It’s fall, and that means it’s time for apples, but which apple variety is best for snacking, baking, applesauce, salads, savory dishes, and is there an all-around apple? There are so many kinds to choose from! It's important to purchase the right type of apples for all your recipes; but, it's critical to choose the right apple variety if you're planting trees on the homestead! You'll want to choose varieties that will fulfill your needs best. For an exhaustive list of varieties available, ... continue reading...
Farming Fall Family Giveaway!
Wanting to dip your toe in the country living lifestyle but don’t know where to get started? Join the Farming Fall Family Giveaway (Sept 19th-23rd) to get access to free resources to get started on your journey. As a small farmer or homesteader, you know that finding the answers to all your questions can be tough. You don’t know what you don’t know. And finding all the things you need to know… well, that can have you going in circles. I know how frustrating it is. So I decided to do ... continue reading...
How To Get A Free 2023 Chicken Calendar
Did you know that you can get totally free 2023 chicken calendar(s) from the USDA? To help educate backyard poultry keepers about infectious poultry diseases and protect their birds, the United States Department of Agriculture is again offering FREE yearly calendars for 2023, called: DEFEND THE FLOCK (click on the title to see what the calendar looks like online). Each year, it's a full-color calendar with some great photographs of poultry, so I send off and get it every year. Actually, I ... continue reading...
Wethering (Neutering) Nigerian Dwarf Goats via Banding
Wethering goats via banding (also called elastration) is a process used to neuter male goats. It is one of the easier methods for neutering or castrating goats and a Vet is not normally needed. Why Male Goats Are Wethered We raise Nigerian Dwarf goats primarily for milk production. That means the does need to be bred yearly to produce milk and that about half of the resulting offspring will be male. Unfortunately, only a few intact male goats (bucks) are really needed in the goat breeding ... continue reading...
How & How Fast Chickens Molt (with illustrations)
Fall is the time of year when chickens molt and egg production declines dramatically. This makes it a good time to make decisions on which hens (if any) should be culled. How Chickens Molt Molting is a natural occurrence for chickens triggered by shortening day length in the fall. It can take from 2 to 6 months for a chicken to complete molting. Egg production generally stops during molting for pure breed birds or significantly slows down for egg-laying breeds. This egg production slowdown ... continue reading...
The Homestead Barn (Important Questions Before Building)
A barn is one of the most important structures and largest investments on a homestead, so it’s essential to think through all of the key features before building one. The perfect barn for each farm will vary depending on the type of operation, livestock housed, location, size, and personal preferences. But the better you are able to identify exactly what you will be doing on your homestead, the better you will be able to plan the structure to accommodate all your needs. What To Consider When ... continue reading...
Infectious Bronchitis in Chickens
Infectious bronchitis in chickens is one reason that it's important to practice biosecurity and quarantine new birds before introducing them into your flock. When we introduced new chickens into our first small flock, I missed that important step, and we learned a painful lesson as a result. It wasn’t enough to ask if the new chickens were vaccinated. We should have kept them separate from our flock for 30 days to make sure they couldn’t introduce disease. As it turns out, the new Barred ... continue reading...
Guide To Growing Sugar Snap & Snow Peas
I hope you follow this guide to growing sugar snap & snow peas because they're a treasure - whether you grow them in spring or fall - so delicious! Peas are one of the world's oldest crops and have been grown and eaten by humans for thousands of years. But, the Sugar Snap edible-podded pea wasn't introduced until the late 1970s, when its crisp, juicy, and intensely sweet taste started a pea resurgence. Many gardeners are growing peas for the first time because sugar snap peas do not ... continue reading...
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