Author: Garth Brown

In a previous post I mentioned that I don’t think I’m particularly prone to anthropomorphizing the livestock. While I do think they have states that vary, I doubt very much these are similar enough to the commonly understood meanings of the words like “emotion” or “mood” to make them useful. But not ascribing to cows the...

The background carrots are straight out the root  cellar, the foreground guy has been washed. Washing before storing tends to shorten the shelf life of roots. Carrots are a staple around here. I don't know if there is anything to the commonly held 'wisdom' that the vitamin A precursors called carotenes are good for the...

Before beginning this blog post, I recommend you sit down. You might think that what we’re doing - growing all our own food for a year - is kind of out there. (Whoa, you might say to yourself, I’d really miss Fresca, not to mention Habbersett brand scrapple!) You might think it would be too much time...

This may just be the keystone to the home-grown food arch I'm living right now. I've grown a lot of produce in other years, but storage has always been less than optimal. Keeping crate upon crate of roots in the basement of the old farmhouse worked for a few months, but the conditions were not...

The picture above is bibimbap, or the closest I could come with the limited ingredients available to me. Real bibimbap would have rice as a base instead of rutabagas, and it would be served in a searing hot stone bowl.  But these major differences actually bothered me less than the absence of sesame seeds and oil, soy...

When I was in college I had a room to myself in a suite of sorts. Feeling kind of lonely I decided to get a pet, so stupidly I went to a pet store. After a bit of deliberation I decided a bird would strike the right balance between being low-maintenance and holding my interest....

Our pigs live in a hoop made of bent chain link fence pipe and billboard tarps, sleeping beneath advertisements for bourbon and health care providers on a bed of wood chips and hay. My brother Ed takes care of the morning feeding, but the afternoon chores are mine, so around three most days I put...

Ed outlined the rules by which we will determine allowable foods, but there’s one caveat large enough to warrant its own post. Last summer, while we were ironing out the specifics, we had a significant disagreement. I wanted to allow a monthly exception of some sort, while Ed was more of a purist. I won’t re-litigate...

During 2015 we are going to eat “exclusively” from our farm. We talked a number of times about how strict to be, and have settled on the following exemptions. Salt and pepper are allowed. Vitamins and seaweed are allowed. Barter is allowed, particularly if the item we’re trading for is produced by the other barterer....

Why would I decide to eat only food grown on my farm for an entire year? That's a good question! I do like rutabagas more than most people I've met. Also, I have a farm, which makes the whole thing a lot easier. Also, I like eating game, meaning I won't be put out if...