Homesteading wasn’t always the life I wanted. But at some point after entering adulthood (and meeting a really tall guy who swept me off my feet) I started to crave a simple, self-reliant homestead life. I wanted early mornings in a big red barn. I …
One of the most interesting things about a homestead is hearing how its name was chosen. Are you wondering how to name your homestead? Are you having trouble coming up with just the right name? Let me share with you the story of how our …
Let me tell you the story about the time we had a r-e-a-l-l-y slow hatch. It might calm your nerves about your eggs that don’t hatch on the exact day they’re “supposed to”. Towards the end of one particular April, we set up two incubators. …
At Clucky Dickens Farm, we take care of all our own butchering and processing. People are always interested to hear how we go about the whole process of butchering our pigs at home. First disclaimer: This blog post is full of pictures that include blood, …
Processing a hog at home certainly takes time, but it’s not difficult. We process all of our home-raised meat here at the farm. A common question we get when doing large animals is how do you know what cuts of meat come from where on …
Moving a barn is a very big job — especially if it happens to be the year 1949. The big red barn here at Clucky Dickens Farm was built in 1918—we knew that much when we moved here in 2011. But we’d heard a rumor …
Hey farmish friends! I’ve got lots of things planned for A Farmish Kind of Life in the coming year (including two books! And a podcast! And more YouTube! Yay!!) But before we move on into the year that will be, let’s take a look at …
Homestead veterans are pretty awesome, right? They know stuff. They’ve got experience. They’ve been around the block more than a few times and they’ve done things. They don’t necessarily need to read all the books and blog posts because they have a lot of first …
I never thought that I would belong on a farm. If you would have asked me in school if I thought I’d grow up to be a farm girl, I would have said you were nuts. See, I spent my youth and first years of …
I’ve been thinking lately about my kids getting older and how it’s important that as a parent, we step back and let our kids grow up. Even when they might fail. Even when we’re not 100% sure of their ability. When we step back, we …