The last two weeks have been filled with fiber finishes.
I finished my log cabin quilt. I am very happy with the way it came out, one side is a bit wonky, but I love the way to colors look together and it is very soft and warm.
I finished the pair of socks I had been [...]
Almost all of the meat, probably at this point > 90%. We buy fish from a local fish market and rarely eat out, so I would say that figure is accurate. In the summer >75% of the produce we eat we grow. All of the eggs we eat we grow. We aren’t yet eating our [...]
We live on a farm because we love this lifestyle. Some people love sports, others love reading, others love watching tv. We love raising animals, DIY projects, and gardening. We also REALLY love good food, and that means having really fresh ingredients, and there is nothing fresher than food you grow yourself. We also like [...]
We have outside jobs. Mike works full-time from home as a computer consultant and Jamie works (very) part-time as a psychologist. There is no way we could live off of the income generated from our farm even if it was our full-time job. And honestly, we have no real interest in doing that. For now, [...]
Yes you could. Honestly, it is not that bad. On our farm Jamie does the majority of the butchering with Mike providing back-up. For the poultry, she uses a sharp knife and cuts their throats to bleed them cleanly out before removing their heads and plucking or skinning and gutting. For the rabbits Mike stuns [...]
We don’t get up any earlier than we would otherwise. The great thing about animals, and especially ones that primarily free range, is that they are adaptable. They come and go as they please (we do close the chicken coop at night, but leave an upper window open, if it is not too cold, so [...]
It takes about 20 minutes/day in the winter and maybe twice that in the summer to care for the animals. During cold weather, all animals must be fed but water is less of an issue (except for the freezing of the ponds). We also only carry our breeding stock and maybe beef calves [...]
People frequently ask us how (and why) we do what we do. We were not raised as farmers and spend much of our time (professionally and socially) interacting with people who are not farmers, although a number of them do try to eat local foods, grow gardens, are big into DIY and fiber crafts, [...]
We’ve heard about a new high tunnel initiative (we call them “grow tunnels” or “polytunnels”) to test their effectiveness. Finally took the time to do a Google search to pull in the proper links. For the Cliff’s Notes version, check out this write up on USA TODAY. For the nitty gritty, go the USDA press release.
The [...]
Now that we have finally settled in from the madness of the last few months, we are tackling some seasonal projects. Honestly, winter is one of my favorite times of year because there is finally time to catch up on all of the indoor projects and planning that were so neglected during times of good [...]