Since taking over Koinania Valley Ranch for my parents, one thing Jason and I are excited to get back to doing is homesteading.
Several years ago we were blessed to live on 10 acres out in the country near Oklahoma City. We called our place the Hicks Homestead. There we were able to raise beef cattle for ourselves and some friends. We had happy cattle that feasted on the good grass, organic hay and finished on non-gmo feed. Boy was that beef tasty! So much better than store-bought. It had us spoiled.
We also had free-range chickens that gave us delicious eggs to eat. You should see how they would fight over finding a little garden snake. It was hilarious and reminded me of a group of toddlers with a new toy that everyone wanted! Mine, Mine, Mine!
One time I gave a dozen of our eggs to a friend whose daughter was a toddler and refused to eat eggs. That is, until she had our farm-raised ones! I’m telling you, you can taste the difference between eggs from pasture-raised chickens allowed to scratch the ground for bugs and critters and who can feast on produce from the garden, as opposed to chickens that are penned up with little nutrition. What they eat, or don’t eat, is noticeable in more ways than one.
Another one of our joys was the garden that we grew. So many delicious fruits and veggies. Some did better than others, that’s for sure. Watermelon didn’t fair as well, but our tomatoes, peppers and sweet potatoes were abundant. My mom, Mary, taught me the joy of gardening. Even in the town we grew up in where houses were separated by a single driveway, she enjoyed gardening. She grew tomatoes, rhubarb, raspberries and many other plants and flowers for us to enjoy in Northern Illinois. When we moved to Koinania Valley Ranch I remember going out early before the heat of the day to weed with her in her much, MUCH bigger garden. There is something to be said about the satisfaction in starting a seed and watching it grow into a plant that produces food for you and your family.
So now that we are living on the Ranch ourselves, we are going back to what we loved before. This week, we started seeds in our greenhouse that we can transplant into our new garden. I have a sweet potato in water that will grow into several sweet potato slips for planting too.
A few weeks ago we bought 2 heifers to breed when they’re old enough, and 2 steers to raise for meat. They are all pretty sweet and gentle. We hope to get some chickens this spring so we can enjoy gathering eggs of our own again too.
We have some other animals we’d like to add to the Ranch….but you’ll have to wait until next month for that announcement. {wink}{wink}
I hope you enjoy this day that the Lord has made.
Come on over and see us at Koinania Valley Ranch soon!
