Homesteading

Confessions of a Steward — Honest Horse Keeping

Confessions of a Steward — Honest Horse Keeping

By Guest Post on December 8, 2023

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I don’t own a horse. I don’t keep a horse. That’s precisely why I’m qualified to address the issue—I don’t have preconceived notions about keeping horses. I have thought and yakked about it quite a bit, though, because one of the most common questions people ask me is about keeping a horse.

Whether for recreation or work, in my experience, some of the worst ecological abuse is in horse lots. Many of my friends keep horses, and I’ve been to many places that keep horses, from full-time equestrian outfits to the honeymoon-is-over-seldom-ridden situations.

The Healing Land — Apples

The Healing Land — Apples

By Guest Post on November 27, 2023

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by Shawn and Beth Dougherty, Plain Values

A PLENTIFUL HARVEST

The new apple trees in the orchard are bearing well this year, with russet and yellow-green fruit studding the young branches. In the convent orchard, some of the older trees are taking a sabbatical year. They will only produce a tiny crop, but enough mature trees will bear that there will be plenty of apples for the farm.

Confessions of a Steward — Chicken Familiarity

Confessions of a Steward — Chicken Familiarity

By Guest Post on November 3, 2023

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By Joel Salatin, Plain Values

Thinking like an animal is not always easy, especially if you’re trying to think like a chicken. In this article, I want to dive into one of the single biggest tensions in raising farmstead egg-laying chickens, and it all stems from chicken psychology.

Like all animals, chickens love routine. Temple Grandin, maven of animal psychology, points out that animals live only in the moment. Yes, they have memory, but they have no datebook. They never think about what they need to do tomorrow.

Confessions of a Steward — Water Part 2

Confessions of a Steward — Water Part 2

By Guest Post on October 5, 2023

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by Joel Salatin, Plain Values

Last month I introduced two unorthodox concepts regarding water. The first is the difference between surface runoff and the inventory of the commons (like streams, springs, and aquifers). The second is the notion that we as caretakers can greatly enhance the commons by storing surface runoff rather than pumping from the commons.

We established that one-third of all rainfall globally becomes surface runoff, which means that even a one-acre watershed in a 30-inch rainfall area will generate 10 acre-inches of surface runoff per year, or 300,000 gallons. Another surface we generally don’t think about is our impervious shelter surfaces called roofs.

Water: Part 1 — Confessions of a Steward

Water: Part 1 — Confessions of a Steward

By Guest Post on September 5, 2023

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By Joel Salatin, Plain Values

Water is the prerequisite to life. Some living things don’t need sunlight, some don’t even need soil, but all living things need water. Certainly, when we think about water, the first source that comes to mind is rain. But rain is not consistent, and most plants need water routinely. Indeed, some plants need more water than others, but scarcity is often the limiting factor in farm and garden production.

Poisoned Youth

Poisoned Youth

By Guest Post on August 30, 2023

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by J. Pilgrim

I think of myself more as a late Gen-X kid, rather than a millennial, because that’s the movies and music I liked, but regardless, I’m an 80s kid. We’re the Nostalgia Generation. I had a Zoomer on Telegram ask me why—given the utter destruction that the digital revolution brought on society—we didn’t see it coming. The simplest answer I can give to that is that our lives were simply too exciting to realize that everything was being destroyed around us. We were being entertained to death.

The Healing Land — God’s Will

The Healing Land — God’s Will

By Guest Post on August 28, 2023

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By Shawn & Beth Dougherty, Plain Values

Sometimes keeping milk cows isn’t about the cows; sometimes, it’s about weddings, cancer, and love.

For example: One morning almost exactly four years ago, a girl arrived on our farm. She came with her brother, who wanted some farming experience and had been doing some work around the place. That day Ashley helped in the garden, planting late carrots and cabbages, and weeding the onions; in the evening, she helped milk the cows. It turned out that she loves cows: she’d studied veterinary science in college and later worked at a dairy in Pennsylvania.

Small Efficiency — Confessions of a Steward

Small Efficiency — Confessions of a Steward

By Guest Post on August 15, 2023

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By Joel Salatin, Plain Values

For decades, I’ve been direct marketing our farm’s production directly to retail customers as a direct-marketed, branded product. That means our farm embraces the role of middle-man and we have a logo.

We practice craft rather than commodity. The Harvard Business Review analyzed the difference and found that although businesses can be profitable in either craft or commodity, success depended on staying in the same column. In other words, a craft trying to scale to a commodity failed, and a commodity trying to present itself as a craft failed. The differences are profound.

The Roundtable | Amish Insights on: Big Families | Pt. 1

The Roundtable | Amish Insights on: Big Families | Pt. 1

By Guest Post on August 8, 2023

By: Emily Hershberger, Plain Values This Month’s Question:Springtime is a busy time of the year for homesteaders. How do you keep such large families seemingly…

Moving Animals Around Pt. 2 — Confessions of a Steward

Moving Animals Around Pt. 2 — Confessions of a Steward

By Guest Post on July 31, 2023

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By Joel Salatin, Plain Values

Last month I laid the foundation for the patterns and whys of animal movement. Failure to systematically and routinely move domestic livestock is perhaps the single biggest failure in animal agriculture.

But how? Fortunately, we have infrastructure today that makes learning ancient herding techniques unnecessary. In extremely remote and unpopulated areas, herding is still practiced. But in more populated and developed areas, it’s not practical. I don’t know anyone capable of telling a milk cow to stay in a 10 by 20-yard spot in a pasture and have her obey.

Start-Up Farm — Confessions of a Steward

Start-Up Farm — Confessions of a Steward

By Guest Post on July 27, 2023

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By Joel Salatin, Plain Values

The single biggest cost—and hurdle—in starting a farm of any size is the land cost. Our own nation has gone from free land to extremely expensive land. Old farmers today who acquired their land in the 1960s often have a hard time appreciating the land cost issue for aspiring new farmers.

When my mom and dad bought our place in 1961, it was $90 an acre, and feeder calves sold for $180; one acre would grow half a calf per year, which means the land and production were in a 1:1 ratio ($90:$90). Today, the land is $7,000 an acre, and that calf is worth $700; the land receives no more sunlight or rain and still grows half a calf worth $350. That means today’s land:production ratio is 20:1 ($7,000:$350), which is a far cry from the 1:1 in 1961.

First Foods — The Healing Land

First Foods — The Healing Land

By Guest Post on July 25, 2023

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By Shawn & Beth Dougherty, Plain Values

The corn in the garden is already more than knee-high, and the first planting of green beans has been gracing the supper table for more than a week, so summer must really be here. And even with temperatures in the high eighties making heat wrinkles over the county road, we’re happy to see the seasons advance. Pretty soon there will be okra to fry and tomatoes in our salads. The land is generous in July.

Posts published in “Homesteading”

A PLENTIFUL HARVEST