I so admire what you are doing and have accomplished. I woke up to the importance of food in my mid 20s only. Before this, I grew up on toasters streudels, lipton packaged noodles, the most disgusting minute steak, and second hand smoke. My parents claim I was a picky eater. I wonder why.
I now live cozily with my husband and 2 littles. We hunt big game, have a small garden, order from local farmers as much as possible (THANKYOU clickfork.ca), and also go to a grocery store.
What you write here Tara lights my fire. All I care about is food and family. I might not be 100% self sufficient, not even close, and I may never get there, but my focus right now is cooking and making nutrient dense meals.
Oh, Josee, that diet with the side of second hand smoke sounds like such a delight. Oi. What a testament you are to moving beyond what we inherit into claiming what we want for ourselves. Absolutely wonderful to see how far you've come! You're an inspiration :)
Excellent read, thank you! I thrilled to follow along on your years worth.
The disconnect from our food runs deep. In 2019 I did a year long apprenticeship learning the wild foods and medicine of my region. One day I shared with an acquaintance about my experience and she was utterly dumbfounded that I would eat things I found growing wild. She felt it was dirty and had no conscious awareness that conventional grocery store produce also grows in (far less nutritious) dirt. Wild.
Oh lordy, this type of thing always leaves me so disappointed with where we are. What a horror. Your story reminds me of one my biodynamic farmer friend told me. She had some grade three students at her farm for field trip. She brought them to the carrots and told them they could each pick one and wash it off under the tap. She said that she showed them how to pull the carrot out of the ground and as it exploded into the daylight she got a collective "EWWWWWWWW" from the students who were mortified to learn that "carrots grew in dirt". Sweet mercy.
Isn’t it amazing? My daughter’s friend has learned from her parents that swimming in lakes is dirty and hunting deer (an overrun pest-level population here) is sad. My daughter is gently showing by example that there are other paths in and beliefs about the world.
Hey Tara, thank you for the beautiful pictures, these are a bright spot in my week, and it takes time to stop and record a moment so thank you. Beauty is a balm to the spirit. This article is an encouragement too as I am trying to stretch and do more like our own butter. I am meeting a few people now who are thinking more about this around us and have had three (!) people ask us to show them how to harvest a chicken and dress it (we have done ONE so this is pretty hilarious). I have to tell them we learn just about everything from books and YouTube and websites and you :-). I just have a sneaky question about your egg yolks. My neighbour and I were talking about this and I said I had seen pictures... Is that the Redmond agsalt fine? I got some bags of this (in NZ) and the folks who sold it said they use it to salt meat or on their food because we don't get bulk "human" Redmond salt here and the little pouches are tiny and expensive. I remember you talked about it in a QnA and I tried to follow what you were saying. Do you just put the eggs away in a cool spot covered with something to keep critters off? And do they just go in jars on the shelf, no oil needed to cover or anything? I have lots of eggs and we are closing down our wee egg business so I want to preserve eggs for winter from the heritage girls we are keeping. I am looking up ways to preserve like lime water and pickling. The only salt company we have here is sea salt, I just have to hope the Pacific is less polluted down here, but I can get the Redmond ag from an importer. I have started to wonder how to tell if the Himalayan is genuine. Can't wait to hear how it goes for you this year, I am dreaming (and working on) of following down that road. We don't have such a distinct rest time here covered with snow. The mud drenched grind is not quite the same, the garden does not stop completely ever. A different rhythm but I feel we need to make it more of a rest for us some way. But not the same pressure to have everything completely sorted in autumn. Have fun with the chat too, I don't have one of those phones and don't want one, but I like reading comments here. So nice to "meet" other folks interested in these things.
Thank you for your kind message, Alicia. We freeze our eggs whole, in the shell and I salt the yolks in Redmond ag salt (yes!), and we now freeze dry them, too. If you want all the details, sounds like a good one for Q&As next go around although, it might be a repeat. I really hope Substack allows me to tag essays and Q&A subjects in the future.
Enjoyed this one. Connecting food with mood (even the words are similar, fancy that...) has been a struggle for me as Iived the first 28 years of my life completely disconnected and oblivious.
Also- didn’t know that we can grow ginger in Ontario, apparently it’s possible. I wanna give it a go!! Trying to cut as many imports out as possible but I do love the taste of ginger.
Hi, I'm in Ontario as well and grew ginger for the first time this year. So happy! I've learned from my local farmer that I can also use the green stalk and leaves, like lemon grass - nothing wasted! My farmer friend is also growing turmeric, I'll try that next year!
things that my aunties in Hungary surely knew. a good neighbor helped me euthanize a sick hen a few days ago..something that I suppose most people used to know how to do a few decades ago. It was sad but I feel that knowing how to do this is part of learning to be responsible for the animals in my care.
All these skills and learning, some joyous, some hard, some seemingly impossible. All gifts. I think all of our aunties and grandmothers knew these things. Now we have to remember and reclaim :)
As you know, we're just at the start of our journey back to the land. We started in the spring with a small flock of sheep and chickens. We ended up putting away a good amount of chicken in the freezer and are now collecting roughly 5-8 eggs a day. Sadly, there will be no lamb harvest this year. We clearly waited too long to move our flock indoors at night and lost three ram lambs to either a bear or coyotes. God left us one sweet ram lamb so we can still breed our ewes this year, what a blessing along with a hard lesson.
It's been hard, in every regard, but also the happiest we've been. Thank you for continuing to inform and inspire.
P.s. It'll be nice to join in the chats when it's on android😉
Another lesson from the hardships we're facing right now... I am beginning to see what I offer in our relationship, something I might have seen as a weakness turns out to actually be a positive. You see, I'm the pessimist, I totally knew we were going to lose animals to predators. We're also struggling with our house build and constant setbacks, which I also expected. You see, my husband is feeling pretty dejected right about now, whereas I'm letting out that breath I've been holding and finding myself getting some energy. It's like, OK, the worst has happened, now we have to live with it and move on. My husband being the optimist is super important, or I might not be able to get things started, but I'm happy to learn more ways we balance each other out.
Those are hard lessons and you know, they keep on coming, we just get better at accepting them and surrendering to a will outside of our own. I used to think I was the pessimist and Troy the optimist. That's probably true in some ways, but I think, now, I have stronger instincts when it comes to caretaking. He is stronger, instinctually, with protecting and serving, but we have both come to rely on my instincts around the farm, animals, kids. If I get a niggly feeling, we follow it. We have to come to see these things not as failures but as the reality of living a life close to source. Nothing risked, nothing gained. You guys are doing amazing things already. That's something to be proud of.
Hi Tara, I raise ducks too and have never heard of dry aging them. I see that you hang them whole. Do you have a post that you may have already written that I can learn more about the process? Thank you, and I greatly admire all that you do. I most love that you give the glory to God as it's all His!!!
Hi Laney. All game used to be hung in this way. Have you seen the old french paintings of some wild pheasant, feather intact, hanging on a wall or rafter of a peasant's house? It adds another dimension to the meat. Much tastier, just like in dry ageing other meat.
Hahaha! Beaver butt goo!
I so admire what you are doing and have accomplished. I woke up to the importance of food in my mid 20s only. Before this, I grew up on toasters streudels, lipton packaged noodles, the most disgusting minute steak, and second hand smoke. My parents claim I was a picky eater. I wonder why.
I now live cozily with my husband and 2 littles. We hunt big game, have a small garden, order from local farmers as much as possible (THANKYOU clickfork.ca), and also go to a grocery store.
What you write here Tara lights my fire. All I care about is food and family. I might not be 100% self sufficient, not even close, and I may never get there, but my focus right now is cooking and making nutrient dense meals.
Oh, Josee, that diet with the side of second hand smoke sounds like such a delight. Oi. What a testament you are to moving beyond what we inherit into claiming what we want for ourselves. Absolutely wonderful to see how far you've come! You're an inspiration :)
Excellent read, thank you! I thrilled to follow along on your years worth.
The disconnect from our food runs deep. In 2019 I did a year long apprenticeship learning the wild foods and medicine of my region. One day I shared with an acquaintance about my experience and she was utterly dumbfounded that I would eat things I found growing wild. She felt it was dirty and had no conscious awareness that conventional grocery store produce also grows in (far less nutritious) dirt. Wild.
Oh lordy, this type of thing always leaves me so disappointed with where we are. What a horror. Your story reminds me of one my biodynamic farmer friend told me. She had some grade three students at her farm for field trip. She brought them to the carrots and told them they could each pick one and wash it off under the tap. She said that she showed them how to pull the carrot out of the ground and as it exploded into the daylight she got a collective "EWWWWWWWW" from the students who were mortified to learn that "carrots grew in dirt". Sweet mercy.
You CAN'T be serious?!🤯
Isn’t it amazing? My daughter’s friend has learned from her parents that swimming in lakes is dirty and hunting deer (an overrun pest-level population here) is sad. My daughter is gently showing by example that there are other paths in and beliefs about the world.
Bless your daughter. A teacher already.
Hey Tara, thank you for the beautiful pictures, these are a bright spot in my week, and it takes time to stop and record a moment so thank you. Beauty is a balm to the spirit. This article is an encouragement too as I am trying to stretch and do more like our own butter. I am meeting a few people now who are thinking more about this around us and have had three (!) people ask us to show them how to harvest a chicken and dress it (we have done ONE so this is pretty hilarious). I have to tell them we learn just about everything from books and YouTube and websites and you :-). I just have a sneaky question about your egg yolks. My neighbour and I were talking about this and I said I had seen pictures... Is that the Redmond agsalt fine? I got some bags of this (in NZ) and the folks who sold it said they use it to salt meat or on their food because we don't get bulk "human" Redmond salt here and the little pouches are tiny and expensive. I remember you talked about it in a QnA and I tried to follow what you were saying. Do you just put the eggs away in a cool spot covered with something to keep critters off? And do they just go in jars on the shelf, no oil needed to cover or anything? I have lots of eggs and we are closing down our wee egg business so I want to preserve eggs for winter from the heritage girls we are keeping. I am looking up ways to preserve like lime water and pickling. The only salt company we have here is sea salt, I just have to hope the Pacific is less polluted down here, but I can get the Redmond ag from an importer. I have started to wonder how to tell if the Himalayan is genuine. Can't wait to hear how it goes for you this year, I am dreaming (and working on) of following down that road. We don't have such a distinct rest time here covered with snow. The mud drenched grind is not quite the same, the garden does not stop completely ever. A different rhythm but I feel we need to make it more of a rest for us some way. But not the same pressure to have everything completely sorted in autumn. Have fun with the chat too, I don't have one of those phones and don't want one, but I like reading comments here. So nice to "meet" other folks interested in these things.
Thank you for your kind message, Alicia. We freeze our eggs whole, in the shell and I salt the yolks in Redmond ag salt (yes!), and we now freeze dry them, too. If you want all the details, sounds like a good one for Q&As next go around although, it might be a repeat. I really hope Substack allows me to tag essays and Q&A subjects in the future.
“I want to strip my extravagances away and get to the core of what this land offers us.” — wow. I love you Tara haha
Thanks so much, LL! 🙂🙂
Enjoyed this one. Connecting food with mood (even the words are similar, fancy that...) has been a struggle for me as Iived the first 28 years of my life completely disconnected and oblivious.
Also- didn’t know that we can grow ginger in Ontario, apparently it’s possible. I wanna give it a go!! Trying to cut as many imports out as possible but I do love the taste of ginger.
Hi, I'm in Ontario as well and grew ginger for the first time this year. So happy! I've learned from my local farmer that I can also use the green stalk and leaves, like lemon grass - nothing wasted! My farmer friend is also growing turmeric, I'll try that next year!
Catnip Acres to the friggin rescue!!!! Ok I am feeling inspired. Thanks!!
things that my aunties in Hungary surely knew. a good neighbor helped me euthanize a sick hen a few days ago..something that I suppose most people used to know how to do a few decades ago. It was sad but I feel that knowing how to do this is part of learning to be responsible for the animals in my care.
All these skills and learning, some joyous, some hard, some seemingly impossible. All gifts. I think all of our aunties and grandmothers knew these things. Now we have to remember and reclaim :)
I trust in the wisdom of Creation over the greed of corporations.
Amen sister.
Amen!
Thank you Tara.
I really enjoyed this Tara. So motivating.
Too funny I was in the kitchen the other day and used vanilla and was thinking would Tara do the beaver thing hahaha!
Ha! I think I probably would 😁
Ha ha! Beaver butt goo😆
Maybe calling it beaver essence would make it go down easier. :)
Lol, beavers.
As you know, we're just at the start of our journey back to the land. We started in the spring with a small flock of sheep and chickens. We ended up putting away a good amount of chicken in the freezer and are now collecting roughly 5-8 eggs a day. Sadly, there will be no lamb harvest this year. We clearly waited too long to move our flock indoors at night and lost three ram lambs to either a bear or coyotes. God left us one sweet ram lamb so we can still breed our ewes this year, what a blessing along with a hard lesson.
It's been hard, in every regard, but also the happiest we've been. Thank you for continuing to inform and inspire.
P.s. It'll be nice to join in the chats when it's on android😉
Another lesson from the hardships we're facing right now... I am beginning to see what I offer in our relationship, something I might have seen as a weakness turns out to actually be a positive. You see, I'm the pessimist, I totally knew we were going to lose animals to predators. We're also struggling with our house build and constant setbacks, which I also expected. You see, my husband is feeling pretty dejected right about now, whereas I'm letting out that breath I've been holding and finding myself getting some energy. It's like, OK, the worst has happened, now we have to live with it and move on. My husband being the optimist is super important, or I might not be able to get things started, but I'm happy to learn more ways we balance each other out.
Those are hard lessons and you know, they keep on coming, we just get better at accepting them and surrendering to a will outside of our own. I used to think I was the pessimist and Troy the optimist. That's probably true in some ways, but I think, now, I have stronger instincts when it comes to caretaking. He is stronger, instinctually, with protecting and serving, but we have both come to rely on my instincts around the farm, animals, kids. If I get a niggly feeling, we follow it. We have to come to see these things not as failures but as the reality of living a life close to source. Nothing risked, nothing gained. You guys are doing amazing things already. That's something to be proud of.
Excellent. Thank you for this.
Hi Tara, I raise ducks too and have never heard of dry aging them. I see that you hang them whole. Do you have a post that you may have already written that I can learn more about the process? Thank you, and I greatly admire all that you do. I most love that you give the glory to God as it's all His!!!
Hi Laney. All game used to be hung in this way. Have you seen the old french paintings of some wild pheasant, feather intact, hanging on a wall or rafter of a peasant's house? It adds another dimension to the meat. Much tastier, just like in dry ageing other meat.
Yes, I have seen those. I'll look more into it as it sounds wonderful. Thank you!