🐓The Farmgirl Monthly🐓
Shopping Guide ~ January Edition
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Shop for handcrafted, made-from-the-farm treasures brought to life by today's farmers!
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FEATURED FARM CRAFT
Sunbonnet Farm
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How and/or when did life as a farmer, rancher, or homesteader begin for you?
Growing up on a ‘pocket farm’ in Laupahoehoe valley, my family raised Nubian milk goats, a milk cow and laying hens. Plus a few other species at different times. For as long as I can remember I have loved animals and was interested in farming. As a 4th generation dairy farmer, I started milking at an early age, I can’t remember when I first started helping hand milk our goats and cow. By the time I was 7 years old, I was a pretty accomplished milker, though.
My interest in fiber animals and wool crafts, started when I was around 11 years old. My grandmother had a flock of Clun Forest cross sheep and...
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Flowertown Charm is a 1870’s historic farmhouse and mini-farm located in the heart of Summerville, South Carolina. What started with two Nigerian Dwarf Goats, Magnolia & Wisteria, quickly grew into the mini-farm it is today! Currently on the farm are 5 dwarf goats, (2 that are pregnant!!!), almost two dozen chickens, honey bee hives, barn cats, farm dogs, and one giant tortoise!
The owners, Jenna & Chris, tend to their farm daily, harvesting honey, making goat milk soaps, gardening, serving farm to table breakfasts to their AirBnB guests, and of course snuggling goats while doing goat yoga classes. The Farmhouse Lazy Susan’s are their best sellers, custom painted and can be personalized as well!
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Bow Hill Blueberries is a small farm run by a small family with a huge commitment to growing heirloom blueberries organically. Bow Hill grows six acres of organic heirloom
blueberries in Washington’s fertile and agriculturally diverse Skagit Valley and is home to some of the oldest blueberry bushes in the United States.
The farm owners, Harley
and Susan Soltes, devote them- selves to caring for their six acres of truly rare earth. They craft unique and exceptional products on-site to bring you the taste and character
of pure organic heirloom blueberries in ways you can’t find anywhere else. Bow Hill ensures that each product has blueberries as the main, or only, ingredient.
Our Organic Heirloom Blueberry Juice is cold-pressed and rich in antioxidants. Best of all, it’s 100% pure blueberries.
Bow Hill is located [in Bow, Washington] or [at 15628 Bow Hill Rd, Bow, WA 98232].
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Faulk Family Farm is located in a small South Carolina town of about 200 people. Brandi and her husband, Ryan, are raising their four young kids in their dream historic farmhouse on 5 acres. They have been busy renovating their home, which used to be an old railroad hotel, for the past 2 years. They started their small farm with 4 Rhode Island chickens. Now they have over 50 chickens and guineas, peacocks, and goats. In Brandi's spare time, she hand paints farmhouse-style wooden signs.
This "fresh produce" sign is farm stand inspired. It measures at 6 foot long, and is only $99 with free shipping. You can check out more of her farm signs over at her Etsy shop!
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WaterGirl Farm strengthens their Elderberry Syrups with aronia and propolis. A SUPERBERRY POWERHOUSE!
Incredible benefits of Elderberries & Aronia:
* Supports healthy immune system response to environmental allergens
* Maintains cardiovascular health including healthy cholesterol levels
* Promotes detoxification
* Maintains healthy blood sugar levels
* Can help you maintain a healthy weight
* Eases muscle and joint pain
* Aids in proper digestion
* Slows down the oxidation of our cells
* Softens, tones and restores the appearance of youthful skin
* Soothes burns
* Soothes upset stomach and addresses gas
* Diminishes inflammation
Syrups are made with WaterGirl Raw Honey ~ harvested right off the farm!
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SOLAR DYEING? ~ Timber Creek Farm
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You can grow natural dyes for wool in your back yard garden. As farm folks at heart, it's natural for us to prefer do it yourself projects. The winter often finds us leafing through seed catalogs, planning our gardens for spring and summer. If you also love wool, consider adding some seeds for dye plants to this year's garden plots. While this article will concentrate on how to choose plants that grow natural dyes for wool, quick searches will yield more information regarding dyes for other fibers, such as cotton and linen.
You may be familiar with some of the following plants that grow natural dyes, and not realize that they had this potential use. Other's will be new...
~Janet
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Baby Chicks ~ Lisa Steele (Fresh Eggs Daily)
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7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Choosing Chicks ~
The chick catalogs are starting to arrive in the mail and it's natural to get excited about all the different breeds of chickens available.
There's no "right" or "wrong" breed of chicken, but certain breeds are going to be better choices for your family than others, depending on what's important to you when it comes to your flock.
I've put together a list of questions to ask yourself before buying chicks this spring to help you add the best breeds for your family...
-Lisa
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"Bee-haver?" ~ Stoked Beekeeping Co.
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Know your timeliness! There is some kind of magic that goes on in beehives, that we have yet to put our finger on, as a society. The mystery of beekeeping is part of the draw.The more we know, the more we don’t know. Make sense?
Thankfully, for mankind, keeping bees is familiar and we've created a useful tool box over the years, to help us be successful. There are a few non-negotiables though that bees live by; one of them is timelines.
We gauge the health and activity of the lovely queen and the brood she lays, by knowing their timeline, from egg-to emerging bee-to forager bee. In looking back to understand when issues in the hive may have first come up, we sometimes realize that we may have been at fault. This way, we rise from being a
bee-haver
in our hive inspections to a truly informed
bee-keeper.
Knowledge plus careful action; this is stewardship!
-Ana Reid
Homer, Alaska
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Candle Creations ~ Tanglebloom
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Seed catalogs are stuffing the mailbox and the light is returning - hooray! It’s not quite time to start those seeds yet though, and -- for better or for worse -- there’s a lot of winter left. Let’s brighten things up a bit while we make our garden plans, shall we?
You will need:
● 3 to 5 vintage apothecary bottles or other small glass vases with a narrow opening
● 3 to 5 beeswax taper candles, preferably locally made
● Assortment of small dried flowers, herbs, grasses or seedpods
● Chopstick or tweezers (optional)
● Candle adhesive, such as Stick-Um (optional)
Divide your dried botanicals into as many piles as you have vases. Trim stems to be no longer than 1⁄4” shorter than the height of your bottle or vase. Carefully place botanicals into the vessel. If pieces break off, gently tip the bottle so the “crumbs” fall out. Use a chopstick or tweezers to place elements where you’d like them, or simply let them stay where they land for a more natural look. Carefully place a taper candle into the opening, using a bit of candle adhesive if needed to form a secure hold.
Display your candle creations on a safe surface (we like a small slab of slate on the table to catch any wax drips). Each evening as darkness falls on our farm we light our candles, replacing the beeswax tapers as needed, until the vernal equinox. To make the candles last longer, consider lighting only on the weekends, or while eating dinner. Let this ritual remind you to savor the slow days of winter. The season will change and before we know it, we’ll be back in the garden!
-Melissa
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Backyard Homestead ~ Pick of the Litter Farm
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Creating a Backyard Homestead
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How much farm life can we fit in a backyard? Having a small space doesn't mean you can't grow your own food source. We utilize every inch of our yard where we raise; goats, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, ducks, bees, worms, fish, and a garden complete with fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and macadamia nuts. Come see how we turned our backyard into a homestead on a tight budget!
We began our quest...
-Karen & Anthony
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FARMHOUSE KITCHEN RECIPES
™
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Instructions:
– Cook the quinoa according to package directions.
– While the quinoa is cooking, chop all of your veggies, placing them into a large salad bowl after cutting. Save the figs for the end!
– Prepare the dressing in a mason jar and mix until well combined. Test taste to ensure it’s to you’re liking! Feel free to add more oil if it’s too zesty, more lemon if you like it more tangy, or more honey if you want it a touch sweeter!
– Once the quinoa has finished cooking...
Ingredients:
– 1 cup quinoa (dried)
– 1 and 1/2 cups purple cabbage (finely chopped/ shredded)
– 2 large carrots cut into thin disks and then quarters
– 3 stalks kale, de-stemmed and finely chopped
– 1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
– 1 apple, finely chopped into small bite size pieces (I like using Ambrosia for this dish)
– 4 figs (Black Mission variety recommended), chopped into small bite size pieces. You can also use...
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Farm Stay USA
is a traveler referral site for the best lodging on authentic working farms and ranches in America. Book your unforgettable FarmStay today!
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Everything you need to know to build and grow YOUR
Small Business from Scratch
- from formation and branding to social media and shipping - in an easy to follow online course!
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Help preserve the farm! FarmMade FarmSavers sole purpose is to SAVE FARMS and GROW NEW ONES.
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