A Meatsmith Harvest
Farmstead Meatsmith
Recent Episodes
→ In this episode, Brandon asks Rachel and Kyle all his questions about sheep milking, sheep breeds, wool processing, minerals used for health, dewormer, and fencing for sheep. They also discuss sheep harvesting and how mutton is more nutritious and flavorful than lamb.
→ Timestamps/Topics for Episode 111
0:00 Intro
1:02 How much milk can you expect when things are going well?
4:54 How long will you milk a sheep after she freshens?
7:58 Are there any dairy breeds that are hair sheep?/Mulching with wool
13:25 Is someone processing the wool for you?
16:28 What kind of minerals do you put out for your sheep?
27:15 Do you use any dewormer?
29:57 Following sheep with pigs
33:14 What kind of fencing do you use for your sheep and pigs?
40:26 Harvesting the first dairy sheep
46:14 Mutton is more nutritious and flavorful than lamb
→ Links for Episode 111
- Whoopsy Daisy Farm https://www.whoopsydaisyfarm.com/
- The Guide to Homestead Dairy Sheep by Rachel Hester https://sawdustpublishing.com/product/the-guide-to-homestead-dairy-sheep/?v=0b3b97fa6688
- Natural Sheep Care by Pat Coleby https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1302660.Natural_Sheep_Care
- Much Ado About Mutton by Bob Kennard https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21814351-much-ado-about-mutton
- The Nordic Cookbook by Magnus Nilsson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25208269-the-nordic-cookbook
- The Eco Flock: Small-Scale Shepherding for Uncertain Times by N S Rose https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102016416-the-eco-flock
→ Looking for more Meatsmith knowledge? Join our online membership or come to an in-person class:
- Hands-On Harvest Classes - Join us for a hands-on harvest experience on our homestead in Oklahoma. We offer classes on harvesting pork, beef, lamb, and poultry in the Spring and Fall. Spots are limited to just eight students per class to maintain an undiluted hands-on experience. Jump on this chance and sign up today! Farmsteadmeatsmith.com/upcoming-classes/
- Meatsmith Membership - We created an online community and resource for homesteaders and farmers. It serves all those who want to cook and eat well. We offer the fruits of our labor (and our kitchen) from more than fifteen years of experience, and our Membership community of over six hundred is an invaluable digital resource. The only one of its kind in the country, Meatsmith Membership provides an earnest and winsome approach to domestic livestock raising, slaughter, butchery, curing, cookery, and charcuterie. Join us today and partner in growing your home around the harvest. Monthly memberships are $17.49 per month, plus a one-time sign-up fee of $29.99. Or purchase an Annual membership for $189.49 per year with no sign-up fee, saving you $50.38. Farmsteadmeatsmith.com/membership/
In this episode, Brandon chats with sheep homesteaders Rachel & Kyle Hester about Romanian placinta cake, how the Hesters got into raw milk for health, sheep breeds for milking, how to start milking a meat sheep, what a milking session looks like, drinking the delicious milk, and making sheep cheeses.
Timestamps/Topics for Episode 110:
0:00 Intro
3:13 Romanian placinta cake
5:49 How the Hesters got into homesteading with sheep
13:39 Milking meat sheep breeds during lockdown
16:50 Brandon asked about how to start milking his meat sheep
28:12 Herd culture and family groups
34:21 What a milking session looks like
38:00 Teat placement and selecting for good milkers
44:27 Sitting behind the sheep when milking
47:19 Milking just once a day & milk as the main product for a while
53:58 Making sheep cheese
59:46 Experimental cheese making
Links for Episode 110:
- Whoopsy Daisy Farm https://www.whoopsydaisyfarm.com/
- The Guide to Homestead Dairy Sheep by Rachel Hester https://sawdustpublishing.com/product/the-guide-to-homestead-dairy-sheep/?v=0b3b97fa6688
- Placinta cake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pl%C4%83cint%C4%83
- Weston A Price Foundation - https://www.westonaprice.org
- Joel Salatin https://polyfacefarms.com/
- Babraham Institute https://www.babraham.ac.uk/
- David Asher https://www.milklab.ca/
- Natural Sheep Care by Pat Coleby https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1302660.Natural_Sheep_Care
- Much Ado About Mutton by Bob Kennard https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21814351-much-ado-about-mutton
- The Nordic Cookbook by Magnus Nilsson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25208269-the-nordic-cookbook
- The Eco Flock: Small-Scale Shepherding for Uncertain Times by N S Rose https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102016416-the-eco-flock
Looking for more Meatsmith knowledge? Join our online membership or come to an in-person class:
- Hands-On Harvest Classes - Come to one of our harvest classes on our homestead in Oklahoma. We offer classes on harvesting pork, beef, lamb, and poultry in the Spring and Fall. Spots are limited to just eight students per class to maintain an undiluted hands-on experience. Jump on this chance and sign up today! Farmsteadmeatsmith.com/upcoming-classes/
- Meatsmith Membership - We created an online community and resource for homesteaders and farmers. It serves all those who want to cook and eat well. We offer the fruits of our labor (and our kitchen) from more than fifteen years of experience, and our Membership community of over six hundred is an invaluable digital resource. The only one of its kind in the country, Meatsmith Membership provides an earnest and winsome approach to domestic livestock raising, slaughter, butchery, curing, cookery, and charcuterie. Join us today and partner in growing your home around the harvest. Monthly memberships are $17.49 per month, plus a one-time sign-up fee of $29.99. Or purchase an Annual membership for $189.49 per year with no sign-up fee, saving you $50.38. Farmsteadmeatsmith.com/membership/
In this episode, we chat with Shawn and Beth Dougherty about offering liberty and experiences to homeschooled teenagers, why the Doughertys stayed in Appalachia, the Dougherty's house fire and rebuild, proximity to community as the next obstacle, starting with trash land and building up the soil, rotational grazing, turf grasses, and hay, our milking routine and dairy cow domestication, and the Dougherty's Farmstead Butcher Trailers business.
Timestamps/Topics for Episode 109:
0:00 How to offer liberty and experiences to homeschooled teenagers
9:50 Why the Doughertys stayed in Appalachia - to homeschool, homestead, homebirth, and go to daily mass
19:20 The Dougherty's housefire and rebuild
21:18 Proximity to community is the next obstacle
30:15 Starting with trash land and building up the soil
34:55 Our first dairy cow, Georgie
42:30 Rotational grazing, turf grasses, and hay
1:02:46 Brandon's milking routine
1:05:00 The dairy animal is a different order of domestication
1:08:00 Brandon's break from Evolution Biology & God created cattle on the 5th day
1:11:37 Dougherty's Farmstead Butcher Trailers
1:15:30 Planting on a moon cycle
Links for Episode 109:
- Homestead Heritage https://www.homesteadheritage.com/
- The Ploughshare http://sustainlife.org/
- The Liturgy of the Land: Cultivating a Catholic Homestead by Jason Craig & Thomas D. Van Horn https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203018472-the-liturgy-of-the-land
- Wendell Berry https://berrycenter.org/
- Kaleb Handshaw https://coalfield-development.org/bio-kaleb-hanshaw/ https://www.thewildc.com/
- Allen Savory https://savory.global/history/
- Keeping One Cow https://a.co/d/i8Astv6
- The Dougherty's website https://one-cow-revolution.com
- Dougherty's Farmstead Butcher Trailers https://www.doughertysbutchertrailers.com
Looking for more Meatsmith knowledge? Join our online membership or come to an in-person class:
- Hands-On Harvest Classes - Come to one of our harvest classes on our homestead in Oklahoma. We offer classes on harvesting pork, beef, lamb, and poultry in the Spring and Fall. Spots are limited to just eight students per class to maintain an undiluted hands-on experience. Jump on this chance and sign up today! Farmsteadmeatsmith.com/upcoming-classes/
- Meatsmith Membership - We created an online community and resource for homesteaders and farmers. It serves all those who want to cook and eat well. We offer the fruits of our labor (and our kitchen) from more than fifteen years of experience, and our Membership community of over six hundred is an invaluable digital resource. The only one of its kind in the country, Meatsmith Membership provides an earnest and winsome approach to domestic livestock raising, slaughter, butchery, curing, cookery, and charcuterie. Join us today and partner in growing your home around the harvest. Monthly memberships are $17.49 per month, plus a one-time sign-up fee of $29.99. Or purchase an Annual membership for $189.49 per year with no sign-up fee, saving you $50.38. Farmsteadmeatsmith.com/membership/
In this episode, we discussed small-scale vs. industrial-scale meat production, the ontological shift of food, the Dougherty's first dairy cow, a Catholic's view of suffering, the natural state of cows and humans, asking God what's next in the playbook, and how farming won't make you money.
Timestamps/Topics for Episode 108:
0:00 Intro & Ash Wednesday
2:40 Our upcoming classes - small-scale vs. industrial-scale
5:40 Example of the ontological shift of food - salami
18:40 Marketing has made a joke out of things being "real"
24:38 Problems with grain-feeding lamb
30:01 Intro to the Doughertys and their first dairy cow
40:12 Catholicism, suffering, & farming
45:00 Catholic converts longing for a natural way to live and farm
50:15 A cow's natural state is health, and so is a human's
57:00 We inhabit a suburban technological wasteland only by Grace
1:02:00 From homebirth to homeschooling to farming
1:04:00 Asking God what's next in the playbook
1:12:00 Farming doesn't make you money, so how little can you live on?
Links for Episode 108:
- The Dougherty's website https://one-cow-revolution.com
- Dougherty's Farmstead Butcher Trailers https://www.doughertysbutchertrailers.com
- Marcus Grodi - The Journey Home https://chnetwork.org/
- Justin Rhodes' visit to the Dougherty's farmstead https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CyVWQZAygI
- Dietrich von Hildebrand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_von_Hildebrand
- Living the Good Life: How to Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World by Helen & Scott Nearing https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2829865-living-the-good-life
Looking for more Meatsmith knowledge? Join our online membership or come to an in-person class:
- Hands-On Harvest Classes - Come to one of our harvest classes on our homestead in Oklahoma. We offer pork, beef, lamb, and goose harvest classes in the Spring and Fall. Spots are limited to just eight students per class to keep the hands-on experience undiluted. Jump on this chance and sign up today! Farmsteadmeatsmith.com/upcoming-classes/
- Meatsmith Membership - We created an online community and resource for homesteaders and farmers. It serves all those who want to cook and eat well. We offer the fruit of our labors (and our kitchen) from more than fifteen years of experience, and our Membership community of more than six hundred is an invaluable digital resource. The only one of its kind in the country, Meatsmith Membership provides an earnest and winsome approach to domestic livestock raising, slaughter, butchery, curing, cookery, and charcuterie. Join today and partner with us in growing your home around the harvest. Monthly memberships are $17.49/month plus a $29.99 sign-up fee. Or purchase an Annual membership for $189.49/year with no sign-up fee, saving you $50.38. Farmsteadmeatsmith.com/membership/
In this episode, we discuss how we treated Pertussis in our family with vitamin C, how there's no one person or group we turn to for health advice, and the power of nutrition.
Timestamps/Topics for Episode 107:
0:00 Intro & the paroxysmal stage of Pertussis
8:08 Staying up every night to get our baby through the paroxysmal stage
11:57 Vitamin C vs antibiotics
14:17 The paroxysmal cough & immunity to Pertussis
16:34 Our Pertussis timeline
19:57 Recommended vitamin C and how we administered it to our kids
37:58 Record keeping during Pertussis
40:12 Helping our baby cough efficiently & our oldest was most affected
47:14 It's hard work, but stay the course
52:14 Healthy Home Economist & there's no one person or group we turn
59:04 We just need to eat well - the power of nutrition
Links for Episode 107:
- Vitamin C for Whooping Cough by Dr. Suzanne Humphries https://deeprootsathome.com/vitamin-c-for-whooping-cough-by-suzanne-humphries-md/
- Vitamin C gel - Lypo–Spheric Liposomal Vitamin C https://a.co/d/fsZIM9p
- Sodium Ascorbate Buffered Vitamin C https://a.co/d/j7Nk6Y2
- Sufficient-C (flavored) https://a.co/d/cz46h4b
- The Healthy Home Economist https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/
- The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton https://a.co/d/2C6u4Pw
Looking for more Meatsmith knowledge? Join our online membership or come to an in-person class:
- Hands-On Harvest Classes - Come to one of our harvest classes on our homestead in Oklahoma. We offer pork, beef, lamb, and goose harvest classes in the Spring and Fall. Spots are limited to just eight students per class to keep the hands-on experience undiluted. Jump on this chance and sign up today! Farmsteadmeatsmith.com/upcoming-classes/
- Meatsmith Membership - We created an online community and resource for homesteaders and farmers. It serves all those who want to cook and eat well. We offer the fruit of our labors (and our kitchen) from more than fifteen years of experience, and our Membership community of more than six hundred is an invaluable digital resource. The only one of its kind in the country, Meatsmith Membership provides an earnest and winsome approach to domestic livestock raising, slaughter, butchery, curing, cookery, and charcuterie. Join today and partner with us in growing your home around the harvest. Monthly memberships are $17.49/month plus a $29.99 sign-up fee. Or purchase an Annual membership for $189.49/year with no sign-up fee, saving you $50.38. Farmsteadmeatsmith.com/membership/