Homestead Magik

I first heard about kefir a few years ago from a friend who was boasting about the benefits of it. I waved it off as another quickly passing fad food and didn’t give it a second thought. Fast forward to last year when I started canning my own food and learning about fermentation. During my obsessive reading about food cultures and fermentation I came across an article about kefir. I remembered my friends verbal 5 star reviews and said “what the hell, let’s do it”... and thus began my kefir journey. Let’s first discuss the benefits. The beneficial yeast and friendly bacteria in the kefir culture consume most of the lactose (or milk sugar) so even if you are lactose intolerant kefir will be easy to digest. One cup of kefir contains 11 to 14 grams of complete protein. The bacteria in kefir known as probiotics improves digestion and may prevent the overgrowth of harmful bacteria in the gut. Kefir’s ample supply of phosphorus, the second most abundant mineral in our bodies, helps ...

The trick to successful homesteading is really utilizing the resources you have. Having dairy goats means milk for cheese, soap, and even butter! I will most likely share recipes for my goat cheese and soaps later, but this blog is all about the butter, baby! Since I started homesteading I’ve been cooking and baking a lot more than usual and making a lot of recipes from scratch which means I’ve been using a lot more butter too. There is nothing wrong with store bought butter, but just like most things, making your own is better! I also use this same recipe for raw cow milk. It’s illegal in many states but I live on the border of Pennsylvania where it is legal (my nearest neighbor is also a dairy farmer so it’s not hard to come by). The difference between the two is goat milk is naturally homogenized while cows milk isn’t so if you’re using raw cows milk you only have to let it sit for 12-24 hours before the cream separates. Other than that the recipe is the same. You will need: ...

Whenever I go to a Greek or Mediterranean restaurant I order dolmas, if available. I’ve been eating them for years! Here on the property we have both domestic and wild grapes growing! That means plenty of grape leaves for dolmas! I’ve already foraged a jar full of the leaves and picked a few herbs from the garden. If you have wild grapes growing near you I highly suggest making dolmas, they are delicious! So below is the recipe I’m using today, but you can tweak it and add or subtract any ingredients you’d like. Ingredients: About 16 oz of grape leaves (rinsed and stems removed) 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil 2 cups of diced white onion 1 1/2 cups of spring onions of scallions. Thinly sliced. 1 1/3 cup of finely chopped dill 1 2/3 cups finely chopped flat leaf parsley 1 cup finely chopped mint 1 3/4 cups of short grain rice, soaked in cold water and drained. Salt and ground pepper 2 tsp of lemon juice (plus a few wedges to serve) Plain Greek yogurt, to s...

When we bought this place and decided to become as self sustaining as possible, one of the first things I did was research how to make my own cleaning and household products. Having a septic tank, it’s really advised against to use bleach in the wash machine (or any place it could get into the septic). So I wanted to make my own detergent that is strong, but also safe for the septic. I did research and tried a few different concoctions and tweaked them a bit until I was satisfied.    Here is what you’ll need: * Borax * Arm and Hammer washing soda (NOT baking soda) * 5.5 oz. of Fels Naptha or Castile soap * Water * 5 gallon bucket * Essential oil (optional) First, grate (all) of the Fels Naptha or Castile soap with a cheese grater. Then add the shreds to a pot with 4 cups of hot water. Put the heat on medium-high. Stir until completely melted (about 10 minutes). Next, fill up your 5 gallon bucket about halfway with hot water. Then ad...

Hello! Welcome to my homestead blog! I’ve been wanting to do a homestead blog for some time now, but haven’t had the extra time to do a proper site. In the meantime, I threw together this quick little blog page to share homestead and garden information with you! I usually post on twitter about homesteading but sometimes the character limit is a pain and lets be honest, twitter isn’t the most organized way to share this kind of information. Basically this blog will cover all aspects of homesteading. Gardening, livestock, foraging, recipes, and from time to time information about homeschooling and herbal medicine. Most links will be shared to twitter so don’t hesitate to contact me there if you have a requested blog or would like to discuss any blog posts further. Enjoy!