We celebrated a first this year with our first honey harvest. We share our bees with our good friends and it was such a special moment in our homesteading journey.
Aiming as we do to be as self-sufficient as possible, a lot of the year that actually means doing without. Fresh tomatoes flown in from Spain in January just don’t taste as good as the ones we grow in August. Our own jam is better than what we can buy, so we’d rather wait. To drive to the store is a 45 minute round trip, so we need to be at the point where we really can’t make do with what we’ve got. Most of the time I like the challenge of it – figuring out the pieces of what we have to make a meal. Sometimes I resent it, when the kids are hollering for dinner and I can’t figure out yet another way to eat kale that we haven’t had this week.
But then comes this time of year and every meal feels like a banquet for a king. Summer cream, fresh berries, neon greens, perfect cucumbers for my gin, calls of ‘I’m hungry’ being answered with ‘Well, go pick something from the garden’.
We’ve been very intentional in adding animals to our smallholding. Each one was planned with their benefit to the whole in mind…
…and then are the Kunekunes. BoyBoy was rehomed from some neighbours who couldn’t keep him. He was a wedding present 10 years ago. He snores louder than anyone I’ve ever met and loves belly rubs.
We then added Loretta as a companion for him and potential bacon. We quickly realised that was never going to happen. I’ve never had a problem harvesting one of our animals (even if I have named them), but these Kunekunes have my heart.
The best dogs I’ve ever had.
“In some Native languages the term for plants translates to ‘those who take care of us’ … the land knows you, even when you are lost.” – Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass…
Babies, Business, and Bumper Crops: How I am Learning to Homestead with Babies in Tow
Have you ever had one of those days? You know the days when you are cleaning the baby’s diaper, milking the cow, scooping poop in the barn, wiping noses, and cleaning more poop off of kids’ shoes…
Hey there, Homesteading Mama’s!
I’m Rachel from @frontier_homesteading. My husband Ryan, three children and I have been homesteading for about 10 years now, first in Wyoming and now in Alaska.
We currently have milk goats, pack goats, sheep, a pig, a cow, chickens, rabbits, bees and a dog. Seasonally, we also have more pigs, meat chickens and turkeys….
Stained glass windows date back to the 7th century. With the earliest known reference dating
from 675 AD when workmen were imported from France to Britain to Glaze the windows of a
monastery…
Homesteading and growing food is not the easy way out of this life, i would say it is the hard way as there’s nothing convenient about it. It’s a lifestyle, a life change not a trend or hobby. Well, that’s my opinion any way…
Awakino Station is a child’s dream. There is the river to splash in, tussock covered hills to explore, animals to raise and a bustling kitchen with a baking tin full of something yummy to eat…
After a busy daycare week for our toddler, and the hectic joys of infant co-parenting + farming, weekend mornings are eagerly anticipated family time; the weekend promise of adventures great and small is so refreshing…
Living in an urban or suburban setting may seem like the least likely place to start a homestead. When most people (even me) think of the word, term or action it looks like acres of land, a plethora of animals and gardens as far as the eyes can see…
Can you believe I had never tasted a beet until I was in my mid-30s? Now, I’m obsessed.
My first exposure to my favorite salad addition was when I enjoyed brunch at my older friend Vickie’s house. She happened to be my OBGYN who delivered my daughter, and we reconnected as blogging friends after an illness forced her to retire…
