Category: Homesteading
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The Unlikely Farmdog
All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. For after all, he was only human. He wasn’t a dog. Charles M. Schulz This afternoon we came home to a bonus chicken. You read that right. Where we should have 17 chickens, our usual 14 hens and 3 roosters,…
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Tallow Balm
“Your skin looks so healthy, what is your secret?! It’s beef fat!” Beef tallow is a rendered form of fat (also called suet or leaf fat) made with the fat surrounding the animals organs. When rendered properly, it actually has no beefy smell! Tallow is very versatile and has many practical uses including cooking, household…
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Winter Weeding? (and More from the Homestead)
People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy. Anton Chekhov This week I found myself doing a task I normally wouldn’t expect for the second week of January, 2023. Weeding the garden. That’s right. I spent an hour or so this week on my hands and knees pulling weeds from our garden…
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Looking Back on Our Future
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. Seneca Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that it is 2023. When we were younger time seemed to move so much slower. We waited for time to pass, wanting for things in our future to come to us quicker. But as we’ve aged it seems…
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Winter Storm Elliot (Making a Mess of Christmas)
The snow doesn’t give a soft white damn whom it touches. E.E.Cummings This Christmas didn’t go as planned. In fact, at times it didn’t really feel like Christmas at all. While we certainly had a white Christmas, something not as common as it once was in Northeast Ohio, the arrival of Winter Storm Elliot threw…
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Winter Storm Elliot
It looks like we may be in for a white Christmas after all here in northeast Ohio. Forecasted to hit Friday, winter storm Elliot promises rain, snow and ice for the weekend. Couple that with high winds and windchills down to -25° and it’s going to be a hard couple of days. So this morning…
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The Gloaming
This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn, and gloaming, on sea and continents, and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls. – John Muir Within the English language…
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Digging in the Dirt
Despite all our accomplishments, we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact it rains. Paul Harvey, “So God Made Me a Farmer” (1978). As fall winds down and leads into winter, I struggle with what to write on a weekly basis. Sure we’re still collecting eggs and preparing for the…
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The Best Time to Start Is Now
Get Out Now. Not just outside, but beyond the trap of the programmed electronic age so gently closing around so many people at the end of our century. Go outside, move deliberately, then relax, slow down, look around. Do not jog. Do not run. Forget about blood pressure and arthritis, cardiovascular rejuvenation and weight reduction.…
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Rosemary Garlic Artisan Bread
This gluten free bread is easy and delicious! With a sweet and savory pop of flavor from the honey, rosemary and fresh garlic, it is sure to become a favorite. Here’s what you’ll need- 3 cups 1:1 gluten free flour (I love King Arthur)½ tbsp Kosher salt3/4 tsp black pepper¼ ounce instant or active dry…
Headwaters Homestead 