Best of the Best: Top Ten Farmish Posts

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 the year that was. More specifically, the posts I wrote that you were reading and sharing with friends the most, according to Google Analytics.

I now present your favorite farmish posts of 2016. Drum roll, please…

#1 — Homemade Noodles

Farmish folk take matters into their own hands, whether it be learning how to make a quilt, how to raise a lamb, or how to make awesome homemade noodles for their chicken noodle soup.

Well. I’ve never finished an entire quilt and I’ve no desire to raise sheep…but, this is the easy recipe that we use for homemade noodles. You’re welcome.

#2 — Ice Cream Caramel Rolls

These rolls are the bomb, y’all. And they only take a couple hours to make.

Oh. And every single time I share this recipe post on my Facebook page and my husband happens to see it, he hopes that I’ve made a couple pans and they’re waiting in the kitchen.

And normally I’d be totally for that—I mean, they’re ice cream caramel rolls for Pete’s sake!—it’s just that it’s super hard to do farm work if you weigh 872 pounds.

#3 — How to Butcher a Pig at Home

I still get the occasional side glance when someone finds out we butcher our hogs at home. The first question I usually get is why? Sometimes I answer because I absolutely hate trying to convince animals to get in a trailer. The asker laughs and I don’t and then they wonder if I’m serious. The second question is usually well, how do you even butcher a pig at home? I still remember telling my husband, so I’m gonna sit this one out and take a ton of pictures for a step by step blog post, m’kay?

My husband is such a sweet man.

#4 — Why You Should Sit With Your Chickens

Sometimes homesteading and the farmish life makes sense. Other times you get caught up in Other Stuff and you realize it’s been a hella long time since you just went out and sat with your farm animals. This blog post was a big ‘ol spattering of gushy ridiculous tears, wait, shutup Amy a little bit of feeling into a blog post. Because we know each other now so I can say stuff like that.

#5 — Bagels From Scratch

I can get six bagels at the grocery store for less than $2. Super easy to grab and put in the cart, but they don’t taste anything like these homemade bagels. It’s a bit of a process, to be sure, but they are so delicious. And completely satistfying. I mean, if you can say yeah, so I made these bagels from scratch you’re basically the boss of everything.

#6 — Amish Cinnamon Flop Bread

I remember the first time I made this. I couldn’t figure out why anyone would call this flop bread, because it most certainly was not a flop. It wasn’t until years later someone suggested the reason it was called Flop Bread is because you flop it right out of the pan. Regardless of why it’s called what it’s called, this stuff is easy and delicious and you should definitely—if you haven’t already—put it on your regular rotation of recipes.

#7 — Don’t Be a Slave to the Simple Life

Sometimes people get into modern homesteading and end up with a sort of warped Ma Ingalls sitting on their shoulder telling them they’re not doing this simple life thing right. Or they’re not doing enough. Or they’ve got their foot too far into the modern world and aren’t embracing enough of the old ways. Y’all, stop! The simple life was never meant to make us its slave. This post explores that…and hopefully takes away any guilt you’re feeling for not doing enough.

#8 — Three Reasons We Don’t Use Chick Starter

Sometimes I go to my fellow homestead writers and say things like I want to write this one post but I’m afraid people will freak out over it and call the Chicken Feed Police People. This post was one of those posts. Thankfully my fellow homestead writers told me to write it anyway.

#9 — Make Your Own Homemade Hamburger Buns

Okay. The real reason I made our own hamburger buns that one day? Because I absolutely hate going to the grocery store. Hubby wanted to make venison burgers and I declared we had no buns. That, my friends, is when you go searching for a recipe and hopefully discover awesomeness…which I was glad to share with all of you. (Also: confession—the first time I made these I was sure the recipe was wrong and so I took it upon myself to make the buns extra, extra big. The resulting creation was embarrassing and also hilarious.)

#10 — 5 Things Every Homesteader Needs

I’ve always thought that when people want to become homesteaders, they should have a nice baby shower type thing where more experienced homesteaders would come to give the newbies advice on not babies, but homesteading. And the more experienced homesteaders would show up with cute baskets full of things that the newbie homesteaders should have to make their homesteading life easier. If that was ever the case, these are the five things I think should be in that cutesy basket. (And let’s be honest—that basket would mostly be zip ties.)

There you have it—the top ten posts of 2016. Aren’t you excited to see what the next year brings for us all to learn about and discuss? I know I am. If you’ve got any suggestions for topics, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Do you homeschool? So do we! Check out my book — The Homeschool Highway: How to Navigate Your Way Without Getting Carsick.