That's right, SEAWEED!!! It's free and plentiful if you live near the coast.

This morning I got up early (free parking before 8am) and went down to the beach with 2 grocery bags and a big plastic bin. I took my plastic bags down to the shore and picked the freshest seaweed which was just washing up on shore. After just 5 minutes both of my bags were full.…

The Food Lawyer: Incorporating your Farm

I always say, treat your farm like a business. Think of this as a continuous process, but it is a process that begins with selecting an appropriate corporate entity under which you may conduct the affairs of your farm. 

There is ample reason to form a company to run your farm. Forming a company will protect your personal assets from the obligations of the company. Company obligations…

Homemade bath products are a cinch to make and so much cheaper than store-bought.  Here are three simple recipes for lavender bath salt, grapefruit & peppermint sugar scrub, and lavender & bergamot body oil that you can make at home.  They make great gifts (I made some for Heather this Christmas) and take just a few minutes to put together.

A note about using essential oils:  When using essential oils, it's best…

I just came across this link and it got me thinking - what a totally terrific idea! Set aside an acre or two and rent them out annually:

Background

Kinder Farm Park's community gardening program consists of about 125, 20 * 30' gardening plots. More than 100 gardeners rent plots each year for $40/plot to grow a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, herbs, and flowers. A program teaching eco-friendly and…

The Practical Prepper

Sponsored by: Emergency storable food supply for disasters at eFoodsDirect.com!

As discussed in…

The Happy Homesteader Blog

Sponsored By: Gurneys! - Get $20 off any $40 Order!

We all have our regimen and daily routine that can involve drawers full of cosmetics and hair rollers to nothing more than a stick of deodorant.  No matter how much you pamper yourself, one thing about becoming closer to nature inevitably always seems to…

Note: I've updated this recipe since I originally posted it.  I think the changes result in a tastier, chewier loaf.

Greetings!  Remember back when I told you all about my final attempt at making a sourdough starter?  I never reported back about my progress...mostly because that attempt, like all the others, was a sad, sad failure.  Still, a few failures have never stopped a girl from trying.  So a few months later, I tried…

The Food Lawyer

There is no better time than winter to think about how to improve your enterprise during the next growing season. If you find yourself gathered around the fire with fellow agrarians, discuss with them the possibility of an agricultural cooperative. 

Cooperatives offer the limited liability protection of other corporate forms but with one significant difference. Cooperatives are owned exclusively by their…

Hi again,



So I had a great connection with Agriculture when I was young.  Teenage years as with most people where full of angst and peer pressure,  following trends and fashions seemed all important.  I left Wales to go to university in High Wycombe in the south of England to study business management.  Who knows what you want to do at 19?  The college years where a laugh interspersed with last minute studying!



I don't recall having any link…

The Practical Prepper

Sponsored by: Emergency storable food supply for disasters at eFoodsDirect.com!

Here's something to consider... in an emergency, how long could you and your family survive… on your own... with just what…

We eat a lot of garlic around here.  So naturally, working with Jean & Leo of Blue Moon Farm at the farmers' market all season (garlic is their specialty!), made me want to plant my own this year.  A couple of weeks ago I bought 1.5 lbs of Music garlic - that translates to roughly 90 cloves.  Since then, I've been waiting for the wacky fall weather to coordinate some sun with my days off.  Today was beautiful - cool but sunny - perfect garlic…

We are due to finish up our first book club selection, Folks, This Ain't Normal by Joel Salatin, and after a vote, we have chosen to read…

The Happy Homesteader Blog

Sponsored By: Gurneys! - Get $20 off any $40 Order!

I know it sounds idealistic, but I do feel that if we all do our part then we can save the world.  From what? Well, you choose, but overall I think that if each person turned their focus to the natural world around them, then philosophies will turn to…

I remember the days I spent on the Farm belonging to My Auntie Sandra and Uncle Pete.  It was in a beautiful spot in the North Wales hills around Ruthin.  I used to visit often, I think to give my Mum a break from being a single mother.  I would be picked up on a Friday by my Uncle when he finished work and dropped off on Monday morning before school.  My Cousins Heidi, Heather and Peter where always welcoming and we would play in the yard and hay shed for…

Hi,  I'm Martin and I want to be a Farmer.



I have decided to do this blog to share my experiences on the long road to reaching the dream of one day owning a farm and to remind me how I did it due to my terrible memory!



I come from Wales in the UK.  Such an amazing little country full of green grass, rolling hills leading into towering mountains, peat colored mountain streams and little white dots all over the place.. That will be the…

The Aspiring Farmer Blog

After a stressful week we finally squared everything away and closed on the farm! Friday and Saturday were our first full days and nights. We brought our sleeping bags and camped out on a blow up bed in the future living room. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to officially move in this…

The Food Lawyer

In response to my initial post, Dusty posed an interesting question about raw milk:

If a member of Farm Dreams farms in a state that allows raw milk to be sold as pet food as long as it's properly labeled, do you see any liability or legal risk for the farmer?  If so, could that be mitigated with an umbrella policy for the farm since they're operating within the…

Well, if you live in New Jersey you can come out from under your beds.  Earlier this week NJ subscribers to a Verizon service received an alarming text message informing them that a civil emergency was occurring and advising them to take immediate shelter. Signed...the U.S. Government. It was a mass text message to an undisclosed number that sent many into a panic.

Read the full story by clicking on the image if you'd like, but the question is what triggered this erroneous "War of the…

During the winter time, we always "try" to get more rest and more reading done.  It is way too cold to move outside, let alone do many projects requiring hand movement.  We have subscriptions to various magazines, watch a few documentaries and tend to add more books to our collection during this time.  One magazine in particular, "Acres USA", has been a wealth of information for me.  I probably look…