Thursday, November 24, 2022
Tom, marked Safe from today’s menu
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope all are enjoying their day and have plenty of good things to eat.
Once again I was blessed with being able to set my table with a large amount of food produced here on the farmstead. The turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and eggs were all provided by my animals and my own two hands. God has blessed me with the ability and wherewithal to feed my friends that set their feet under the table here at the Broken H.
While all that food was being read more...
Young pullet
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Sunday, October 23, 2022
Well, it’s happened. The annual Barnyard Terrorists have stuck the farmstead. What are these Terrorists you ask? …. The latest litter of American Guinea Hog piglets that have found their way out of the pasture lot and are roaming the barnyard. They are everywhere! With 8 of them sometimes they move in a gang and sometimes in pairs. When you least expect them, like the dark of pre-dawn, there they are! Where you least expect them, like under the feed bin, they come bursting out to read more...
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Monday, October 10, 2022
7.5# sweet potato!
It’s that time of year again. Sigh. Fall is here and winter not far behind. The first frost, although light, occurred Saturday night, so growing is done.
I spent Saturday afternoon closing out the garden. Pulling sweet potato vines, digging potatoes and picking tomatoes to ripen off the vine. Got a bonus of a nice big strawberry too! Late for them, but no complaints here.
The pigs enthusiastically appreciated the vines and the miniature sweet potatoes I fed them. The garden yielded 50# of p read more...
Tomatoes needing to ripen
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Monday, September 19, 2022
This week has been a whirlwind! Ton of things happening here as summer winds down and fall says hello.
Last Sunday the farm welcomed the birth of 10 Guinea Hog piglets by a young gilt. As so often happens 2 did not survive the week, but we have 8 healthy and active babies as of today. They are ranging all over the pastured lot with momma promising to be good foragers and great additions to lucky farms.
I was blessed with the opportunity to glean all the sweet corn I wanted to gather by a lo read more...
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Saturday, September 10, 2022
The Bible talks about allowing the poor to glean the fields, picking up products left by the harvesters. This was once a significant way the poor, often women, willing to put in a little effort could feed themselves. It was a sacred Hebrew law and is central to the story of Ruth and Boaz. People were still significantly utilizing gleaning well into the middle of the 20th century in order to feed themselves. We don’t hear the term, Glean, much anymore in today’s time of mechanical read more...
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Sunday, August 21, 2022
Curd draining and ready to be formed
A few years back after the fiasco at one of the dairy farms highlighting the abuse of calves I decided to reduce, if not completely remove my use of commercial dairy products. I believe Strongly in the ethical treatment of our animal companions and seeing how they are treated by Big Ag sickened me.
I love cheese. A childhood friend joked that cheese was a side dish at my home growing up and it hasn't changed 30yrs later. So to reduce my dependence on commercial dairy, I had to figure out how read more...
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Monday, August 8, 2022
The long hours of tending the garden, orchards and fields is starting to pay off and the harvest is beginning. Tomatoes, sweet corn, blackberries and more are ready for the picking. Time to enjoy them immediately but also time to prepare for winter.
How are you preserving your excess? Here I utilize a variety of ways. Freezing, dehydrating and canning. To do each properly you need the tools and to follow the correct process.
A good canning book is essential to safely process “canned” goods f read more...
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Sunday, July 17, 2022
Lard and lye mixed together
My biggest goal is to leave the “rat race” in 2-3yrs and focus on homesteading. In order to do that, not only do I need multiple income streams from my farmstead but I also need to reduce my dependency on outside inputs. The addition of the bees this summer will assist in sugar needs and give an income stream with the sell of honey and wax. The pigs, goats and fowl not only provide food for my household but also income.
The lard from the pigs and the wood ash from the stove can produce soap fo read more...
Finished product
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Monday, July 11, 2022
On a properly run homestead there should be minimal waste. Little should be sent to the local landfill. Each item brought onto or produced by the homestead should serve a purpose from beginning to end. The old mantra "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" needs to be the slogan every person desiring a greater degree of self-sufficiency follows faithfully.
Waste food products can be fed to the chickens and hogs, paper products used as fire starters for the wood stove, old clothing t read more...
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Sunday, June 26, 2022
1st year comfrey plant
Happy Sunday everyone!
Its hay season here in Ohio and that means watching the sky and hoping for at least 3 days of dry weather in a row. We lucked out and had some perfect haying weather this week, so my little hayfield was cut and baled. 99 square bales (30# bales roughly 3000# total) off of .75 acres is pretty good in my eyes! It's the best hay yield I've had here and much appreciated. In spring 2021 I did put 200# of commercial fertilizer on the field followed with several applications of read more...
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