We recently encountered the opinion of someone named Mary Cuff, in a periodical called Modern Age, dismissing the family smallholding in these words: “Only the most privileged… Read more “chicken economics in round numbers”
Category: butchering
hog butchering
This is an annual event — three or four families gather to slaughter and preserve five hogs we’ve raised together. It used to take three days. Now,… Read more “hog butchering”
farm produced pig foods
Pigs are how a farm stores surplus nutrients, and how non-human-grade nutrients are converted to forms of more value to the farm. In plain language, farms need… Read more “farm produced pig foods”
winter culling chickens
Poultry serve multiple purposes on our farm, moving over pastures and gardens in (at the moment) four different flocks of from ten to thirty layers and a… Read more “winter culling chickens”
dry-cure beef
It always happens. We get a perfect forecast for hanging beef, forties daytime, low thirties at night, so we kill and hang a couple of steers with… Read more “dry-cure beef”
decommissioning hens
Our unofficial survey of keepers of laying hens continues to return the same result: no one’s hens seem to be laying well. People consistently report that they… Read more “decommissioning hens”
a pig’s destiny
Sunday, February 24: Yesterday was the Day of Destiny for the two pigs up at Barry’s. They were two of the four we got from F., and… Read more “a pig’s destiny”
