We Have Chicks!

...and they're so darn cute when they're just so little!  Here's a few pics of them, just one day old...

Just the layers and guinea keets

103 cornish cross meat birds, 25 layers, and 5 guineas!

We're Ready for Chicks!

Here's a few pictures of our brooder setup!  Tomorrow morning we will be getting 100 cornish cross meat birds, 25 layers, and 5 guinea fowl.  They'll be sharing brooder quarters to begin with and move to their different "permanent" housing in several weeks.  This brooder is an updated and improved version of the one Dan built last year.  It easily accommodates 100+ chicks for at least 2 weeks.  It's 4'x8'.  The main difference this year is the taller sides to allow for deep bedding.  It has a board inserted on one end that allows us to start with a smaller space and open it out further as the chicks need more room.

I plan on posting more pictures tomorrow (or soon after that!) once all our chicks have arrived!

We use only organic feed for our meat birds!   We are blessed to have a local farmer in our county that is certified organic and grows nearly all the ingredients for this ration on his own farm.

Born-Again Farm Prayer Day

Hi everyone!  A full-length post will (hopefully) be coming soon to update you all on our progress!  I just wanted to pass this along to you so you can all take part in this great movement with us.  It's called the "Born-Again Farm Prayer Day".  I plan on fasting and praying during one meal tomorrow.  The focus of this prayer day is on Christians who run small family farms, whether as a business or just as a means of providing for their own families.  Here's a link to the blog post...please join us!

Heavenly Grilled Chicken!

Alright, I'm not trying to toot my own horn here but...last night I think I made the best chicken I've ever tasted.  Of course I can't really take all the credit.  Google might have had something to do with it!

Have you ever tried grilling a whole chicken?  Not a whole chicken cut up...really whole!  If not, you absolutely must try it.  It's fabulous.

Here's what I did.  I hesitate to call this a recipe because many of the steps are open to interpretation, but you'll get the idea.  It's super easy and so remarkably delicious!  Sorry there's no picture, but we ate it up too fast.

1.  If frozen, thaw your chicken (a pastured chicken from The Family Farm would be best, haha!).  I used 2 chickens about 2 lbs. each.  (We had a number of really small ones from our first batch).  But the method will work for larger birds, too.

2.  Brine chicken in salt water for about 2 hours.  Don't get all worried about amounts here.  Just dump about 1/2 cup sea salt in a freezer bag along with your chicken and add enough water to just cover it.

3.  Rinse chicken and pat dry.  Brush with olive oil all over.  Sprinkle with your favorite herbs and put a few in the cavity.  Again, this is open to what you have on hand.  Here's what I used:

On the outside:
-olive oil
-sage
-lemon pepper seasoning
-Alderwood-smoked sea salt (wonderful stuff, from a local lady who makes spices!)

And the cavity:
-1 sprig fresh rosemary
-3 sprigs fresh oregano
-about 1/4 onion

4.  Preheat grill--gas is best for this.  Light just one side on high.  When grill is hot, place chicken breast down on the unlit side of the grill.  You are essentially making an "oven" with the grill.  Grill with lid closed for about 90 minutes for an average 4-5 lb. chicken (ours, of course, went a little faster!)  Rotate chicken (don't flip it over; rotate like a clock!) halfway through cooking.  Resist the temptation to keep opening the grill lid to peek!  This lets all the heat out of your oven!  Test for doneness with a meat thermomete inserted in the meatiest part of the thigh--you're looking for 160 degrees.  When done, remove and let sit for 10 minutes before carving.

Simply delicious.

Factory Farm vs. Pastured Poultry: a Side-by-side Test!

We just had our first batch of pastured poultry processed this morning, and I was eager to try one side by side with a store-bought, factory-style chicken.  I must say, I was shocked at the difference; not so much in appearance, but in taste and texture.

I bought the smallest chicken our local Meijer store had, which was over 5 1/2 lbs.  Ours was about 3 1/2 lbs.  For the sake of giving you a true side-by-side comparison, I did not edit these photos in any way.

Store-bought on left, ours on right

In the roasting pan.  A little butter in the cavity along with some celery.  Sprinkled with salt and pepper...that's it!  Wanted to really taste the "chicken" flavor.

Our chicken, done!  Notice the beautiful, even browning on the skin and nice proportion of the legs to the breast.

Store-bought, done.  This bird has such huge breasts that the skin was split, leaving it to dry out during roasting.  Also notice how the whole bird seems puny compared to those giant breasts...I have no idea how that poor bird could even walk.  

I shredded a bit of breast meat from each bird to show the difference...ours on the left, store's on the right.

I think the most shocking difference to me was the difference in texture between the two birds.  The only way I can really describe it is that our pastured chicken had substance, where the factory-farmed bird was...like mush.  See the difference in the photo above?  Now don't get me wrong...ours was not "tough" in any way.  Just a very satisfying meatiness.  The mushiness of the other bird struck me as seeming really unnatural.

And how about taste?  Ours was, once again, far superior.  About the only flavor present in the store bought chicken was the salt solution they get bathed in before packaging.  In fact, the breast meat closest to the bone in the middle of the bird pretty much had no flavor at all.  The pastured chicken, on the other hand, had a rich "chickennish" flavor all the way through, in both the white and dark portions.  

Hands down winner?  Our organic pastured poultry!  We'll be running another batch starting in August, so give some a try!

Get Personal With Your Food

Listen to this while you read this...it's what I was listening to as I wrote it!

Yesterday I was listening to an interview on NPR (yes, I listen to NPR.  Quite a lot.  Another one of those things that GCCRs* are not supposed to do).  They were talking with a lady who is passionate about teaching people how to grow their own vegetables.  Sorry--I didn't catch her name!  She said something to the effect of, "How to grow your own food should be common knowledge; something parents teach their children along with things like learning how to swim.  I have never been in a situation where I was in water over my head and afraid of drowning.  But I have been so low on cash that if I hadn't known how to grow my own food, I would not have had anything to eat.  It's far more likely for most people to have a financial crisis than to be in danger of drowning."  She wasn't saying that everyone should go out and become master gardeners...only that the knowledge of how to do it should be given a higher priority in our culture.

This got me thinking about what happens in our attitude towards our food when obtaining it gets "personal".  I already find myself placing a higher value on what I eat after experiencing the amount of effort it takes to get it from the field to my stomach.  Moving a chicken pen every day, although enjoyable, is pretty hard work.  Our cows plow through impressive amounts of grass every day to get to the size we want them to be to make great steaks.  Our neighbor, Rose, is in her garden every day with her garlic, veggies, and herbs before she takes them to the market.  When I realize what it takes to produce good, fresh food, I take a lot more care with how I prepare it.  I want it to taste its very best...I don't want to embarrass it--haha!

Now, I'm not knocking grocery stores because grocery stores are obviously important!  But when I buy meat there, all precut and shrinkwrapped, I'm not thinking about the farm or the animal it came from.  And I could buy virtually unlimited amounts of any particular cut if I wanted to.  If I take my New York Strip steaks home, cook them, and don't like how they turn out, I can just go back to the store and get more to try it again.  All I'm really out is the cash to buy them.  Did you know that one steer doesn't produce an unlimited proportion of New York Strips?  When our beef cows are done, we will have limited amounts of each cut and we'll be planning meals accordingly.  When it comes time for me to cook that filet mignon, you can bet I'll really be thinking it through first!

All of this is to say...try getting personal with your food, to whatever extent you are able.  Go to the farmer's market and actually talk to the producers!  Get to know them a little bit!  Find out why they do what they do...chances are they're pretty passionate about it.  If possible, visit their farms.  Stop by The Family Farm while you're at it!  Take a walk with us while we move the cows and chickens.  Or best of all, turn a little corner of your yard into a garden and experiment.  Some things will work, some won't, but I'll bet that you'll have a new appreciation for your food if you give it a try.

*Good Conservative Christian Republicans

We're On Facebook!

The Courser Family Farm finally has a home...on facebook, that is!  Take a look and give us a "like".  We'll be posting all the need-to-know farm updates there (like what we have available, prices, specials, all that good stuff).  See you there!

p.s.  I will write a real blog post again...sometime...I promise.

Basic Berry Smoothie

Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest!  I've been trying to use up our frozen berries from last summer since spring is coming soon.  It looks like we'll have an early strawberry season this year considering the ridiculously warm weather we've been having, so I need to make room in my freezer for a new season's harvest! The smoothie I made for lunch today was a hit, so I thought I'd share the recipe.  (Keep in mind the amounts here are "suggestions" because I wasn't measuring anyways!)

Basic Berry Smoothie


2 cups frozen strawberries
3/4 cup red raspberries
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup raw milk (or more, to desired consistency)
1/4 cup raw honey
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla


Blend well.  Makes about 4 servings.

The Name Game Giveaway Winner!

The winner is...Shawna!  Congratulations!  Thanks to everyone who entered!  Nobody guessed our farm's name, but you all had some great ideas.  I would have to give the "most creative" credit to Matt, who suggested "From the Ground Up".  Sorta like that one...

Since I'm sure you'll all wondering, the name of our farm is...

(drumroll please.............)

"The Family Farm"!

Simple and easy, and it doesn't limit us to a certain aspect of farming, like if we chose "Courser Meats" or something like that.  But best of all, I hope lots of conversations in the near future will go something like this:

"Wow, this chicken tastes amazing!  Where did you get it?"

"At the family farm."

"Oh, I totally didn't know your family had a farm..."

"We don't!  It's the name of the place where we buy our meat.  They have such great products and they're really friendly.  They always welcome visitors, so you should check them out."

"Great!  I think we will!"

Catchy, isn't it?

An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Part 3

Or, "How is This Ever Going to Work"???

Here I'll be getting into the nuts and bolts of our homestead operation, or "the nitty gritty" as our son would say!  How exactly do we plan on being able to live off our 20 acres, you might ask?  Well, from a combination of factors, which I'll list here, in no particular order...

1.  GET OUT OF DEBT!!!  Being debt-free will be so wonderful!  We are very aggressively working on paying off our loans.  Thankfully, we are finally done paying off our last house, which we had to sell as quite a large loss due to the sorry state of the housing market.  The good side to the real estate situation is that we were able to get our house and 20 acres for an amazing price last March.  We are blessed that Dan has a very good job right now, so our plan is to be very aggressive in paying it all off.  Our goal is to be debt-free in under three years.

2.  Grow/raise as much of our own food as possible.  This summer we'll be experimenting with several things, including chickens and possibly beef, primarily for our own use.

3.  Garden like my life depends on it.  When I think of the pioneers (the true "homesteaders"!) I know that they had to have a successful garden, or they didn't eat any vegetables for the whole year.  If I'm going to be serious about making this work, I have to look at it that way.  It used to be that if my garden got overrun with weeds by July or burned up by drought, I would just say, "Oh well, I'll try harder next year."  While I'm not really interested in running a market garden for profit, I DO need to work at learning to plan better and be more diligent tending our "food supply"!

4.  Pastured Poultry.  Assuming we do ok with raising chickens this summer, we anticipate this being one of our primary sources of income.  Quite a few people are already doing it, but I really don't believe the market is saturated yet!  There is such a huge difference between the quality of pastured poultry and factory-farm, mass-processed poultry.  I want to feed my family the best and enable as many other families as possible to do so as well!

5.  Courser Deer Processing.  This is another major source of income for us, and could be even more when we get to the point where Dan can be at home full time.  As you've probably already read from previous posts, we will be moving our deer processing operation from Dan's parents' house to ours.  This past season we processed around 320 deer.  Through some advertising and marketing, we're hoping to push that number to 400 next season.  I'm also planning on experimenting with making sausage.  Currently we send it out to have sausage made, but our profit margin could be much higher if we did it ourselves.

6.  Soap and candles...which is still in the "experimental" phase!  I'm playing around with making some different blends of deer tallow soaps.  We'll see how this goes...if you would like to be a "product tester" please let me know!

7.  Other value-added products, such as all-natural jams, jellies, preserves, granola, baked goods, and the like.  Unfortunately, without a licensed kitchen I cannot sell these items online.  I'll have to stick with word of mouth, local food co-ops, and maybe selling at the Farmers' Market.  We'll see.  That sounds like a lot of work.  But I am a little compulsive when it comes to preserving things...I can't stand to see resources go unused!  So, I may as well make a little money from it too, right?

8.  Pastured beef and/or pork.  This may still be a little ways down the road, but would be a great compliment to our farm.  And I really love to eat beef and pork:-)

Well, there's the gist of it!  I'm probably forgetting something.  Of course along with all of that is just being generally thrifty.  Dan and I feel an increasing sense of urgency to be out of debt.  Maybe it's the economy, or political state of things, or just our itch to be truly free in regards to our resources.  At any rate, we would love to hear your suggestions and comments!  Have a brilliant idea for us?  Let us know!  And watch for an exciting post coming soon, including an unofficial "launch" and announcement of our homestead's name!

Just for fun...some nature study artwork from last summer!  Clockwise from top left: mine, Percival (age 3, impressive, right?), Lancelot, age 8, and Galahad, age 6.  (I change my kids' names on here to protect their privacy!)

...and the inspiration for the artwork above!  Did you know that those teenie little hooks were the inspiration behind Velcro?

Yes, I Am Still Here.

I'm probably about due to win the bad blogger of the year award for my negligence!  It's been a full couple of months!  Let me take a moment to fill you in on what's been happening around here...

1.  Wrapping up deer season.  Our total count at the end of the year was nearly 320 deer, more than we have done in a long time.

2.  Christmas!  The celebrations felt a little strange this year.  We are at a new church, so we weren't quite sure what to expect and ended up missing the week that they do the big Christmas program because we didn't know about it soon enough.  And at that time we were still running back and forth every day to the meat shop, so we didn't have much time to enjoy the season in our new house.  I didn't bake one single Christmas cookie.  And there was pretty much no snow.  But, Jesus was still born over 2000 years ago and we celebrated that with all our hearts, which is what really matters, right?

3.  Settling into a "normal" routine at our own house (if there is such a thing as "normal"!)  We've been rendering lots of deer tallow and I made my first attempts at tallow soap.  It looks good--still curing, so I haven't actually gotten to try it yet.

4.  Spent a night in the emergency room about two weeks ago with my heart feeling like it was going to pound right out of my chest.  To make a long story short, don't take heavy doses of echinacea and then drink multiple cups of very strong coffee in a short amount of time.  Turns out they don't do so well together.

5.  Took a trip to Ikea for curtains, bedroom storage, and the like.  Love that store!

6.  Planning lots of big projects around the house.  This weekend is a wall of bookshelves for the living room--yay!  Also planning a trip to Florida in March...double-yay!

7.  Hitting the books!  Our school pace really slowed down during deer season, so now it's time for us to step it up.  Ever hear about Charles Martel and the Battle of Tours?  Fascinating story--go and look it up!  I don't now how I got to be 31 years old and never learned about that.  This is why I love homeschooling--I keep learning new things too!

8.  Dan and I took our CPL (Concealed Pistol License) training last Saturday.  We had a wonderful instructor who gave us SO much more information than just what's covered in the typical NRA class.  Plus, I got to shoot several different handguns, which was great for me since I had never fired one before.  The instructor said I'm a natural shooter and that with some training I could do it competitively.  But I think he was just flattering me because I was the only girl in the class:-)

9.  Repairing the hole in our kitchen ceiling.  Yup, the hole.  About a month ago our son took a bath and left the water in the tub (no big deal).  Except that it turns out there was a teenie little hole in the tub...so all that water slowly leaked onto the kitchen ceiling for about 4 hours.  We had to tear out a section of drywall about 4' by 5'.  Last night Dan and I finally were able to get new drywall over the hole...

10.  Working out at 5:30 am every day.  Dan and I started Insanity last week and yes, it is insane.  We're both looking forward to losing the "extras" we acquired through the fall months!

So, things are happening around here!  We're really excited about what's to come.  I will write soon about some of that in my next post in the Agrarian Home Based Lifestyle series.  If I don't do it within the next week, someone please come and kick me.  Thanks!

New Years' Anticipation

Resolution.  Anticipation.

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen! 

Ephesians 3:14-21

This year I am not making any resolutions.  According to Webster's 1828, 'to resolve' means "To fix in opinion or purpose; to determine in mind."  And you know what?  If there's one thing I've learned, it's that my opinions might be all wrong, my purpose selfish or misguided, and I know a lot less than what I thought I did.  Sounds like a setup for failure if I ever heard one!

Two Sundays ago our pastor gave a great sermon with the general idea of anticipation.  He referred to the verse above from Ephesians.  The beautiful truth is that, no matter how weak our minds or flesh, the power of Christ is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or even imagine.  In Pastor Burger's words, our lives can be transformed to the degree we are willing to be surrendered to Him.  The word anticipate literally means "to take before".  Did you know that God has plans for you this year?  Instead of resolving to accomplish some certain goal this year, I want to live in anticipation of the fulfillment of what the Lord has already planned.  Guess that sounds a lot like living by faith, doesn't it?

Of course, this doesn't mean I'm not going to plan anything or set any kinds of goals.  To sit around and wait for things to happen would obviously be foolish.  But I want for my attitude to be one of surrender, not selfishness.  Watch for upcoming posts about our thoughts for our little homestead farm and some ideas we've been tossing around.  We continue to pray about where we are headed and surrender daily in faith to what the Lord would have for us, both in the small daily tasks and the "grand scheme", that we may be "filled to the measure of all the fulness of God".

I'll leave you with a song that really got to me this morning...
You Have Me by Gungor

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag.

This post is mainly for my family and friends...those of you who know us well and are around us regularly (although hopefully the rest of you find it interesting too...)  To be honest with you all, I have been really nervous about telling everyone about our plans for the future.  I have this feeling that everyone will think we've gone off the deep end, are turning into hermits, or that we're becoming health nuts.  I hope that by reading my latest posts you'll see where we're coming from.

I also apologize that you're all finding out about these things via facebook and my blog.  It's not that I don't want to talk to you all in person...it's just sort of a weird thing to bring up out of nowhere.  I feel like I'll be able to explain myself much better by writing it out than trying to do it in person.  As you'll see from reading my other posts, much of our plans and dreams are still developing, so for me to try to convey our feelings in conversation could end up a little muddled.  We've just been doing a lot of thinking, dreaming, and praying lately and feel we need to move in this direction, and we really want our friends and family to know where we're coming from and share your insight with us too!  So go ahead and read my two previous posts: An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Parts 1 and 2.  Preferably in that order:)  Part 3 should be on its way soon.

Other things of note...P90X is still underway!  I've lost about 6-7 lbs. so far, but the most notable thing for me is that I now have triceps!  The diet side has been a little rough...but tomorrow is another day, right?  A bunch of ladies at my church have committed to cutting out sugar until Thanksgiving, and I think I'm going to join them.  I'm generally a believer in moderation, but with the glut of Halloween candy still lying around, I really have to go all or nothing...

Courser Deer Processing is booming.  So far we have taken in 95 deer--well ahead of where we were last year.  And I love having a business where our kids can really participate.  They're learning to work hard, relate well with customers, save money, and to be careful with sharp objects:-)  Not to mention that seeing three generations of Courser boys working together makes my heart feel happy.

Have a great day everyone!

An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Part 2: Our History.

Otherwise titled: How the Heck We Came Up With This Crazy Idea!

Honestly, I have been seriously dragging my feet on this post.  I'm finding it really hard to put into words exactly how we have arrived at this point...hopefully I can put something together here that makes at least a little sense and gives you a general idea of where we're coming from!

Neither Dan nor I are farmers.  Neither of us grew up on a true farm (although Dan's family had something of a hobby farm...chickens, horses, a few pigs and a dairy cow for a time).  And certainly neither of us dreamed several years ago that we would be looking at earning a living from "the land".  I graduated from college with a degree in music ministry, and Dan is a mechanical engineer.  So how in the world did we get to where we are now?  In short, I think God has just wired us this way.  We both seem to have a natural bent to do things differently.

I suppose this journey really began shortly after we got married.  We gave birth to our first child just a little over a year after our wedding...a little earlier than what we had "planned".  Since we got married the summer before my senior year of college, this meant I never had the opportunity to go into the "real world" (haha) and get a job in my own field.  Instead, I graduated from college and gave birth to our son three months later.  At the time it was a bit of a shock.  I always knew I wanted to stay home with my children--I was tremendously blessed to have been raised by a mom who was home--but I hadn't expected that phase of life to arrive quite so soon!  However, in hindsight, I see what a blessing this was.  I never had to deal with the feeling of "leaving" a career or getting involved in a job that would be difficult to step away from.  I went directly from pouring my energy into school to directing my efforts to my home and family.  Just under two years later, we welcomed son #2 into the world (again sooner than "planned"!) and we began to give some thought to our childrens' education.  After considerable research and prayer, we decided we wanted to homeschool our kids.  I probably put in enough study hours researching education, homeschool materials, learning styles, etc. to equal another college major.  We knew it was a huge decision and not something we wanted to take lightly.

Throughout this process I came across several books that were truly life-changing.  The first is a wonder of a little book called The Mother At Home by John S. C. Abbott.  Yes, it's old-fashioned.  Yes, it flies in the face of "modern" ideas of womanhood.  And it totally transformed my outlook on being a mom.  Prior to this point, I viewed my role as stay-at-home motherhood as the "right thing" to do; the "broccoli" of life.  You know, the things you do because they're good for you but you really can't wait for the dessert you see coming later (like having "my" job, "my" time, "my" body back, etc.)  The Lord used this book to soften my heart to motherhood as a noble, fulfilling, and absolutely necessary job.  For the first time, I allowed myself to be content being "just" a mom...by the way ladies, watch yourselves when you respond to that question, "So what do you do?"  Don't treat your job like it is inferior or some sort of drudgery: sigh..."Oh, I "just" stay home with the kids..."  I've caught myself replying this way and it's complete bunk!  There's no "just" about it!  Your job is important, necessary, imperative, world-changing, kingdom-building...you get the idea.  Here's the other conversation I have frequently that is another opportunity to share the joy of motherhood.  It usually goes something like this, and typically occurs either in the grocery store or at church:

Stranger: "Whoa, four boys, huh?"
Me: "Yup!"
Stranger: "Wow, they sure must keep you busy.  Never a quiet moment for you, right?"  (Did you ever think about how this must make the kids feel?  I mean they're standing right there.  Can you imagine if someone said something like that about your husband while he's standing right next to you?)
Me:  Here is where we get the chance to take a stand--however small--for the huge blessing of motherhood.  I usually try to respond with something like, "Yes, we're busy, but these boys work really hard!" or, "I sure am glad I have all these helpers!"  Hopefully even a little thing like that might begin to change that person's perspective on children and parenting, and it encourages the kids at the same time.

Anyways...this is going somewhere, I promise!  Throughout these years we were living over two hours away from both of our families and Dan was serving as a youth pastor at a small rural church in southern Michigan.  (How he went from engineer to youth pastor is another whole story.)  After serving in that church for about seven years we decided it was time for Dan to get back into the engineering field.  Being a youth pastor was a remarkable learning experience for Dan and our whole family, but it was clear that his spiritual gifts were not quite lining up with that role, and we had a deepening desire to serve in a capacity more geared towards family ministry than youth.  So we started praying about what direction to take next.  Then 2008 happened.  The automotive industry went south practically overnight and took most of Michigan's engineering jobs down with it.  But, we still felt that God was calling us to move on, so Dan cautiously informed our church's leaders that he was going to start looking for engineering positions.  Dan sent an application to the company where he had worked right out of college, and much to our amazement, they called him in for an interview.  Within two weeks of making the decision to start job hunting, he had an offer!  He even got the same office he'd had 8 years earlier.

Around the same time, we were listening to a lecture series from Vision Forum called "Entrepreneurial Bootcamp".  Included in the series was a lecture about running a successful agrarian-based home business by a guy named Joel Salatin.  Dan listened to it first and was all excited about Salatin's ideas and lifestyle.  My reaction at the time was sort of a lukewarm, "Hm, that's interesting I guess."  Then about a year later I got around to watching Food, Inc., the documentary about where our store-bought food comes from, and there was "that guy", Joel Salatin!  Fascinated by his passion for his land (and food!), I started casually reading a little about the approach of his farm. 

Now, fast-forward a year or two.  We gave birth to boy #4, moved back to our hometown, started ramping up the deer processing business, and got a great deal on our house with 20 acres.  Once again we started dreaming about the direction our family needed to go.  I've always loved things like canning, freezing, bread-making, etc., so naturally I started thinking about how to use our property in those ways.  Dan spends about two hours on the road every day driving to and from work and is away from home about 12 house of the day.  It became increasingly clear to us that we all desired for Dan to be able to stay home so that we could all work together.  What really sort of "sealed the deal" for us was our 10th anniversary trip to Staunton, Virginia.  We planned our anniversary there because we really wanted to visit Joel Salatin's farm, Polyface.  I know, I know.  Real romantic, a trip to a farm, right?  Actually Staunton is an awesome town--we would highly recommend it!  And we were both impressed with how the farm runs, the natural, land-improving techniques, and most of all the attitude of families being able to work together at a livelihood that allows them to make the world a better, healthier place.  It felt right to us.  We bought a few of their books at the farm, including the title, You Can Farm by Joel Salatin.  Odd as it may sound, this was another life-changer for me. And you know what chapter really did it for me?  The chapter on soil improvement.  I was amazed by God's design for the earth; its complexity and natural fertility. The potential for productivity (and in turn providing high-quality food for a nutrient-starved world) was something of a revelation.  Right about now you're probably all thinking I've totally lost it.  Gone off the deep end.  Maybe so, but I can also honestly say that I've never felt such hope, promise, and excitement for the future of our family and the impact we could have on our community.  Some might call us crazy, but it sure is a great place to be.

As you can see, God has orchestrated quite a journey for us.  He blessed us with children before I had a chance to have my heart divided with a career, He molded my character to turn my heart towards my home, gave Dan and I a common vision, provided a job when the economy went down the drain, and provided us with a house, land, and a hearty dose of inspiration just when we needed it.  In the end it is our desire that this story would be about Him, not us.  It is by His grace and mercy alone that we are where we are today.  Truly as we are told in Colossians 3:23-24,

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

I apologize (sort of) for the length of this post.  Really, I could say so much more!  Like how my mom taught me to love cooking meals for the family and how to bake from scratch, or the impact the time spent with my Grandma (probably the sweetest, gentlest person I've ever known) had on my childhood, or the blessing of having a Dad who cared about being home and spending time with his kids.  I could write volumes about all these things, but then this would turn into a personal memoir!  I hope I've been able to give you at least an idea of where we're coming from.  We welcome your comments and ideas!  

Next post in the series: Our Basic Plan (or, "How in God's Green Earth Do You Think You Can Pull This Off?")

Dan takes a peek inside the mobile hen house at Polyface.

Joel Salatin demonstrates the ease of moving the pastured broiler pens during our "Lunatic Tour".

Some of the first "fruits" of our new property: wild grape jelly!  So delicious, and I didn't even have to plant or weed a single thing!

An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Part 1: Our Vision

Ok folks, today begins my first "series" of blog posts!  How many parts to this series?  Who knows...until I feel like I've said enough, I guess!  Forgive me if it sounds a little bit like I'm thinking out loud throughout this series...because I am.  We are just beginning to shape our "dream"; our vision for what we want our family life and livelihood to look like.  It seems clear to us that God has brought many factors together into one place for us lately, and I'm going to take a little time to explain it to you.  Hopefully we here at Domestic Reformation will understand ourselves better in the process, too.

I'll keep this pretty basic today since future posts in the series will cover many aspects in greater depth, but let me begin by laying out our overall vision by defining some things (thanks to Merriam-Webster online!)...

agrarian: of or relating to fields or lands or their tenure.  Yup.  You heard me right.  We actually intend to "make a living off our land".  Well, mostly...more about that in a minute.  We've been blessed with 20 acres, about two-thirds of which is open land.  The rest is brushy undergrowth, young-ish forest, and our yard.   Is it possible to earn enough cash off 20 acres to live comfortably?  We believe it is.

home: one's place of residence.  Our dream is that our whole family--Dan included--will be able to work together here at our own home--our own "place of residence".  Around here we find that we get exponentially more accomplished in a day when we're all working together than when we are split off in our separate ways all day.  There's a kind of synergy that occurs when we're all working together, and it's way more fun than being apart all day.  Our family actually likes to be together!  Will it always be sunshine and roses?  Of course not!  But it's not a bad goal:)

Let me be clear: a "home-based business" does not mean we intend to become hermits or social recluses.  However, it does mean spending more time actually at home.  Less running, fewer last-minute trips to the store, better planning, more intentional time spent with friends and family.  As I mentioned above, we plan to "live off of" our 20 acres, but we will continue with Courser Deer Processing, which I suppose, being a service-based business, can't really be considered living off our land.  Currently we run this business at a different location, but our goal is to move it here for next season.  Being away from our own home so much is taking a toll on us already, and this year's hunting season is just getting started!

lifestyle: the typical way of life of an individual, group, or culture.  I hesitate to call this merely a home-based "business" because it is about more than just money for us.  It's a way of life, and a way of life that is radically different than most folks.  Our dream is to have a lifestyle that not only "pays the bills", but is more rewarding, more fulfilling, more healthy, and more whole than what "normal" American culture has to offer.  And, we hope it's contagious.  We hope that when others see what we're doing they, too, might be inspired to slow down and smell the proverbial flowers...literally.


Our intent is not in any way to sound condescending or "holy-er than thou".  Right now we are in the dreaming, visioning phase where anything can happen.  It's probably something of a honeymoon phase.  Hard days will come when we wonder what in the world we've gotten ourselves into.  But for now I hope maybe you can all dream with us a little bit as the series develops, and maybe even help us shape our vision of what's to come!

Next post: the "History" of our vision (or, "How the Heck Did We Come Up With This Wacky Idea?")  No promises as to when that post is coming.  After all, it's deer season.  I'm sure you'll all be waiting with bated breath though, right?

A few shots from the south side of the property at sunrise.

Isn't it beautiful?  We are so blessed!

Courser Deer Processing!

The season is officially underway...deer season, that is!  Courser Deer Processing is up and running.  We took in 8 deer just today--we've had a promising start so far!  If you'd like more information, you can find us on facebook.  Happy hunting everyone!

Preserving Apples, Part 1

Isn't it pretty?  And they taste a-ma-zing.  Crispy, flavorful, and sweet!

I've been so thrilled this past week with the abundant apple "crop" at our new house!  And you know I can't stand to just let them sit there.  We've been on the run so much this summer that I haven't been able to do much preserving, but I'm determined to get some of those apples stored away, in various forms.

The easiest method I'm trying this year is just packing them away in the basement (which is old, cold, and unfinished).  Hopefully it'll be a good place for them to keep a few months.  I followed the instructions from an article at the Backwoods Home website.  Basically you: 1) select only unbruised, unblemished apples; 2) wrap in black and white newspaper; 3) pack carefully in cardboard boxes.  Easy.  Of course, I still have to see if it actually works!  Hopefully I don't go down to the basement in a month and find a box full of rotten apple mush.

Yesterday I made spiced crabapple butter--one of my very favorite bread-topping treats!  Making apple butter isn't hard.  It's just a lot of work.  The boys and I picked about 1/2 a crate of crabapples (and a few regular apples, just for good measure).  Then I followed this recipe, given to me by a good friend in Bronson. She found it in an "old-fashioned" canning and preserving book.  I like this recipe because you can use if for whatever quantity of crabapples you happen to have on hand.

Wash and cut apples into quarters, without paring or coring.  Place in kettle with just enough water to cover, and cook slowly until tender.  Press through a colander or sieve.  Measure the strained pulp.  Add 1/2 as much sugar as pulp.  Bring to a boil and cook until mixture is thick.  [Stir often or it'll stick and burn!!]  Pack into clean, hot jars.  Seal.

I also added some cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves for a nice spiced flavor.  My 1/2 crate yielded about 10 pints. I would really recommend using smaller jars--maybe 8 oz. jars--since we usually don't go through apple butter really fast, but pints were what I had around the house yesterday!  I also recently discovered a super easy way to sterilize and seal jars for high-acid/sugar foods, from the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook.  You put your clean jars and bands on a cookie sheet into a preheated 250 degree oven for 30 minutes while preparing your food to be canned.  Then, when you're ready to pack the jars, you just pull them out of the oven, fill them (make sure you clean the rims), secure the lids and bands, and put them back in the oven for 15 minutes.  So much easier than the hot water bath method!  The book is simply beautiful as well...highly recommended!

Earlier this summer we also did some bread and butter pickles, thanks to our neighbor who grows veggies for the Clarkston Farmers Market.  We did decide to spare Cornelia the Cuke though, because she was just too cute.

We Have a Winner! ...and a new recipe!

Congratulations to Kim, winner of the first giveaway on Domestic Reformation!  Kim, please email me at domesticreformation@gmail.com to arrange details for delivery!

And for the rest of you...give yourself a little gift and mix up a batch of these scrumptious waffles:

Oh Boy! (healthy) Waffles


Whisk together:
2 1/4 cups milk (we use whole raw milk...)
1 stick melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 T. molasses

Stir in:

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder

Serve with butter and real maple syrup for a hearty, delicious breakfast!

"Rawberry" Milk

Well...we've been trying to make a conscious effort around here to consume less processed foods and refined sugar and to eat more whole, raw foods.  Today I had an epiphany.  It probably will seem glaringly obvious to everybody else, but for some reason I hadn't thought of this yet.  Last month I made a whole bunch of strawberry freezer jam, but it turned out a lot more like strawberry syrup because I used WAY less sugar than the recipe called for.  I've been using it to blend into smoothies, on pancakes, things like that.  But today...I had the brilliant idea to blend it with milk and...voila!  Instant strawberry milk, made with real raw strawberries and no high fructose corn syrup!  If you want specifics...I used 1 quart of whole raw milk, 2/3 cup strawberry freezer "syrup", and blended for a few seconds in the blender.  So easy and so yummy!

Moving In...

It's finally here...move-in date is set for Saturday!  I probably won't be blogging much this week, but I really thought I should at least get some pics up of the house before (and in the midst of) the moving-in chaos.  Everything has been turning out really nice--very pleased!

My thrifty kitchen: purchased stove, fridge, washer and dryer on craigslist for $600 for the set!  And see that lovely, HUGE sink?  I found that at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $30...so excited about that one!  Plywood makes cheap, natural-looking countertops.  Just kidding!  These are just temporary until we embark on our concrete countertop project.

Before the chaos.

Mild chaos.  That's my kitchen right there in those crates and boxes.

My bedroom.

My spiffy, shiny bathroom, thanks to the help of my Mom and Aunt who cleaned it up for us last week!  Still looking for the perfect mirror.

Boys' empty bedroom...

The car bed!  Boy #3 has been SO excited to sleep in this again!  And our beautiful bunk bed Dan built that probably won't fit in the bedroom.