"Do you like doing this job?" Someone asked me this once about chicken processing as I was loading her processed chickens into her car.  That question often comes back as I'm heading into the shop on Friday morning.  Friday is the day we process chickens for other...

We love to grow our garden.We love to eat from our garden. (Mark calls it "drive by eating" when you just eat lunch off the plant.)We even love to share our garden with other people.We do NOT like to share our plants with garden pests who eat the plant or produce...

Freedom.  Liberty.  These are important words in our human being.  They are as important to the human spirit as life.  As I write this it is Memorial Day weekend.  For us in the U.S. it’s a time to pause and honor those who have paid the ultimate price for other...

Ghee is an ancient practice of clarifying butter to give it a longer shelf life and to increase the digestibility of the fats.  It basically amounts to heating the butter and "rendering" it to separate the water, fat, and proteins.  It stores well on the counter in...

"Fences make great neighbors." Every heard that one? Ever chased your cow, pig, goat, or sheep out of your neighbor's yard?  If you've kept animals (or lived next to them), you can appreciate that wisdom. We've built a lot of fences.  We've chased a lot of animals. ...

It's eggs season!Who knew eggs had a season?  Hens are one of nature's signalers of spring.  When the days start to lengthen and warm just a little, they go into egg production mode.  They can lay one, and sometimes even two, eggs per day.  After the chill of winter...

You've raised your animals with care and love. Now, however, it's time for the freezer. You want to harvest your animals yourself: what basic "tools of the trade" do you need?   Being able to harvest your own animals is an important skill for a...