H- Herbs for Healing

dandelions

Herbs are a good way to maintain health without dealing with some of the unpleasant side effects for various medications. I have used herbs for many years, though I don’t use them now as often as I used to. Guess I have been getting lazy.

One of my goals is to build a medicinal herb garden. It won’t likely be this year but it is on the to-do list. Fortunately, there are lots of medicinal herbs already growing all over this property. Most people call them weeds.

Here are a few of the “weeds” that grow on our homestead: Continue reading

G – Goats and Gardening

the start of a garden

The start of our garden.

Today is another two-fer, this time for the letter G. That’s because I can’t decide if I want to write about goats or gardening – both of which I love.

Gardening was my first love. I have been gardening since I was old enough to stand up. My parents always had a huge garden and summer was highlighted by eating fresh, yummy veggies every day. In fact, I would often raid the garden when I was outside playing, looking for goodies to snack on. Continue reading

E – Entertainment on the Homestead

Entertainment at home

Okay, I’m a day late with this. Yesterday my husband had the day off and the weather was wonderful, so we took advantage of it to get some major chores done on the homestead. My son was a huge help! He and Jeff cleaned out the goat barn, and let me tell you, that was a huge job.

Everyone was pretty busy yesterday. My daughter got her room clean so she could start painting (something she has been wanting to do since we moved in), I did a little work in the garden and helped with the goats, and by the end of the day, we were pretty worn out. Continue reading

The Homestead Dog – D

The boys ready for a ride in the farm truck.

The boys ready for a ride in the farm truck.

I don’t think I know anyone on a farm or homestead that doesn’t have a dog. That includes us. We have 3 dogs: A Rottie named Tango, a Boxer/Mastiff/Dane mix named Brewer, and a Cattle Dog mix (I think. I can never remember for some reason) named Chief.

Chief is the smallest, but he is the boss. Fortunately, he is pretty sweet, too. 🙂 Continue reading

C – Chickens on the Homestead

Chicken Collage

Today’s A-Z Challenge post is the letter C. Chickens seemed like the natural topic because they are easy to keep and, in some places, you can have a few in your backyard even if you live in town. Raising chickens is a step toward being more self sufficient.

Chickens are pretty easy to keep. They need a draft-free coop as well as clean food and water. Food can be commercial feed from the farm store or it can be kitchen scraps, grass, bugs, worms… chickens will eat pretty much anything. Continue reading