January 2022 | The Elliott Homestead Newsletter

I love the start of a new year. Like most of you, even despite the few years we have faced, I’m looking forward optimistically to what 2022 has in store (all documented and shared right here). But I’m also not leaving it up to chance - I’ve been working hard at setting up our work life, home life, farm life, and homeschooling life in a way that makes sure our priorities are accounted for and allowing the "fluff” to be stripped away. In fact, I’m kind of getting aggressive about it.

Speaking of fluff. We’ve had some good fluffy snows as of late - record snowfall, in fact. I do love a proper white winter:

The chickens have had a pathetic winter of laying. Sure, it’s been 1 degree for over 10 days, but they should still be bringing me at least some each day. They’re not. After talking with a farmer friend of mine who has been providing us with eggs during their strike, he encouraged me to fully replace my laying flock every three years. Yes, that sounds like a lot. But chickens typically only lay strongly for a few years before tempering their laying off significantly. That doesn’t mean that they’re worthless as layers, but may be suited to a different farm or a different purpose (read: the soup pot). We are feeding our chickens very well - our layers get the creme de la creme of feed (Scratch’n Peck layer for those wondering) - and as compensation, we expect eggs. So I’m going to give it a go. To keep it simple for myself, I’ve committed to buying a different breed of chicken every three years. This way, I can easily tell who is “old” and who is “new”. With the cost of feed, the value of the space on our land they take up (we only have 2.5 acres after all), and the effort to keep them safe, happy, healthy, and alive - I should at least be able to expect a dozen eggs a day from the size of our flock. Easily. I also got a freeze dryer this year in the hopes of freeze drying all of our excess eggs for storage. I have high hopes for the flock this coming year - replacements come in March and we will be ready. (They take about 16-20 weeks to start laying, so it is an exercise in patience while we wait). We expand a bit more about this, and show you the new chicken coop and run, on this week’s YouTube video (drone shots included!).

We also are facing a big year with our sheep herd. Our ewes are now 7, 7, and 8 years old. They’ve done so well for us - each year, each of them gives us twins (sometimes singles, but mostly twins). They have provided for us so well. They are beginning to show their age though - it’s a bit heartbreaking, really. I bottle fed Eleanor for months (her mother died at birth and we picked her up from a local farm to care for her) while I was pregnant with Will. I would sit with the lamb on my lap and the baby in my belly. It was a special time. Eleanor has been the mother of over 12 lambs now. She’s my matriarch. All of our ewes (Eleanor, Gwen, and Noel) are pregnant currently. They will all give birth to lambs early this spring. And while they may still have a year or two in them in terms of production before they live our their days here on the farm (Mama animals earn a good retirement), it’s time for us to bring in fresh genetics and a new generation of breeding ewes. We have our ears to the ground at some local-ish farms for a few new Katahdin ewe lambs that’ll be ready for breeding next fall.

It’s a year of refinement. A year of intentionality. A year of trimming the fat and ruthlessly preserving the harvest. It’s a year of investing in what brings us great joy and aids us in our ultimate purpose (which is, to glorify God and enjoy him forever). It’s going to be a good year on the farm and in our family because we will make it so, regardless of circumstances and challenges.

(Also, you may notice in the pictures above that my bearded man is not so bearded. He did his once-a-decade shave off and we’re all still trying to recover.)

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In The Kitchen

The kitchen has been positively bustling after playing host to company for over six weeks. When our beloved pastor came down with a severe case of Covid, Stuart’s Dad (who is a retired PCA Pastor) came to fill the pulpit at our church for six weeks while he recovered. We parked a friend’s trailer in our driveway (remember, we all share rooms in our house and have one bathroom for the six of us) and set it up for his stay. It meant a lot more coffee roasting and an extra place setting at each table and we were blessed to do it. For the record: I made both gravy and grits (in this post I call in polenta, I know those are grounds for fighting, but I’m ignoring it) for my very southern father-in-law and was complimented on both. Whether he was being kind or telling the truth, I’ll never know. But it still felt like a victory. I do make a pretty mean pot of grits.

We went a bit wild in the Cooking Community this past month and decided to counter the coolness of the season with a Greek-themed month of recipes. A little flash, a lot of flavor. My father-in-law was particularly keen on the honey cookies which are spiced with orange juice and cinnamon before being drenched in a honey-syrup and scattered with walnuts. He was also happy to eat as many pitas as it took for me to get the recipe right. If you’d like to join our community, you can choose a digital access to all the instructional videos and recipes or choose to have recipes delivered to your mailbox. It’s a very valuable place that is full of home cooks learning how to further develop their skills and find joy in cooking for themselves and their families. I feel so blessed to be creating for this community. I take my recipe development job very, very seriously. My stomach is grateful for the work.

Though we reserve five of our best recipes each month for our Cooking Community members, we have a decade of recipe archives available over on the blog if you’d like to browse them right here. This recipe, this recipe, and this recipe are particular favorites of mine.

It’s worth noting, I also trickle out a few of my favorite Cooking Community recipes to paid-newsletter subscribers (more on this new option at the bottom of this email):

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In The Studio

When Stuart and I sat down to look at the year ahead and what we wanted to invest in, the art store was at the top of my list. Besides cooking, creating still-life photography has been the single most work I’ve ever loved. A year ago, I had a vision for what I wanted to be able to create and with the help of a few photographers on YouTube (and lots and lots of Photoshop tutorials), after 12 months of work, we are really starting to see it come to fruition.

We just launched our brand new site (a huge improvement from our last - 20% discount for visiting!).

We also just launched cellphone cases from some of our most popular prints. As well as a new greeting card option for each image and loads more.

Spoiler: Limited-edition card collections are coming early February!

One of my greatest strengths (so they say) and also one of my greatest weaknesses (so they say) has always been a willingness to jump into an idea and be the fool while I figure it out. It’s single-handedly how I learned to be a gardener, a cook, a farmer, and now a still-life photographer. As they say… if you’re not embarrassed looking back on your first attempt, you didn’t start soon enough.

We are very excited to launch a new art store experience, per request from our customers. This art store allows you to piece together, using one of my images, exactly the piece you’d like to hang on your wall. Whether that be a canvas, framed print, or poster-style print to place in your own frame, our photography will now be available in a large variety of sizes and print options. I have tailored it down to options that I feel best reflect the photography style and I think you’ll be very pleased! You can view the new art site right here. (Make sure you play with the LIVE PREVIEW feature which will show you how your selected piece will look on your own wall via your phone’s camera! So cool!).

Your support and encouragement in the art store has been life-giving. Thank you!

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Reader-Supported Homestead

Recently, we had a butchering post that was the victim of trolls and very-angry vegans. It made me realize why my meatsmith mentor, Brandon Sheard, puts all his butchering information and details behind a membership wall. We’ve all been dealing with censorship and trolls for years now, but in the events of the last few years, it seems to have gotten even worse. Because of this, and because of our desire to move to a reader-support publication of information, we have made the decision to open up a paid-newsletter subscription. Don’t panic! Those of you who wish to will still receive this normal monthly email in your inboxes each month, just like before. Nothing will change for you. We will still continue to put out our podcast, post, and video content like normal.

However.

Those of you who would like to support the homestead can now do so via a $5/month newsletter subscription. Paid-newsletter subscribers will receive the monthly newsletter, as well as exclusive recipes, menu plans, personalized Q&A emails with Stuart and I, and more. Stuart will be heading up the Q&A emails and I (for one) am really eager to have his voice projected on the homestead. He’s a wealth of knowledge, though usually quite reserved about voicing that online. Paid-newsletter subscribers, he would love to field your questions! So far, we’ve seen questions come in about harvesting roosters, sharpening knives, starting a homestead business, preserving meat, roasting coffee, managing schedules, growing vegetables, and more. While we are still working out the exact email schedule, you can expect for us to hit your inbox with exclusive and valuable information at least 3x/month.

If you have found value in our work here on the homestead and would like additional inspiration and answers in your inbox each month, consider joining the paid-newsletter subscription below:

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What’s Inspiring Me

• Homemaker Chic Podcast: Two years ago, I started Homemaker Chic podcast. A podcast to help inspire, encourage, and make other homemakers around the world laugh! What a community it has become. We had no idea when we started it that COVID was about to hit the world and since then, we’ve gathered up a community that absolutely rocks my world. We all needed each other before we ever even knew it. I’m continually encouraged by the wonderful men (yes, there are some men!) and women that make up our community. YOU encourage ME to be a better homemaker and for that I am grateful. You can listen to Homemaker Chic podcast episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.

• Wood whittling: Even though it cost us a trip to the emergency room on Christmas Eve (someone wasn’t wearing their safety gloves!), the wood whittling kits that we got for the boys for Christmas were an absolutely hit. As a knitter, I know how valuable it is to have something productive and repetitive to do with your hands. Same goes for every human. The kids (and Stu) have been working hard on whittling wooden spoons - first attempts at anything are quite awkward - while we sit by the fire each night. It’s an easy hobby that can be picked up and started immediately. Just in case you’re bored.

• Dry Farm Wines: Click here to see the natural, old-world, no sugar wines I drink. They don't make you feel hungover. They don't kill off your gut-biome. They don't undo all the work you put into eating high quality ingredients. These are clean and alive and truly celebrate life. If it's your first time ordering, they'll include an extra bottle for just 1 penny with your box - it can't legally be "free" because bureaucracy. Just make sure you use this link to order to get that penny bottle.

That’s all for now. I think it’s plenty to take in all in one drink! I hope to see you over at the art store, over on the podcast, and over on Substack. Blessings to you all!

Cheers,

Shaye