Hello Reader, If you don't have the space or time to grow fruit on your own property, don't worry! Sara Bir, the author of The Fruit Forager's Companion, explains how to forage for fruit in your neighborhood and beyond and says you'll likely find fruit already available in your community if you're willing to get outdoors, be patient, and pay attention. In The Fruit Forager's Companion she'll teach you how to forage and to create delicious concoctions from foraged treasures! If you've already...
11 days ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, Faverolles are beautiful French chickens with a calm temperament and ability to lay during the cold winter. They make great additions to your flock as production birds or as ornamental pets. Find out even more reasons to fall in love with Faverolles. If you have been looking to raise pigs but have been intimidated by their size and often aggressive personalities, try the American Guinea Hog. With its smaller size, sweeter disposition, and outstanding flavor, this breed, which...
18 days ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, You may have heard that kelp is a source of more than 60 nutrients. Some people say you can use it as your only mineral supplement for livestock, but before you do that, please read my post about what's really in kelp -- and what is not. But on the flip side, you may have also heard some really negative things about kelp. If that's the case, I still hope you'll read it because kelp is really good for livestock (and humans). I would say it's an interesting debate, but it's not...
25 days ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, A week ago, I was in Paige, Texas, doing a hands-on workshop for Goats 365 members. From 9 am to 4 pm, they learned how to draw blood, test the quality of colostrum, check body condition, and FAMACHA scores, and more. We even got PCVs on three goats to see how everyone's FAMACHA score compared! All the attendees agreed it was an incredibly valuable day, so I started thinking that maybe we should do a workshop in the spring and open it to everyone on my email list. Click here if...
28 days ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, In case you noticed you received this email on Thursday and nothing on Tuesday, that's because I decided to go back to our once-a-week homesteading newsletter on Thursday, which we had done for 10 years until April of this year. I thought people would prefer getting emails on Tuesday and Friday, but I was wrong. If you're one of the people who hated twice-a-week homesteading emails, I'm sorry. We are back to every Thursday now. While making soap and teaching soap making classes...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, For years, I thought goats were my ikigai. But after reflecting on a few powerful books and the things that make me feel most alive, I realized something deeper: writing is my North Star, and goats are one of the subjects I love writing about.In Discovering My Ikigai, Dharma, and North Star, I share how this realization is leading me back to a memoir that has been waiting in the cloud for 13 years—and why I’m inviting readers to join my writing salon and offer feedback as the...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, In 2004, we built our house ourselves — literally with a hammer, nails, and wood. For almost two decades, we thought we had done a pretty good job.But a series of decisions that seemed perfectly logical at the time eventually led to problems we never saw coming. In my latest Substack, We Thought We Knew Enough to Build Our House, I share how a little knowledge, a lot of confidence, and some unexpected lessons turned our dream of self-reliance into something very different....
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, For about a week now, there's been a really important conversation happening inside our Goats 365 community. It started when one of our members — who has a goat-related landscaping business and takes her goats out to properties where they could come into contact with people — brought up a question that doesn't have a tidy answer. In late July, a skunk got into the pen of a traveling petting zoo's goats in North Carolina. Three of those goats have since tested positive for...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, I moved to the farm partly because I wanted a healthier, more active life, and the daily work gave me the exercise I had struggled to maintain for years. But when I received the opportunity to fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming an author, my daily life changed in ways I never expected. In Farm Life vs. a Writer’s Life, I share how achieving one dream gradually pulled me away from the lifestyle that had been keeping me healthy—and the toll it took on my body. Bucks are half of...
2 months ago • 2 min read
