Non-Alcoholic Homemade Drinks

A smoothie is a terrific way to start your morning.  You get a quick boost of nutrients, which otherwise might take all day to consume, and it is very refreshing.  Keep an open mind when deciding what to put in your smoothie.  A lot of vegetables are really very sweet, but we are not used to thinking about drinking them or having them first thing in the morning.

Anything you put in a blender, with a little water or juice, will make a smoothie.  If you want more of an ice-cream texture, add a frozen banana. I keep a plastic storage bag of sliced bananas in my freezer.  I can toss a handful of frozen banana slices into any smoothie recipe and I will have a thick, frozen drink without affecting the flavor too much.

You do not need an expensive, specialized machine to enjoy homemade smoothies and frozen drinks.  Just be nice to your blender and chop whole fruits and vegetables into manageable pieces.  Add a little liquid and start on low speed, working your way up to the highest speed.

Some great blends to try are: baby spinach, banana, and cranberry juice; kale, apple, and apple or pear juice; beet, apple or pear, and water; banana, blueberries, and milk; banana, peach, and orange juice.  Have fun experimenting with different flavors.  You will notice a real difference in your energy level once you incorporate nutrient-dense smoothies into your morning routine.

One of the hardest things for me to do is to drink enough water.  Keeping a pitcher or two of infused water in my refrigerator is an easy way of encouraging everyone to drink water throughout the day.  Water is important all the time, but it is especially important during the summer heat.  There are more accurate ways to calculate it, but, a person needs to drink about half their body weight (in ounces) per day.  For example, a person who weighs 200 pounds should drink about 100 ounces a day.

To infuse water, simply add any fruit, vegetable, or herb to a pitcher of water and store in the refrigerator.  Try sliced lemons, limes, oranges or peaches.  There are interesting varieties of mint, such as apple, chocolate, or pineapple mint, that lend themselves nicely to infused waters.  Try other flavors that you personally enjoy.  Cucumber water, for example, tastes a lot better than it sounds.

In the South, you cannot go into anyone’s home without being offered a glass of sweet tea.  Everyone has their favorite recipe, but the main difference is usually just the amount of sugar.  I was very excited the first time I tried sassafras tea.  It has a beautiful, rich flavor that leaves plain sweet tea in the dust.

Sassafras is a tree that grows all over the South.  The leaves are used to make filé, a flavorful thickening agent used in certain types of gumbo.  The roots are used for a slightly spicy addition to tea.  Because the tree is a self-propagating machine, I will pull one or two out of the ground each year and harvest the roots into chunks that will easily fit into a kitchen pot.  Add a couple pieces of root and 2 family-size tea bags to a pot of water.  Allow the water to simmer, but not boil, until the tea is dark and your house smells like sassafras.  Pour into a pitcher, straining out and saving the sassafras root.  Sweeten as desired.  Allow the root to dry.  You can use the same root piece several times.

Another way to serve tea is with a shot of mint simple-syrup.  It is a delicious treat that can be added to lemonade as well as tea.  To make a mint simple-syrup, muddle a handful of mint into 3 parts sugar while bringing 1 part water to a boil.  Add sugar and mint to the boiling water.  Stir constantly, until the sugar has dissolved and the water is a thick, syrupy consistency.  Strain the mint leaves out of the syrup.  Let cool.  Transfer to a clean glass jar and cover tightly.  Stores for a few weeks in the refrigerator.  Blueberry soda-syrup is another sweet treat to have on hand.  Unlike mint simple syrup, which is pure sweetness, blueberry soda syrup is tart and tangy.

• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• ¾ cup water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon citric acid

Bring the blueberries, water, and lemon juice to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat.  Allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the blueberries have burst.

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, using the back of a wooden spoon to press out as much of the liquid as you can.  Return the strained liquid to the saucepan.  Add the sugar and citric acid.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes, until the mixture has thickened.

Remove from heat and allow to cool before transferring to bottles or jars.  This will keep in the refrigerator for up to one month, or you can process it in canning jars in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes and use it year-round.

To use, add 2-3 tablespoons to a glass of club soda or ginger-ale.

Alcoholic Homemade Drinks

Everyone is familiar with the mint julep, the favorite drink of the Kentucky Derby.  Any herb can be used for a julep, however, and since my lemon balm is having a great year, I decided to try lemon balm juleps.

• 2 ounces bourbon
• several sprigs fresh lemon balm
• 4-5 Tablespoons superfine sugar
• crushed ice

Into the bottom of a silver julep cup, or a Mason jar, press 2-3 tablespoons of superfine sugar together with just enough water to make a sugary paste.  Add a layer of fresh lemon balm leaves.  Press them gently with a wooden spoon, but do not smash them.  Pile on a layer of finely crushed ice.  Top with a sprinkling of sugar and then a few more lemon balm leaves that you have bruised, but not crushed, by clapping them between your hands.  Repeat the layerings until the glass is full.  Pour the bourbon over the layers and enjoy.

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The prickly pear cactus is a thing of beauty when it is in bloom. Once the flowers bloom and fade, dark purple fruits will appear.  Prickly pear syrup makes beautiful and delicious drinks to serve to a gathering of friends.

• 10-12 prickly pear fruits
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 ounce vodka (optional)

Gloves are the first line of defense when you are harvesting prickly pears, but you should also pick and handle them with metal tongs – the spines really do hurt.  Use a vegetable scrubber to remove the spines.  Cut off both ends of the fruit and make one cut from top to bottom.  Slice the skin off the fruit.

Chop the fruit and combine with the water and sugar.  Bring to a boil.  Use a fine-mesh sieve to separate the seeds and pulp from the syrup.  Store the syrup in a glass jar in the freezer.  Adding 1 ounce of vodka will keep the syrup from freezing solid.

Add a splash of this to sparkling wine or to your favorite margarita recipe.  For a non-alcoholic version, omit the vodka and add a splash of the syrup to mineral water.

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Elderflower cordial is a recipe I found in Amy Stewart’s The Drunken Botanist.  It has a delicate and floral taste which can be added to practically anything.

• 4 cups water
• 4 cups sugar
• 30 clusters fresh (not brown) elderflowers
• 2 lemons, sliced
• 2 oranges, sliced

Bring the water and sugar to a boil and allow to cool.  While it is cooling, go outside and cut fresh elderflowers.  Shake gently to evict any bugs.  Bring indoors and use the tines of a fork to separate the flowers from their stems.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and let sit for 24 hours, stirring and tasting as necessary.  After 24 hours, strain the mixture into clean, sterile Mason jars.  Store in the refrigerator for up to one month, or in the freezer indefinitely.

You can add a splash to any drink, alcoholic or non-alcoholic.  Substitute elderflower cordial for the tonic in any recipe using tonic as a mixer.

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If you are planning a party where alcohol will be served, consider stocking your bar with vodkas you infuse yourself.  It will save you money, while highlighting the products that are growing in your garden.

It is super-easy to infuse your choice of herbs, spices, and fruit in vodka, which can stand alone as a drink, or can be used for cocktails.  Remember that tender plants such as herbs do not need to be submerged for a long time – they will develop an off-taste.  For herbs, 8-12 hours is usually long enough to impart their flavor.  Most fruit should take not much longer than a week.  If you are using citrus rinds and dry spices, you can probably leave them soaking for a month.  Taste your concoction frequently and strain as soon as you are happy with the flavor.

To make an infused vodka fill a clean jar with herbs, spices, or fruit.  Cover with an affordable vodka.  Cover tightly and store in a cool, dark place.  Taste regularly.  Strain and use within a few months.

Enjoy the blessings of summer with one or more of these garden drinks.  Happy Summer!

The post Beat the Heat with Drinks from Your Garden appeared first on Homestead.org.

Let’s start with the methods and plants we can use internally. Almost any herb can be used in a tea, tincture, or infusion. I am focusing on the ones that have the widest range of uses and that can be grown or foraged with ease: pine pollen, lemon balm, thistle, yarrow, plantain, and sassafras.

Pine pollen can be foraged February through April, depending upon your location. Pine pollen is a superfood, rich in vitamins and minerals, with over twenty amino acids and all eight of the essential amino acids. Pine pollen increases stamina, libido, and general vitality. It lessens the impacts of aging while increasing energy levels and mental integrity. It has anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, and anti-tumor properties.

Collect pine pollen in paper bags when the catkins are yellow and powdery. Put the yellow catkins in a metal bowl, cover with a towel, and let sit overnight. Sift until you have released the pollen from the catkins. The pollen you sifted from these mature catkins can be stored in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Sprinkle over food or add to smoothies.

Green Catkin Honey: Place the younger, green catkins in a sterilized canning jar. Cover with local honey. Store for two weeks, mixing daily. To mix, stand jar upside down for several hours. In two weeks, strain catkins from honey. Use pine pollen honey anywhere you would use regular honey. It has a bright, floral flavor.

Pine Pollen Tincture: Combine two parts 100-proof alcohol to one part pollen in a glass jar. Shake daily for two to three weeks. Strain through a cheesecloth into a dark glass bottle. Add ½-1 teaspoon to herbal teas.

Sassafras

Sassafras was an important part of home medicine for the early American colonist who learned about the medicinal properties of sassafras from the Iroquois. It was used as a blood purifier, as a tonic after labor, and to prevent colds and fevers. Sassafras is an herb that is not recommended for women who are pregnant.

The sassafras tree begins to put on tender leaves in early spring. Fresh leaves are great for tea and you should use fresh when it is available. But because sassafras tea relieves throat infections and colds it is a good idea to preserve some for the winter.

Pick sassafras leaves when they are new and tender. Refrigerate in a paper bag until they are dry. Sassafras tastes great with mint so it is a good idea to pick and dry mint leaves while gathering sassafras leaves. Your sassafras and mint blend can be stored in a ziplock bag or glass jar in the pantry. When you feel like you might be coming down with a bug, start drinking this delicious tea.

If you didn’t gather any sassafras leaves this spring, or if you run out of the leaves you dried, you can use the bark or roots of the sassafras tree to make tea year-round.

Yarrow

Yarrow tea can be found at every health-food store but once you have it growing in your yard, you will have it forever. It is an extremely easy to grow perennial. It is an excellent plant to have, especially if you have children because it is gentle enough for them to take.

Yarrow tea is used to reduce fevers, shorten the duration of colds and flu, improve relaxation during illnesses, and relieve cramps caused by illness or hormones. To make yarrow tea, simply pour boiling water over two tablespoons of dried yarrow (leaves, stems, and flowers) and steep for 8-10 minutes. Sweeten with honey. Internal usage is not recommended for pregnant women, as it can cause uterine contractions.

Gather the plant once it flowers and hang upside down in a paper bag until dry. Once dry, chop into usable pieces and store in an airtight container until needed.

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm tea has been used to ensure long life and protect against dementia since medieval times. To make a lemon balm tea, pour one cup of boiling water over one tablespoon dried lemon balm leaves and steep. Lemon balm is so beneficial and so gentle, it is a good tea to drink every day.

Lemon balm relieves anxiety, depression, insomnia, migraine, and nervous tension. It is good for the circulatory system, working as a heart tonic, relieving palpitations, and lowering blood pressure. It is also used for respiratory conditions such as asthma, chronic coughs, colds, and flu. It also helps with digestive issues, relieving colic, indigestion, and nausea. Lemon balm is another herb gentle enough to give young children.

You can gather the leaves of lemon balm as soon as they begin growing. Because lemon balm loses potency during the drying process it is best to make a tincture and/or infusion for winter use.

Lemon Balm Tincture: Fill a glass jar ¾ full of lemon balm leaves. Cover leaves with 100-proof alcohol, making sure all leaves are submerged. Cap with a non-metallic lid and store in a cool, dark place for four to six weeks, shaking daily. Strain tincture into a sterile jar and store in a cool place for up to one year. Take ¼ teaspoon as needed. This is a terrific stomach soother with anti-viral properties.

Lemon Balm Infusion: Fill a clean glass jar ¾ full of lemon balm leaves. Cover with local honey. Using a knife or chopstick, poke around sides of jar to eliminate air bubbles. Turn upside down once a day for three to five weeks. Strain honey into a sterile glass jar and store in refrigerator indefinitely. Use as you would plain honey.

Milk Thistle

Milk thistle is an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, hepaprotective, and immunostimulating herb. It was approved in 1986 as a treatment for liver diseases and is widely used to treat alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic fatty liver, cirrhosis, liver poisoning, and viral hepatitis. It also works to detoxify synthetic chemicals in our bodies so it is good to have around if you or a family member is on a strong course of medication.

Thistle was used in medieval times as a tonic for the nervous system. It was used for treating depression, anxiety, and other nervous conditions. It was believed to help people maintain a relaxed, calm, and peaceful disposition.

To harvest thistle, cut seed heads off plant when the seed heads have turned brown. Put them in a paper bag and store in a cool, dry spot for 48 hours. Lay a towel on your work space and carefully brush seeds from the seed head. Remove all of the debris and store seeds in an airtight container.

Thistle Tincture: Grind ¾ cup thistle seeds in a blender. Put ground seeds into a clean jar. Add one cup of water and one cup of 100-proof alcohol. Store in a cool, dark place three to five weeks, shaking daily. Strain tincture into a dark glass jar and store in the pantry. Add one teaspoon to your herbal tea.

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Now let’s talk about the herbal preparations to use externally. Lemon balm, yarrow, nettle, and plantain all make excellent bath teas and infused oils.

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is a terrific skin restorative. You can add it to any bath tea blend or make a strong lemon balm tea and add it to a hot bath. Another way to preserve lemon balm for external treatment is to make a body spray.

Lemon Balm Body Spray: Gather a large amount of fresh lemon balm leaves. Tear into pieces, bruising the leaves to release the essential oil. Loosely stuff into a clean, dry jar, leaving an inch of headspace. Cover with witch hazel, taking care to submerge all the leaves. Let this mixture sit for three weeks before straining into a clean jar.

You can use this mixture as you would regularly use witch hazel or you can dilute with an equal amount of distilled water to use as a body spray. This mixture is great for soothing and toning skin, relieving itchy skin, and it encourages healing from cuts and scrapes.

Yarrow

Greek myth tells us Achilles was held by his heel and dipped into a pool of yarrow, making him invulnerable to arrows. The wound that killed him was on the heel that was not immersed in yarrow. I haven’t personally tested the arrow theory, but I do know yarrow works great on rashes and dry, itchy skin.

Dry yarrow as you would for internal use. You can add yarrow to any bath tea blends because it also relieves itching caused by dry skin or bug bites. One of my favorite yarrow bath products is made by grinding the dried plant material in an herb grinder until I have one cup or more. I add this to three cups of Epsom salts and store in a glass jar on the side of the bathtub. It is perfect for the itchy skin and sore muscles that can happen in the garden.

Plantain

Plantain leaves are antibacterial, astringent, anti-inflammatory, and antiseptic. The leaves will quickly stop a flow of blood and helps repair damaged tissue. The leaves can be heated and used as a wet dressing for wounds, skin inflammations, ulcers, cuts, and stings. Plantain-infused oil works wonders on eczema and sunburns.

Plantain Infused Oil: Gather twelve to fifteen large plantain leaves. Stack them together and slice thin. Place in a clean, dry jar and cover with olive oil. Poke around the edges of the jar to eliminate any air pockets. Make sure all of the herb is submerged in the oil. Store in a sunny place at room temperature for four to six weeks. Shake daily. Strain out plant material and allow strained oil to sit for a few days. Bottle your finished oil in dark jars. Seal and label. Store in a cool, dark place.

Nettle

Nettle is another herb that is soothing for insect bites, eczema, acne, and chickenpox. You can make bath salts with nettle and Epsom salts, but since I don’t love the way it smells, I like to use it in a bath tea blend.

Soothing Bath Tea Blend: You need an equal amount of dried lemon balm, dried yarrow, and dried nettle. You can also add an equal amount of dried chickweed if you like. Combine in a large metal bowl. Add ½ cup of oatmeal and ½ cup of powdered milk. Fill muslin or cheesecloth bags with mixture. If these are just for home use, a thin sock will work. Throw a bag into the tub while the water is running. You can use the bag as a washcloth or just soak in your herbal bath.

Feel free to add any other herbs or flowers to the mixture. The great thing about making your own herbal blends— whether you are using them internally or externally—is that you know what special needs you and your family have and you can adjust your blends accordingly.

Although herbs have been used both to prevent and heal medical conditions, please use common sense when using herbs for treatment. If you are on medication, consult with your doctor before adding any medicine, herbs or otherwise, for possible contraindications. Use this article as a jumping-off point for your own research. Using herbs has enriched my life and it is my hope that your life will be enriched as well.

The post Time to Tincture appeared first on Homestead.org.

Figs, the oldest cultivated plant,  are originally from Southern Europe, Asia, and Africa.  Spanish Franciscan missionaries coming to set up Catholic missions in southern California brought them to North America.  There are hundreds of varieties, all having a soft flesh and tiny, edible seeds.  The most popular varieties available today are the green-skinned, white-fleshed Adriatic fig; the pear-shaped, violet-to brown-skinned Brown Turkey fig; the large, squat, white-fleshed, green-skinned Calimyrna fig; the medium, pear-shaped Celeste fig, with purple skin and pink pulp; the small, thick-skinned, yellow-green Kadota fig; and the purple-black Mission fig.

Figs grow well in Zones 8-10 without much protection.  There are cold-hardy cultivars for Zones 6 and 7.  For homesteaders north of Zone 6, don’t despair!  Figs lend themselves well to container cultivation.

Choosing the Right Tree

When you choose your tree, look for a cultivar that is adapted to your climate.  The varieties “Brown Turkey” and “Celeste” are excellent choices for colder climates.  If you are buying your tree online, make sure it is a self-pollinating variety.  Reputable nurseries will only sell self-pollinating varieties.

Planting a Fig Tree

Your young fig tree can be planted in your yard at any time of the year, although fall is often the less stressful time—for tree and gardener—to plant a tree.  To plant your tree, dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball in a sunny area that is fairly well protected from blustery winter winds.  Mulch the tree with compost and keep well watered during dry periods.  You can apply a seaweed-extract foliar spray or compost tea once a month during the growing season to keep the tree healthy and to encourage fruit production.

If you are growing your fig tree in a container, choose a large plastic container.  You want a planter large enough to support a tree.  Plastic will help reduce the weight of the plant, which is very important if you are going to have to move the tree to a protected area during winter.  Use organic potting soil and top-dress with compost.  Plant the tree at the same height as it grew at the nursery.  Set the pot in a spot that gets plenty of sunshine.  Make sure you do not let the container dry out completely, as this will stress the tree and dramatically reduce fruit production.  Water when the soil is dry an inch below the surface.  Move the container to an unheated but protected area, such as a garage or shed, for winter.  Continue to water them during their winter dormancy and bring them back outside once the last frost date passes and the weather warms.

You can protect cold-hardy cultivars when temperatures drop to 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and below, by encircling them with a hardware-cloth cage filled with straw.  This provides insulation but will not steam your tree.  Do not leave your fig trees unprotected in temperatures below 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Propagating Figs

There are two easy and free ways to grow your fig orchard.  First, as your tree grows you will notice suckers sprouting from the roots.  Use a shovel to remove them from the mother tree.  Immediately replant the suckers any place you would like to grow another fig tree.  You can expect to see figs growing from these suckers in two seasons.  Another way to propagate your fig tree is to bend a low-growing branch down and secure it to the ground with a U-shaped wire.  Cover lightly with soil.  Place a rock on top of the branch to keep the branch anchored and buried.  Once the branch has rooted, cut it from the mother tree with pruning shears.

Harvesting Figs

Depending on your climate and the cultivar you have chosen, your fruit will be ready to harvest between June and October.  In warm climates, you can expect to harvest twice a year.  You should get your first harvest in June and your second harvest in late summer.  Know what color your particular fig should be when ripe—some are brown, others gold, purple, or green.  The fruit will begin to hang down on the branch, change color, be soft to the touch and their skin may begin to split.  Watch for the birds—they seem to know when the figs are about to ripen.  You can protect your trees from birds with nets, by hanging aluminum pans on the branches, or you can just share with the birds.  Gently twist the ripe fig off the branch. Avoid getting the milky sap on your skin—it can be an irritant for some and it is sticky on everyone!  Let the figs cool slightly indoors before putting them in the refrigerator.  Make sure you check your fig stash daily.  One fig gone bad can spoil the whole bunch.

Enjoying the Harvest

Figs are delicate but will keep up to a week in the refrigerator.  Peel and eat them as is, right off the tree, for a delicious treat.  You can also peel them and use them on cereal, ice cream, or yogurt.  For a quick breakfast or healthy snack, drizzle some honey over fresh peeled figs and serve with milk or cream.  Fresh figs are also a tasty and beautiful addition to simple green salads.

Preserving Figs

If you have a bumper harvest, you can simmer them in a small amount of water, or fresh lemon juice, and honey for twenty minutes.  Mash them into a puree and freeze.  You can use this fig puree as a filling for layer cakes and cookies, a topping for ice cream, or a quick spread for biscuits or pancakes.

Figs can also be dried.  Because of their high water content, it is sometimes difficult to sun-dry figs.  It works much better, with more consistent results, to use a food dehydrator for figs.  Once dried, you can use in homemade granola, eat them straight out of the bag like candy, or rehydrate them to use in baking recipes.  Dried figs lend themselves well to spiced cakes and quick breads.

There are also several ways to can figs.  Of course, you can preserve them whole or make jams, but if you want a fig recipe that wows, try making fig mostarda.  Mostardas are Italian fruit mustards.  They can be made with all types of fruit, but the fig mostarda is really a winner.

Fig Mostarda

• 2 ½ c.sugar
• 1 c. water
• ½ c. dry white wine
• 2 lbs. fresh figs, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 T. bottled lemon juice
• 3 T. dry mustard powder
• 2 T. mustard seeds

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water and 1/4 cup of white wine.  Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until syrup is clear and slightly reduced, about five minutes.  Add the figs and lemon juice. Reduce the mixture to a simmer and cook for about thirty minutes, until figs are translucent and the mixture is thick.  Remove from heat.  In a small saucepan, whisk together the remaining ¼ cup wine, mustard powder, and mustard seeds.  Cook this mixture over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick and smooth, about three minutes.  Add the mustard mixture to the syrup mixture.  Whisk to combine.

Ladle hot fig mostarda mixture into hot, sterilized canning jars, leaving half an inch of headspace.  Poke a skewer to the bottom of each jar several times to release any trapped air bubbles.  Place a sterilized lid on each jar, and ring, tightening to “finger tight”.  Place in the canner, covering the jars with two inches of water and bring to a boil.  Once water begins its boil, process in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes.

Remove the processed jars and place on a folded towel on the countertop.  Leave undisturbed for 24 hours.  Press the center of each lid to make sure it has sealed properly.  Once sealed, this will store for up to one year.   If a jar does not seal, store in the refrigerator.

Fig mostarda is a delicious condiment when served with roasted beef, lamb, or pork.  It is a fantastic way to preserve an abundance of figs, and it makes a yummy and thoughtful gift from your homestead.  Fig mostarda commands a nice price at local farmers’ markets and specialty shops, and it looks lovely stacked next to bags of fresh figs.

I encourage you to seriously consider adding figs to your homestead.  They make a beautiful addition to any property, are easy to plant and maintain, and earn their keep with harvest after harvest of delicious fruit.

Put a Little Wolf Song in Your Life

The post Fantastic Figs from Your Farm: It’s Easier than You Might Think. appeared first on Homestead.org.

Because they do not need much space they are a perfect opportunity for urban homesteaders. Cages can be kept in the garage or in the backyard. The small space you are working with will require extra attention to cleanliness. Cages will need to be cleaned daily and sanitized weekly. Apartment homesteaders will be limited to the space on their porch or balcony, but they can also enjoy the many benefits of raising rabbits.

Homesteads with small children are the perfect place for rabbits. Rabbits are gentle if handled regularly and most rabbit husbandry chores can be performed by children. If they are too small to complete the chore on their own, they certainly can assist.

Before you purchase your rabbits you need to be clear on what you plan to do with them. Although there are breeds that crossover, there are specific rabbit breeds for meat and fiber, as well as show breeds.

Meat Rabbit Breeds

The best meat breeds are New Zealand White, Giant Chinchillas, Californians, and Champagne D’Argent. New Zealand Whites reach an average market weight of 10 pounds and they are known for the high quality of their meat. Giant Chinchillas reach a market weight of 12 pounds and their meat is rated excellent. They are a crossover breed, prized for their pelts as well as their meat. Californians are also rated excellent, as are Champagne D’Argent, who are also raised for their fur.

You can get creative with the type of shelter you provide as you meet three requirements. First, the hutch should be easy to clean. Second, the shelter should receive plenty of air flow. Finally, provide ¾ square foot per pound of rabbit (mature weight).

Wood hutches are fine but do not last as long as wire cages. Rabbits will chew on the wood and the constant urine causes the wood to decompose fairly quickly. Wire hutches with a pull-out tray make stacking and cleaning easier. Cages should be located in a shady area that receives plenty of air circulation.

In addition to shelter cages, a rabbit tractor or movable pen is advisable. Allowing rabbits to pasture-feed decreases food costs, allows rabbits to act more like rabbits, and provides tastier, more nutritious meat. Your rabbit run needs to keep rabbits in and predators out. It also needs to be in an area that has plenty of shade.

Feed rabbits their portion of commercial feed in late afternoon or early evening. Make certain your rabbits have access to salt and fresh water every day. Urban homesteaders will find themselves more reliant on commercial feed since their access to pasture is limited.

One of the benefits of raising rabbits is they are prolific breeders. You will never be without rabbits unless you take steps to stop breeding them. Medium and large rabbit breeds are ready to breed at just six months of age. Giant breeds are not ready to breed until they are a year old.

Once your rabbits reach the appropriate age for breeding, take the doe to the buck’s cage. The doe is very territorial and will defend her territory instead of breeding if you take the buck to her cage. If mating doesn’t happen after 10 minutes, return the doe to her cage and try again the following day.

After mating occurs, return her to her hutch. Fill out the hutch card, including when the doe should kindle. The gestation period is 28-35 days, usually occurring on day 31. You can breed the same doe every 90 days.

Once the doe approaches her kindling date, place a nesting box in her cage. Fill the box with hay or other nesting material and keep the doe in her personal cage instead of allowing her to go out to pasture. Slightly increase the amount of food you offer her until you notice she isn’t eating very much. That is a sign she is soon to go into labor. Provide constant access to fresh water.

Meat rabbits can be harvested as fryers at three months of age, weighing between 1 ½ – 3 ½ pounds. Roasters are older rabbits, harvested at 8 months of age. When harvesting your rabbits keep the pelts as whole as possible. Tanning rabbit hides is a relatively simple process and can double the profit made from each rabbit.

Raise Fiber Rabbits

If you want to raise rabbits but do not want to harvest them for meat, you can raise fiber rabbits. Natural fibers are very popular and can make you a handsome profit without harming your rabbits. You can sell the wool as is, washed, carded or spun. The more value you add to the fiber, the more profit you will see.

The four popular fiber breeds are English Angora, French Angora, Giant Angora, and Satin Angora. The English Angora is a small breed, weighing between 5-7.5 pounds. The wool is extremely soft and it can be white or colored. The French Angora rabbits are slightly larger, weighing between 7-10 pounds. Their wool is slightly coarser than the wool of English Angoras, but still very desirable. The Giant Angora is a 9-10 pound rabbit with white fiber. The fiber on the Satin Angora is white or colored and has a beautiful sheen.
Angora wool is obtained by pulling the loose hair from the mature coat. It does not hurt the rabbit.

Although rabbit farming is relatively simple, there are seasonal chores that must be done in addition to the daily care you give your rabbits.

Winter is when you need to increase their caloric intake. They need it to keep themselves warm. Make sure their water does not freeze. Rabbits will refuse to eat if they do not have access to drinking water. Add extra straw to their bedding. If you live in an area that experiences freezes, stop breeding the rabbits. If you do not experience freezes and you want to continue breeding, provide an artificial light source.

In early spring, check and repair the rabbit tractor or rabbit runs before you send them out to pasture. Make any repairs on their overnight cage shelters.

Summer is the most important time to make sure your rabbits have constant access to shade and cool water. Source your hay for the winter and breed does for the final kindling of the year.

Autumn is the time to repair or replace any equipment before winter arrives. Plant your clover and perennial rye plots. Winterize the rabbit housing and make sure your records up to date.

When it comes to making money from your rabbits it is never too early to start marketing. Begin talking to customers, both in person and online, to gauge their interest. For a niche product such as rabbit it is a good idea to set up a Facebook page and target your local market. Diversify your product offerings as much as possible and be specific in your advertising.

Your best markets for processed rabbit are private chefs and local, high-end restaurants. You can also add rabbit as an option in your CSA packages. You are more than likely prohibited from selling processed rabbit at the farmers market, but you can advertise and direct your customers to come to your farm to pick up their order. The price of a dressed rabbit starts at $10.00.

Harvesting rabbits for meat automatically provides you with two more products. If you have kept the pelts intact, tan them and sell them at craft fairs, Pow-wows, and Renaissance fairs. You can sell the pelts as is or make your own blanket, fur-lined mittens, or other value-added items. A tanned pelt costs $10.00. This doubles the profit from one meat rabbit.

If you remove the bones when processing meat rabbits, wash and dry them. When the bones are completely dried out grind them into bone meal and sell to gardeners.

Gardeners will also line up to purchase rabbit manure. It is an excellent fertilizer that can be put directly in the garden without any chance of burning the plants.

If you are operating a no-kill rabbit farm you can sell breeding trios – one male and two females. Add value by building and selling rabbit hutches with your trios.

Angora wool is a high-priced commodity and an excellent option for the no-kill rabbit farm. Processed angora wool sells for up to $95.00 a pound. Whether you breed fiber rabbits or meat rabbits, hosting a hands-on workshop is another way to profit from your rabbits. Remember, someone wants to know what you know.

Small-scale rabbit farming is a relatively simple process that has remarkable income potential. Start small and increase the size of your warren as you grow more confident.

Pick the Perfect Poultry for Your Homestead: A Beginner’s Guide

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The Basics of Growing Horseradish

Because horseradish is a perennial, it is important to be certain of its placement before you plant it.   If you have fruit trees on your homestead, horseradish can be planted in the orchard to protect your fruit trees from pests.   Because horseradish is not only perennial but a rapidly spreading plant, you may want to contain this crop by planting it in bottomless, buried planters.

Horseradish is a hardy crop which can be grown in all types of soil.  It likes sun but can still grow well in partial shade.  The only thing this plant does not tolerate is soggy roots, so make certain the site you choose has well-draining soil.  If that is a problem, plant horseradish on hills or in raised beds (Hugelkultur beds would be great).  Horseradish should also be planted at least 18” from other garden plants.

If you live in a warm zone and do not experience extended hard frosts, you can plant horseradish in the fall.  Otherwise, it is your best bet to plant in the spring.  Horseradish needs one full year before harvesting.

When you have chosen a location, begin by digging a hole for each tuber that is 1′ deep.  Make each hole wide enough to accommodate the entire length of the root.  Place the root in the hole at an angle, with the thinner portion pointed downwards.  Add a scoop of compost and cover with garden soil.

Horseradish needs to be watered once a week during the growing season, twice a week if the weather becomes extremely hot and dry.

Horseradish will grow up to three feet and produce white, surprisingly sweet-smelling flowers.  Take care to prune away any suckers growing off the main plant and remove any flowers to ensure all the energy is being directed to the root.

You can harvest your entire crop of horseradish at one time in late fall, or you can harvest what you need and store the rest in the ground.  You can continue harvesting through early spring, but you do want to harvest all of it before the first hard frost, as a hard frost can cause your tubers to rot.

Use a digging fork to loosen the soil in a wide circle around each plant.  When you can determine the direction in which the root is growing, gently dig it out with your hands.

Storing the Horseradish Roots

There are a few options for storing horseradish.  If you are planning on using it within a few weeks you can wash, dry and store it whole in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  To store for personal use for up to a few months, grate clean horseradish and cover with vinegar.   Store in the refrigerator.  Use ¼ cup for every cup of prepared horseradish.

You can also store the whole root, ends trimmed, in a jar of apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.  The root can be grated later and you can use the vinegar for marinades or salad dressings.

If you are selling whole horseradish, you can store the root indefinitely.  Fill a box ¾ full with clean, dry sand.  Stick the root, small side down, in the sand.  Cover the entire root with more sand and store in a cool, dry and dark place.

Any pieces of the root that you do not harvest, will come up next year.   You can let this happen at will or you can be more intentional about your planting.  If you find you enjoy growing horseradish, it is easy to expand your horseradish plot.  Simply replant some of your healthiest roots, making sure they are in well-drained soil and are at least 18” from other garden plants.  Do this as soon after harvest as possible to ensure the roots get enough growing time to make next year’s harvest.

Selling Horseradish

It may seem that because horseradish is such a niche crop that you are limited in your marketing choices.  That would be untrue.  In fact, because it is a niche product, you might be the first farmer in your area to offer it.

If you have grown enough, consider marketing it to local restaurants and specialty grocers.  The restaurants that are most likely to purchase horseradish are those that sell fried fish as well as those that sell roast beef.  Make sure you have grown enough product to fill their need.  Once you get your foot in the door at a local restaurant or grocer, selling your other farm produce becomes much easier.

When it comes to selling at your market booth or farmstead website, the keys to sales are information and choices.  In addition to the whole root, offer horseradish powder, horseradish vinegar, and prepared horseradish sauce, both mild and hot.  Recipe cards are always a good idea – sometimes people want to buy but have no idea how they can use the product.  Make it easy for them.

Next to your horseradish products, offer a medicinal product or two made with this versatile root.  Be sure to include a card noting the medicinal benefits as well as how to use the product.  Horseradish is used medicinally to aid in weight loss, lower blood pressure, alleviate respiratory and sinus conditions, improve the immune system, stimulate healthy digestion and help prevent cancer.

Homegrown Horseradish Recipes

The following recipes and techniques can help you begin producing a marketable product from your fresh horseradish.

Drying horseradish to make powder is very simple.  You do want to make sure you are in a well-ventilated space since it can have a pungent odor that may irritate your eyes.  Another option is to first freeze the root before grating.  This will drastically decrease the irritating aroma.  Horseradish powder can be added to spice blends, used in sauces and dressings, or as a dry rub for beef.

Scrub the root and rinse under cold running water.  Trim the top off and grate the entire root.  Spread out on dehydrator trays or in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Set the temperature to 150 degrees Fahrenheit and cook at this temperature for one hour. Lower the temperature to 130 degrees Fahrenheit and continue cooking until brittle, approximately five to nine hours.  If your oven doesn’t go down that low, put it on the lowest temperature and prop the door open.

Once the horseradish is completely dry, let it cool to room temperature and grind to a powder in a blender or food processor.  Transfer to airtight containers.  Four-ounce canning jars work perfectly.

To make prepared horseradish simply cover grated horseradish with vinegar. The spicy bite of horseradish comes from the isothiocyanate compound. The heat and aroma are almost completely absent until it is sliced or grated because those properties are generated when oxidized by air and saliva.  This means you can control the heat of your product.  The sooner you cover the grated root with vinegar, the milder your finished product will be.  If you are selling prepared vinegar in canning jars, lay a piece of waxed paper over the jar opening before placing the lid.  Vinegar is corrosive and will rust your lids.

To make horseradish vinegar to sell, begin as if you are storing horseradish in vinegar.  Once the vinegar has soaked in vinegar for 4-6 weeks, remove the root.  Sterilize your vinegar bottles.  Grate the horseradish and add ¼ cup to each bottle.  Add 1/8 cup of fresh dill or a sprig or two of fresh rosemary.  Toss in some peppercorns.  Cover with the vinegar you soaked the root in and cork.  Stick a pretty label on your bottle and you are ready for the market.

Don’t forget to use horseradish in your own kitchen.  This flavor compliments potatoes, peas, beets, broccoli, and leeks, so it makes a great addition to creamy soups and hearty casseroles.  You can also add some grated horseradish to sour cream for a baked potato topping, as an accompaniment to cold meat slices or as a delicious condiment on roast beef sandwiches.

When you use horseradish in your cooking, add it towards the end of your cooking time.  Otherwise, you will lose most of the flavor, heat, and benefits of this ingredient.

Horseradish can be a terrific addition to your homestead.  As an alternative crop, it can’t be beaten.  It offers multiple marketing opportunities, is a hardy, easy-to-grow perennial, and acts as a natural pest repellent in your orchard, as well as being a delicious ingredient in your own kitchen. Don’t worry if you are the only one growing this crop in your area.  Homesteaders are not known for following the crowd, and we are usually ahead of the trend!

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Another benefit of raising heritage turkeys on the homestead is you can choose the length of the project.  You can choose to purchase turkey poults every year, making this a short-term annual project or you can keep a tom and a few hens and let them hatch out poults for you.  If you want layers, you MUST keep a heritage breed.

Heritage turkey breeds are the only choice for you if you want to keep a flock of turkeys and hatch their eggs out each year.  Heritage breeds are able to mate naturally whereas the turkeys you buy at the supermarket, Broad-breasted White Turkeys, have so much breast meat they are unable to mate naturally.

If you want to breed heritage turkeys, keep one tom for every ten hens.  Turkey mating occurs in spring.  It takes 28-31 days for the fertilized eggs to hatch and 6-7 months for the poults to reach maturity.  Turkey poults cost $10 a bird so if you have the time and space for a few extra birds on your homestead, it makes economic sense to hatch out your own.

Blue slate turkeys, bourbon red turkeys, Narragansett turkeys, and black Spanish turkeys are excellent heritage breeds.  Young toms reach 23 pounds and the young hens reach 14 pounds.  The Royal Palm Turkey is a smaller heritage breed, with young toms reaching a weight of 16 pounds and the young hens reaching 10 pounds.

Spend some time in the winter, before your growing season gets busy, researching the breed of turkey that is best for you and your farm.  Put some feelers out in your area, and contact your best customers, in order to have an idea of the number of turkeys you will be able to sell. Continue creating a customer list by advertising at farmers markets, Facebook and other social media platforms, and word of mouth.

Turkey poults are extremely sensitive at the beginning of their life.  That is why you need to have a clean, secure brooder ready before you receive your poults.  Build your brooder in early spring before you become busy with spring and summer homesteading chores.

Order your poults in June.  Make sure you are ordering from a reputable hatchery and inquire about any guarantees when you order. Thoroughly check over your poults when they arrive and immediately place them in their brooder.

In addition to being secure and clean, make sure the brooder is warm.  Attach a 250-watt clamp-style lamp in order to keep their nest around 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week.  Gradually lower the temperature each week until they no longer need an extra heat source and are out on pasture, around week seven.

Check on your poults hourly throughout the day for the first week or two.  Baby poults are prone to flipping onto their backs and suffocating. Check for drafts as well, and continue to check the temperature.  Aerate and clean the bedding daily.  They need adequate feed and fresh water at all times.

While they are in their brooder, create a turkey run on pasture.  A mobile poultry tractor works great because it allows the birds to receive adequate, fresh pasture and can be moved frequently, allowing your land to rest.  The coop should have at least 3 square feet per bird and it should be tall enough that the birds can stand upright.  Provide areas for turkeys to roost.

Once the turkeys are strong enough to leave the brooder, they are easily integrated with chickens.  As long as there is plenty of space, and the feed can be separated, chickens and turkeys will thrive on pasture together.

Start your poults on a high-protein feed and be certain they have fresh water at all times.  The starter feed should be fed for eight weeks.  From 8-16 weeks, you can decrease the protein to 20%.  Their finishing diet (16 weeks to slaughter) should contain at least 16% protein.  Protein sources can include fish meal, soybean meal, or peanut meal.  Provide your turkeys with grit as well.

Over the course of 20 weeks, toms on a commercial diet will eat 100 pounds of feed each, and hens will consume approximately 64 pounds of feed.  Providing access to good-quality forage will decrease the amount of purchased feed while allowing your birds to benefit from exercise and natural sunlight which promotes good health, as well as tastier, more nutritious meat.

September is the time to contact everyone who expressed interest in purchasing a holiday turkey.  Remind them of their interest, quote your prices and ask if they will be purchasing a turkey for Thanksgiving.  Tell them you will call again in November to arrange a pick-up or drop-off date.

Some people who expressed interest earlier will decide not to purchase a turkey from you. You should know how many turkeys you need to sell after contacting your customer base. Ramp up your advertising in order to sell all the turkeys you have raised.

It can be difficult to know how to price your turkeys.  You will not be able to compete in price with the turkeys sold in supermarkets, nor do you want to.  Commercial poultry farms are gargantuan in size and the turkeys are crammed in as tight as possible.  Birds bred for weight and large, white breasts cannot mate naturally.  They are medicated in an effort to prevent the diseases that sunlight and exercise prevent naturally.

The minimum amount you should charge for a pastured heritage turkey is $4 per pound, and it is not uncommon to create a set price of up to $75 per bird.  Research prices in your area.

Pastured turkeys are ready to harvest and process at 20-24 weeks.  If you are selling to neighbors and local individuals, you can process the turkeys yourself.  If you are selling to restaurants or other retail outlets it is best (legally and financially) to let a local processor do it for you.

If you are selling your turkeys as “fresh, never frozen”, the week of Thanksgiving is going to be a busy one.  Get your harvesting and processing area ready Sunday night so you can get right to work Monday.  Keep your processed turkeys as cold as possible without freezing and deliver fresh turkeys on Tuesday.  An alternative to processing all of your turkeys in one day is to give customers the choice of receiving a frozen turkey.  Frozen turkeys can be done in batches before the fresh turkeys need to be harvested and delivered.

Mount a turkey-sized killing cone to the side of a building.  Have two or more sharp knives ready, along with a cull bucket and a water hose. Set up a processing table close to the scalding area.  You need a pot large enough to in which to dunk and swirl the birds, and a heat source that can reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  Finally, have a large cooler filled with ice next to the processing table.

To harvest each turkey, hold it upside down and carry it to the killing cone.  Pull the head through the bottom of the cone and slit the jugular vein and carotid artery.  To do this, cut just behind the tendon where the beak and tongue attach.

Holding the feet, dunk and swirl the turkey in your pot of 140-degree water.  In just a few seconds, the feathers will remove easily.  Pull out of the water and pluck.

Rinse the bird.  Remove the feet and head.  Eviscerate, taking care to not cut into the intestines.  Cut the muscle tissue around the neck, then bend and break through the bone to remove the neck.

Once the bird is processed, rinse with cool, running water inside and out.  Place the bird in the cooler filled with cold water, making sure the turkey is completely submerged.  Chill for one hour before patting dry and packaging.

There are other ways to make money from your turkey farm after you have sold the bird to grace a holiday table.  First, if you are hatching turkey eggs, hatch out extra and sell the poults.  Remember, these sell for $10 a bird – much more than day-old chicks.  Second, after processing, collect and dry the feathers.  You can sell them to local crafters or incorporate them into your own crafts.  Finally, turkey manure is an excellent compost, either alone or mixed in the compost you have.  Bag it up and sell it to your local gardening club.

Turkeys are an easy way to make holiday cash on your homestead.  Give it a try this year with a small flock. If you enjoy it, and you make money with it, you can grow your operation.

The post Raise Heritage Turkeys for Holiday Cash appeared first on Homestead.org.

Joel Salatin has fourteen books under his belt and all of them are worth reading.  Joel owns and operates Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. His farm provides food for 6,000 families and 50 restaurants in their region.  Joel is adamant about humanely raised livestock and holistic farm practices in which each aspect works synergistically with every other aspect.  I have included two of his books on this list. The first, You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Start and Succeed in a Farming Enterprise is an excellent book for those in the beginning stages of their homesteading journey, as it shows you how to “assess its assets and liabilities; its fantasies and realities.”  While recommended to those starting out, it is also an excellent resource for those who have been homesteading for a while but find themselves stumped on a project or who want to incorporate a more holistic farming practice.

The second Joel Salatin book on this list is Polyface Micro: Success With Livestock on a Homestead Scale.  Many homesteaders find themselves waiting to incorporate livestock until they can afford a large tract of land.  This book explains why that is not necessary.  Salatin adapts many of his Polyface practices for the small-scale homesteader, showing how to increase production and keep your animals healthy.  A bonus – this book walks you through how to keep your small-scale livestock system odor-free.

Ben Haitman is the author of the third book on our list: The Lean Micro Farm: How to Get Small, Embrace Local, Live Better, and Work Less.  In a time where everyone seems to be clamoring for more, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking bigger is better.  Haitman explains not only the reasons for scaling down your farm but also provides detailed, step-by-step instructions on how you can turn a tiny piece of land into a prolific producer and turn a healthy profit.

Fourth on our list of books every homesteader should read is The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: How to Produce High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale by Jeff and Melanie Carpenter.  This is one of the more niche books on this list and I included it because herbs can be grown on some scale by anyone, anywhere.  The advice in this book – and there is a lot of it! – can be scaled down to fit your particular needs.  The Carpenters provide information on how to grow and maintain medicinal herbs, including how to deal with weeds, pests, and diseases in ways that do not contaminate the plant.  They offer growing profiles for 50 herbs and show how to harvest, process, and create value-added products from them.  This book is also a business book, offering advice for profit maximization.  Chapter Five, “Thinking Like a Business Manager” offers solid advice for how to run your herb farm as a legitimate business.  It is my favorite chapter because any homestead venture could benefit from this practical business advice.

Ben Falk, author of The Resilient Farm & Homestead, Revised and Expanded Edition: 20 Years of Permaculture & Whole Systems Designs is packed with information on greenhouses, creating microclimates, homesteading with children, permaculture beekeeping, and designing resilient energy systems.  Some books that focus on whole system designs are overly technical for the average person to get much benefit from, but Falk’s writing is concise and easy to understand. Falk adds even more value to this book with appendixes such as “ A Resilient Home Curriculum Outline,” “Crucial Skill List for Emergencies,” and “Homestead Vulnerability Checklist and Strategy Summary to Reduce Vulnerability in Acute Events.”

Another niche book, Raising Resilient Bees: Heritage Techniques to Mitigate Mites, Preserve Locally Adapted Genetics, and Grow Your Apiary by Eric and Joy McEwen, is sixth on our list of learn to earn homesteading books.  The McEwens walk readers through topics like how we can naturally rear queens and select for resilient genetic lines, how to establish a profitable apicentric beekeeping business, and how to rear bees with characteristics suitable to their specific locale.  Chapter Two, “The Tenets of Natural Nest Beekeeping” provides a lot of inspiration backed by information on the importance of changing the way we approach beekeeping.

Seventh on our list is John Jeavons’ How to Grow More Vegetables, Ninth Edition (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land With Less Water Than You Ever Could Imagine is another book that proves you don’t need a lot of land to produce more than enough food to feed your family and make a living.  Jeavons offers practical advice on how to work with nature’s cycles, increase the productivity of your soil, increase plant productivity, and minimize water usage.  With careful planning and attention to detail, it is amazing how much food a small piece of land will support.

The Bio-Integrated Farm: A Revolutionary Permaculture-Based System Using Greenhouses, Ponds, Compost Piles, Aquaponics, Chickens, and More by Shawn and Stephanie Jadricek is the eighth book on our list.  This book is fascinating and will save you a ton of time and energy in the long run by sticking to the permaculture rule that every aspect of the homestead must perform at least three functions and each of the functions must support the others.  The Jadriceks outline projects such as water storage ponds, greenhouses, compost heat extraction, pastured chicken systems, and innovative rainwater-harvesting systems.  An example of permaculture at its best, their greenhouse not only extends the growing season but also collects rainwater and is used as an aquaponic system and a heat generator.

If you are interested in both the meaning of self-sufficiency and brass tacks self-sufficiency skills, John Seymour and Alice Water’s book, The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Classic Back-to-Basics Guide to Going Off the Grid is a classic that has been the best friend to hundreds of thousands of people wanting a more self-sufficient lifestyle. There is not a lot this book doesn’t cover and I am sure you will find something in this book you have not yet tried on your homestead.  In addition to full-size homesteads, they also cater to small homesteaders with sections on community gardens, self-sufficiency in city settings, and the one-acre farm.

Finally, number ten on the list is a book you are probably familiar with. Carla Emery in The Encyclopedia of Country Living offers us over 1000 pages of traditional skills that typify country living at its best.  And you don’t even need to live in the country to do most of them.  This book provides readers with an excellent idea of the things every homesteader should know.  You don’t have to do every project in the book, but you will want to!

Ten books are a lot to read on a busy homestead, but each of these will help you become more efficient, more confident, and more profitable.

The post Learn to Earn: Ten Books Every Homesteader Should Read appeared first on Homestead.org.

We do not kill snakes or hunt enough to provide a significant amount of hides.  The snakeskins I have made were from snakes found on our rural roads, already dead.  Most of the hides were found piled up in ditches during hunting season.

Snakeskins are the easiest to process, so we will begin there.  The most important thing to remember is that a venomous snake still poses some danger after death.  Wear gloves when removing the skin, taking care to keep the fangs from scraping your skin.

First, you need to cut a line through the skin down the length of the snake.  You can use any non-serrated blade that feels comfortable in your hand.  If you are processing a rattlesnake, do not cut all the way to the tip of the tail; this will enable you to keep the rattle intact.  Peel the skin back while pulling the snake out of it.  Once you have your skin, rinse it well.  Stretch it out and tack it, outer skin down, to a sturdy piece of cardboard.  Sprinkle a liberal amount of table salt onto the skin and rub it in.  Make sure the entire fleshy side is covered in salt for the best results.

Leave the snakeskin outside to dry.  This can take one to two weeks.  Once completely dry, remove tacks and brush off any excess salt.

There are many techniques for tanning animal hides.  Our ancestors used the animal’s own brain matter and wood ash.  The techniques I outline in this article are more modern, using alum and neatsfoot oil.  Alum can be found in most pharmacies or ordered online, and neatsfoot oil can be purchased online, as well, or in some hardware stores.

Tanning hides is a relatively simple, but time-intensive, process.  Follow each step carefully to ensure the very best results.  The end product is well worth your investment of resources and time.  Time and humidity seem to be the factors that most impact the results.  Start the tanning process when you have at least a week of relatively low humidity, and you will want to be able to dedicate the necessary time to complete all of the steps once you get started.

The easiest hide to tan is rabbit hide.  Two things make rabbit hide a good place to start when learning this craft.  First, if you are butchering your own animal, rabbit hide is extremely easy to remove.  Second, the hide is small, making the project less intimidating.  An added bonus is that rabbit is small, delicious, and easy to cook, which is perfect since I do not want anyone to butcher an animal solely for craft materials!

Once you have the pelt from a rabbit, make a tanning solution by mixing two gallons of water with one cup of alum and one cup of salt.  Place your hide in this solution and let it soak for forty-eight hours.

After forty-eight hours, flesh your hide by pulling off all of the meat and skin with a sharp knife.  Do this carefully; rabbit hides are delicate, and you do not want to cut through the pelt.  Lay your hide across a piece of wood and scrape until all flesh and meat have been removed.

Make a new batch of the tanning solution.  Soak the fleshed hide for seven days.  Stir at least twice a day and keep the hide submerged with a heavy object.

Rinse hide thoroughly under running water.  If desired, you can hand-wash the hide at this point with dish soap or pet shampoo and rinse again.  Ring out any excess water and turn the hide inside out.  Cut off the arms and legs, then slice the hide down the middle to create an open hide.  Hang the hide to dry for twenty-four hours.

Once the hide is completely dry, loosen the fibers by stretching it.  If it isn’t stretching as it should, it isn’t dry enough.  Hang it to dry for a few more hours before stretching it again.  This is a very important step as it makes your hide soft and supple.  Finally, brush the fur to remove any loose hair.

A fun project to make with rabbit hides is fur-lined mittens.  The first thing you need to do is pick a fabric for your mitten shells.  Double the material and trace your hand in a mitten shape, leaving two inches of extra space.  Cut the pattern out and sew the right sides together.  Turn mittens right-side out so the seam is on the inside. Press flat with an iron to steam block them into the right shape.

Now you need to make your liners.  Fold the hide in half so the fur is on the inside.  Make sure you orient the fur so that your hand slides in with the grain of the fur rather than against the grain.  Pin the mitten shells to the fur, placing the pins far enough from the edge that you can leave them pinned while sewing.  Cut the fur pattern, cutting the fur two inches longer than the shells.  Sew the shell and liner together using a straight stitch on your sewing machine.  Pull the excess length of fur up and over the shell and attach, creating a fur cuff.

Tanning a deer hide is similar.  First, you need to skin the deer.  Using a sharp knife, scrape every piece of fat from the hide.  If you are not going to begin the tanning process immediately, you can preserve the hide by rubbing a liberal amount of non-iodized salt into the flesh side of the hide.  You can leave salted hides to air dry until the weather turns warm, or you can roll the salted hide up, place it in a plastic bag, and freeze it.

The first step in tanning deer hide is to soak the skin in a plastic bucket full of warm water until it has softened.  Change the water often.  Once the hide is soft, squeeze out excess water and pull the skin back and forth across the edge of a beam or board.  Working in sections, scrape the fleshy part of the hide again with a knife, taking care not to expose the hair roots.  If you have accidentally cut through the hide, now is the time to sew the hole closed.  Fishing line is a good product to use.  Sew as tightly as possible.  Once you have completed the tanning process, the stitches will disappear.

Make a tanning solution by dissolving two and a half pounds of salt in four gallons of water in a plastic bucket.  In a different plastic bucket, dissolve one pound of alum in one gallon of water.  Slowly pour the alum solution into the salt solution, stirring to thoroughly mix the solutions together.  Soak the skin for four days, stirring daily and keeping the hide completely submerged.

Rinse the hide thoroughly and squeeze out any excess water.  Tack the hide, hair side down, to a sheet of plywood.  Dry partially in the shade.  While the hide is drying, make a fat-liquor solution by combining three and a half ounces of neatsfoot oil with three and a half ounces of warm water and one ounce of ammonia.  Rub half of this mixture into the hide and let stand one hour before repeating the process with the other half of the fat-liquor solution.  Cover with plastic and let sit undisturbed overnight.

Remove the tacks and rub the hide with a damp cloth.  Stretch the hide and pull back and forth across the edge of a beam or board again.  Continue dampening with a wet cloth and pulling over the board until the hide becomes as soft as you want it.  If necessary, more fat-liquor solution can be applied sparingly.  Once hide is supple, smooth the surface with a fine-grit sandpaper.

Another thing you can do with animal hide is to make buckskin.  Making buckskin is time and labor-intensive, but once you remove all the hair from the hide, you can suspend the tanning process by storing the hide in the freezer.  Freezing the hide prevents rot and enables you to pick up where you left off.

The first step is to scrape off any meat that is still on the hide.  Next, you are going to prepare a lye bath.

Lye will temporarily swell and shrink the hide, loosening the hair and grain.  Lye is a strong chemical, so you want to read and follow the warning label.  Fill a bucket large enough to submerge your hide in with warm water.  Add lye until the water is slippery to the touch.  Submerge your hide and let it soak for two days.  Change the water at least once to keep the hide fresh.

The next steps in the process are de-hairing and graining.  The hide should be thick and rubbery at this point, and the hair should come off easily with the back of a knife.  To grain the hide, you will need to lean a beam against a sturdy surface.  Drape the hide across the beam and grain it in manageable sections.  The best tool for graining is a dull knife or a rock with a sharp edge.  Take care; you want to remove the outer layer of skin without damaging the layers underneath.

Once the grain has been scraped, it is time to rinse the lye out.  Submerge the hide in a bucket of plain water.  Change the water every two hours until the hide is white and flexible.  Wringing out this water is necessary so that the softening solution will be absorbed.  Some people like to use a wringing bar, where they loosely wrap the hide around the bar and twist.  I find it easier to solicit the help of a friend.  Two people twisting the hide goes much smoother and faster.  Wring the hide until you have removed as much water as possible.

Now you can choose your softening solution.  The traditional solution was made with the brain of the animal.  You can also mix half a bar of grated Ivory soap with two cups of cooking oil.  Egg yolks are another replacement for brain matter.  Mix eight to ten egg yolks with a couple of cups of cooking oil.  Slather your hide in the softening solution and let your hide soak in it for two hours.  Wring it out and soak it in the same solution.  Repeat once more.

Take the hide back to the beam and work on softening it by dragging it back and forth across the beam.  Use the weight of your body to really stretch the hide.  Continue this softening and stretching process throughout the drying process.  Your hide should be soft and fluffy when dried.

The last step is to set the softeners and make your hide water repellent by smoking it.  Sew your hide into a bag shape.  Attach an old pant leg to the neck to make a “handle”.  Suspend the hide bag over a smoky fire.  Be certain your fire is made of hot coals—never flames—and can maintain its smoke.  When the smoky color bleeds through to the outside, turn the hide inside out and suspend it over the smoke again.  After the smoke has penetrated the hide, you can remove it from the fire or leave it until you achieve the color you like.

Tanning hides does take some time and effort, but so does everything worthwhile.  I hope you have fun with the process and enjoy the results.

The post Tanning Skins and Hides on the Homestead appeared first on Homestead.org.

Start off the homeschool year by sitting down with each child individually and laying the groundwork for a program that meets all their needs developmentally and educationally, focusing on a broad topic that they are interested in.  Age/grade-appropriate skills, as well as the core curriculum components for your state, can be found with a basic Google search (core curriculum + your state).  Depending on the age of your child, you can make them aware of the budget you have set aside for their school year.  They can help determine how to allocate the money, and this can help avoid misunderstandings when something comes up that they are interested in doing but the funds are not there.

One thing that works well for homeschoolers that, unfortunately, traditional schools are unable to do is to start your curriculum with a long-term, sometimes year-long, project.  This project can stem from an interest your child has, your homestead, a business venture, or a career interest.  In this project, you can incorporate multiple skills designated in the core curriculum you are teaching. For example, if your child is interested in gardening, begin with a garden journal. Some of the assignments could be:

• Calculate the perimeter and the area of the garden bed, then draw the garden space on a piece of graph paper with one square equal to one foot.  If the garden is not in raised beds, remember to include walking space.  (Math)
• Choose the plants they want to cultivate.  Research the space requirements, planting and harvesting dates, and the height of full grown plants using seed packets, seed catalogs, and websites.  (Critical thinking; Math; Research skills)
• When they are finished plotting their garden out on their map, you will be able to see what skills need reinforcement.  (Exam)
• Create a planting schedule for their garden.  Determine the harvest date for each crop.  Find the days to maturity for each crop and count backwards from the harvest date to decide when to plant.  (Critical thinking; Multiple-step instructions; Math)
• Turn in a shopping list of the seeds needed.  (Exam)
• Record the expenses of seeds and garden supplies against the estimated amount of produce.  Yield can be found on seed packets, in seed catalogs, or on websites.  The cost per unit (weight, volume, piece) can be discovered by price-shopping at your local grocery store.  (Research; Math)
• Have your child pop seeds in flats, carefully recording the number of each type of seed planted.  As the seeds emerge, they will record the number of seedlings.  Then they can use these two numbers to calculate the germination rate of the seeds they planted by dividing the number of seedlings by the number of seeds planted and multiplying by 100.  Depending on their age, they can write number sentences explaining how many seeds germinated and how many seeds were duds, write fractions showing the number of germinated seeds and the fraction of duds, tell the ratio of germinated and non-germinated seeds, and/or the percentage of germinated and non-germinated seeds.  (Following directions; Organizational skills; Math)
• Use algebraic formulas to compute the amount of fertilizer to add per quart of water.  (Most fertilizer packages advise on how much to add per gallon of water.)  Record in a garden journal the amount added to each plant and the date it was applied.  Calculate when it needs to be reapplied.  (Math; long-term thinking)
• As the produce begins to come in, weigh and record the amount harvested from each crop.  (Math)
• Make a rain gauge and record rainfall.  Use this information to determine how much extra water to give plants.  (Science; Math)
• Set up a booth at a farmer’s market.  Determine the price for each product based on comparison shopping. Determine the cost of being a vendor.  This could include booth cost, packaging, transportation, and time. How much do you need to sell each week to make a profit?  Refer back to your garden journal for records on what you have spent. Make signs and labels for your products.  Coordinate with your local farmer’s market.  (Math; Art; Communication/socialization)

This type of long-term project can be used for any interest.  It lends itself especially well to homesteading activities such as farming and animal husbandry.  You can include geography (where was the squash first eaten and recorded?), history (Colonial American foods and menus), science (the anatomy of male and female plants), chemistry (energy values of food), language arts/reading (recipes).  As you explore different areas for a single topic, you will notice what sparks the interest of your child.  You can use new interests as separate long-term projects, thus encouraging the curiosity that is necessary for all successful learning.

Another fabulous thing you can do with your child is to become citizen scientists.  You can choose what type of project you are interested in.  This can be recording wildflowers, listening for different species of frogs and recording their numbers, counting the different migratory birds in your area, or tracking and reporting the appearance of tulip bulbs in your area.  These aren’t the only options.  To find a list of them do a web search for citizen-scientist opportunities.

If you are nervous about teaching all subjects, consider joining a local homeschooling group.  These groups are generally run by the parents. Each parent signs up to teach a class.  These classes can range from chemistry to calculus to rabbitry to foraging wild mushrooms.  It’s a great opportunity for your child to learn something in a structured environment and socialize with other children and adults.

Regardless of whether you use a set curriculum at home, send your children to a traditional school, or unschool your children, keep in mind the theory of multiple intelligences.  Everyone excels and struggles in certain areas.  By providing activities in all eight areas you can help ensure your child’s success and comfort throughout their life.  The eight intelligences and activities that support them are:

• Musical-Rhythmic:  Listening to music across genres is a great place to start. Music is an easy thing to tie into a history or a geography lesson as well.  Learning an instrument is another proven brain-booster.  Not only does it relate to the musical/rhythmic intelligence, it has been proven to boost math skills.  Being proficient at an instrument is a good ice-breaker, especially important for kids who are shy.  Singing in a choir or participating in a band are also good choices.  Children who are especially interested in a certain type of music can learn a lot by attending musical festivals.  Many family-friendly music festivals will have volunteer positions available to defray the cost of attendance.
• Visual-Spatial:  Let your child explore photography with an old, or disposable, camera.  Arts, from drawing to clay works to sculpture, are great activities to do to promote visual-spatial intelligence.
• Verbal-Linguistic:  Reading across genres is perhaps the most important thing your child can do to get a good feel for language.  Learning a second language not only helps with verbal skills, but also with math skills, and it is a great way to enrich a geography unit.  Encourage your child to read and memorize poetry, then write their own.  Celebrate their poetry skills by taking them to participate in a poetry slam.  As your child gets older, seek out public speaking opportunities.  Teenagers can benefit from participating in Toast Masters.
• Logical-Mathematical:  When I started on my homesteading journey I was surprised at how much of it involved math skills—math skills I was pretty unsure I possessed.  With time, I learned much of what I needed to know.  Rest assured, if your child is participating on your homestead, they are learning math and logistical skills.  Other fun math activities include woodworking (such as building a birdhouse or bat house), baking, and sewing.  Expand their mathematical skills even further by allowing them to become a small-business entrepreneur and sell their wares.
• Bodily-Kinesthetic:  City parks often have sign-ups for team sports and they are usually fairly inexpensive.  Dance lessons or gymnastics are great kinesthetic activities.  Of course, the regular kid-friendly solo sports like running, bicycling, and swimming are free, fun, and effective.
• Interpersonal:  Interpersonal skills are important, and they are often cited as the first objection to homeschooling.  It is simple to get enough socialization in by joining Girl/Boy Scouts, participating in the youth programs at your house of worship, setting your child up in an apprenticeship, joining a homeschool group, or participating in 4-H.
• Intrapersonal:  Children, just like adults, benefit from some time alone.  Allow your child to participate in self-directed activities and make sure they are allotted some time each day to spend by themselves.  Journaling is a beneficial activity for strengthening intrapersonal skills, and it also helps with language skills.
• Naturalistic:  Children on a homestead are at an advantage in this area, because they get to spend so much time outside.  Any activities focused on animal husbandry and gardening count towards naturalistic intelligence.  Take your kids camping.  Teach them foraging and wildlife (flora and fauna) identification skills.

Regardless of how you choose to formally educate your child—homeschool or public— any of these activities can enrich their educational experience.  Follow your child’s interests and the learning will come easy!

Photo credits:

jimmiehomeschoolmom

Steven Saus

The post Back to Homeschool: Starting off on the Right Path appeared first on Homestead.org.

The first things to understand before creating your giving plan are your spheres of influence. We all have them and they are all different. That is why each person must decide what their giving will be instead of simply giving to the same people and places their neighbors give to. By giving in your sphere of influence, you can be certain that you are giving to a legitimate cause.

Imagine a set of concentric circles, with the power to influence as the strongest, closest to the center. The circle closest to the center is your inner circle. Your inner circle includes yourself, your family, and your closest friends. This is where you have the most influence, and where you can see the good your giving does. The next circle is your personal community. Your personal community consists of your neighbors, peers, colleagues, and those who are members of the same clubs, groups, or place of worship as you. There is a tremendous amount of giving that can be done in this sphere, as you exert a good amount of influence here as well. The next sphere is your wider community and this includes strangers in your geographical area and your social media connections. The spheres continue to widen out until they encompass the globe, but for your personal giving plan, stick with your inner circle, your personal community, and your wider community. These are the spheres in which you can be more thoughtful in your giving and more aware of the good your giving has accomplished.

Grab a notebook that you will use for this project. You can add to it all year, as you become more attuned to the needs around you. You can also use it as a type of journal, jotting down notes on the changes you see related to your giving, as well as things you personally are grateful for.

Your Inner Circle

The person at the center of your inner circle is you. It may seem contradictory to consider your needs as you are creating your personal giving plan, but a dry well cannot offer water to anyone. Write your name at the top of the first page and make a list of the things you are good at. These are your personal strengths and you will be using them in order to create your giving plan. Next, fill the page with answers to the following questions. What is one thing you wanted to do last year that you did not make time for? What new project or hobby would you like to undertake this year? Are there any books you would like to read or any classes you would like to take? Are there any networking groups in your area that you would benefit from joining? What one bad habit do you want to give up this year and what good habit do you want to replace it with? Is there one thing you can do to improve your health? Can you save a larger percentage (even 1% more) of your income this year?

Once you have completed your page, create a page for your spouse or partner, your children, and your close friends. Of course, you cannot choose the bad habits they should give up or what they should do to improve their physical or financial health, but you are in a position to know some of the things they would like to work on in the upcoming year. Special projects, hobbies, books, classes, and community groups – these are the things you can help them start and support them in their efforts. If you are unsure of their hidden goals, ask them. Once you get a list, sit down together and decide which ones are truly doable. You don’t have to accomplish all of them, but everyone should have the opportunity to grow by trying new things.

Your Personal Community

The next set of people in your sphere of influence are those in your personal community. Dedicate a page in your giving notebook to each of your neighbors, peers, colleagues, customers, and people in the community groups with which you are involved. You don’t need a page for every single person. Write down the names of the people you know the best and focus on them. What are some of their unmet needs? Is there a neighbor who is unable to keep up the yard, shovel the sidewalk, or maintain the house? Are there children in your community who need help with homework? Maybe there is a child who could benefit (both financially, physically, and mentally) from working with you on your farm. And, perhaps the simplest thing for a homesteader to give is fresh food. Is there a family that may be struggling to make ends meet? A bag or two of groceries from your farm could really make a difference.

Don’t forget those who are sick or shut-in, as well as their caregivers. Make time for a visit, bring a meal, do a load of laundry or a sink of dishes, read to them or take them to an appointment. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do it consistently.

When it comes to your community groups, including your place of worship, what can you do for the organization? Showing up and giving your annual fee or tithe is a great start. But there is more you can do. Refer back to your list of personal strengths. The key to successful giving is to match your strength to their need. You can teach a class, organize a trip, offer bookkeeping services, throw a party, or run a fundraiser.

While it is not always easy to see what you can do for colleagues and customers, you can always expand on what you are doing now. Continue selling your farm products, but consider offering discounts in exchange for some work in the garden. Fresh produce is expensive and it is more feasible for some people to work for an hour than come up with that money. Farmers are able to accept SNAP (food stamps) and that is a huge benefit to the community. If you operate a CSA, offer your CSA participants a chance to give with a “Feed Your Neighbors” option. For just $5 more per box you commit to giving a food box to a struggling family (anonymous) in your area. If you don’t know a family who could use a box of groceries you can ask the principal at a local school.

Your Wider Community

As you get to your wider community, the opportunities to give become a little more impersonal. Even though your sphere of influence continues to widen to encompass the globe, the wider community is a good place to stop if you are worried about the legitimacy of faceless agencies. Of course, if there is a national or international agency that supports a cause you are passionate about, please give to them as well.

Your wider community includes strangers that live in your area. You can participate, even organize, a book, backpack, school supply, or coat drive. You can host a holiday meal. If you already operate a u-pick farm, host discount or free days for those who may not have the money to participate. You can coordinate with your local elementary school and do the same with a pumpkin patch. Contact your local homeschooling group and ask if there is a child who is interested in starting a farm project. Allow a child in 4-H to use your property and benefit from your expertise for a farm animal project. Teach a yoga, breadmaking, quilting, or canning class for free at a local community center or church. Be sure to advertise in the paper in order to reach the people who are not already on your Facebook feed. Look again at your list of personal strengths and understand there are people who want to know what you know.

Gratitude is one of the top characteristics of successful people and successful businesses. Giving back to your community is the best way to remain grateful. There are so many ways to give and so many people and places in need. The best thing about focusing your giving in your sphere of influence is that you end up benefiting as much or more than the people you are giving to. Carry your giving notebook with you at all times because once you start giving, you will start noticing more and more opportunities to give.

The post Giving Back To Your Community appeared first on Homestead.org.