Homesteading

It’s Been a Busy Year

It's Been a Busy Year By Krystal   2023 has been an especially busy year thus far!   We've had the new English Shepherd puppy Tadhg to bring up, the kitchen garden to expand, pigs to raise, and camping on the ranch to promote.   The thing that has taken the most patience, learning, and [...]

Happy Fall!

The days are cooler and shorter, and the western larch trees (a.k.a. tamarack) will soon be turning glorious gold. It's not too late to camp at Highland Glenn Ranch this Fall! The night sky in October will show off two meteor showers: Draconid on the 8/9th, and Orionid on the 20/21st is the most prolific [...]

By |2022-09-23T09:50:17-07:00September 23rd, 2022|hipcamp, Homesteading, Off Grid Life, Ranch Life|0 Comments

Goodbye Cedar

We said goodbye to Cedar this week, our main Apline milk goat and herd queen. Those are hard days on the Ranch. Cedar was an absolute sweetheart, a great mother, and such a lady on the milking stand. She was at least twelve years old; we had her for seven. The relationship you have with [...]

By |2022-09-17T13:01:36-07:00September 17th, 2022|dairy goats, Homesteading, Ranch Life|0 Comments

Mangalitsa Pigs

After several years of wanting to add pigs to our multi-species fold, we are pleased as punch to welcome the noble Mangalitsa to the Ranch. And it hasn’t taken long to fall in love with these charming pigs full of personality! Mangalitsa (pronounced mahn-ga-leetz-ah) is a rare heritage lard-type swine breed developed in several countries [...]

Fermenting Feed for Livestock

We rely on our livestock to provide us with nutrient-dense food, so giving them the best nutrition possible is high on our priority list.  Enter fermentation. If you know us at all, you know how highly we esteem the health benefits of traditionally Lacto-fermented vegetables and bread! Those health benefits can be translated directly across [...]

Chicken Chronicles, edition 1

It’s time to update you on how the chickens have been doing! As chicks, they were brooded with zero electricity. Instead, we used a cold brooder and a Mother Hen box (you can read that blog post here). It has yielded some interesting anecdotal results, most notably: The Delaware and Blue Australorp started laying eggs [...]

Meet the Ranch Cat

This is Miss Kitty Mae, our new Ranch cat! And is she ever a sweetie pie. I have never known a cat that loves dogs the way she does either! Can't really call her a barn cat because we don't have a proper barn, but rodent control and feline friendship are her duties all the [...]

By |2022-02-12T10:32:27-08:00February 12th, 2022|Homesteading, ranch cat, Ranch Life|0 Comments

Brooding Chicks With Zero Electricity

In 2021, we needed to start a new laying flock. Living off-grid with only a small amount of solar power, we needed to learn how to brood chicks with very little- or preferably zero- electricity. We saw kerosene set-ups to provide heat. In pondering over it though, for one thing, Krystal is highly sensitive to [...]

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