Against the Grain Homestead

  Hello and welcome to our website! Allow us to introduce ourselves, and feel free to leave a comment. We are a simple Christian family born and raised in the hills of Missouri. My husband, Buddy, and I, Shana, got married in 2003 when I was just 18 years old and are still happily married. God has blessed us with two amazing children here and one in Heaven. We DIY, homeschool, cook from scratch, use herbal remedies, clean with homemade cleaners, have a small orchard, herb garden, medicinal herb garden, perennial berry garden, we hunt, can, ferment, dehydrate, water glass, and are learning to root cellar. In the past we have raised chickens, goats, a couple cattle, and meat rabbits; we hope to get back into meat rabbits. Currently, we raise chickens and honeybees. I guess I should mention our German Shepherd, Chief, and two tom cats, Joe and Max; they easily get jealous. We love sharing and teaching others, so we hope you find this site helpful, encouraging, and inspiring.

  Different Types of Seeds: open-pollinated, heirloom, hybrid, and GMO or GM seeds With so many different types of seeds, one may wonder what ever happened to a seed being well..just a seed? Unfortunately, in our world where man is forever trying to improve upon God’s design, a seed is no longer just a seed. Once upon a time as a plant grew, bloomed, and produced a viable seed, the seed would drop to the ground and the following year a new plant just EXACTLY like it would sprout and the cycle of that species of plant would start over again. It was dependable and predictable. We can and do still have those predictable seeds, but we just have to be diligent to ensure they stay that way. Let’s start in the beginning. In this article we will discuss the different types of seeds and answer the questions what open-pollinated, heirloom, hybrid, and GMO or GM seeds means. While we’re at it, we’ll talk about what the word organic means as well. Different types of seeds 1: WHAT IS AN OPEN-PO...

Homemade Bread Would you like to make homemade bread? Making homemade bread is a skill that requires practice, however it can be done easily with a few tips and how-to techniques. I remember several years ago, well over a decade, when I made my first loaf of homemade bread. When I decided to start making bread, I had also switched over to whole wheat flour. So as you can imagine my first few loaves of bread were quite…dense. We ate them, and I was proud of them, but I couldn’t get them to be light and fluffy. Then I learned the differences between hard, red, spring, and white wheat. Wow, what a fascinating world! I tried many many and did I mention MANY homemade bread recipes each one being different. Some were good and some were not. Some would turn out perfect one time and flat the next time. I simply did not understand how I could get different results with the same homemade bread recipe. Over the years I got better with making homemade bread, and I would have more successful loaves...