About

In the summer of 2012 I moved with my family to a 10-acre patch outside the city, in order to pursue our dream of producing more of our own food and re-learning some of the long-forgotten skills of our forbears.  We are myself, HWA (He Who Adores – he told me to say that), SAB (teen girl who must have been Switched At Birth because it is the only way to explain her) and BOF (the Baby of the Family who is now a deep-voiced 6′ tall teenage boy).  We are enjoying life immensely and finding great satisfaction in watching the pantry fill with jars full of produce, while the freezer fills up with home-produced meat.

Currently our poultry flock consists of around a hundred chickens, turkeys and muscovy ducks.  Our pasture is grazed by a handful of sheep and Boer Goats.  Our veggie garden is a 40×16′ plot that is a work in progress.  And our “orchard” consists of a lone apple tree.

This is my blog about the fun and frustrating and fascinating.  About the interactions of spoiled cats, tenacious weeds, determined foxes, wonderful neighbors, “I grew that” vegetables, happy dogs, children (there just aren’t enough adjectives), insane wind, gruesomely efficient coyotes, enormous tomato horn worms, invasive species, goats that think they’re dogs, sheep that think they scary, persistent exhaustion and daily exhilaration.  It is about hatching, birthing, buying, building, growing, scrounging, repurposing, birthing, nursing, growing, slaughtering, cooking, canning, eating.  It is crazy and wonderful and silly.  It is my story and your too, I’d be honored to share it with you.

Welcome.