The Halfway Homestead

Farmers Market Bound Dailyish Thoughts 0006

Today we are headed to the Farmers Market! We want to check out some local farms and see some friends that are doing amazing things!

So it was Saturday and we needed to add some items to our pantry that we either didn’t grow enough of of that we didn’t grow at all. So we did our morning chores, Released the Quackin’s, got them fresh water and sprouted sunflower and then hopped in the car to go to town. Side note, everytime I catch myself saying “going to town” I realize just how country we gotten!  Then we hopped in the car and headed for the Farmers Market!

So we decided to fire up the camera and talk about some of the things we have been excited about this week when it comes to food, trying new things and seeing others succeed! One of the things we are super passionate about is supporting other small, local businesses. We might have some small bias but honestly it just feels like the right thing to do. When you see how much work goes into growing or raising food and animals, its makes you want to keep those folks encouraged. Another thing that we find so appealing about folks like that is the passion they have for delivering a great product to the customer that they know by name.

We also talk about some new things for us in the kitchen! Applesauce, Pumpkin Butter and various summer and winter squashes for starters. If you are interested in trying an amazing little squash next summer, these are the ones we grew this year Desi Summer Squash. Also, I made a comment about Honeycrisp apples not making a decent cider. I dont know much about making ciders so maybe it would or maybe it wouldn’t. Not sure!

Burn Barrel Barbeque, food so good you want to lick yer hands to get it all!

We mentioned our friends over at Burn Barrel Barbeque & Condiment Co. if you are in or near the Winchester Virginia area you are really doing yourself a disservice by not shoving their food in yer facehole. This is the first time in my life I ate a pulled pork sammich and I didn’t need to add any sauce to it. It was incredibly juicy and smokey just the way it was. I got home an hour later and could still smell the pork on my hands. This made me think “Is an hour to long to go and still lick my fingers?” I haven’t even begun to go on about their flavorful sauces….go check them out. Then come back here and thank us! Head out to your local Farmers market this weekend and support some local goodness!

2017 Year in review. Dailyish Thoughts 0005

Its October so it is time for the year in review!

We bought the farm two years ago on October first and every year we will be doing a year in review of what we have accomplished in the last year. So here we will be covering a variety of topics from animals to plants to techniques all tried this year. Some successful, some not so much. We talk about our experiences with:

American Guinea Hogs (hint: they got out)

The garden expansion

Mexican Sour Gherkins (these need to be in your garden next year!)

Black Vernissage Tomatoes

Ground Cherries

Strawberries and Raspberry WINS!

Greenhouse failure and Micro Greens

Why we didn’t add rabbit and quail like we wanted to and why quail is going to happen.

 

Have you had any great successes or failures this year? Share them below and lets chat about it! We would love to here from you and see what we can learn together! Below you can find a link to our  1 year on the Homestead review. Keep your eyes peeled for the year 2 coming soon!

 

 

Lost our Bees, The Flag, our heart. Dailyish Thoughts 004

Our bee hive is dead and our heart is heavy.

We call this series the Dailyish Thoughts because it  is whatever is going on in our heart and mind at the time. With that said I’m going to be honest, this episode is kind of a downer. To start with our bee hive was attacked by another hive. Being first time bee keepers we did not notice when it was happening and therefore were not able to intervene. All of the resources they had built up was robbed and our hive was killed off.  Now there are some things we could have done if we saw the attack happening. Something as simple as a single piece of wood over the hive entrance with only enough space for two bees to get through might have saved the day. Overall the loss is tremendous as it feels like failure. We know that first year beekeepers fail often, but we wanted to be better. The bees are a major benefit and we WILL do it again next year. Its just our heart aches for the loss. It would have been nice to have the first year be successful and build on that.

The Flag is used as a scapegoat for our hearts.

On to the second part of this series we get into the topic of the current trend of kneeling for the National Anthem instead of standing and what is really going on the way I see it. I try very hard to critically think about what is happening in the news and see if it actually moves the barometer of what is happening in my life. If something does not effect me or my family directly I try to avoid it all together. This item though does seem to effect me in that folks I would call family are feeling pain on both sides of this issue. So I try to address what I think is going on, and how I try to deal with it within my circle of influence. This was a tough one, I look forward to your thoughts. Thanks for watching or listening.

Homesteading, what is it? Dailyish Thoughts 0003

What is Homesteading?? We tackle that question also we got some big news! Today we talk about these videos becoming a podcast!

 

So we have worked out a way to offer this content to more folks and specifically folks that are on the go a lot like us. You can now get these homesteading videos via a podcast! We will be ripping the audio out of them and clean them up a little (we are not audiophiles). Then get them posted for you to find on your favorite podcast platform (working on that part). So if you are one of those, like me, that prefer audio formats this should be a away for you to connect with us! Exciting!

 

We get into a bit of history of what Homesteading used to be and what it is now in modern day first world countries. Some of the things we talk about is why and how to acquire skills to do more things for yourself. We seem to have lost these skills over the last few generations. Basic things like canning, food storage, basic plumbing and carpentry used to be required of all people. If you didn’t know someone in your family needed to know how to do this stuff. Do you know how to sharpen a knife or wire an electric outlet? What about identifying the parts of an animal so you can buy larger parts and break them down, saving yourself money at the same time? Let us know what you think. Do you have room to learn a few new skills?

 

Building community, intentionally. Dailyish Thoughts 0002

Welcome back Homesteaders! Today we talk about why it is so important to live intentionally and in doing so to build community.

Two years ago when we lived in the city we shared a small townhouse community with over 100 other families. In the four years we lived there we really truly got to know 3 of them. When we decided to move to the country we intentionally aimed to change that. We set out to get to know, on an individual basis, our close neighbors and those in our greater community.

The reasons we did this are fleshed out more completely in the video but the basic idea is that we felt there was something missing in our day to day life. We had plenty of folks we knew of, just very few that we truly knew. The kind of “knowing” that when someone is in need you know it before they even tell you. How can we possibly care for others when we dont know them? How can we share their successes and shortcomings?  We are meant to be part of something larger than our individual families. This is not to say to forgo your family in search of some other group! This is more along the lines of bring your family to others, share your life with them on more than a cursory level, be there when they need you before they even ask if possible.  Hope you enjoy and we would love your feedback and thoughts!