Hand Shearing

Animals, Farm News, Sheep

In a constant attempt to simplify things on the farm and bring life ever closer to a sane pace, I have always wanted, nay needed, to change the way we shear our sheep. It isn’t that we have had incompetent shearers, actually we have been blessed with some of the best...

Family Meal Time

Simple Living, Slow Food

My foray into farm life was certainly idyllic if nothing else.  I set my feet in the tall grass of our new pastures with many, many nostalgic dreams in my heart.  Looking back now, some 18 years later, I can see with a bit of clarity the ones that were to be and the...

River Cottage Farm Shoppe

Farm Shoppe

In my lifetime I have begun two on-farm shops. One in Indiana (Apple Family Farm) and one in Orlinda (Windy Acres Farm Shop) and I am in the process of starting a new one. River Cottage Farm Shoppe began to take shape last week with the pouring of a new concrete floor...

Sheep Milk: An Experiment

Animals, Raw Milk, Sheep

This is the year that I will finally milk my own sheep. After three trips to Italy seeking out all the sheep’s milk products I could find, it is finally time to make my own sheep’s milk quark, cheese and yogurt. All things sheep are healthier than their counterparts...

Did You Know? Sheep’s Milk

Animals, Farm News

Spring time brings lambs, and these little guys are born scrawny!  A newborn lamb is little more than bone and skin, which makes it especially important that they find their mother and nurse right away. Because the newborn sheep are so thin, it’s perfect that...

Time to Order Trees!

Homesteading, Organic Gardening, Sustainable Farming

With the advent of spring comes the time to order new trees to fill in gaps and extend the orchard. Since this will be our first year on the new farm there are several things to think about before we plant. The first question to ask is what type of climate issues you...