If you are seeing this, it's because you either bookmarked this website to read my blog, or receive the RSS feed to have it delivered to your email. I am happy to report the blog is back and better than ever with comments and community interaction and a higher quality of writing and information, thanks to substack. Go here if you'd like to keep following along in the adventure that is Cold Antler Farm ..read more

Woke up to the first true frost of the year, on the last day of the Wheel! It's a firm yet gentle reminder that the cold and darkness is almost here. Is your home filled with enough warmth to carry you through to spring? Is your heart? Because today is a day of memory and introspection. Let me tell you all about it. Farm business first. No fire lit in the wood stove yet, but I did collect some kindling and it will be lit by early afternoon. Happy to share there were no escapes in the night, but I did wake up around 1AM and walk to the front window to make sure the steel garbage can was uprigh ..read more

Woke up in the middle fo the night to a sound I know all too well; the clanging of a metal trash can 20 yards from my front door. Inside that trashcan is about 40lbs of sweet feed from the local granary. Sweet is an understatement, that blend has enough molasses in it to throw a black bear into a torpor. But I knew what was out there was bigger than any bear. It was Merlin, who had escaped the electric fencing of his 2+ acre paddock and was committing a crime in the night. He was due, honestly. He always figures a way out in late fall. It's like he knows the temperatures are shifting. He wants ..read more

It's a chilly and rainy morning here at the farm. The chores are long done, and the coffeepot has hit the temp where I should really heat up the mug, but this house has always only had one microwave and it's over 30-years-old with wood paneling and a yellow-faded interior and is currently in my tack room being used as a saddle stand... I take a lukewarm sip and settle in. I'm not heating it up. That means either setting the coffee in a steel billy can on the wood stove (which is not currently lit and won't be until later this afternoon) or on the electric stovetop. I'm not doing that because ..read more

Okay, so I didn't follow the directions correctly and it still worked, which only encouraged me to repeat the process. Here is how the blob bread turned out! Not only is this milk/egg bread delicious, it's got the flavor of sourdough and beautiful crumb with the bubbles and pores I like! OKay here is what I did. Feel free to email or leave an IG comment if you know a lot more about breads and yeast and how to improve on the rise/loaf. I boiled a cleaned, peeled, and diced potato in 1.5 cups of water until ready to mash. I did not pour out the water, I let the potato and water sit and cool for ..read more

Morning friends and farmers and readers, alike. This farm last posted a call for support in July, and since then a lot has been accomplished! Got through summer, most of fall, and now I have cords of firewood here for winter heat! I have a larder loaded with food! I got through June, July, and August! Since then the farm has run itself on all the normal food and bill costs as well as: Hired an arborist cut back the giant tree from looming over the house before winter. Got new glass door installed after one broke into a million pieces. Repaired a kitchen floor from sagging water damage. Reinfo ..read more

Well folks, the home-brewed yeast experiments aren’t looking great. Turns out, you need to really focus and follow specific directions, which might be my biggest downfall. I hate being told what to do, down to directions on a recipe. This is why I would be a great contestant for that show Nailed It on Netflix. All the confidence in the world that I could make a teddy bear cake from scratch and what you’d see in two hours would look closer to iced roadkill, (but probably still taste good). Now, I am well aware, here at the end of my life, that this is a horrific character flaw and in the few t ..read more

It’s a chilly morning but not cold enough to warrant a fire. It might get there in about an hour, with a cold rain and light wind outside, sometimes a fire is more important for morale than heat. On a drab weekday morning like this, I try to avoid lighting a fire just for mental warmth. It only feels cold because summer just ended, because if I woke up to a 35-degree morning in late January, you couldn't pay me to light a fire in the cold morning dark. I know there will be so many mornings ahead where I'll be elbow-deep in the wood stove at 5AM, arranging detritus and lighting matches in the ..read more

(this was written yesterday, 10-16-23, but this blog platform is down so posting a day later.) It’s been an eventful week here at the farm. Lots of time spent either working with the animals and house, or outside an hour or so a day hoping to still catch a bird to train this year but it's looking bleak. In six weeks of trying I have only seen one red tail and the times she was in a place I could trap her, I wasn't trapping. I hope my luck turns, but I need to be okay with a third year without a bird. Hard times and bad luck come in threes. The furnace repairman just left. I had the oil-burnin ..read more

I woke up yesterda to an August morning in October. Sunshine and a little humidity, and if you think that stopped me from starting my morning in the fall tradition, you are mistaken. My fault routine is getting up ridiculously early, usually around 4:15, and I am up (but not really). I make the time between 4:30-6:30AM the most selfish, softest, and necessary part of the day. It’s something I have stopped feeling guilty about, this easing. I know that the rest of the day will involve a lot of work, errands, animals, responsibilities, etc — so for the earliest part of the day I invite Friday in ..read more