Hilltop Homestead

Hilltop Homestead A regenerative homestead on top of a hill.

Adding some color to the world. 💙
07/15/2024

Adding some color to the world. 💙

My pumpkins are taking over my garden! 😳But I guess that’s a good problem to have. 🤣
07/09/2024

My pumpkins are taking over my garden! 😳
But I guess that’s a good problem to have. 🤣

Finally got to cook one of our birds! It was so delicious and flavorful and tender. 🤤Plus, I could taste all the work w...
07/03/2024

Finally got to cook one of our birds! It was so delicious and flavorful and tender. 🤤
Plus, I could taste all the work we put in. 🤣

When you can’t quite figure out how to co-parent. 🤣
07/01/2024

When you can’t quite figure out how to co-parent. 🤣

This picture makes me so proud. It represents hard work, lots of sweat, a little bit of blood, and even some tears. 😂Tr...
06/26/2024

This picture makes me so proud. It represents hard work, lots of sweat, a little bit of blood, and even some tears. 😂
True farm to table! Well, homestead to table. 😉

Today was bittersweet. Processing day always is. We’ve raised these guys for the past 12 weeks. Taking them to be proces...
06/24/2024

Today was bittersweet. Processing day always is.
We’ve raised these guys for the past 12 weeks. Taking them to be processed was harder than we expected.
Raising our own meat has been a goal of ours for a while. And this is a necessary part of accomplishing that goal.
But it should never be easy to take a life, even if that life serves the purpose of nourishing our family.
The sweet part was knowing that these birds only had one bad day in their lives. ❤️

"I say, I say..."This handsome fellow is my White Leghorn rooster. Yes, he is the same breed as Foghorn Leghorn. No, he ...
06/21/2024

"I say, I say..."
This handsome fellow is my White Leghorn rooster. Yes, he is the same breed as Foghorn Leghorn. No, he doesn't stutter. 🤣
This boy matured very quickly, developing a large, bright red comb and wattles at only 5 weeks. This is a good thing, because when I breed him with my females, the hope is that the babies should develop more quickly and start laying sooner. Emphasis on the word "hope". 🤣

If anyone ever tries to tell you that chickens are vegetarian, or that it’s cruel to feed them meat, present them with E...
06/19/2024

If anyone ever tries to tell you that chickens are vegetarian, or that it’s cruel to feed them meat, present them with Exhibit A. 😂
Yes, that is a turkey carcass. And yes, they devoured it. They had it stripped of the meat in a few hours. 😳
There’s a reason we chicken tenders refer to them as our little velociraptors. They will eat anything they can, including mice, snakes, and other chickens. Protein is vital for chickens, from their growth and development, to laying eggs. When they don’t get enough protein, they will actually start eating each other’s feathers, because feathers are pure protein. 😭
Moral of the story: Don’t hit your head and fall down in the chicken coop, or they may never find your body. 😂

This girl is my favorite! She is a cross between a Black Copper Maran and a Crested Cream Legbar, creating what is calle...
06/17/2024

This girl is my favorite! She is a cross between a Black Copper Maran and a Crested Cream Legbar, creating what is called an Olive Egger.
I love how she looks; but more importantly, she lays the most gorgeous, dark green eggs I have ever seen! She is actually broody right now, and I put some of her eggs under her in hopes that we get some interesting chicks that lay green or blue eggs. They should be hatching in less than a week! 🤞

See the darker green grass coming in? Yup, that's where the chicken tractor has been. The nitrogen in the chicken manure...
06/14/2024

See the darker green grass coming in? Yup, that's where the chicken tractor has been. The nitrogen in the chicken manure is great for the grass. Kinda makes me wish I could have made the lines more consistent. 🤣
This picture tells me so much about the health of our grass. Mainly that it is severely nitrogen-depleted, and could use a good dose of nitrogen applied evenly across the lawn, since there's no way the chicken tractor is going to be able to cover the whole yard by summer's end. 😂
But this is why it is so important to work with nature to restore the delicate ecosystem that exists below the grass, in the soil. I promise I won't go too in depth about how I feel about monoculture systems and the way Americans are obsessed with their lawns that are devoid of any variety of plants. 😅
But our soil is the single most important thing to capturing water runoff from rain and preventing drought, as well as capturing the carbon that everyone is so worried about.

One of my favorite parts about unschooling is sitting here on the porch swing, reading to my boys, instilling in them a ...
06/12/2024

One of my favorite parts about unschooling is sitting here on the porch swing, reading to my boys, instilling in them a love for reading and for learning, and hopefully creating core memories. 💙
Oh, and home decor doesn't have to be expensive! I got those pillows for $5 each at Aldi, and I think they look amazing. 😁

Look at the progress these guys from Freedom Ranger Hatchery, Inc. are making! They are gaining weight wonderfully eatin...
06/10/2024

Look at the progress these guys from Freedom Ranger Hatchery, Inc. are making! They are gaining weight wonderfully eating the high-protein, soy-free feed from Till Family Farms. They should be ready to butcher in about 3 weeks!
By the way, they don't normally stand like Arnold Schwarzenegger. 🤣 He is standing like this because it was so hot when I took this picture. 😓 Chickens have to cool themselves by panting and holding their wings away from their bodies.

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Ravenna, OH
44266

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