We Were SURPRISED When The PIGS Acted This Way!
It is a rainy, cold yucky day, so Kevin and Sarah answer questions in front of the wood stove about the woven weed fabric, about the pig breeding and upcoming dispatching, and discuss their Blue Slate turkeys, Kevin's parent's move to the farm house, and a channel schedule change.
#pasturepigs #raisingpigs #homesteading #selfsufficient
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Living Traditions Homestead is all about living a simple and sustainable way of life. We believe the world has gotten too “busy” and that people are missing out on many of the true blessings this world has to offer. We started as a small urban homestead in Gilbert, AZ and after the city grew up around us, decided it was time leave corporate America and take a big leap of faith by moving our family to the Missouri Ozarks.
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You two are inspiring
They were the very first Youtube channel I watched and sub’d to…they taught me about raising, breeding and harvesting meat rabbits…as well as meat chickens…canning, gardening, everything we do I learned from Kevin and Sarah…
I’m 76 yrs old. I know something about turkeys, chickens you need to know. Pneumonia in these birds will not happen if you feed them home canned tomatoes. I lost the brood light n had babies fallen out around the huddle. Fed them warm canned tomatoes. Never lost a one. In fact Ive never lost a turkey or chicken of any age except to predators. It’s the acid in tomatoes, I think.
@Merry Anne Adair I have lots of chickens and I’d heard that before. Even on my other place where I could raise turkeys, I had chickens and they caught blackhead and they would also get knots in their mouths. Here on this place. I cant even get them half grown.
Or it could be the vitamin c.
So funny. Interesting indeed.
I second it’s probably the vitamin c and probably antioxidants helping their immune system. Good to know!
Now that is interesting.
So happy to hear about your folks, you have been blessed. Gina, from Lumnah Acres, used a saying, “Living with an attitude of gratitude”; that is your family!
I really enjoy watching your family grow with the Lord. Following where he led you without knowing why and without questioning and doubting him has put your family in the position the Kevin’s parents will know this move will be an easy transition for the entire family. It’s often a worry of parents that they will become a burden on their children as they age, but by your faith this has helped remove this. What a beautiful story, I am still learning to walk with the Lord as my lead, and I am learning so much from watching your videos, I don’t know it you set out on your YouTube channel to do this but God works in ways we don’t understand sometimes. I live in a condo, no real place to grow food, other than a few containers on my patio, but somehow, a couple years ago your video showed up as a recommendation. It was the video of Sarah canning tomatoes that were frozen, I’ve followed from then on. Now I’m canning, and growing with the Lord. Thank you both
No doubt at all…God has been and is leading you…it’s amazing when you have the AH moment and you see all the dots connected…you are truly blessed!
I was always so scared to can. I don’t have all the stuff to pull them out a rack etc… I made it work though, thanks to you. I am so happy because I have been wanting to make Sriracha sauce for years and years , so when I saw that video as I had 300 jalapeños setting on my kitchen table I knew I had to do it . Thank you.
I also took your advice a year or so about the weed fabric, game changer, I’m pretty much poor but I put my extra money even not so much extra into my garden. I put in irrigation under ground to the garden . Best crop I ever had. Oh and I raise chickens and pigs thanks to you guys. Thank you so much for changing my life.
Btw I always share your message. You are Blessed as I thanks to you
God Bless you!
It’s definitely not easy starting @ the bottom on the $ end of things.
It can be done just take more hard work, time & careful planning.
Take care & be safe!
Wow! Good luck canning and gardening. Blessings to you.
Wow! That is awesome.
How wonderful! Continuous blessings!
I love your faith and how the tender mercies of the Lord manifest. You are double blessed because you recognize Him. ❤️❤️❤️
is there any benefit to the vegetable patch to let the pigs root around and till it over the winter?.
Tip for rendering lard – semi freeze, put thru grinder, then render. You get more lard easier.
You will love having your parents closer. My Dad lives with Jesus now and my mom is too far from me.. I had her live with me for awhile and loved it. She is very independent and wanted her own apartment and was worried about telling me because she knew I would be heartbroken but I told her she is not allowed to leave New York as she moved up from Arkansas and stayed with me just long enough until she got her own pad. She’s 90 going on 20 and is full of life and loves the Lord and still sings with the voice of a 20 year old when she is asked at churches etc..
I took your advice on the woven ground fabric. Wow! My garden turned out amazing and really did block about 90% of the weeds. I pulled mine up already. To make it easy for next year I numbered each sheet and i will reverse it next year to rotate where I plant and I use the same holes I made to plant. Also your idea of using one of those torch lighters to cut the holes for planting worked fantastic. Thanks for the ideas.
I am glad you do not feel the need to put out a video every day. The content is much more valuable when you do it this way. You are my fav homesteaders. I never feel that you are stretching for content aND i LOVE YOUR VERSION OF Q&A. Yes bringing the sows to the boar will probably work out better. Also the comments are great on your videos. Seems like a knowledgeable sharing community. God Bless
I agree. There are a few other homesteaders i watch here on youtube who do post every day, and while theyre good people who are working very hard, the videos are so repetitive, it just turns into the same thing every day! I would much rather watch something thats going to be different a couple tines a week rather than the same thing every day!
JoAnn your comment expressed my thoughts perfectly. They are one of 6 or 7 vlogs I follow regularly.
We live in the mountains in Colorado and as you know, we are on fire! The snow was a huuuge blessing. Here where we are we got about 8 to 10 inches! Blessings! Thanks for this video!
Oh how wonderful to have Kevin’s parents moving in! Ya know I can’t speak for everyone but for me I’ve found there are some people that you just feel an immediate closeness to. With that being said I have to tell you I feel so close to you two , like you’re family. Hope you understand and don’t think I’m weird! God has been gracious and he is always if we try to live in thanksgiving , and just be kind to one another. Be blessed and favored ❤️🙏🏽
I’ve been a fan for a couple years. I love your “format”, and I truly enjoy watching, reinforcing, and learning new stuff. Thank you for doing what you do… Although I’ve been a farmer my whole life, and a lot of what you share is just common sense ( to me), I do pick up something new or, a better way, quite often. Keep up the GR8 work and may GOD continue to bless your family and keep you safe.
I have to tell you, I look forward to each and every video you put out. I am almost 70, and you two are living the life I have always dreamed of, but because of different situations and circumstances, I only could do part of what you do, and that has been on small town lots. Now that I am older, health issues prevent a lot of that, so though I still can, garden a bit, no place to raise livestock, but I do hunt and fish to supply a lot of my meat, I live the homestead life through your videos and a few other channels, but yours is by far my favorite. Keep up the good work, without it I would really be missing out. It is very enriching seeing those smiling faces, and the hard work you put into your lives. God Bless you both.
Love your baseball shirt with ” Give Thanks” on it. Where did you find it?
A great Women-owned Christian company that I love. http://Www.ellyandgrace.com Check them out and get 10% off with code LTH10.
@Living Traditions Homestead I think you look really nice in that shirt!
@Living Traditions Homestead I love those t shirts and hooded ones,Mine was too big, but I will order next size down, but I think 5hey are awesome, good quality
Oh my! I’ve laughed until I cried over those last few minutes of you two talking about your “not so smart” turkeys lol. That was a really funny segment between Sarah’s comment about their lack of natural instinct to take cover and Kevin’s description of them standing outside in the rain with their mouths open and drowning I totally lost it! Never knew this about turkeys…maybe that’s where the original cliche of “bird brain” came from….someone was outside watching their turkeys drown lmao!!!
And just think, they wanted to make a turkey our National bird! I prefer the EAGLE!
@Jean G Wild Turkeys are much smarter, but I still prefer the Eagle as National Bird.
I “follow” a lot of You Tubers. Over the summer I fell in love with a little sea otter named Joey. Aside from Joey, this channel is the only channel I watch on a regular basis, the rest I’m kind of “meh”. I am so glad Kevin’s parents are making the move to be with you. I know the holidays will be extra special for you this year. Sarah, I am also so happy for you that you have this extra intuition and that you follow the gift that has been given to you and that Kevin listens to it as well. Your videos are funny, informative and inspiring. I look forward to them each week. Have a blessed day. 🙂
You all are such a cute couple and Sarah I just have to say you are easily one of the prettiest women I have ever seen. (I hope that doesn’t sound odd coming from another woman) Your smile is contagious and it’s easy to see the joy of the Lord emanating from you.
“The Hay-Straw Amendment, and the Great Turkey Heritage.” — a short story
I finally remembered! Knew it was in my brain somewhere, took 4 months to dig it out. They say “the cream rises to the top eventually” but, you know, so does the foam scum, so I start out suspicious of anything it takes me that long to remember.
We used to live on what amounted to a huge clay deposit, which made the dirt want to harden up over the summer like what you’ve got there. I mean we could make grey pottery of it right out of the ground, until it was worked into a good growing soil.
The trick was twofold. One, as I’ve mentioned before, is copious layers of horse manure for the nitrogen and minerals, turned through in the autumn. For nitro-hungry crops like corn or metal-eaters like peas, you can put it on again in the spring. All that soft organic content will mix through the clay and it least let it soften to mud instead of setting into mortar when it’s wet.
The other — and you wouldn’t think it’d take 4 months to come back up with this one, but I’m getting older and denser myself — was lots and lots of straw or hay! I almost remembered it last month when you were showing the hay barn on the new land, but it slipped away into my oily thick brain tissue again. Then, somehow, when you were talkin’ turkey today, it popped back into my mind: the smell of hay in the dirt! (…and maybe a burnt brain cell or two)
This is also a good way to use up some of the leftover bales come springtime, when they’ll be getting wet and tough from the damp cold air for months, and you don’t want the cows to come down with moldy tummies or full of some kind of ergot crazy. You break up the bales and spread them out over the garden — and thick, like a few inches thick at a time! — and then you turn that in real good so it’s mixed all through the rooting depth of the crops.
The raw fibers of the straw will break down slowly, doing the compost thing, but it will also weave stringy bits all through the clay that will make it more crumbly instead of just compacting. Then your root crops will pull or dig up easier, and it will add a lot of bulk carbon to the dirt below the surface, and your clay will turn to dark loamy sweet pudding goodness over time, especially if you water regular like you do.
You can do the hay/straw amendment autumn and spring too. It’s basically inert cellulose, so there’s no real cooking effects to toxify the dirt or make leaf-burn. The soil will aerate easier, which is good for the worms and the beneficial micro-fungi, instead of having all rot-forming anaerobic bacteria down there. Okay, finally got that out of my turkey of a brain… so… about heritage turkeys.
I knew a farmer in California who free-ranged batches of young turkeys every year. The most amazing flavor, and they mostly looked after themselves (at least, once you lead-weight the coyotes down in the vicinity). After looking through the breeds, I think it was the Narragansett line, an old half-domestic, half-wild hybrid from New England.
The look of them and the size descriptions seem to fit. They were big on feeding themselves off bugs in the cow pastures, and they grew nicely. Big 24-pound toms and 15-pound hens by autumn cleaning time, nice dark & light mixed pattern in the feathers.
More important, they were low-maintenance, largely kept out of trouble, fed a lot on their own, and weren’t so darn thick-brained as full domestic breeds. Mostly peaceable but could get irritated and rough if you went pushing them around for what they considered no good cause. Still a touch of the wild and some survival smarts in them.
Free-ranging like that on their high-protein self-selecting diet with some grain supplement, they made for a roux cream gravy so rich, you’d have one plate with it poured on the potato and stuffing, and feel like you’d been given a sedative for half an hour after. Dreamy relax time on the sofa. The meat was totally satisfying, not stringy, with a hearty flavor even to the breast meat if you cooked it gentle.
So that’s the story, and the notions. It’s short for a book but long for a post-it-note. If anyone makes it this far, thanks for stopping by to hear the tale 🙂
What an absolutely fascinating and educational story. You really should consider making some recordings or write down your experiences. You obviously have a talent for imparting knowledge in an entertaining way. Thanks for your remarks. It really made my day. 😊👍
I, too, very much enjoyed your musings and information and I don’t even have land or turkeys. I also agree that you have a natural born talent that could benefit others if you have the time and inclination to pursue your own YouTube channel or some other platform. Maybe a book? Yeah, THAT would be a challenge for sure. Well, now you have my 2 cents worth. 🤪
A good tale is worth the time.