Slowdown Farmstead

Last week, I wrote about the bowmen competition we host here on our farm every year. Quite a few of you asked if I could share more about it. Seeing that Troy is the mastermind behind it, I sat him down and asked him to explain what the competition is all about, why he started it, and what he (they) get out of it. For those that are into these types of competitions, fitness, hunting, or those that just like to hear about them, I offer thee this little audio bonus and photographic evidence of maniacs in motion. Enjoy!

In this segment we discuss:

* animal supplementation,

* chicken feet,

* bone broth,

* overly salty ferments,

* fruit and,

* the ways I commonly use ground beef (we don’t eat tomatoes so no tacos or spaghetti sauces here).

In this first part of the q&a’s, I answer questions on:

* what directions to give your butcher when buying a whole animal,

* feeding kids,

* fleas on critters,

* mice munching on winter stored food,

* animal fats and butyrate,

* my number one dealbreaker when looking for land to farm,

* will we stay in Canada …

Thank you for all of the great questions! Here’s part one of this month’s Q&As. In this episode we talk raising ducks, chickens, electrolytes, adaptogens, and more (including what to watch out for if you’re buying medicinal mushroom blends).

These Q&As are offered as a perk to paid members, but I’m opening up part one to all so you can decide for yourself if you think you might like to sign up for a paid subscription. Part two includes conversation around salt, snacking ideas for kids, sheep, meat rabbits, sunbathing, milk cows, and a myriad of other things that find their way into my brain and out of my mouth. I hope there’s some good little bits in here for all.

Part two has been sent to all paid subscribers.

Follow up resources to this portion of the Q&As:

* A great foundational book to get you learning more about adaptogens.

* Electrolyte blend we use in 2 litres water: 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp potassium (we only add this if we think we need it), a magnesium capsule (not all the time).

* This is the electrolyte Troy buys as a treat every now and then.

* This is a great article that expands on what I touched on regarding medicinal mushroom mycelium vs. the fruiting body. Most of what is sold commercially by the big mushroom purveyors is a blend of grain substrate and mycelium. Not at all ideal.

* And, below, is the picture of my mite-free chicken house thanks to the wonderful spiders therein.

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Thank you, all, for your thoughtful and fun questions. I tried to make this as conversational as possible - script-free, flawed, and unpolished. Just like me. These Q&As are part of my paid subscriber perks, but I’m opening these answers up to everyone this weekend. Hope there’s a useful tidbit or two for everyone.

Slowdown Farmstead is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Normally Saturday posts are for paid subscribers only - a little thank you for your support. These 2nd weekly posts usually consist of Q&As, monthly roundups of things we’re eating/ doing/farming, notes on what’s inspiring us, things we’re experimenting with, and goings on around the farm. I will open up the occasional Saturday post, like today’s, to all subscribers so you can see if you’d like a paid membership to get in on all the delights.

For this TnT gab-a-roo, Troy and I discuss conflict, how we used to handle it and how we deal with it now. I also put him on the spot with a question a friend asked me earlier this week, “What should a parent have in a first aid kit for their kid?” He handled it like a champ, of course. He’s such a good sport.

Here’s a link to a few of the items we spoke about (I will leave it to you to find a seller in your locale):

* disposable skin stapler

* tourniquet (Canada)

* tourniquet (US)

The above CAT tourniquet is graded for children greater than six but studies have shown that it’s also effective for kids aged 2 and older.

Slowdown Farmstead is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I convinced hubs to join me for another chat. My intention was to use this audio podcast as an addendum to my essay, “to be nourished”. We got into all sorts of things, marrying up physical fitness programs with seasonal eating, plans around the farm, what we’re eating now and how that changes, starting bulk buying groups for seasonal, local food, and what types of projects we’re taking on this year. I hope there might be a gem or two in here for many of you.

Slowdown Farmstead is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Thank you for all of your excellent, thoughtful questions. Phew! There were so many on diverse topics. I tried to get through most of them, but like I say in this audio offering, in the future, we’ll do these once a month and have a topic for each one. That way, anyone not so interested in ‘farming’ or ‘raising kids’ or whatever can just disregard. I think that will also help with the ‘conversation’ a bit, allowing my brain to focus on one subject and dive into it with gusto.

For those that didn’t have all of your questions answered, I will return to the question submission thread and answer more questions in the comments. If you had multiple questions and I didn’t get to them all, please resubmit in coming months.

This go around, the questions were opened to paid subscribers only, as are my audio readings of my essays. I leave these answers for everyone. In coming months the q&a’s and a few other perks, will be solely for paid members. That said, if you would like to be a paid member, but cannot afford the cost right now, just drop me a line and I will gift you one. No questions asked.

Hope there’s a little gem or two in here for everyone.

In this little bonus chat, I pinned my husband, Troy, into a corner and got him to answer some of your questions. We talked about what to do when you want to farm/homestead/whatever and your man ain’t feeling it, family, love, farming, and what it means for us to support one another.

I didn’t tell him what we were going to talk about beforehand and I think he handled it pretty well. I just wanted our conversation to be as natural as possible, like you were here listening to us, not a script.

If you like these talks, I might be able to convince him to do more every now and then. In the future, I will keep these talks, and my q&a’s for members as a thank you for your encouragement and support of my work. I’d love to hear what you think of this episode. I smiled the whole way through. God, I love that guy.