While I want the primary focus of this site to be about liturgical homesteading, I understand that there is a very real need for people to learn and ask questions about the practicalities of homesteading from those with shared values and goals. I will try to occasionally post content on the logistics of things like harvesting wheat by hand or butchering pigs, things that we do that pertain to how we celebrate the liturgical year. You will be able to find links to those articles on this page, and I will link to the pages of helpful Catholic homestead-related sites (as I remember them), and homesteading sites I’ve used over the years so that you can dig deeper if you really want to. (Some of the homesteading sites are Christian, but not Catholic, or ambiguous about beliefs.) I have also included a list of seed companies we use and there are some notes at the bottom of the page on buying animals. More will be added to this page as time permits.
If there is something in particular that you have questions about, please feel free to reach out, and I will do the best to answer any questions!
Posts
Liturgical Homesteading Calendar
Homesteading Tips: Planning Your Year
What I’ve Learned About Growing Wheat
Homestead-Related Sites
Farmstead Meatsmith (butchering)
Justin Rhodes (raising animals naturally: small-scale)
Joel Salatin (raising animals naturally: large-scale)
Souly Rested (maple syrup)
Homesteading Family (food preservation, breadmaking)
Melissa K. Norris (general homesteading, food preservation)
My Go-To Seed Companies
While these are companies I typically order from, I also buy seed from Fleet Farm (a farm store in our area), and from the local co-op.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (Rareseeds)
For Animals
We order chickens and turkeys from the local feed mill, and they get the birds from a nursery that serves our area. We have less variety available than if we were to order online, but these are breeds known to thrive in our area, and they don’t have to be shipped. We will sometimes purchase from one of the area farm stores if we only want a couple of new birds, but the feed mill has better prices for ordering quantities of birds.
We are willing to travel a couple of hours to pick up pigs, and would be willing to do so for other animals, if we would ever go that route. But local is almost always a safe bet. The farmer can answer questions for you, you may have personal connections, the animals don’t stress from transportation, and you don’t travel hours and hours just to find out that you are not pleased with the farm you are purchasing from. We have found that searching through Facebook Marketplace is very effective for finding animals, but we’ve also used Craigslist, and the people who run the co-op have connections, so they can offer help in finding the animals we need.
The Liturgical Homestead 