On the Dyrt
Last year we listed our ranch as a camping destination on Hipcamp. This year we are also listed on the Dyrt! Come enjoy the peace and beauty of our little off-grid ranch in the mountains!
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 [...]
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 [...]
New Chicks on the Ranch
On March 20, 2021, a batch of new chicks arrived on the ranch! Being that we have yet to find a breed that fits what we’re looking for in a sustainable homestead flock, we decided to try two new heritage breeds: Delaware and Australorp (the blue variety.) We are also using some techniques to brood [...]
Frontier Frittata
This frittata is one of my go-to dishes for its simplicity, versatility, and utter deliciousness. Whether for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner, a couple ingredients or chock full, it’s another great use of eggs when we’re swimmin’ in them. The variations are limited only by your imagination: bacon with cheddar, ham and Swiss, pork [...]
Sunny Hard-Cooked Eggs
As mentioned in an earlier post, we love eggs. And one of our favorite ways to enjoy them is hard cooked- for snacks, as a quick light meal, in egg salad, etc. So for us one of the main selling points of the All American Sun Oven is the ability to hard cook eggs without [...]
Homestead Tools – the ultimate solar appliance!
We’re starting a new blog theme called “Homestead Tools”. This is where we will periodically share with you the tools that are must-haves on our off-grid homestead. To kick it off, we introduce the All American Sun Oven, considered the ultimate solar appliance with good reason! Those who know me know that I am a [...]
What Off-Grid Means to Us
Off-grid… off-the-grid are terms heard and read frequently these days. What is a grid? What does living off-grid mean? And why do it in the first place? Being off-grid is by no means a new concept, although it is fairly new in the consciousness of most in these days of mass media. Think about [...]
Krystal’s 2015 Winter Garden Journal
September 8, 2015: During summer I discovered a terrific author, Caleb Warnock. He writes and teaches about the methods used by Utah’s pioneers, baking with wild yeast, and (this is the one that really opened my eyes) a book solely about winter gardening… using cold frames and hot beds, no heat or electricity, no expensive [...]
Krystal’s Winter Garden Journal
Watch for it... Spring 2016!