Navigating Egg Labels with Your Farmer

Navigating Egg Labels with Your Farmer

Food labels can often be confusing or even misleading. Let’s break them down together.

When you see the label “free range”, what do you picture?

Chickens frolicking through green pasture all day long?! At least that’s what the picture on some egg cartons shows, but that may not be the reality.

There are so many options at the store: Free-range, Certified Humane, Cage-free, Omega-3 Enriched, Organic, Vegetarian Fed, etc.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed and just choose the first carton you find without a broken egg or the one with the prettiest picture.

Check out this blog post to learn what the labels actually mean.

Handmade Lard Balm

Handmade Lard Balm

Last Christmas, I got struck with some creative energy and figured I should harness it - I learned that you can make moisturizing balms with lard!

Though it should make total sense because it’s a fat just like coconut oil or shea butter or cocoa butter, I just never thought about lard being used for anything but cooking.

Lard is actually super similar to the chemical makeup of our own oils, making it a a great option for skin care.

Lard from pasture raised pigs is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E, A & D. This means it's very gentle on our skin, easily absorbed, and nourishing. Then we use beeswax to help lock in moisture. 

Read more to learn the recipe!

Two Ways to Thaw Frozen Meat

Two Ways to Thaw Frozen Meat

If you’re new to buying meat from us or another local farmer, you may not be familiar with purchasing frozen meat.

Since all of our meat is frozen, our goal is to help you feel confident in thawing meat from us in a way that does not compromise the quality or food safety of the meat.

The nice thing about buying meat from a local farm like us is that the meat was most likely vacuum sealed and frozen directly after butchering, which is perfect for freezer storage and will remain top quality in the freezer (at zero degrees) for at least a year and food safe indefinitely.

Meat purchased from the grocery store was likely butchered, frozen for storage and transit, and then thawed to display at the store. This is why grocery store meat doesn’t last long once purchased.

However, once you thaw meat from our farm, it’s good in the fridge (below 40 degrees) for up to a week!

Let’s dig into the two ways we’d recommend that you thaw your meat.

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Simple Nourishing Bone Broth

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Simple Nourishing Bone Broth

If you’re like me, you value nutrition, taste and ease when it comes to what you eat and bone broth is the key to all of these things in our home.

Whether you’re throwing a quick pot of rice together, preparing a nourishing soup, or you simply want to enjoy a nutritious warm drink to start your day, bone broth has completely revolutionized our kitchen and our bellies.

In this blog post, I’ll share some of the health benefits of bone broth, how I love to make it (don’t worry, I keep it simple!), and some of our family’s favorite ways to cook with it.

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Cast Iron Lard Biscuits

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Cast Iron Lard Biscuits

I had never been a huge biscuit person until recently. These are melt-in-your-mouth, flaky, buttery, savory and pure deliciousness.

These biscuits, made with our lard, are amazing with apple butter, jam, sausage patties, or for an epic breakfast sandwich. They come together quickly and are simple to make. Enjoy!

Lard Vs. Leaf Lard

Lard Vs. Leaf Lard

If you were to ask me the difference between leaf lard and regular lard 2 years ago, I would have had no idea how to answer. I didn’t even know what lard was before raising pigs. I thought it was the same thing as crisco!

I’ve learned a lot these last few years, especially when it comes to honoring the whole animal we’ve work so hard to raise well. I’m still learning daily.

One of the things that heritage breed pigs raised outside tend to have a lot of is fat and once rendered down, is called lard. From a pig, you can get both regular lard and leaf lard. Read more to learn the difference!

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A Farmers Guide to a Perfect Roast Turkey

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A Farmers Guide to a Perfect Roast Turkey

You’ve made your Thanksgiving plans, reserved your turkey fresh from our farm and now you’re anticipating a wonderful meal with those you love.

This turkey was raised the way God intended - enjoying fresh grass, bugs and lots of sunshine.

You will love knowing where your food comes from and your taste buds will too.

Whether you’re confident in the kitchen or just starting to dip your toes into cooking, we hope this step-by-step guide will be helpful for you.

Stretch Your Food Dollars with this Ham, Bean & Veggie Soup

Stretch Your Food Dollars with this Ham, Bean & Veggie Soup

Now that we are a couple weeks into fall, I’m getting excited for all the soups and broths.

Soups are cozy, easy to make, and usually utilize the more inexpensive cuts like chicken broth bones, pork neck bones, or like in this recipe, ham hocks.

The hock is basically the very bottom of the leg bone where the foot is attached. It’s a lot of skin and fat with a bit of meat so a lot of butchers have these smoked & cured to add flavor and a bit of meat to beans, broths and soups.

This soup comes out to just over $2 per serving and then I usually serve with some yummy toasted and buttered bread or a grilled cheese.

Meal Planning on a Budget

Meal Planning on a Budget

Even before we started our farm, we’d stock our freezer with bulk meat from local farms. This was a way for us to save money and know we had good meats on hand.

We loved being able to make one purchase and have meat for several months or more. It gave me trust in the meat I was feeding our family since I knew exactly where it came from. I also loved the variety that came with purchasing the whole animal.

Nourishing Your Pet from the Farm

Nourishing Your Pet from the Farm

On our farm, it’s immensely important for us to utilize as much of each animal as possible. We work really hard to raise our animals well and we are so grateful for the nourishing meat they provide for our family and our community. However, there are some parts of the animal that are less desirable and we want nothing to go to waste.

A huge part of being as little waste as possible is to offer those less desirables as food or treats for pets. These items are all safe, human grade (except the chicken pet grind since it has ground bone) and are great sources of protein, fat, & nutrients. And the feet are like nature’s toothbrushes for dogs!

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Farmhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Farmhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies

There aren’t many things that I’ve made more of than homemade chocolate chip cookies. We made them a lot with my mom growing up. I make them every month or so and we always make about 6 batches right before Christmas to have on hand for Christmas parties.

Once we found out our butcher will render the fatback into lard for us, I knew I had to try it in baked goods! I’ve tried a few recipes where lard was the only fat I used in the cookies, but my absolute favorite is a mixture of both lard and butter. The lard adds moistness and chewiness while the butter adds that richness I love in a cookie.

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Homemade Chicken Ramen Soup

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Homemade Chicken Ramen Soup

It’s soup season! And this is one of the most cozy, filling and nourishing soups I’ve had yet.

My sweet friend Kathryn that helps us so much with the farm and our kiddos inspired us to try this. She is an amazing cook! So I got all the ingredients one day that she was coming over and she walked me thru it. I remember that afternoon leaving the kitchen a disastrous mess, because all we wanted to do was sit and enjoy every bite and sip of this soup.

Use this as sort of a fridge dump soup with leftover veggies you may have! Hope you enjoy this as much as we did :)

Cooking with Bone Broth

Cooking with Bone Broth

I had written a blog here on our website a few years back all about the health benefits of bone broth, how to make it and some simple ways to use it. I wanted to write up a separate blog to expand specifically on how we use bone broth, because it has honestly become a staple in our kitchen. It’s something I always like to keep on hand for daily cooking and sipping.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie with Lard Crust

Homemade Pumpkin Pie with Lard Crust

If there’s one thing I think of when it comes to fall, it’s homemade pumpkin pie!

My mimi (Rachel's grandma) always made the best pie crust. She simply used crisco, salt, ice water, vinegar and flour. So I put my own spin on it to include our lard and I'm so excited to share it with you!

Come read the full recipe and you can even serve it with homemade whipped cream, yum!

Back to School Quick & Easy Dinners for the Week

Back to School Quick & Easy Dinners for the Week

I know the weeks when school starts back can be stressful and chaotic as you adjust to a new normal. I wanted to create a meal plan of simple, yummy and quick recipes for that first week back to help make the transition as smooth as possible for you, mama!

Plus, we curated a bundle straight from the farm that provides all your protein needs for this meal plan thru the month of August. Recipes include crockpot tacos, sausage alfredo garden pasta, and more!

Best Southern Green Beans I've Ever Had

Best Southern Green Beans I've Ever Had

Now that summer is here, so many veggies are in season! One of my favorites is green beans and whenever I picture green beans in a meal, I always think of bacon. Bacon just always takes things to the next level, am I right?!

I wanted to share a recipe I’ve already made several times this year. It’s super simple and always turns out delicious! You can simmer on the stove or use an instant pot, which is what I did. Read the full recipe in the blog!

Never Eat a Dry Pork Chop Again

Never Eat a Dry Pork Chop Again

You know what I’m talking about….the pork chop you have to slather gravy over or need to chew for minutes before swallowing. I grew up thinking pork chops were tasteless, tough and dry. I honestly wasn’t that excited to try ours when we harvested our first pork, because I was expecting the same thing.

BUT then I learned how to cook pork chops well. That paired with the flavor and wonderful fat content of our pigs made for the most delicious pork chops I’ve ever had.

Read more to learn my simple tips for the perfect pork chop…

Mason's Current Jobs on the Farm

Mason's Current Jobs on the Farm

One of the biggest reasons we started the farm was to be able to raise a family around farming and the beautiful lifestyle that went along with it. To be able to teach our kiddos how to nurture & care for animals and the land, how to have responsibilities that require of you even when you don’t feel like it, how to work hard on a project or a goal, to fail but keep going, but most of all how to work alongside each other as a family and build something that is a blessing to our local community.

Mason’s first jobs on the farm when he was around two years old included chasing baby chicks, holding the hose in the water bucket (and soaking himself) and stealing daddy’s tools.

Now that he’s 3.5 years old, he’s got a lot more jobs on the farm….some we ask him to do and some we don’t, ha!

Our Guide to the Perfect Quiche

Our Guide to the Perfect Quiche

One of my favorite thing about making a quiche is that you can keep it as simple or as fancy as you’d like. You can use what you have on hand or you can buy a few perfectly curated ingredients (or whatever is in season at the farmers market) depending on what you’re craving that week. I also love that you can make this and then eat off it for a few days and the flavors seem to mesh more and more each day, yum!

Check out our quiche must-haves and one of our family’s favorite recipes…

Dyeing Eggs: White vs. Brown

Dyeing Eggs: White vs. Brown

With Easter coming up, I thought I’d do a fun experiment to see the difference between dyed white eggs and brown eggs.

I honestly thought that you couldn’t dye brown eggs for the first several years we had the farm. Mason was still young enough that he wasn’t interested, however, even if he was, I was fully convinced that I needed to buy some white eggs from the store if I wanted the dye to work.

Boy, was I wrong!

I actually love how deep and rich brown eggs can be when they’re dyed and I’d love to bring you along for this fun learning experience.

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