Chicken pupmkinn carving

Garden update: chaos and destruction

Well there's not much left of the garden.

The twins flattened the corn with their tractors.

The garlic and onions got lost in the weeds but we did get a nice little harvest of onions, I haven't tried to lift any garlic yet.

The goats ate all the leaves off of the tomatoes 

And the twins picked all the baby green tomatoes to play with.

The chickens pecked open and ate all of the watermelons before they got much bigger than a football.

There are green strawberries but I have yet to see any last long enough to ripen the first hint of pink and someone gets them.

The cukes however are still churning out delicious "mumbers" 
as little O. calls them.

And the herb garden is thriving beautifully.

Orchard Update: New fences, fewer goats and a Peach!

So we fenced in out little orchard to prevent any further damage, I'm afraid one of my baby apple trees didn't make it but the rest seem to be ok.

In fact, I harvested my peach.

 Only one single peach was this years entire harvest but it was the best peach I have ever tasted in my entire life, no joke. It came from our Georgia Belle of the South variety tree, we also have an Elberta but she didn't bear this year. I can't wait to get baskets full of juicy peaches!

My Amazing Recipe For the Best Moisturizing Mosquito Repellent That Smells Great

I've seen reports of a new mosquito borne virus called chikungunya, pronounced chick-un-goon-yay, and I'm pretty sure it's safe to say nobody is happy about it. We all know those pesky skeeters can carry many blood-borne diseases, so here's another nasty one to add to that list.

 We live in a mosquitoes paradise here at the Crafty Homestead, we have a lovely forest, with lots of pines and plenty of moisture in the South Carolina heat and humidity. 

I have tried every type of mosquito repellent possible and I have finally created after much research, and many field tests, what I believe is the best ever mosquito repellent and it smells great too.

I absolutely hate citronella, it gives me a headache, and I hate using harsh sprays with Deet. So I came up with my own "recipe" and my entire family has been using it for the past month with amazing success, 

There have been a couple evenings that I forgot to put some on before our evening walk and believe me I  instantly regret going into the woods without it because I get eaten up, they love my pale sensitive skin. but as long as I have my repellent on I don't get a single bite, it is amazing. 

And it's easy too, but before I go too far taking the credit for this recipe, It's just a combination of a few products, it's not made from scratch, but who cares? This stuff works!!

My Amazing Recipe For the Best Moisturizing Mosquito Repellent That Smells Great Too

1. You will need a Bottle of Avon Skin so Soft whipped body oil, it doesn't feel oily though, it feels like a lotion and goes on like a lotion, non greasy. I am not an Avon distributor, I don't even know anyone who sells Avon, but somehow I ended up with a bottle and I will definitely be buying more. You could probably use any lotion as a base for the essential oils, but Avon SSS has a reputation as a insect repellent in it's own right already so I'm gonna stick to what I know works.
2. Essential Oil of Lemongrass. 1 drop per ounce of lotion. I have a 12 oz bottle of SSS so I used 12 drops
3. Essential Oil of Lavender, 1 drop per oz of lotion, I used 12 drops
4. Essential Oil Blend:  Repellent Blend, (I used Terra Shield) 1 drop per oz of lotion, I used 12 drops

That's it, just add the oils to the SSS and Shake well! apply before going outside, reapply after 6 hours or as needed.

In April, Dallas County health officials began urging people to start taking precautions against chikungunya, even if they didn’t travel. “We’re telling people to use mosquito repellent all day whenever they go outdoors,” Previously, the county recommended using repellent only from dusk to dawn to avoid another West Nile outbreak. The expanded guidelines are taking into account one important difference between West Nile and chikungunya. They are spread by different mosquito species with different biting habits. West Nile carriers bite at night, chikungunya’s by day. “The mosquitoes that carry it are both here, and they’re quite pervasive,” said Spencer Lockwood, a Dallas County microbiologist, who focuses on mosquito surveillance. “They are aggressive biters,” he said of the expected chikungunya carriers. “They’ll try to get their [blood] meal. If they can’t get it, they will keep on trying.”

Tips for preventing mosquito bites

• — Cover exposed skin by wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants and hats.
• — Use an appropriate insect repellent, containing DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR3535. (or try My Amazing Recipe For the Best Moisturizing Mosquito Repellent That Smells Great Too)
• — Use permethrin-treated clothing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks and tents.
• — Stay and sleep in screened or air conditioned rooms.
• — Use a bed net if the area where you are sleeping is exposed to the outdoors.

SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

via New mosquito-borne virus is a threat, experts say | Dallas Morning News.

Sourdough Bread: How To Make Your Own Easy Sourdough Starter

I absolutely love fresh from the oven sourdough bread. I was feeding my starter culture this morning and wanted to share my love of sourdough with you. If you're interested in learning to cook with sourdough you're going to need a starter, that's the bubbly, living batter where your yeast colony lives, waiting to be turned into delicious wholesome bread. The easiest way to get a starter is to ask a friend to share their starter with you. anyone who keeps a sourdough will usually be more than happy to share their starter with you and may even help show you how to care for it.

I didn't know anyone with a sourdough starter, so I studied up on how to make my own from scratch.

 

There are only a few simple steps to becoming a sourdough baker. To begin, create a starter (a bubbly batter you keep in your fridge). By adding the starter to dough, you can make it rise. Bake and serve. Yum!

Craft your own Sourdough starter from wild yeast

So the first step is to create your starter. This is a living culture made of flour water and yeasts, it's kind of like a kitchen pet, that requires a small amount of regular care to be healthy and happy.

It's pretty simple really:

1. mix equal parts (1 cup) flour and (non-chlorinated) water in a glass bowl - no metal bowls or utensils please
2. wait 24 hours
3. stir twice a day
4. feed equal parts flour and warm water (discard half of mixture before feeding)
5. repeat steps 2-4 until you have a bubbly sour starter

With regular use and feeding your starter will mature into a wonderful source of delicious sourdough bread

For complete and detailed step by step instructions on making your own sourdough starter check out Sourdough Bread: How To Begin (easy sourdough for the beginner or novice).. This is the exact recipe and tutorial that I used to create my sourdough starter here at The Crafty Homestead.

Or just buy a ready made starter

If you're just starting our with sourdough, or if you're having trouble starting your own sourdough culture, it's better to start with a good established starter so that you can learn what a healthy starter looks smells and acts like.

You can purchase a starter culture from Donna at Cultured Food Life She has a wealth of information about sourdough and other live probiotic foods. 

 I believe that along with the overly processed foods, soil depletion, and the loss of fermentation and probiotic foods that heal and protect our bodies, our diets are wreaking havoc on our guts. This, in turn, is causing the rise in all kinds of food allergies. Our diets are a dim reflection of the nutrient-dense whole foods we used to eat years ago. Someone at a recent class asked why we are living longer if our diets are so bad. But this is actually not the case any more; we are not living longer, this trend has stopped. Not only that, the quality of our lives is in sad shape. How often do you see someone living vibrantly and without sickness or ailments?  It is increasingly becoming the exception and not the norm. Pharmaceuticals are the norm and not the exception, and food allergies and gut issues are rampant along with a host of other health issues. The average consumer is unaware of these changes in our food supply and then labels gluten and breads as the enemy, when they don’t realize the culprit is the dramatic changes in the actual process of making bread today.

Or get this one for free

Another good source for a starter is Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon Trail Starter. The starter has been in his family since at least 1847 when his family moved west on the Oregon Trail. I haven't actually tried this starter yet but I have just sent in a request for some.

 Carl T. Griffith,gave a sourdough starter to anyone who asked, or who sent him a self-addressed stamped envelope, he died early in the year 2000 at the age of 80. He is known for his generosity and the high quality and vitality of his sourdough starts, which came from a sourdough culture carefully nurtured and preserved in his family for over 150 years.

Carl always gave his starter away for free and when he passed away his family and friends carried on that tradition. You can still get his starter for free. I just sent off for my sample and can't wait to try it. Get Carl's Free Sourdough Starter It's totally free just send in a SASE, but it would be well worth a couple bucks donated to the folks who keep Carl's tradition alive.

photo credit: V. H. Hammer via photopin cc

Orchard Update - the goat damage was inevitable

Those darn sneaky goats got into the orchard and were eating my trees, they ate the raspberry canes too. We're going to have to put up complete orchard fencing to protect them since we also have deer nearby. I'm hoping the trees can survive long enough to get well established, they had trampled one poor peach tree almost to the ground.

This is a fairly common problem on the homestead if you have goats, they can and will find a way to get into everything you try to grow and ruin it even if they don't actually eat it.

In fact, does anyone want to buy some goats? they make great weedeaters....sort of.

Make Healthy Dog Treats for weight gain and healthy skin and coat

There's only one breed of dog at The Crafty Homestead,

you might expect it to be a livestock guardian breed,

but you'd be wrong.

Bree smiling on our nature trail

We love Boxers!

And Boxers are such high energy animals that it can be hard to get them to gain weight.

This is a recipe I found at Holistic Dog  I have been using for the past 3 years with my boxers and I wholeheartedly recommend it as a healthy treat and weight gain supplement.

My Bree is a picky eater and this helps her keep a good weight.

I give my girls 3-4 treats daily to maintain beautiful coats, energy level, and a full appetite.

For weight gain I give 1/4 pound up to three times a day.

A Reader's Recipe:

5 pounds ground meat

5 cups Total whole grain cereal

5 cups oats (slow cooking type)

2½ cups raw wheat germ

¾ cup oil

¾ cup molasses

6 egg yolks

5 packets gelatin

2 ½ tablespoons Solid Gold Sea meal supplement

• Mix up, form balls, freeze, feed as treats or food supplement.
• Mix all ingredients together thoroughly like you would a meatloaf.
• Roll into balls no larger than 1 inch diameter.
• Divide into at least 6 separate containers or bags. Freeze. Thaw as needed for feeding.

Mixing it all up can be a bit of a pain so I usually make two batches at a time just so I always have plenty on hand.

I haven't met a dog yet that didn't wolf them down and beg for more so they're great for even the pickiest pups.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I don't bother separating the eggs. We eat whole eggs here, shell and all. ok, not really.

YES! you Can grow Strawberries in an old tire - Update

When we first planted our strawberry tire garden I wondered if they would be baked alive in black tires in the South Carolina summertime heat.

And  to be honest there were a couple weeks I thought surely they had died, many of the larger leaves did wilt and die in the first weeks after we planted them. It didn't look good, and the disappointed look on my sons face only added to my guilt. Was I really a strawberry killer?  I had the urge to scoop them up out of the tires and re-plant them somewhere else, anywhere else, but then a baby cried, I became distracted with his needs,  and the moment passed.

A few days later we began to notice new growth at the base of our dead looking plants and they all began to re-grow almost miraculously! 

Now we have lush healthy strawberry plants that are growing out of their tires and yesterday we ate our first delicious strawberries. 

So what did we do to bring our strawberries back from the dead? 

Nothing.

It took me a little while to figure it out, but when we prepared our strawberry beds, we used some wasted hay from our goats pen which was mixed with fresh manure, this is the hay that falls out of the feeder and gets trampled on. I have always been told that goat manure was not "hot" and did not need to be composted before adding to the garden. I think I failed to take into account the urine in the hay as well. I believe the bed was too hot and that's why the plants died back but after a couple of weeks with regular watering they were able to come back and thrive. 

So lesson learned here: If you don't want to bake your strawberry plants alive, don't put them into a hot bed  using un-composted mulch in a black container. It would probably have been better to let the prepared bed sit for a few weeks before planting. 

Garden Update : This week in the garden

Well, I have to be honest here... I haven't been putting much work into the garden lately.

 Like none at all.

But even so I have harvested dozens of cucumbers.  The cukes are very happy...everything else, not so much.

The Twins rode their car through the corn knocking most of it down and what's left is small and wonky.

Then they picked ALL of  the green tomatoes that were still left after the goat incident where the goats ate most of the leaves off. I think it's safe to say that it's not going to be a good year for tomatoes which is usually my best bumper crop.

We have baby watermelons on the vine.

A Surprise Orchard

Dad surprised me with nine fruit trees that he found on sale half-price. He found two of my favorite apple variety HoneyCrisp, and a Granny Smith and a Gala for variety and pollinators. He got three peach trees, two Elberta and one Georgia Belle. And finally, two plum trees, a Blue Damson and a Santa Rosa.

We spent all day digging the holes for the trees on a sunny south facing bank in the back yard.

I have always wanted fruit trees so to finally be able to plant an orchard is a dream come true. I can't wait to see these beauties leaf out this year and in a few more years we will have fruit! My mouth is watering in anticipation of fresh homegrown peaches picked at the peak of ripeness.

We still need to install a heavy mulch around the base of the trees to keep the soil moist and to keep weeds down. For right now, we have used grass clippings, but I plan on putting some straw down to make a thicker mulch. Two things you want to keep in mind when mulching your fruit trees:

1. Keep mulch away from the bark of your trees. Mulch harbors insects, keep it at least six inches away from the trunk . 
2. The area being mulched grows with the tree, the mulch should extend to the drip line at the end of the trees branches. 

Can you grow Strawberries in an old tire?

I sure hope so because that's my plan for the boy's strawberry patch this season. We've been filling a large tractor tire and two smaller tires with compost and straw from the goat pen and finally got them filled up enough to plant. I had a little tray of 6 plants that we carefully tucked into the straw.

I was proudly showing off the newly filled tire planters to my neighbor EJ, who, being a local, kindly pointed out that in the South Carolina summer sun, they would probably be cooked in the tires. Yea, I didn't think of that, you see I'm used to growing in the mountains where you are always working to warm up the soil and extend your short growing season, baking the plants in their beds never occurred to me. I am having to practically start from scratch here, everything I knew about plants and growing in the mountains is right out the window.  Different soil, different climate. This is our first growing season here, I know I'll make mistakes but I'll be learning every step of the way.

Well, I wish you luck strawberries, I hope you don't get cooked before harvest!
Now before you go accusing me of cruelty to strawberries I do believe they have a good chance of survival, they get some shade in the late afternoons and with three young garden helpers to be sure they're well watered, I'm sure they won't suffer from neglect.

How do you grow your Strawberries?

This Week in the Garden - Amazing Changes

I spent all weekend in the garden with my dad, we had a great time digging in new beds for potatoes, tomatoes, rhubarb, lettuces and more!

It's a lot of fun planning and deciding where all of the different plants will go. We purchased our seed and plants from our local farm co-op

We used recycled pvc pipe for the borders around the perimeter bed to keep the big wheel traffic out.

We hauled numerous wheelbarrow loads of used goat bedding (straw/manure) to build up the red clay soil.

The radishes are almost ready to eat!

I started my herb garden with Rosemary Sage and Lavender plants and started Oregano, Thyme and Basil from seed.

We improved the border around the beans corn and onions

Re-cycling dyed Easter eggs...Fun Craft Ideas

Now that the egg hunts are over what can I do with these colorful battered eggs?

This year we got store bought white eggs to dye for Easter. That's right, store bought eggs, six dozen! And a NEON dye kit which produced the most vibrant eggs ever. I enjoyed admiring my kids amazing egg dying artistry.
Now, you may be thinking :

"How unsustainable and very un-homesteady* of you! Dying store bought eggs with artificial dye instead of home-made herbal dyes on your free range fresh eggs"  

Oh well, sometimes simplicity wins out.  But now all the Easter Egg Hunts are over and these battered eggs need to go. I usually crush up shells for the garden, (they're great around tomatoes to prevent blossom end rot) but wasn't sure about the dyes, they're supposed to be non-toxic and food grade but I didn't want to try it, so I did a little research and found some fun ideas to try with the kids.

Here's a fun mosaic craft using colored eggshell bits Mosaic Egg Craft that I found at Egg farmers of Alberta

Pendants and earrings made from eggshells The Egg Shell Pendant - Craft Tutorial video.

Here's a vase tutorial at Crafts by Amanda Egg Shell Mosaic Vase

How about a decoupaged jewelry or trinket box? Decoupage with Egg Shells

On Craftsmanship

What is Craftsmanship? It evokes a sense of true mastery and skill in workmanship, of creating something that is both beautiful and enduring with attention to detail.

To Craft is to make or produce with care, skill, or ingenuity.

Crafting involves making something in a skillful way by using your hands

crafts : objects made by skillful use of the hands

I learned about craftsmanship from my grandfather "Bud" He taught me the value of taking the time to do things right the first time. How to measure twice and cut once, how to take care of your tools so they will take care of you, and how to always do your best so you can be proud to put your name on your work and stand behind it.


Bud was a builder and a true craftsman, recognized for the uncompromising quality of his work. He built a house in the early 50's for my Great-grandmother. It's a small, modest farmhouse, but the level of attention to detail in the interior woodworking is amazing, you just don't see that kind of craftsmanship everyday.


Still to this day, one of the first things new visitors comment on when they walk into the house is the woodwork. "Wow, this woodwork is amazing!" is often exclaimed, and I am always proud to say, "My grandfather built it." He cut every board and hammered every nail. THAT is true craftsmanship, not just to create something that you can be proud of, but something that your family can be proud of for generations to come.


And that's what we are striving for here on our crafty farmstead, to build something our children and one day our grandchildren can be proud of.

Breaking Ground: How to establish new garden beds

Our new garden is an old pool that was filled in with red clay fill dirt. Someone must have gotten tired of all the upkeep and maintenance required to keep a pool nice and clean and just had it filled in. It has been growing weeds ever since. I decided that it was the perfect place for my garden and my husband decided it was the perfect place for the kids play yard, so now it's both, part playground, part garden.

It may not look like much now, but on the left side you can see some straw mulch covering our onions, beans corn and sunflowers. The three circles in the middle will eventually be planted with herbs. We have only just begun! Notice the fencing? That's the most important feature right now, it contains our twin two year old toddler tornadoes, and keeps the chickens and goats out of out garden.

Breaking ground in a new garden bed can be a lot of work. Here's how we prepped our beds for planting.

1. First we double dug the beds. Breaking up the lumps of red clay as we go. A tiller would have made this much easier, but since we don't have one, we used a shovel. 
2. Add lots of organic material and manure (compost!)
3. Plant seeds or started plants
4. Mulch heavily

Written out like that it seems so easy, just 4 simple steps, but when you're out there with a shovel in your hands it isn't quite as easy as it looks. The payoff is worth it though, I can't wait to see our garden grow!

A Brief History of Our Crafty Homestead

The Crafty Farmstead was born from our desire to produce own fresh healthy foods for our family.

We made our first foray into self-sufficient living in 2005 in the mountains of Western North Carolina. We started with container gardening on our porch. We grew tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers.  I learned how to can and preserve, and how to make homemade baby food for our firstborn son.  

In 2007  We decided to try to grow more fruits and veggies. With the help of our toddler, we scratched out a small vegetable garden from the overgrown hillside beside our cabin. I remember how he loved helping us water and tend the plants everyday. We rejoiced in re-seeing life, through our young sons eyes, enjoying the simple pleasures of eating fresh picked strawberries and crunchy cool cucumbers.

In 2009 we added our first chickens, a pair of Barred Rock hens for eggs. Once we experienced the joy of truly fresh eggs we knew there was no turning back. Since that day I have only purchased one carton of eggs from the store and that was only so my kids could dye Easter eggs with white eggs (ours were too brown to dye)

In 2010 we got our first two Nigerian Dwarf  goats and 6 more hens. We bottle raised one doeling Mandy, and bought a second doeling Legs,(yes her name is Legs, she kicks a lot)  that was already weaned. Later we bought a bred doe Ginger, who became our main foundation doe.

In 2011 we were blessed with twin boys! Even though I had my hands full, I still tried to keep the garden going. I missed my gardening, but we had to scale it back for a couple of years, I just couldn't keep it up. We soon realized that our two bedroom farmhouse wasn't going to be big enough for a family of five.

In the fall of 2013 we moved to South Carolina to be closer to our families. Our new home is a great log cabin and while it's modest in size, it's much bigger than the farmhouse and I love the open floorplan. There is a lot of fixing up to do but we all have so much more room here. And since it's not on the side of a mountain, there's actually lots of usable land too.We also expanded our chicken flock with the addition of a trio of heritage French Black Copper Marans. 

This year we are hatching out our first eggs from our Marans. This is our first Spring on our new homestead and we are ready to begin crafting our homestead with new gardens and walking paths. new chicken pens, and lots and lots of fencing.

We love producing our own fresh foods and continue striving towards greater production and sustainability. 

Meet Our Nigerian Dwarf Goats

We have a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats, three does, a buck, and now two kids. We got into goats with the idea that we would milk them, but we haven't actually gotten around to the milking yet, and by "we" I mean I haven't quite gotten up the nerve to saddle myself with daily milking chores.

The cream colored girl in front is Ginger, our foundation doe, she's the herd Queen. The golden boy in the middle is Apollo, our buck. The black doe is Isis, she has moon spots. Isis is Ginger's daughter

Ginger 

That's Ginger again on the milking stand. The black doe (below) with the white hind leg is named Legs, she's my favorite with the sweetest personality, and that's her buckling being carried by my husband Mike. Legs kidded with twin bucklings on Valentines day this year. Apollo is in the background, he's the buckling's sire.

Newborn Baby Goat

 Ginger, our Nigerian Dwarf goat herd queen, was generous enough to give birth to a gorgeous doeling, (that's a baby girl goat) just in time for the launch of our new blog! Wasn't that sweet of her? Most goats like to carefully wait for the most inconvenient time with the worst possible weather to kid. They are masters at this skill, so I was pleasantly surprised to find this little girl in the goat pen yesterday morning. 

Isn't she cute? She's our first doeling on the new farmstead, Ginger is the last to kid this season, so there won't be any more baby goats until next year. Our other two girls, Legs and Isis (the black doe seen below) both had bucklings (that's baby boy goats) Isis is Gingers' daughter from last year.

I'm super excited this baby is a girl because that means she's a keeper! Now we just have to come up with a good name for her. What would you name her? 

What is The Crafty Farmstead?

Welcome to our new homesteading adventure!

We're not new to homesteading, but we have just moved to a new home with ten acres, and now we have to start all over again turning this overgrown land into a beautiful and productive farm. We are crafting a brand new homestead here and we invite you to join us. 

Our new home

The future garden

Do you want to learn how to craft your homestead from the ground up?

Follow along as we show you step-by-step how we establish a new garden, get started in chickens, rabbits, bees, goat keeping, fencing advice, build your own pens coops and hutches, milking/grooming stand,  raised bed and container gardens, find new uses for old tools, and re-purposing as an art form.

The onion patch

Our newest goat

Do you want to make your own homemade stuff?

Then let's get crafty! I love trying new projects and learning new and old-fashioned skills. We'll show you how we make our own decorations, useful farm gadgets, homemade house keeping supplies, soaps, laundry detergent, household cleaners, barnyard formulas for cleaning and animal health, personal care, shampoos, oils, lotions. Save money and eliminate all the chemicals by making your own!

No matter where you live, you can start homesteading right now!

Whether you're just starting your homestead adventure or are a seasoned homesteader, you'll find lots to discover here.