Each spring, we add 4-5 new chicks to our laying flock. Typically, we would purchase day-old chicks from a hatchery, and raise them indoors under a heat lamp until they have feathered out enough to move outdoors. But since we have not yet outfitted our tiny house with solar power, we do not have electricity to power a heating lamp. We knew we needed to find another option this spring. After a bit of searching, I found out that Murray McMurray Hatchery ships 4-5 week old chicks, via a family-run business from near Waco, Texas, Claborn Family Farms. I connected with Joe Claborn, and had a lovely conversation with him about the best ducks and chicks for my family's needs, along with living … [Read more...]
Homestead Beekeeping :: Installing a New Beehive
After a fun-filled camping trip in Southern Missouri, we stopped at the regional beekeepers' meeting last Monday night to pick up a 3lb package of bees to start a new hive on our homestead. Although we had kept bees for several years on our Oregon homestead, we ended up selling the hives and most of our equipment before we moved, so essentially, we are starting from scratch. In some ways, this has been a blessing, as it's given us the opportunity to really think about what kind of hive we wanted, and how many hives we felt capable of tending at this time. While I am excited about looking into top bar hives as a future opportunity, at this point we went with what we were already familiar … [Read more...]
Homestead Dairy Cow Basics
The addition of animals to our off-grid home is what made our beautiful piece of land feel like a real homestead. Even before we moved onto our land, we raised 10 chicks, and we had a chicken coop set up before we had a house to live in! We keep a variety of animals for the joy and companionship they bring to our lives, but more importantly for the food security they provide. We raise chickens and ducks for their eggs, lambs and pigs for their meat, and a homestead dairy cow for her milk. Many people wonder whether a goat or a cow is more ideally suited to a small homestead, and having raised both animals, I think that is a very complicated question that is as much about your personality … [Read more...]
35+ Egg Recipes and Tips
Is there an animal more giving and versatile than a homestead chicken, and is there anything quite so wonderful as an egg? When I think about what our flock of laying hens offer us - eggs, meat, manure, entertainment, companionship - it feels like they should be celebrated! And so, as the days lengthen and we revel in eggs here on our homestead, I offer recipes, crafts, and tips from food and homestead bloggers, all celebrating the chicken and the egg. Eggs-Traordinary Eggs How to Tell if Eggs are Still Good to Eat from MomPrepares Farm Fresh Eggs: Considering Size from Spring Mountain Living An Eggsperiment with Color: Farm Fresh vs. Store Bought Eggs from Spring Mountain … [Read more...]
A Moveable Homestead Chicken Coop
In between house building, blacksmith work, and all-around handyman activities, my husband Brian has been hard at work building our chickens a home. Back in Oregon, he envisioned a moveable chicken coop on wheels and created this: Nest boxes on both sides that were easy to access from the outside for egg collection, a large fold-down door at the rear for bedding changes, bike wheels for easy transport, and a front door that led into their run. Functional, very practical, but not really sexy. Building this new coop provided Brian with a chance to create what he always envisioned - a gypsy caravan-esque structure that is as adorable as it is functional. A trailer tongue … [Read more...]
Chick Days
Chickens truly are the gateway animal on a homestead, and ours is no exception. Last week we drove out to a small hatchery, operated in a local family's backyard, kitchen, and garage. Day old chicks peeped and chirped in boxes, and pens of turkeys, hens and game fowl stood in the yard. We got a small box of chicks - three Ameracaunas, two Rhode Island Reds, three Buff Orphingtons, and two Black Australorps. At the last minute, I decided to exchange out a Buff Orphington pullet for a rooster, knowing that they tend to be docile and good around children. So there it is, the start of our laying flock - 9 hens and one rooster. For now they are in a box in the kitchen, where they can remain … [Read more...]
Chicken Books
The first time Brian and I got chicks, we knew very little about raising animals of any kind. Newly settled on a 30 acre rental property, chickens seemed like the ideal first farm animal – low entry cost, relatively simple to care for, and of course, the quality of farm-fresh eggs cannot be beat. When our good friend and land mate expressed an interest in co-owning 10 hens, we began our journey into animal husbandry. Once again, chickens will be the first animals on our new homestead. While it seems important to build a house and figure out basic living systems before we leap into the same level of animal care we enjoyed in Oregon, I cannot resist a small flock of layers and meat … [Read more...]
How to Harvest Honey from your Beehives
Our bees have been hard at work this year, helping to create one of the most abundant fruiting seasons that I can recall. (After two years where we could literally count the number of apples on the old tree, it's amazing to look up and see hundreds of ripe fruits!) And now we are even more grateful for their work as we enjoy the sweet reward of their efforts - honey. It had been a few years since I've donned a bee suit, and I was very excited to help with the harvest. I have to admit that I'm a tiny little bit squeamish about the whole process. Putting on a suit that is way too big for me and standing in the hot sun with smoke in my face, while hundred of angry bees dive bomb my head … [Read more...]
Goatpacking
We spent a lovely Labor Day weekend in the wilderness with good friends and goats, complete with great weather, a pristine alpine lake all to ourselves, and lovely views. We were in the Diamond Peak Wilderness, in Oregon, and only a few miles away from the spot where we backpacked with goats for the very first time. It was 2006, just a few weeks after our wedding, and we decided it was time to take our goats into the backcountry. Inspired by the book The Pack Goat, by John Mionczynski, we had been training our goats to follow us on hikes around the property. Being herd animals, our dairy goats followed us quite readily, and we found it was quite fun and easy to go on walks with them in … [Read more...]