On our farm we have decided that raising meat chickens to sell locally is a great way to get some cash flow and get our family to work together. One of our boys does a lot of the care for the birds in order to earn a commission on the sale of the birds. In other words if he forgets that he is the manager of these birds and they die, he will earn less money. He takes care of them in the morning, making sure they have plenty of water and feed for the day. He also needs to obser

Why would someone want to start a farm? We started our farm on accident. We just wanted a few fresh eggs from a handful of chickens living in the backyard. Nobody warned us that it is a slippery slope! Slippery Slope that we are still sliding down! We had no idea how empowering it is, to be able to control what is being put into our food. How crazy satisfying it is, to sit down to a delicious meal that we had a huge part in raising. Once you manage to keep a dozen chickens al

This might be one very boring post to anybody who doesn't have a milk cow, or to someone who has no desire to ever milk a cow. If you fit into these two catagories, feel free to not read this post! But if you are trying to learn everything you can about how to milk a cow, then maybe this will interest you. Maybe it will encourage you to just keep going if you are in the middle of trying to train your cow to be a good milker. I am in the process of training a three year old Ir

This last summer, we decided that it just wasn't fair for people in our community to not have the chance to buy homegrown, out on the pasture chicken. Why should their only option be flavorless chicken from the store? We already had plenty of experience raising chickens so we ordered 240 Freedom Ranger chicks. Our goal was to sell 200 of them and whatever was left, we would keep for our own freezer. Freedom Rangers are made to be able to forage and be slightly smarter than a

Every late fall, I feel so worn out. I am so ready to hibernate! Bring on the movies, books and the hot coffee! I don't want to do anything or go anywhere! I want to cook and enjoy the delicious food that I have been growing, preserving and freezing! For months, I have been living the farm dream! And with living the good life that I live, I get tired of it all. I always come up with the thought; why are we doing all this work and why do I care so much about the food that I am

Working together as a family is definitely a work in progress! It is a tough thing to accomplish some days. We have not arrived at our destination, but I can see that it has been getting better. Maybe it is the ages of our kids. It's a process that I believe it is worth pursuing! I want to encourage your family to work together! I recently read a fabulous article by Joel Salatin in Mother Earth News magazine under the column name of Pitchfork Pulpit. I believe the article was