things I don't need to take care of anymore.  The truth is, the place you are in life will determine a lot of what you can do.  Let's break down some steps to getting comfortable with this realization. Step One: Dreams. Goals, Plans.  We all have something we want to do.  You might want to build a homestead, learn a new skill, switch careers, or put out a crapton of books next year.

As we spend time finalizing gifts for the holidays, I got to thinking about seven gifts we should imagine are wrapped up under the tree. Gifts we probably already have, but sometimes forget about in the hustle and bustle of a hectic holiday. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.    1 . The Year that Was If you’re listening to this, you lived through 2020. And I don’t think there is anyone’s life that wasn’t touched with some kind of change or difficulty, whether that was direct or indirect. But I think the best way to look at the year that was, is to consider the lessons that came out of it. We all learned a lot. What we could handle. When we needed a break. What things needed to change in our life. Some of us were pushed to make those changes and we wouldn’t have made them without the struggles we encountered in 2020. Some of us felt validation for choices we had already made. Some of us got perspective. Some of us learned how much we take for granted.  Homework: What is one thing that 2020 taught you? 2 . Opportunity I know there is a whole mainstream world out there that's screaming that life is hard and life is tough and nothing turns out and everything is horrible. But I kid you not if your great-great-great grandparents were here, they'd laugh at us for complaining about some of the things we complain about, for focusing on some of the things we focus on, and for our inability to see the opportunities we have that we absolutely take for granted. The ease in which we can do things that were an absolute impossibility for them. A lot of people were frustrated that they had to work from home, but had that opportunity not been available during the various lockdown periods instituted this year, it meant a lot of people simply wouldn't have had work.  Something to point out here is there are many opportunities available, but it doesn't mean they will just drop in your lap and it doesn't mean they aren't work. Oftentimes when I bring up there are many opportunities available, someone will say "oh really, what about..." Opportunity means having eyes to see what's out there. To dig through the cant's and won'ts and shouldn'ts and it's hards to see what could be possible. Starting a business is hard, but there are tools today we didn't have 50 years ago. Starting a homestead is definitely work, but there are ways to make it happen that don't require 250 acres of land. Going back to school is a commitment, but you can do it from the comfort of your home now. That wasn't available when I was in college. Connecting with like-minded people who happen to live faraway from you takes time, but it doesn't necessarily require getting on a plane anymore. You just turn on your computer. Spending the day reading doesn't even require leaving your house anymore to find a bookstore or a library. You can just one-click a button and send a book to your Kindle. Have you ever thought about how insane that is? Homework: Are there opportunities in front of you that you need to look in to? What are they? 3. Peace That cup of coffee in the quiet morning. Maybe for you it’s something else. But those few moments. Maybe it's knowing you're working towards removing yourself from the noise of the world. Maybe it's understanding how to have peace within the noise of the world. Maybe it's knowing that the life you've built isn't centered in chaos. Homework: How do you find peace?  4. Gratitude Living with a spirit of gratitude makes you see the world differently. And I don't think that living with a spirit of gratitude means ignoring the reality of things that are happening around you, and the unfortunate thing is that's often how "gratitude",

After the buzz and energy of the winter holidays are over, people can sometimes fall into a slump and get stuck in the darkness of the season. Here are 25+ tips from myself as well as readers/listeners of A Farmish Kind of Life to hopefully help you get through winter and make it through to spring with a smile on your face. You can also check out my winter post from last year: Winter is Hard: Mental Health for Homesteaders as well as Winter Projects: What to do While You're Waiting for Spring. NOTE: This podcast/blog post is not intended to take the place of professional medical advice regarding depression. I'm not a medical professional. I'm just an adorkable farmgirl with a microphone. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.  My plan to get through the winter: Be honest about what affects me negatively and positively, and then give the appropriate attention to those things: Sometimes it makes me feel powerful to listen to podcasts, people, etc. who are all about fighting the man, changing the world, taking action, etc. Other times, it all just feels like angry noise. And I know it’s not just me because I have heard from followers and listeners and readers who have said, “I just can’t listen to it all right now, does that make me a bad irresponsible person?” Whatever that thing is that you're supposed to be fixated on right now...will you remember it a month after it passes? What was the last thing you were supposed to be worried or fixated on? Is anyone talking about it now? Save your worry and concern for what deserves it. (Hint: things you can actually affect or do something about.)  Eat good food: But also not beat myself up when I decide to bake a pie or have an old fashioned or two while I snuggle with my husband. Your body requires good fuel to do the work it needs to do, but there's nothing wrong with treats—if you understand the meaning of the word treat—so stop with the dang guilt. Learn something/have a project: I feel like part of what’s at the heart of the difficulty of winter, especially for homesteaders, is that you might feel as though you’re not accomplishing as much. We are so busy spring summer and fall that when we’re not meeting ourselves coming and going from the barn to the garden to the kitchen in the winter, we can almost feel like there is something wrong. And then we do this weird "guilt" thing and this weird "questioning my worth" thing. To counteract that, I'm making a list of the projects that need to be done in the house and the skills I need to brush up on. And I will devote this winter downtime to those things with the mindset that I'm preparing for spring's arrival (instead of waiting for winter to end). Figure out what I want: Yesterday I was flitting about doing all the things and I had a really productive day. However there was this feeling nagging at me that I didn't get done what I wanted to do. Like there was still something else I was supposed to be doing. I've realized that it's very important for you to know what you want, what your goal is, what you're heading for, what the to-do list entails. If you don't know what you want, you won't know when you accomplish it. Reader/Listener Suggestions for How to Get Through the Winter: "I'm trying to find time each day to read, even if it's just 5 minutes. Starting some seeds; who doesn't love to see green growth starting when you're surrounded by snow?! Avoiding the news, other than the weather at 6:17pm, has been so good for my mental health. Getting back on the letter writing bandwagon for my pen pal in California." — Lettie "Spending more time outside. Staying Facebook-free (it's been 6 weeks already). Starting seeds. Maybe, just maybe,

It’s another random audience questions podcast episode (and blog post) where I pull five questions from my giant mason jar of topics you’ve sent in. Today I answer your questions about: a significant other struggling with country living, suggestions for getting things done when working full time away from the homestead, issues with too many roosters, clarification on meat bird terminology, and finally, “Amy, I cut out a bunch of things and my life is still nuts, please help.” As always is the case with these random audience questions episodes, the podcast episode is more in depth than the blog post. If you’d like to add a question to my jar for a future episode please email it to amy@afarmishkindoflife.com. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.  1 — Significant other struggling with country living So, my wife (a city girl) is really struggling with country living. Complaining that our kids have no one to play with. Can't ride bikes down the sidewalk, can't run over to the neighbors house and play, can't run to the grocery store, etc... - Chris (first part of email) It's always hard to move from one life to another. I'm positive that your wife's concerns come from a place of love and wanting the best for your kiddos, and we tend to latch on to what's familiar to us and how we were raised. If she grew up in the city, it makes sense that she's thinking, "who will the kids play with? How will they ride their bikes down the sidewalk? Why are we so far from the store?" That's the normal she grew up with. Much like I would wonder how kids in urban families survive without spending all day playing in the woods (like I did!) There are people who like the city and people who don't, and that's okay! Sit down and have a conversation about her pros and cons, your pros and cons, and don't be afraid to include the kids in the conversation. After talking you will have a better idea about where everyone stands and how to look for compromises to bring about a happy country home. (Note: Much longer answer to this in the podcast version.) 2 — Getting things done on the homestead when working full time away from home? ... It's just a struggle. Both of us work an hour away from home and by the time we get out of work, get the girls from daycare, get home, cook dinner, (there's) not much time for anything. Any suggestions would be helpful. - Chris (second part of email) I generally tell people to do a time audit. First, how much time do you actually have at home? Take a good hard look at that number. Then, think of how much time your homesteading ventures actually require. I mean, REALLY think of a number. Is it 30 minutes every morning and night? Is it three hours each day? Is it an entire weekend? Be aware that sometimes homesteading is so exciting to us that it can take up a way bigger piece of our brain than it takes in our actual schedule. For instance, chickens seem like a big deal. They are the gateway animal, after all. But how long do chicken chores take everyday? Ten minutes? Next make sure to include all the other things that have nothing to do with homesteading in your time audit. We all do more than work, sleep, eat, and feed the chickens. There are only 24 hours in a day, and you've got to be realistic about what you can fit into those hours. You either have to find time where it might be hiding in your schedule, manage the time you have in a different way, or admit that you've got plenty your plate for the place you're at currently in life. 3 — Is this what roosters do? We butchered our own chickens for the first time this summer and we ended up butchering sooner than planned due to the boys starting to fight. Have you had issues with this?

As the world collectively holds its breath right now, let's talk about 3 things: deciphering truth from fiction, operating underground, and resiliency. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.  You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players.    1 . The ability to decipher truth from fiction: Back in October 2020, my messenger suddenly blew up one day with people asking if we were going to sell our Harley because they saw some picture posted on social media that showed Harley-Davidson was endorsing Biden/Harris for presidency. Okay. You guys. First off, people had no idea who I was voting for, or if I even planned to vote at all. Secondly, the image was photoshopped. I wrote more about this in But First, Read This. But I get it. Sort of. It’s hard to decipher truth from fiction. The internet and more news channels and forums and chats were supposed to make us more informed. What it’s really done is, is made it harder to find actual information. In the past couple weeks, especially, people have emailed me with "facts" and "evidence" and "information" about their version what’s happening in the world. I’ve started saving all these, screen-shotting lists, taking notes on articles so in four months I can look back and see what things people were spreading around before the inauguration—on all sides. I won’t even say “both sides” anymore because there are plenty of things coming from outliers who don’t agree with the two party system. We see something online that fits with our agenda so we share it out of the need to "educate people with the truth". We see something online totally against our agenda and we share it out of frustration. Most of us don’t even click on the link to read the article. We share headlines—and it just so happens there are articles attached to them. We didn’t read them and the people we’re sharing it with aren’t going to read them. It's. not. helping. We see something the other side has shared and we think “how in the world can they believe something like that, it’s totally not true” when in all reality, you’re probably doing the same thing. The crazy thing is that we think the other side does it and we don’t. And we've all done it. I like sharing this meme on social media when things get a little dicey out there, and people start dividing based on assumptions or "fact": (Please contact me if you know who originally posted this and I will credit them.)   Assess all information. Consider all options. But take the time to consider that marketing is everywhere and it’s possible to spin any story to fit the purposes you want it to fit. And the bigger the topic is, the more people will do it—without even realizing it. Evil is a loaded word. What you think is right and just and the way things work is oftentimes what someone else would describe as wrong and immoral and unjust. Having pointed out that caveat, I’m not saying permit evil. I’m not saying ignore evil. I’m just saying make sure you know what you’re looking at and where it came from. 2. Operate underground Here’s what I mean by that: I’m visual and it’s easy to look outside at the world and see a giant mushroom cloud. Ooo! Shock! Awe! Big explosion! And that giant mushroom cloud is clouding the view of everything else. It’s destroying our ability to see anything else. And a mushroom cloud probably isn't the best example to use, because if we’re talking a mushroom cloud from a big ol bomb, there probably ISN’T anything else going on because it HAS decimated everything else. But work with me here. What I’d like you to consider is there are a lot of regular ol' people going about their lives outside of that giant mushroom cloud doing really great, productive, wonderfully kind things.