Author: Sarah

Some random stuff about yours truly: First off, a good cup of coffee consists of two parts coffee, one part cream. Goats are my favorite animal, hands down. I'm slightly behind for my age in tractor driving skills. I'm proud to be a homeschool graduate! Cows don't like me. I can't eat wheat, but I enjoy baking bread. Electric fences are amazing except when they aren't working. I love wool sweaters and hair sheep. I'm helping plant our farm's second orchard: my goats ate the first one. I'm an amateur writer who suffers from writer's block far too often. Earthworms are amazing! I drink kombucha and kvass. My two favorite plants are clover and wormwood. You can find the coolest stuff at thrift stores. This year I have a goal to can 500 quarts of tomatoes. I'm the oldest and soon to be shortest kid in my family. I've been known to eat ice cream for supper. If you aren't convinced I'm crazy yet, read my blog.
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No Chicken This Year

Sarah

Dear friends and customers,

I just wanted to write a quick note to let you all know that our family will not be selling chickens or turkeys this year.

After the passing of my mother last month, we need to cut back on some things this year and take time to heal.  We hope to start again in 2020.

Thank you all for supporting our family business through the years.  It has been wonderful serving you.

For those who ordered feeder pigs for late summer/ fall, we are going to do our best to fill those orders.

Thank you,
Sarah Smith

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

 

 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 King James Version (KJV)

 

 

 

 

Grass Farming, Video

These Lambs Have SPRINGS in Their LEGS

Sarah

local fresh healthy natural pastured chicken central pennsylvania

It’s been an awesome week here at Never Done Homestead.  Our last sheep had her lamb, which brought our total lamb count for 2018 to FIFTEEN LAMBS!  That’s almost twice as many as last year. Wow!

In between the rain showers, we were able to get a little bit of gardening in.
But I’m not complaining about the rain; it’s making our pastures so nice and lush.
All the animals are gorging themselves on all that green goodness, including the Pastured Chickens!

Anna made an update video to show some of stuff we’ve been up to.

In my opinion, the best part of this video is at the end.  If you’ve never seen LAMB RACES, make sure you stay till the end of the movie, because these lambs have found the springs in their legs, and they are USING THEM!

Stay Awesome!
Sarah

Grass Farming, Video

New Lambs on the Homestead

Sarah

I hope you are ready for a cuteness overload, because it’s lambing season here at Never Done Homestead!

grass fed lamb naturally raised central PA sunbury for sale
In today’s homestead video, I get to introduce you to our newest fluffy babies.  Plus, I gave the cows and goats a few mins of camera time, too.  😉

BUT, I do want to warn you. At the END of today’s video, I included scenes of a sheep birth.  I know some people aren’t good with seeing blood and slimy stuff.
So if you know you wouldn’t enjoy seeing a brand new lamb come into the world, just watch the beginning of the video.  I let you know in the video when the birth scene is about to start.

Hope you are having an amazing day!
Sarah

If you can’t see the video below, click HERE!

 

Visit us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neverdonehomestead/

 

 

Building & Fixing, Pigs, Video

The Chicks Are Coming!

Sarah

Do you know how to tame a piglet? This week, I figured it out   Piglets will do just about ANYTHING for eggs.  We kept six of the piglets that were born this winter for ourselves, and we are working on getting them people-friendly.  And, of course, we included them in the video for ya!

We have our first batch of chicks coming in the next few days, so one of the projects we filmed this week was cleaning out the brooder.

We are still taking pre-orders for our Pastured Chicken.  You can get more info about that HERE.

Oh, don’t miss the sneak peak at my sister, Laura’s, newest project.  More coming on that soon!

Hope you are enjoying your Saturday!
~Sarah

 

 

Gardening, Video

We’re Back in the Garden Again

Sarah

 

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you feel like you were just constantly busy, but when the end of the week rolled around, you had NO CLUE what you did all week?

That was our week in a nut shell.

BUT, I do remember one job we completed this week.
We planted the first seeds in the vegetable garden!!! OH YEAH!

For you non-gardeners, that probably sounds really boring.

But after a long, dreary winter, it’s so fun to watch those little green shoots start poking their heads through the garden soil.  Well, unless it’s weed shoots…

So if you want to catch a bit of the fun, join us in today’s video as we begin to awaken the sleeping garden.

 

Health & Nutrition, Video

Whipping Up Some Goat Milk SOAP

Sarah

How is Daylight Savings Time treating you today?  Me?  I’m tired.

Don’t worry.  We will all adjust before the time “falls back” in the autumn.

To perk up your tired brain, we have a short video for you!

Come join me in the kitchen as I whip up a batch of goat milk soap.
I’m using the beef tallow that we rendered earlier in the winter.
(If you didn’t see the tallow rendering video, you can watch it HERE.)

If you can’t see the video above, click HERE!

Hope you are having a great day!
Talk to you soon,
Sarah

Pigs, Video

Wrapping Up January with PIGLETS & a LAMB

Sarah

Can you believe it’s the end of January already?!  Why, it feels like Christmas was just last week!

But before January is officially over, we have a couple things to share.

First, the piglets are here.  Well, some of them, anyway.  Anna tells me there are a BUNCH more on the way.  She and my younger sisters are going to be BUSY next month!

BABY PIGS NATURALLY RAISED NO GMO FEED CENTRAL PA

(I have to admit, pigs are not my thing. I really think they hate me. So, since my sisters don’t usually need my help in the pig barn, I focus more on the sheep, goats, and pastured chickens.)

And as if taking care of a bunch of grumpy pregnant pigs didn’t keep her busy enough, Anna has also been bottle feeding a baby lamb.  Our cousin had a sheep that rejected her lamb, so Anna agreed to take care of the baby.

Want to see all these cute babies?  Check out Anna’s video below!

Till next time, friend,

Sarah

 

Building & Fixing, Cooking & Eating, Humor, Video

Do You Keep a SAW in Your Kitchen??!?

Sarah

grass fed lamb central PA winter

Happy SPRING! Oh wait, it can’t be spring. It’s still January. Oh well, it feels like spring!

Yes, we have had several oddly warm days, which, after two weeks of arctic blast, HAS BEEN AMAZING!

SO…we have been catching up on outdoor jobs while the weather holds.

Plus, we made you a movie. And you are probably going to think we are even crazier than you thought once you watch it. (I hope you aren’t grossed out….)

Oh, and did you see the photo of the sheep at the top of this post. I took that photo this morning. We filmed the video on Wednesday. After you see the video, you will get what I’m saying. (THAT WINIFRED!!!!)

Ok, I’ll stop jabbering!
Have a lovely weekend,
Sarah

Grass Farming

The Homestead is FROZEN

Sarah

We don’t have a video, but I think I have a good excuse. It has been downright, positively TOO COLD TO FILM!! It hasn’t been over 32*F since Christmas, and seeing single digits on the thermometer has become pretty normal.

Plus, I don’t think Anna and I are too photogenic with umpteen layers of winter gear on.  Good grief, my sheep didn’t even recognize me the first time I went out to the barn looking like an overstuffed winter scarecrow.

So….I thought I’d give you a written update instead of a video since I can do that from the warmth of the house while drinking coffee.
All our animals have been handling this never-ending-arctic weather extremely well. The pigs have made themselves a huge, toasty hay nest and are sleeping the winter away, and the chickens and rabbits are happily munching all the extra feed we have been putting out. The cows are getting fatter, the goats are more than happy to stay in their shed, and the sheep don’t seem to know anything is different than usual.  BUT, the sheep are FINALLY using their calf hutch barn shelters!  I guess the weather finally became cold enough for them to bite the bullet and quit sleeping under the stars.

(If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out THIS VIDEO where my sheep are sleeping out in the snow.)

hair sheep winter housing central pa homestead

 

See! I even snapped a photo with my phone as proof!

Well, I need to go chop ice off the water buckets…again.

So till next week, keep warm and stay hydrated.

Sarah