Tyler and I have been talking about when we first moved to the homestead and thought maybe some of you would like to hear the start of the story… At the start of August 2016, we moved from our acreage to my parents camper in the middle of our field. We had our mobile home moved onto our new ‘yard site’ from it’s previous location and our plan was to move into it right away and just live without power or natural gas since they hadn’t been brought onto the property yet. Unfortunately, since the mobile home and the addition sat separately for a while, we ended up with a bit of a mouse problem. Anyone that knows me, knows it was a serious problem, as I am terrified of mice! We got the addition sealed up against the mobile home and temporarily sealed all of the holes for where Read More
Blog
Building A Homestead Community
I always tell my wife that I think I was born in the wrong era. I look back to the days before technology, machines and the feeling of having to go, go, go and wish that I could go back in time. I now know that I don’t need a time machine, I just have to look back to the days of my grandparents and great grandparents, take the lessons of how they lived, and bring them forward and apply them to my life in this modern era. My family and I love being at our place out in the country and living a homesteading lifestyle. Being able to raise and grow our own food gives me such joy and a feeling of accomplishment. It is nice not having to worry about whats in the food that my family is eating because we either raised it ourselves or bought it Read More
Making Kombucha
Kombucha is one of our favorite drinks. Not only does it taste good, it is good for you! I am far from an expert on the topic, but want to share the information that I have learned. What is kombucha? Kombucha is a fermented beverage made using tea, sugar & a SCOBY. It contains b-vitamins, antioxidants, probiotics & beneficial acids. What is a SCOBY? SCOBY is an acronym for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It is a mass of beneficial bacteria and yeast that work together to ferment sweet tea. A SCOBY is also called a “mother”. As the “mother” works to ferment the sweet tea, a new “baby” SCOBY will form a layer on top to protect the brew. What are the benefits of kombucha? Though kombucha has been around for thousands of years, there have been few studies done on the benefits of it. Many claims have Read More
Healthy Fruit Snacks
Have you ever looked at the ingredients in store bought fruit flavored snacks? A popular brand of ‘real fruit snacks’ contains fruit puree, along with the following ingredients (just to name a few). corn syrup (GMO) sugar (GMO) modified cornstarch (GMO) lactic acid (GMO) Red 40 Blue 1 Did you know that Red 40 is made from petroleum distillates and coal tars? YUCK! It has also been linked to food intolerance symptoms and hyperactivity in children. What if I told you that you could make your own fruit snacks that were high in protein, with no added sugar? This recipe uses 2 ingredients and takes about 15 minutes. I use Great Lakes Gelatin, which is made from grass fed, pasture raised cows and contains 88-92% protein; and 100% pure organic fruit juice (grape & wild blueberry are favorites in our house). Pour the fruit juice into a medium saucepan and Read More