Posted in chickens, eggs | Leave a Comment »
This coming week will bring our chicks & we are awaiting them with great anticipation. The ducklings are now fully feathered and wandering freely among the chickens and goats. Now – if only the buck we’ve borrowed would starting doing the job we need him to do! Obviously, if he is successful, we’ll be having late summer/early autumn kids – but that’s alright, they are to be freezer bound anyway. If he is unsuccessful or if any of the girls don’t take we’ll be rebreeding in October.
Do you twitter? I do! http://twitter.com/thecountrymomma
Posted in chickens, children, ducks, goats, homestead, kids, livestock | Tagged animal husbandry, chickens, chicks, ducks, goats, twitter | Leave a Comment »
You are surely just as busy as we have been around here. The more frequent warm days bring an eager urgency to the chores, make hay while the sun shines takes on a whole new meaning. These days are filled with seed trays, brooder lamps, and special deliveries. Each day brings a new and marvelous sign of the mirth of a new growing season. Lambs, calves and kids are hitting the ground. Ducklings are growing fast, and the chick orders are going in this week. We have onion sets, bell and jalapeno peppers sprouting and eggplant and tomato seeds are next in line.
Now, as I mentioned, we are placing our chick order this week. You might ask yourself why I waited. Originally I planned to order direct from a hatchery. However when we visited our local farm store a couple weeks ago I decided to check on their prices and minimum orders. Turns out I could order the same breeds and in greater numbers and still save money! The individual prices are anywhere from a few pennies less to twenty cents or more. Plus, the bulk order placed by the farm store does not require me to pay shipping – another $8.75 saved.
As I chatted more with the cashier I told her I’d be having to place my order the next week and she mentioned that If I waited just a few days longer they would be having a sale on the orders. This is great – I can order a few extra chicks, of the breeds I want, have them delivered to my post office and save $10+. It is true that they may be arriving in May instead of early April, but hey, the days will be warmer and that can help reduce the time in the brooder.
Take time to check your local farm store or feed store. They can give you a good price and they may even be able to help you out if you are looking to buy from local producers. Take some time to get to know the folks at the counter.
Since I’m on the topic of poultry orders I’ll go ahead and tell you what we’re buying:
Buff Orpington (I want broody hens)
Dark Brahma & Partridge Cochin (son wants some feather footed girls or his rooster)
Ameraucana & Maran (daughter wants colorful eggs)
Meanwhile, my daughter chose to spend some of her birthday money on 5 ducklings – 2 Rouen and 3 Pekin. They are filling the gap between winter and the arrival of our chicks. Doing a great job of it I might add!
Thank you to all the folks who entered our February Freebie drawing. Rosalinde in NM will be receiving a free copy of the book: Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits. Check back for the next freebie announcement!

The Birthday Girl with her Rouen duckling "Water"
Posted in chickens, children, ducks, farming, gardening, self-sufficiency | Tagged Araucana, Brahma, chick orders, chicken, chickens, chicks, Cochin, ducklings, ducks, farm store, feed store, gardening, homesteading, Maran, Orpington, Pekin, Rouen, seeds, self-sufficiency, spring | 1 Comment »
Seed orders are complete! I have ordered from two companies which specialize in organic and heirloom vegetable varieties.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds- www.rareseeds.com
Fedco Co-Op Garden Supplies- www.fedco.com
Both companies have a great following among folks interested in seed saving, heirloom vegetables, and NOT supporting companies like Monsanto which are establishing monopolies on seeds through gene patents. If you are planning to get elbow deep in developing your own sustainable garden plot these are a couple of great places to start!
This year’s garden will consist of a greater variety of vegetables than I’ve planted before. I’m eager to try a few of the older varieties of corn, carrots and zucchini. Last year we let some onion go to seed and saved it to start indoors. We’ll see how well they do.
Next item on the list will be to gather a batch of eggs to incubate!
Posted in farming, food, gardening, homestead, homesteading, money, organic, poultry, self-sufficiency, skills, sustainable | Tagged carrots, chicken, chickens, corn, eggs, gardening, GM, heirloom, herbs, homestead, homesteading, Monsanto, organic, seed patents, seed saving, seeds, self-sufficiency, Self-sufficient, small farm, spring, vegetable seeds, vegetables, zucchini | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I came across a most eloquently written article on the great, though often overlooked, responsibility we hold in our hands each time we open our wallets. Below you will find a brief excerpt from Erin Solaro’s piece entitled:
Economic Citizenship: The Political Economy of Handknitting
Her writing underscores one of the reasons living a more simple life, more connected to the land and our community, is of such great importance to me. Understand, simple does not mean easy or cheap, but it is just as Ms. Solaro stated so perfectly – a preference of beauty and quality over junk. This is as crucial a philosophy to apply to how we spend our days as it is to the manner in which we choose to spend our money.
I do hope you will take a moment to visit her site and read the entire article and ponder the multitude of futures we hold in our hands. Read on…
Economic Citizenship: The Political Economy of Handknitting
Click the excerpt above to visit Ms. Solaro’s site: American Samizdatand and read the full article.
Posted in community, handmade, market, money, sustainable | Tagged artisan, cottage industry, crafts, economics, exploitation, friends, handknitting, handmade, heirloom, homesteading, knitting, patterns, quality, responsibility, society, supporting small business | Leave a Comment »
These days families are trying to stretch their food budget as far as they can and homemade biscuits are a wonderful way to make simple meals more filling. Recently on the Country Life and Homesteading email list a member asked for a good homemade biscuit recipe because she wanted to get away from buying them premade. Biscuits are so easy to make and so quick there is no reason to pay for the processed and frozen critters from the store. Anyone can do it from scratch!
I have two biscuit recipes, one for a breakfast biscuit and the other for a cheesy, savory supper time biscuit. I hope you enjoy them!
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Buttermilk Breakfast Biscuits
2 1/2 c. flour
3 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1/3 c. butter, melted (I use unsalted)
1 c. buttermilk
1 – 1 1/2 T bacon drippings
additional melted butter to brush biscuit tops
Preheat oven to 450. Grease cookie sheet with bacon drippings. Sift
together dry ingredients. Pour in butter & buttermilk, mix to form
sticky dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead briefly,
folding the dough onto itself. Pat out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut
with a 3 inch floured cutter (I use a drinking glass). Place on
cookie sheet, leaving space for the heat to circulate around each
biscuit. Bake 10-12 minutes. Brush with butter during last minute of
baking. Makes 8 big biscuits.
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Cheesy Biscuits
2 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1/4 t. onion powder
1/4 t. garlic powder
1 t. salt
1 T. sugar
1/3 c. shortening
1/2 c. shredded Colby Jack cheese
1 c. milk
Preheat oven to 425. Grease cookie sheet. Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until lumps are pea-sized and well distributed. Stir in cheese then milk. Turn out onto floured surface and knead briefly,
folding the dough onto itself. Pat out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut
with a 3 inch floured cutter (I use a drinking glass). Place on
cookie sheet, leaving space for the heat to circulate around each
biscuit. Bake 13-15 minutes.
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Posted in baking, cooking, food, groceries, recipes | Tagged bacon, baking, biscuits, breakfast, buttermilk, cheese, cooking, food, made from scratch, recipe, recipes | 1 Comment »
Recently I posted about Making Money on the Homestead and I found there are a lot of folks working to start selling their own handiwork.
But even once you have found a fitting craft a new difficulty arises: How to price your items. What is fair? What is reasonable? What is the item worth to buyers? What is the time you invest in each item worth to you?
Yesterday I received the following question … “I was hoping you’d be willing to give me price pointers on your handmade goods you’re going to sell at the farmers market. I am working on crocheted market bags and don’t know how to price them.”
So, for everyone wondering the very same thing I wanted to post my response.
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Here is the process I go through when pricing hand made goods:
Calculate the cost of your supplies, figure the time required to make the item, and decide on the amount you would like to make per hour. This will give you a basic guide. Next, review similar items in your area and the price they are going for. Now consider the unique qualities of your items in comparison to those you’ve observed for sale. Decide on a price range and adjust according to your sales success.
For example:
The yarn for my dish cloths costs $2.50 per skein, and I can make 4-5 cloths per skein. So it costs me about .55 to make a cloth. It takes me about 1.5 hours to complete each cloth. I’d like to make $5 per hour, but that puts the cloths at $8.05 each.
So I check around to see that similar cloths sell for $3 to $6 each online (including shipping)… Well, that makes my $8+ per cloth seem a bit much. However, my cloths have value added for 2 reasons:
1. The yarn I use is a polyester made with post consumer recycled plastic
2. I’ll be selling them locally in a market known for supporting local crafters, growers and small businesses.
So, I consider the fact that I make these cloths during an otherwise unproductive time of my day and perhaps in time my speed will increase. I decide to aim for $4.50 per cloth and see how that is received. If they do not sell well I may switch to a less expensive yarn or a pattern I can work more quickly and therefore would feel comfortable offering for an even lower price.
I would also like to add that if your items fly off the table faster than you can keep up with demand you are likely under pricing your items and you may want to slightly increase your price.
Posted in community, family, market, money, self-sufficiency, skills, sustainable | Tagged artisan, cottage industry, crochet, farmers market, hand crafted, handmade, home, homestead, homesteading, knitting, making money on the homestead, pricing handmade items, quilting, self-sufficiency, Self-sufficient, selling your work, sewing | Leave a Comment »
As you know we raise goats and chickens, but in the past we also raised rabbits for meat. At this time there seems to be a much greater interest in rabbits on rural and urban homesteads alike. They are quiet, can be maintained in a smaller area than other livestock, and are easily processed at home.
Rabbit meat is fine grained and lean and can be ground, fried, sauteed, and baked. Any recipe that calls for poultry is easily applied to rabbit, as are pork and many lean beef dishes.
So for this shortest month of the year I’m offering a little reward to my readers. A free copy of the book:
Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits
by: Bob Bennett
This is a gently used copy which helped us greatly over the years of raising our own rabbits. If you are considering getting into rabbits for meat or show this will be a welcome addition to your reference library.
To put your name in the hat just “contact us” with your email address and the name of the book. On the first day of March I’ll randomly draw a name and contact you by email. Don’t worry – Free shipping for the free book!
Good luck!
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My Rabbit Stew Recipe:
2 lbs chunked rabbit meat
3T flour
3T cooking oil or lard
1/2 medium white onion chopped
1t salt
1t pepper
1 clove garlic minced
1 1/2c water
4 carrots
4 celery stalks
5 medium white potatoes cubed
1 can diced tomatoes
water
1 can each: corn (drained) and green beans (drained)
salt/pepper
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Heat oil in bottom of large pot, meanwhile coat meat & onions with flour and measured salt & pepper. Brown in hot oil. Add garlic and water, stirring to scrape the browned flour and drippings from the bottom of the pot. Stir frequently till boiling, reduce heat, simmer & stir till thickened.
Add potatoes, carrots, celery & canned tomatoes. Pour in enough water to just cover vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until carrots just begin to soften. Add corn & green beans. Simmer 20 minutes more.
Serve hot. Great with fresh biscuits.
Posted in food, freebies, homestead, homesteading, livestock, recipes, self-sufficiency | Tagged free book, freebie, homesteading, meat rabbits, rabbit, rabbit stew, rabbits, raising rabbits, recipe, recipes, self reliance, self-sufficiency | Leave a Comment »
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
– C. S. Lewis
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

