The Well Fed Homestead

Last night I spent time outside planting zucchini, cucumbers, carrots and dill. Then, I spent an equal amount of time at my kitchen table, journaling what I had planted. This may seem awfully tedious to you, and you might wonder why in the world would I JOURNAL about my gardening? Let me explain. Why You Should Create a Garden Journal Keeping Track of What You Plant I use little plastic plant tags like these with a sharpie, but increasingly, my writing is fading or disappearing. Maybe there are better solutions, but aside from engraved (expensive) plant labels, I think there is always the risk that labeling will fail. When you…

It’s been a while since I hosted a give away like this! I think these are SO FUN, and I hope you do too! This time, I am giving away some of my favorite homesteading books and a garden tower to THREE LUCKY WINNERS! PRIZE ONE John Seymour’s The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It Out of ALL of the homesteading books I have ever purchased and checked out from the library, this is by far my favorite. I recommend every homesteader and hopeful homesteader get a copy of this book. VALUE= $25.45 PRIZE TWO The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan This book is SO fun! There are images…

With empty shelves at the grocery store, I noticed that many of the convenient cuts of chicken were missing, while whole chickens were still available. It may feel, to some people like there is “No food” left when their only option is a whole bird. Or maybe, that cooking a whole chicken is far too inconvenient. Maybe they would rather purchase breaded chicken varieties, which are still available at our stores, than a whole bird. When my family started raising chickens, I  became alarmingly aware of how spoiled we are to think that we should be able to eat various chicken parts any time we want to.  Eating Whole Chickens…

Sixty-five days. That’s how many more days the Virginia governor, Ralph Northam, has said that we need to stay in our homes because of Coronavirus. I mentioned the other day that the empty grocery store shelves has me wishing we lived on the farm again. Suddenly, I’m researching, “what can we grow–fast?” We have seven people to feed, and we don’t own thirty acres with multiple animals, dairy cows, and a 50′ x 50′ garden anymore. We certainly don’t have enough space to grow everything we would need in a year’s time. Still, we can grow something. Actually, we can grow quite a few things that will be ready to…

I love that I live in a time when food can just arrive on my doorstep. What a gift! It’s making that lazy life I spoke of yesterday so much more attainable. 😉 But really, as a mom of five kids (ten and up!), we go through a lot of food. Grocery shopping usually feels like a giant task to me. By the end of the trip, the cart feels heavy, and then I have to put it all in the car? And bring it in the house? Then put it all away? And cook it? It’s tiring, for sure! I first heard of and signed up for Imperfect Foods,…

I’m bacckkk! My husband switched the blog back to The Well Fed Homestead today (instead of The Well Fed Home–that title bothered me ever since I switched it). Why I Haven’t Been Writing Here… Guys, I’m crying to be writing here. Here’s why I felt like I couldn’t write here, for so long: We sold our farm, and ultimately, I felt like we were failures at it. Time gives perspective, and I know that we didn’t fail. We switched gears, re-focused on the most important things in our life (our adopted kids, fostering) and what God had called us to. We didn’t fail. I thought, since we sold our farm,…