This past December my new milk cow Lassie gave birth to her highly anticipated 3rd calf. Fortunately, I was able to be there to catch the live calving on video seen below. Play Video Lassie’s due date (based on 278 day gestation for a Jersey) was December 2nd, and she ended up calving on the 7th. As soon as she was a day or two over her “due date” I assumed she was carrying a bull calf, and was proven right. My Moocall calving sensor gave me a notification when she had high levels of activity, to ensure that I didn’t miss the big event. Her calving was about as textbook as it gets. Th ..read more

Hypocalcemia also known commonly as “Milk Fever” (MF) is a metabolic disorder that affects newly freshened animals.  It can commonly be seen in goats, sheep, and cows, and is particularly more prevalent (though not exclusive) in dairy breeds. Typically dairy animals that are high producing breeds and/or older cows are most at risk for developing MF. With that being said, there are many factors that can come into play. Some breeds being more prone than others, body condition during gestation/calving, and of course the biggie, nutrition. There is no guaranteed 100% way to prevent mil ..read more

Today feels like the end of an era.  After many talks with my husband, serious reflection, and hard thinking on the direction of our homestead going forward, I sold my beloved dairy goats.  My Nubians Ruby and Rory to be specific, and they are getting picked up today. We originally got started with home dairy a few years ago, and for many reasons we went with goats over cow. They were 100% the right choice for us at the time, and have served us well the past few years.  I owe so much knowledge to them, and they have repaid me with all the milk for delicious recipes. But, not a ..read more

If you have been following me on Instagram this summer, then you already know we decided to completely overhaul and expand our existing farrowing barn.  We knocked down the right wall, doubled the sized, busted out and re-poured a new concrete slab, hard wired electric, put on a metal roof, and completely redid the fencing and configuration of the paddock. It was a bit of a project, but it is officially complete and it feels great to have such an awesome set up in place. If you follow closely, yes this farrowing barn is now our third revision.  Our first set up we used when we had ..read more

Farrowing season is a very exciting time on the homestead, and personally is my favorite of all.  It can be a bit nerve wracking (especially that first time) but just like with kidding, a well stocked farrowing kit is a safety blanket that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.  Our vet that “treats” pigs is over an hour away, and to be honest I have more experience with farrowing than they do. I have learned the hard way some of the difficulties and issues that can arise, but I’d be lying if I said that my farrowing kit hasn’t saved piglets lives. I detail the purpose of many of the ..read more

If I could eat a single food every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of it (in addition to meat) it would be ice cream.  More specifically, this homemade frozen vanilla custard ice cream. Technically, ice cream and custard are two different beasts.  Ice cream is made with cream and sugar, and must contain a certain percentage butterfat, while custard is cream, sugar, and egg yolks.  Again, meeting the same butterfat requirements as ice cream, but also a percentage of yolk.  But, I don’t get too hung up on the specifics because they’re both ice cream to me, ju ..read more

In May of 2016, I met the other future love of my life next to my husband and I didn’t even know it.  We were doing the first showing of our house and made our way into the garage. The garage was tidy and neat, and then there under the stairs under boxes of junk I saw her…  Underneath the boxes was a rusty, dusty stove that clearly hadn’t been used in quite some time.  I knew nothing about stoves, was it busted beyond repair on the inside? Was it worthless? I had no clue.  But I turned my head to our real estate agent (aka cousin) Crystal and said “this stays with the hou ..read more

There are loads of different ways to preserve tomatoes. I don’t know if there is another vegetable that is as versatile when it comes to canning as the homely tomato. While I may be largely falling out of love with gardening the more I raise my own meat, there are a few staples that I will always grow for storage and/or preserving. Onions and potatoes for storage, corn for freezing, and tomatoes for canning.  My Nana is the one who taught me how to make sauce several years ago, and to this day I still do it the way she taught me.  Like pretty much everything else in ..read more

There is no question that we are incredibly busy on our small homestead. Between working our “real jobs” full time, taking care of our slew of animals, clearing, cutting wood, putting up fence, etc, we have a tendency to always be doing something. But, there is always work to be done. I used to feel guilty if I would want to just sit and relax for a short break. I would try, but then all I could think about is the things I should be doing, which made me anxious, unrelaxed, and then I would just get back to work.   Recently though, things have shifted. There is still plenty to do ar ..read more

It is no secret that we utilize every single animal we have to clear our land, fertilize, and produce delicious food in the process.  Each animal is at the very least dual purpose, some tri, some quad! In order to do this, proper fencing for the homestead is paramount.  Our Icelandic Sheep rotationally graze our pastures and fertilize while producing delicious grass fed lamb and fleece.  The pastured meat chickens follow the sheep, and scratch and peck through the freshly mowed grass while dropping their nitrogen rich manure. Our dairy goats clear brushy and overgrown are ..read more