Someone recently asked what my favorite season was. I promptly replied “Garlic!” but after seeing the confused look on their face, I realized they were referring to SEASONS, not seasonings. (No. I never stop thinking about food.) Anyway. I don’t have a favorite season, I guess. But what I do love is the change. I eagerly […] The post On Seasons… appeared first on The Prairie Homestead ..read more

I love having dogs on our homestead… But up until now, I never considered homestead dogs as anything other than pets (and occasional chicken killers).  But after talking to Jordyn Kelly of Working Aussies Homestead on my podcast, I’ll never look at a homestead dog the same again. I enjoyed our conversation so much, I […] The post 6 Surprising Ways to Use a Herding Dog appeared first on The Prairie Homestead ..read more

I LOVE eating cherries…. But I HATE processing cherries. This is a problem.  It’s always been my personal rule to skip tedious canning recipes (aka I refuse to individually skin tomatoes even for my canned tomato sauce recipe…) Yet, the siren call of the cherry weakened my resolve this year, and I impulse-bought a box […] The post Canned Cherry Pie Filling Recipe (with honey) appeared first on The Prairie Homestead ..read more

It would appear that feeding people is my destiny. From dinner parties at the homestead, to branding calves, to owning the soda fountain, to hosting our annual horsemanship clinics, to helping with group functions in Chugwater, I’m continually in the kitchen. The funniest part? Once upon a time, cooking for a lot of people threw me into an absolute tizzy. Now, I regularly feed crowds of 20+ plus without blinking. So what changed?? REPS. As in repetition. As in doing it over and over again. Basically, I leaned into the hard thing until it no longer felt hard. This concept works with most aspec ..read more

“Is social media even worth it these days?”  The question came during a conversation at a recent homestead event. Naturally, I replied with a very helpful, “Eh… well… it depends.” Probably not the answer you’d expect from someone who has made a living online for the last 10+ years. But I’m wrestling with the Internet lately. The online world feels different these days. Maybe you’ve felt it too? People are especially volatile. The most innocuous statements are taken as direct attacks. Sometimes if feels as if folks are trying to take words out of context. For the first time ever ..read more

It’s the ultimate in home baking—the holy grail, the perfect standard…. I’m talking about 100% whole wheat sourdough bread, of course. This is the kind of bread Ma Ingalls would have made. It sustained the pioneers. It’s the quintessential old-fashioned loaf. Yet, it can feel stupidly hard to replicate in our modern home kitchens. In fact, whole grain sourdough bread stumped me for years, so much so that I gave up on it completely for a while. It wasn’t until many years later that I realized the problem: I was putting unfair expectations on my whole wheat dough. You can’t treat it like white ..read more

I’m about to say something heretical. Prepare your hearts. Sometimes the homemade versions of certain foods aren’t as tasty as the industrial, processed versions. There. I said it. Now of course… that’s not ALWAYS the case. And homemade versions are certainly healthier.  (And yes, we can train our palates over time, etc, etc, etc….) But industrial food manufactures sink MILLIONS into making their products irresistible.  Sometimes it’s hard to compete with the flavor burst of MSG or the scientifically-formulated mouthfeel of industrial fats + sugar. But today’s recipe is NOT an insta ..read more

How can we close our chicken loop? It’s a question that’s been rattling around in my brain since a long-ago podcast conversation with Kate from Venison for Dinner. In that episode, we talked about reducing outside inputs in our home food production. And I’ve been working towards it in small ways for a while by: Saving more seeds Shuttling volunteer seedlings around the homestead to eliminate buying certain plants Using cover crops in the absence of dependable compost (thank you herbicides) BUT. Closing the loop with our livestock has proven to be trickier– especially when it comes to chicke ..read more

“Where’s the perfect place to homestead??” The question comes up on every conference panel and podcast Q&A. I’m tempted to use the opportunity to shamelessly plug Wyoming (because I would LOVE more homestead-minded folks to join our community)… But instead, I figure it’s better to share the truth, so I reply, “The perfect place to homestead? Well….” It doesn’t exist. Northern states are wintery with minuscule growing seasons. The Pacific Northwest is gloomy and everything molds or floods. The Midwest has tornados and too much corn. The South is oppressively hot and humid (plus bugs). The ..read more

I’ve become a bit of a mulch evangelist. It started with my discovery of Ruth Stout all those years ago and has progressed into a full blown obsession. Now I find myself blathering on about mulch in almost every gardening conversation I have.  Nothing else has impacted my soil health and fertility as much as mulch. And while results won’t happen overnight, I’m continually blown away at the improvements that come faster than I expected. My mulched soil is softer, crumblier, and is filled with happy worms– just like nature intended.  Mulch vs. Bare Dirt: Why It Matters Stop what you ..read more