A big Thanks to the crew of Mariacher Shearing Service- they got to our place in the middle of no where, set up their stations, had our herd taken care of and were back on the road to the next job in less then 2 and a half hours. It was a whirlwind, an education…
How We Are Raising Our Meat Chicks – The First Three Weeks.
I recently published a blog about why we are raising meat chickens this year- now I am here to outline how ridiculously easy it has been to raise them, so far (knock on wood). Meat chickens are not unlike regular chickens, really. They need some basic essentials to start life out on the right foot….
Why We Are Raising Meat Chickens
We’ve been dipping our toes into the waters of homesteading for about 8 years now. Our journey really began about 10 years ago after watching some very eye opening tv shows and documentaries about the food industry, specifically the horrific conditions under which most of our food supply is produced. It all started with a…
Weekend Warriors- May 2018
We had another busy month here on the homestead- Early on in the month we picked up our finished alpaca yarn – it’s been a slow process of putting it into skeins at this point. I’ll expand on this in a future blog tho, as it has been a long and slightly crazy process. Literally…
Alpaca Nutrition- Treats and Foods to Avoid
Really, the best diet for an alpaca consists of mostly hay, with some supplemental crushed grain/alpaca pellets, and a free choice bucket of Still Water Minerals, but who can resist giving treats… honestly? So here is a list of approved foods for alpacas- they’ll love you for it. It is important to note that treats…
Weekend Warriors- April 2018
Its been a crazy month- we’ve still been solidly locked into winter weather with a very slow melt of the snow all around our area. But we have kept ourselves busy, because that helps pass the time even tho winter seems to be moving along at a crawl. The first half of the month was…
Book Review – Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs – A Beginners Guide
This book is a must have for all beginning herbalists. I do not believe this is an exaggeration in any way. Rosemary Gladstar is an old school herbalist- she was taught by the generations before her. The introduction of her book details her life growing up on a farm and the meat of the guide…
How to Build Alpaca Fencing
So really, MrGillis is the authority on this, but until he is willing to sit down and write a post himself, I guess I just have to explain it as best I can, myself. I decided to write this blog, because I am proud of our fencing. Like, really proud. We get complimented on it,…
Weekend Warriors- The Month Of March
Its been a fairly crazy month here on the Gillis Homestead- We’ve been boiling down sap into syrup all month. But the temps are rising and with rain in the forecast instead of snow (FINALLYTHANKGOD) its probably coming towards a swift end. We’re happy with the amount we’ve produced tho. Even tho we lost at…
Our Seeds have ARRIVED!
I LOVE Johnny’s Select Seeds. We, LITERALY place our seed order yesterday and THEY ARRIVED TODAY. Now, I get that we’re in Maine and so are they, but seriously, wowzas. Well, most of them arrived at least. Our Onion starts aren’t going to be coming til the end of the month(which is when we’d be…
Getting Ready for Spring- Seed sorting
So, I know I just got done complaining in my last blog that March in Maine is NOT SPRING, but that led me to wanting more spring like activities in my life, because ugh. Enough is enough winter. This means that about the only thing I can do to make it feel more spring like,…
Making a Stew with a Roux
I love cold weather cooking. Soups, pot pies, stews, noodle dishes, rice dishes, warm comfort foods that connect with your SOUL, man. And March in Maine is not spring folks- we are STILL getting freezing temps and snow even tho its supposedly spring. This blog is all about turning your chicken soup, into chicken STEW….
