The Goat Milk Rodeo!
In the last post, I wrote about a great system for keeping the goats from stepping in, or spilling their milk when I’m milking them. You can read it here. This system has worked well for me since I adopted it. In fact, it hasn’t failed once. However, I HAVE failed! It’s happened a few times now and while it doesn’t usually result in spilled milk, it has resulted in stress on animals and myself. Although, it has made for a very entertaining story! Ladies and gentlemen, this is the goat milk event at the Growing Freedom Homestead Rodeo!
Efficient Homestead: Goat Stand Tiedown Stystem
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been working on getting my milking routine more efficient. I’ve decided to just do a series of posts to show the changes instead of trying to cram it all in one post. The unique system I want to share today is something I came up with a few years ago. I see pictures of cows, and even some goats who will just stand still while they are milked. In all the years I’ve been doing this, I haven’t had a single goat that will do that! We put their head in a stanchion, give them treats, sing lullabies, etc., but no matter how well behaved they may be most of the time, it only takes one stamp of the foot to put their poopy, dirty hooves in the milk bucket! It usually happens close to the end of the milking session too so it ruins even more of the milk! Because of this, I’ve just decided
The Stepford Homesteads
There are two specific commitments I have made to myself regarding this blog. One is to not ever use AI to generate content. The other is to post twice a week on Monday and Thursday. I may drop down to once per week while I’m building our home but not until then. I like to have posts all written out and ready to go so that they can be scheduled ahead of time but, to be honest, I’m not always really great about that. Sometimes I’m still making changes on the day of. On Monday, my morning was busy cleaning because the real estate agent was coming to show the house we’re temporarily living in. Then I sat down to get the post finished up and Mary reminded me that I needed to go pick something up. It was an hour away and I figured I could get it and be back pretty quickly and I would have time to finish my post. What I didn’t anticipate was that
The Real Dangers of Raw Milk!
My family has been using raw goat milk for over eleven years now. I’ve heard of the “dangers” of raw milk, especially back before it was more popular. If you go to your favorite search engine and type in “dangers of raw milk” you’ll see all kinds of scary germs and diseases associated with raw milk. In all the time we’ve been milking goats, we’ve never had any kind of adverse health problem or disease from using it. That being said, in my experience, there are some real dangers of raw milk that we have noticed.
Efficient Homestead: A More Efficient Milking Routine
Today I want to talk about efficiency. Efficiency is something that I can geek out over! It is something that is becoming a bigger part of our homestead and will be a common topic on this blog. While I was working on making my shoe business more efficient in order to compete with much larger companies, I had to really focus in on getting my process as efficient as possible. I found that the areas that you can really save time and energy are the things that you do every day, over and over. If you decide to get dairy animals of any kind, you will find that it is a daily commitment.
Turning Mushrooms into Medicine!
Today I want to show you how we made medicine out of something that grows wild all over the forest. We love to forage! The idea of food growing wild that can be harvested and used right away is really interesting and exciting for our family. It seems like the more I learn about foraging, the more I think we as society are really missing the mark. Often, the most beneficial plants are very prolific, wide spread, and grow even in poor conditions. Because of that, most people call them weeds and try their best to kill them! Maybe they were designed to be resilient so that they would always be there to help us?
Since we’ve moved to Missouri, we have access to more than a few plants that we’ve heard of but never been able to use. One of those things is Turkey Tail mushrooms.
Into the Fire
One of the things we’re learning the hard way is that if you heat your home with wood, it is very important to get it cut and drying long before cold weather hits. This is not new information for us, but unfortunately, we didn’t really have that opportunity because we moved in the late fall/early winter. The weather was nice here but it had been cool and the house needed heating. There was a little bit of wood available but we needed to obtain more wood. We’re farm sitting for the winter and this property is mostly pasture. There isn’t a lot of dead wood available. Luckily there is public land close by and I’ve been able to get a permit to cut dead wood there.
How to turn EVERYTHING into an Educational Opportunity
When it comes to homeschooling, I often hear concerns about how parents have a hard time getting their kids (boys especially) to work on certain subjects. I get it! The struggle is real! Boys tend to dig in their heels when you try to make them do something they haven’t chosen themselves. However, it doesn’t always have to be a struggle…
Introduction to Lean Homesteading
This is a story about weaving looms, cars, shoes, and how it can change the way you run your homestead!
There are certain innovations that not only changes an industry, but change the entire world. The invention of the computer is one example, another is when Apple released the first smartphone.
I want to introduce you to an innovation that you may not have heard of but has changed your life. This innovation changed the wold of…
Property Update
I’ve learned since moving to Missouri that I need to be a little bit more proactive about checking the weather forecast. We got rain so infrequently in Utah and I learned to see the signs of rain coming. In Missouri, rain comes more often and I haven’t yet learned to see the signs so sometimes it surprises me and my plans for the day get washed away. I decided to check the weather last week and was surprised to see one day with a high of 72 degrees! I thought maybe that would be a good day for us to visit our property again. I checked the forecast for that location and it was showing a high of 74. I couldn’t ask for better conditions! We had to make some decisions regarding infrastructure and building plans but we needed some information first. So we made plans and headed out for the day.
What Animals Should We Get Next?
As I’ve gotten more active in the homesteading community, one of the most frequent questions I’ve seen is, “...what animals should I get next?”. Usually, those people already have chickens and they are looking to expand. When I hear this, my mind goes to the movie “I, Robot” where Will Smith plays a homicide detective named Spooner in a futuristic world that uses robots to replace most of the tedious work that humans have been doing. The man who invented the robots named Dr. Lanning has been killed and police assume it is a suicide, however, Lanning has left a mysterious pre-programmed hologram asking for Spooner to investigate.
Why we decided to blog
Some of you may be wondering why we decided to start a blog in favor of something more cutting edge like an exclusive YouTube channel or TikTok. Don’t we know that blogging is dead? It’s a thing of the past??? Youtube is the new blogging! Tiktok is the new Youtube!
Technology is always changing. I love to watch Youtube videos! They have become an integral part of my life. Especially when we have a vehicle issue! Youtube mechanics to the rescue!!! We actually talked about starting a Youtube channel. We talked about it for a long time. I imagined what kind of videos we’d make and different camera angles, etc. I took note of what was working well for different channels that I liked to watch and what didn’t do so well.
The Problem with Homestead Advice
She asked me a few questions about our homestead situation and I told her a little bit. She was pretty eager to give me homestead advice. I like it. I like to hear what other people are doing and why. I know I have a lot to learn. However, sometimes usually you’ll get conflicting advice from people on homesteading. That was the case here.
Did God Mess up Your Feet?
In a spur of the moment decision as we were getting out of the car and onto the trail, I ditched my boots and only took my sandals. Many of the older leaders scolded me for setting a bad example but I just had different tastes and different experience.
The Great Off Grid Ozark Adventure: part 13
So far in this journey I had learned about the importance of not allowing myself to stress out so much before a trip, how to repair/rebuild a trailer, and a lot about how to take-in apart and reassemble the intake manifold on my truck. The next part of the journey was an opportunity to learn about tires. Trailer tires in particular.
The Great Off Grid Ozark Adventure: part 12
In one day, our move went from being just around the corner, to covered in fog with no sign of when or how it would happen. Our truck was demolished… The front of the trailer wall hit the tailgate of the truck and bent in the trailer wall about 2 feet. It was obvious that some of our things inside were going to be broken. Of most concern was our heirloom piano which was loaded right up against the front of the trailer.
The Great Off Grid Ozark Adventure: part 11
Finally the day came. We were leaving that day no matter what! Especially since all our bedding and everything was packed already. Unfortunately, by the time we got it all packed up and were 100% ready to go, it was already dark. Our plan was only to go a few hours to Kanab and spend the night with family then get on the road for good. Unfortunately, by this time, I was exhausted, stressed, and hadn’t had nearly enough sleep.
The Great Off Grid Ozark Adventure: part 10
One of the systems I wanted to work on was water. We planned to buy a gas powered pump and a water tank that would fit in a truck or trailer to get water from the creek. I was frustrated when I drove a good distance to buy a pump and they were out of stock. They were also more expensive than I expected. Electric pumps were cheaper. I started looking into 12 volt DC systems that can run directly off solar but it started to get a little complex. I wanted a simple solution. I looked at AC pumps and they were way cheaper and had more selection. Then it hit me! We had a portable power station!
The Great Off Grid Ozark Adventure: part 9
It was clouding up and we could hear thunder in the distance so we figured we would go grab something quick like a peanut butter sandwich and keep working until the rain came. We headed back to the trailer and just as we started getting food, I heard a few rain drops hitting the trailer roof. I told Ethan I was going to go back to get the tools put away while he made food for us. By the time I got back to the build site, a large storm had rolled in. It was thundering, pouring, and blowing like crazy. I got the tools gathered but was 100% soaked by the time I got back. Water was already running on the ground and the heavens unleashed!
The Great Off Grid Ozark Adventure: part 8
Then it happened. The one difficult neighbor pulled up. She had a nasty look on her face and she pointed at me and signaled for me to come over. My first reaction was to totally ignore her. I didn’t really want to talk to her and I had set my boundaries through text. I didn’t want her to think that she could just summon me at her whim and I would obey like a dog. However, something happened that I wasn’t expecting. It was like a fierce lion sleeping deep inside me woke up and roared. I felt a strange power well up from within. Something told me to go deal with that woman.