Homesteader Life

“Agriculure is the most healthful, most useful, and most noble employment of man.”
George Washington
“No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”
Booker T. Washington
“Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. […]

We finally made the big move! In spite of the local building Nazis (I am supposed to have an “occupancy permit”) we have moved to the new homestead up on the hill. We have electric but no phone or water yet. My posts will be less frequent for a spell, because I have to go […]

I hate spending money on insurance, gas, inspections and all the rest. I have an idea. I’m not sure how long it would take to make the 30 mile trip to church, but I could get to the barn pretty quick. Can you picture me pulling up in the Crown and Covenant parking lot driving […]

I have been reading a book by Wendell Berry called The Unsettling of America, culture and agriculture. Mr.Berry points out the fact that Americans (not just Christians or Agrarians) do a poor job of acting on their convictions. He used as an example some environmentalists groups that have their money invested in strip mines and […]

Gene Logsdon Writes about old barns
Old barns seem to stand on the landscape today mostly for the purpose of being photographed. I wonder sometimes if camera supply businesses will not at some point find it profitable to build replicas of traditional barns along the interstates to boost sales of their products. I think of Don […]

Joel Salatin writes……
Daniel is our outdoorsman. He taps the yard trees for maple syrup. He’s been doing this now for several years. He takes the maple sap and boils it down.
We try to encourage them to scrounge, but the other thing is that we make sure they have the tools to do the things they […]

I recently found a new magazine that is well worth getting. Farming is a magazine for those of us that farm because we love the life it provides our families and communities. Over the past few years there has been a real void in this area. I just get depressed reading most of the Ag […]

I’ve made up my mind. This years garden is going to be different. Time for an experiment of sorts. This will be the first year up on top of the hill. If you know anything about the hills of Nanti-choke, you know that they are real light on topsoil. The growing season is pretty short […]

He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, Psalm 104-14

It has been a couple of years now since we switched our dairy herd over to a grass based system. As long as the green grass is growing our girls are rotated through over 100 acres of pasture. The pasture is divided into 2 acre […]

And I for one do not believe that there is any way out of the modern tangle, except to increase the proportion of the people who are living according to the ancient simplicity. Nobody in his five wits proposes that there should be no trade and no traders. Nevertheless, it is important to remember, as […]