Timberline Homestead A self sufficient homesteading life

Summer is winding down, finally! And in typical mountain weather fashion we’ve gone from awful heat to thunderstorms and cool nights. There’s a sense of relief around here over the last couple days…we made it. I could absolutely be calling this start of the fall cool down too soon and …

I know I’m not alone in my quest to organize and declutter. I know this because I’ve probably spent hours on pintrest browsing through ideas others, presumably overwhelmed by clutter just like me, have pinned. I’m pretty happy with the way my craft storage project turned out and wanted to …

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…just kidding. But blackberry harvest ranks pretty high up there. I needed to pluck those yummy morsels from the thorny canes before they passed their prime and turned to chicken food. Gardening has been one of the easiest outdoor tasks to get the …

As a gardener I’ve not experienced anything more defeating than having something out of my control ruin my crops. We’ve had disappointments over the years when deer hopped the fence and chomped on the fruit trees, or a late frost killed off some crops. This year we were over run …

Being the cook  is one of my contributions to our family of 4 with 2 small children. I plan and cook every meal, mostly from scratch, so our family can eat what we feel is best for them. During any given day I spend a couple hours cooking and cleaning …

We wound up with 13 chicks and a very motherly broody hen who needed a safe home. We recently moved Not Blanch into our mudroom, while she was hatching her eggs to get her inside out of the storm, but it didn’t take more than a few days for them …

The eggs have begun hatching! To my inexperienced self this is such a surprise! Our broody hen, Not Blanch, went broody in the beginning of October when temperatures started dipping down in the low 40s from time to time at night. We had a number of cold rainy days, as …

At about the 10 day mark, the forecast took a turn. This weekend should bring a substantial rain storm FINALLY (we’ve been hoping for this all summer). Only now we’re faced with having to move our broody hen, Not Blanch, and her nest. As mentioned in the previous post, she …

What we initially thought was a casualty to whatever lurks in the forest turned out to be a broody hen. Our buff orpington, who goes by the name of Not Blanch, was missing during our routine head count at bedtime. She was no where to be found in the dark …

We’d like to introduce our (not so new anymore) flock of chickens. They were a spur of the moment birthday gift to me; stumbled upon a for-sale ad and had chickens in the backyard the next day. I loaded up the kids and drove the hour and 20 minutes to …

Our new flock’s chicken coop is a re-purposed 7×2 galvanized steel shed, like this storage shed, that we had picked up for a real bargain 5+ years ago. We had been using it to store some things that could easily be rehomed and agreed this already built shed would make …

We are in the midst of a thriving summer garden, with 90+ degree days, and patiently awaiting the onset of fall. Among the many enjoyments of fall is the ability to work more comfortably in the garden. Because of the strict schedule the harsh sun (and the children) keeps me …

On my quest to provide wholesome food for my family, while trying to balance busy schedules, I realized that my freezer lacked already cooked, ready to heat and eat, good for you food. I wanted to fill that void with a chicken tender- an actual piece of quality chicken, breaded …

I’ve been busy planning away for the next 2 seasons in the garden. It took very little time to realize that in order to grow the variety of crops we envision we will need more growing space. I’m not surprised we outgrew our small garden so quickly, which is why …

While doing some work on the recent bean project, I snapped some pictures of our veggies growing happily in the summer heat.   We’ve been harvesting zucchini and yellow squash for a couple weeks now. We’re just getting into the “squash coming out of our ears” phase. Interestingly, the yellow …