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...

Four Reasons To Eat Grass Fed Beef

Grass Fed Beef, Health

As promised, continuing from our last newsletter, here is a more in depth explanation of four of the top ten health reasons to eat grassfed beef. According to a 2009 study that was a joint effort between the USDA and researchers at Clemson University in South...

Morning on the Farm

Homesteading

Mornings are the time of the day when I walk the farm.  I usually do this with shears in hand, looking for thistles about to bloom or to check on the elderberries hoping that this will be the year for me to beat the birds and get some jam and wine made.  I look over...

Farm Ownership

Homesteading, Sustainable Farming

Today is the day when I will finally own my own farm, or at least I will own my own mortgage for my own farm.  In amongst all of the hullaballoo in the government with deadlines and balancing the budget sat my SDA loan.  Once all of the balancing was done and...