Posted on Leave a comment

“Tips on Choosing a Goat Breed”

Nigerian Dwarf Newborn   I’ve had a lot of people ask me about which goat they should get.  That’s something I certainly can’t answer for anyone else!  But I can lay a few things out that might help someone in selecting a breed they will adore   What do you want from a goat? Milk, meat, fiber, labor, companionship, or just a warm body out in the pasture?  Before all else, it’s important the remember…

Continue Reading

Posted on Leave a comment

“An Experiment in Natural Tanning, Part 1”

Foreword:  My tanning videos were put on hold due to the move this year, but perhaps by next summer I’ll have them ready 🙂 One of my goals for 2021 was to start making my own clothing.  This will probably start with making shoes and expand to leg and torso coverings.  So back in March I began playing around with natural tanning methods.  I am only tanning small hides at the moment; rabbit, squirrel, guinea…

Continue Reading

Posted on Leave a comment

“Home-Made Liquid Detergent Soap”

I thought I would share a recipe I’ve been using for some time now to make our home-made 4-ingredient grease-cutting dish and laundry soap.  Really, it’s our everything soap.  But some folks prefer to have a different soap for each application.  So for those folks, consider this a dish and/or laundry soap. I initially made the recipe out of desperation.  We had just butchered Bill, the 1,000 pound boar, and we rendered hundreds of pounds…

Continue Reading

Posted on

“Herbal Guide: Coral Root”

I wanted to talk a little bit about the medicinal herb Coral Root.  Members of the Corallorhiza family are many, and most of them are endangered.  In our forest we’re lucky to have a variety of coral root that is not state or nationally endangered.  Coral root is an orchid.  It’s entirely parasitic.  It produces no leaves and contains no chlorophyl.  It survives by leeching nutrients from the roots of the plants around it, as…

Continue Reading