Feb.4th - Dr. Malone - your posts have included science, economy, the political landscape and most recently- history, both national & Int'l. But by far, my favorite are the Homesteading posts. It's like seeing "Farmers Almanac-meets-outside DIY". Complete w/ pics & how-to-build it, you and Dr. Jill are a plethora of valuable info. >and love, love the animal pics! Those beautiful Luisitano's will soon have their own 'outside camping' - an Arena. Again, blessings & success on all you put your 🤲 to. - Elizabeth- His Light Beacon
Drs. Malone, If you only wrote of your Homesteading activities it would be enough for me! I started following you to educate myself re. the mRNA technology you invented and your many "hot takes" on the Covid pandemic. But honestly I delight so much in the tales from your farm that I am always left wanting more. Dare I say, I wouldn't care if you continued to write as extensively as you do on scientific subjects and focused more on your homestead. I am keenly interested in how you are ridding your life of micro plastics and the many other subjects related to bettering health. I echo commenters who love the photos. It's a journey into your world that's sheer joy!
In England, as a young girl, my Nana would bus us out to the country to pick bluebells in Spring.
They were glorious under the trees. I would pick as much as I could carry and then take them around to the old people who lived near Nana and they loved them. Good luck with yours!
A word of caution about the Flow hive. They are well-marketed and pretty irresistible but they are not successful everywhere. They rely on the perfect climate in Australia. The bees never took to the plastic webbing in my hive and would not go up on them to make us honey. And I'm on the California Coast.
Now I'm looking into the horizontal hives common in Russia for this year. Watch this video before you decide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFP17VekChQ This is a very cool off-grid couple and the Russian horizontal hive guy. NO heavy lifting with this hive - and no mites.
What an idyllic existence, with such fullness of life lived with artistry. It is enviable while also inspirational. I'd wager that many of your readers/followers would aspire to have such a homestead, be so closely involved with the natural world while also navigating the intricacies of the political policy world. Lives well lived. Well done.
Love, love, love your homesteading essays. Much of my work parallels yours--including saving wood ash, using up frozen stuffs from the summer, baking the last sweet potatoes and butternut squash. I live alone, so four chickens meet my needs, and today found two eggs--spring IS right around the corner! Started winter sowing in milk jugs--chard, brussels sprouts, peas, broccoli, parsley, red cabbage, sunflowers, and skullcap. Will put in another round after this blast of ice and snow hits in a few days. My Spider Farmer (aerogarden knock off) has lettuces and basil for eating now, but my second one will have spinach and arugula to pot up later). Tomorrow I will jam up the last of my blueberries.
Thanks for the information on Flowhive. Very cool. I've also been toying around with keeping bees (we have a huge community up here in West Virginia) and goats. All in good time.
Speaking of, I don't know how you manage to do all that you do. You both inspire me. Nothing more important than staying connected to the land, working with it, listening to it, honoring it. Peace...
You two are very industrious with all you do on your farm and then you find time to ride horses travel to other countries, write your newsletters and follow the politics of our nation and the world. Your amazing! And love following you both.
I love the photo of all your dogs sitting happily in the warm room!
Regarding hazelnuts: in the UK, these are shrubs, easily planted and in the wild happily self-propagating. They are also 'harbingers of Spring' because from the end of January, their catkins develop and start pollinating - to my personal dismay because I'm allergic to the pollen ...
One other shrub you might think of planting is Elder (Sambuccus). The flowers have been used for centuries here to make a beautiful drink. Alternatively, they can be made into a tincture: wonderful when a little kick to go to sleep is required.
As for the berries: elderberry syrup and/or elderberry tincture are an absolute staple in the old wives (me!) home pharmacy, have been for centuries. Drinking either beat of colds, sniffles, and coughs hands-down! Go for them - but beware: the berries do stain something fierce!
Elder lemonade ! two in one if you have your own lemons. And elder syrup if you have too many to drink at once. Another very invasive plant that unfortunately did not take here in GA, I still have to find out if the local one does well too.
Sounds delish! I used to make as much syrup as we could from the harvest - from the hedgerows. The one thing which was always a bit off-putting for me is that earwigs seem to like hanging out in the berry-umbels ... can't stand them, they give me the creeps.
I hear rumors that elderberry is toxic. Is that just in their raw state? I have loads of trees and eat berries and give them to the chickens but am careful not to eat too many. If anyone knows, please advise.
I've never heard of that! In medieval England they were planted as a part of the hedges enclosing fields, and their medical properties are well known. In any case, you'd boil them when making syrup. We could never have enough of it - but gawd, making it is messy and all utensils will get stained and remain stained ... Still, well worth it if you can harvest loads of them.
Have you considered a freeze dryer? So worth the investment and the nutrition value of the preserved food is higher than any other method I know of.
Also, keeping bees has evolved quite a lot. The equipment is much easier to use with less mess. We spin honey right in our kitchen with very little mess.
Just a wonderful, uplifting article. As a cement man myself ( grew up in Brooklyn with cement playing fields) and cement everywhere) I doubt I will ever grow anything(sigh(; however I love your musings and discussions on organic and other things.
Aloha, from cooler than normal Maui. I really enjoy reading your Homesteading posts and am sincerely glad I do not have your cold weather. But I have taken on the backyard farmer project of growing a lot of my vegetables, maintaining citrus, avocado, starfruit, pineapples, and mangoes. I think you should go with the new method of raising bees. Thank you so much for sharing your winter Homesteading experiences.
Like you I’ve thought about bee keeping for around 50 years. Now I have the idea to talk a friend into it. 😉. Have thought about miniature jerseys for decades too. But at this point chickens, a duck and geese are all I can do.
Winter gets old but it’s so beautiful. The arena sounds wonderful, practical and wise.
I love your Homesteading substacks. I learn so much from them. I am going to try to grow A LEMON TREE. I'M EXCITED. We just ate the last of our carrots and squash from our garden. It is so nice to have fresh produce that you have grown yourself.
The info on the bees is really inspiring. We have talked about having bee and have friends who have them and brought over a jar of their awesome honey. My husband is allergic to bees so the new bee honey collector would be ideal. It is something to look at.
It sounds like you are getting Idaho weather. That is crazy.our weather has been crazy as well. We had such cold weather last week and the week before with temperatures dropping sub zero My daughter and her family were in Sun Valley a couple of weekends ago and it was minus 19 degrees. They actually went skiing. I told them they were crazy.. It is 55 degrees today and will be 27 degrees on Saturday.
Feb.4th - Dr. Malone - your posts have included science, economy, the political landscape and most recently- history, both national & Int'l. But by far, my favorite are the Homesteading posts. It's like seeing "Farmers Almanac-meets-outside DIY". Complete w/ pics & how-to-build it, you and Dr. Jill are a plethora of valuable info. >and love, love the animal pics! Those beautiful Luisitano's will soon have their own 'outside camping' - an Arena. Again, blessings & success on all you put your 🤲 to. - Elizabeth- His Light Beacon
So much nicer to read than the mess the world is in.
Drs. Malone, If you only wrote of your Homesteading activities it would be enough for me! I started following you to educate myself re. the mRNA technology you invented and your many "hot takes" on the Covid pandemic. But honestly I delight so much in the tales from your farm that I am always left wanting more. Dare I say, I wouldn't care if you continued to write as extensively as you do on scientific subjects and focused more on your homestead. I am keenly interested in how you are ridding your life of micro plastics and the many other subjects related to bettering health. I echo commenters who love the photos. It's a journey into your world that's sheer joy!
In England, as a young girl, my Nana would bus us out to the country to pick bluebells in Spring.
They were glorious under the trees. I would pick as much as I could carry and then take them around to the old people who lived near Nana and they loved them. Good luck with yours!
A word of caution about the Flow hive. They are well-marketed and pretty irresistible but they are not successful everywhere. They rely on the perfect climate in Australia. The bees never took to the plastic webbing in my hive and would not go up on them to make us honey. And I'm on the California Coast.
Now I'm looking into the horizontal hives common in Russia for this year. Watch this video before you decide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFP17VekChQ This is a very cool off-grid couple and the Russian horizontal hive guy. NO heavy lifting with this hive - and no mites.
Blessings Pam
Have to agree about the Flow Hive. Go with polystyrene hives.
What an idyllic existence, with such fullness of life lived with artistry. It is enviable while also inspirational. I'd wager that many of your readers/followers would aspire to have such a homestead, be so closely involved with the natural world while also navigating the intricacies of the political policy world. Lives well lived. Well done.
Great work (and documenting of it!) Drs and farmers Malone!
We love reading all of your analytical work, and your homesteading work!
We are surviving a bone-chilling (at times), very dry winter here in SW Colorado.
Busy as bees, helping RFK get confirmed, and ready to help US get healthy!
Love, love, love your homesteading essays. Much of my work parallels yours--including saving wood ash, using up frozen stuffs from the summer, baking the last sweet potatoes and butternut squash. I live alone, so four chickens meet my needs, and today found two eggs--spring IS right around the corner! Started winter sowing in milk jugs--chard, brussels sprouts, peas, broccoli, parsley, red cabbage, sunflowers, and skullcap. Will put in another round after this blast of ice and snow hits in a few days. My Spider Farmer (aerogarden knock off) has lettuces and basil for eating now, but my second one will have spinach and arugula to pot up later). Tomorrow I will jam up the last of my blueberries.
Thanks for the information on Flowhive. Very cool. I've also been toying around with keeping bees (we have a huge community up here in West Virginia) and goats. All in good time.
Speaking of, I don't know how you manage to do all that you do. You both inspire me. Nothing more important than staying connected to the land, working with it, listening to it, honoring it. Peace...
You two are very industrious with all you do on your farm and then you find time to ride horses travel to other countries, write your newsletters and follow the politics of our nation and the world. Your amazing! And love following you both.
I love the photo of all your dogs sitting happily in the warm room!
Regarding hazelnuts: in the UK, these are shrubs, easily planted and in the wild happily self-propagating. They are also 'harbingers of Spring' because from the end of January, their catkins develop and start pollinating - to my personal dismay because I'm allergic to the pollen ...
One other shrub you might think of planting is Elder (Sambuccus). The flowers have been used for centuries here to make a beautiful drink. Alternatively, they can be made into a tincture: wonderful when a little kick to go to sleep is required.
As for the berries: elderberry syrup and/or elderberry tincture are an absolute staple in the old wives (me!) home pharmacy, have been for centuries. Drinking either beat of colds, sniffles, and coughs hands-down! Go for them - but beware: the berries do stain something fierce!
Elder lemonade ! two in one if you have your own lemons. And elder syrup if you have too many to drink at once. Another very invasive plant that unfortunately did not take here in GA, I still have to find out if the local one does well too.
Sounds delish! I used to make as much syrup as we could from the harvest - from the hedgerows. The one thing which was always a bit off-putting for me is that earwigs seem to like hanging out in the berry-umbels ... can't stand them, they give me the creeps.
I hear rumors that elderberry is toxic. Is that just in their raw state? I have loads of trees and eat berries and give them to the chickens but am careful not to eat too many. If anyone knows, please advise.
I've never heard of that! In medieval England they were planted as a part of the hedges enclosing fields, and their medical properties are well known. In any case, you'd boil them when making syrup. We could never have enough of it - but gawd, making it is messy and all utensils will get stained and remain stained ... Still, well worth it if you can harvest loads of them.
Elderberry - definitely!
Love reading your posts!!!
Have you considered a freeze dryer? So worth the investment and the nutrition value of the preserved food is higher than any other method I know of.
Also, keeping bees has evolved quite a lot. The equipment is much easier to use with less mess. We spin honey right in our kitchen with very little mess.
Best of luck!
Asever1, Agree re: best nutritional value of freeze dried food. Those dryers are pretty expensive. What brand do you recommend?
The best way to survive winter is to winter in Florida, and let your two sons run the farm. As we do in Front Royal, Virginia
Just a wonderful, uplifting article. As a cement man myself ( grew up in Brooklyn with cement playing fields) and cement everywhere) I doubt I will ever grow anything(sigh(; however I love your musings and discussions on organic and other things.
thx for doing this.
Respectfully.
Aloha, from cooler than normal Maui. I really enjoy reading your Homesteading posts and am sincerely glad I do not have your cold weather. But I have taken on the backyard farmer project of growing a lot of my vegetables, maintaining citrus, avocado, starfruit, pineapples, and mangoes. I think you should go with the new method of raising bees. Thank you so much for sharing your winter Homesteading experiences.
Like you I’ve thought about bee keeping for around 50 years. Now I have the idea to talk a friend into it. 😉. Have thought about miniature jerseys for decades too. But at this point chickens, a duck and geese are all I can do.
Winter gets old but it’s so beautiful. The arena sounds wonderful, practical and wise.
I love your Homesteading substacks. I learn so much from them. I am going to try to grow A LEMON TREE. I'M EXCITED. We just ate the last of our carrots and squash from our garden. It is so nice to have fresh produce that you have grown yourself.
The info on the bees is really inspiring. We have talked about having bee and have friends who have them and brought over a jar of their awesome honey. My husband is allergic to bees so the new bee honey collector would be ideal. It is something to look at.
It sounds like you are getting Idaho weather. That is crazy.our weather has been crazy as well. We had such cold weather last week and the week before with temperatures dropping sub zero My daughter and her family were in Sun Valley a couple of weekends ago and it was minus 19 degrees. They actually went skiing. I told them they were crazy.. It is 55 degrees today and will be 27 degrees on Saturday.
Have a great day . I'm looking forward to Spring.