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...

  Gardening Journal I have created a document titled,  Gardening Journal . It is simply a collection of some forms to help you stay organized throughout your gardening journey. I enjoy compiling this each year during the gardening season as it makes for a wonderful record from year to year. I am able to look back and see what I grew, where I grew it, how it produced, and anything I learned along the way about it. It is truly a help. You may view a limited preview here  or a video walkthrough below.  To purchase your PDF copy, you can use Paypal to send $7 to https://paypal.me/bscora Once your payment has cleared, I will send you an email with the direct link so you can download the item yourself. As always, do not share the download link, a digital copy of this item, or any printed copy of this item outside of those living in your home. This item is copyrighted. JOURNAL WALKTHROUGH VIDEO

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...

  What does it mean to render lard? Rendering lard? What is that you may ask as well as wonder how to render lard. Let me help to clarify what it is. Lard comes from pork fat that has been cooked down a.k.a. rendered and filtered. This process starts off with a slab or ground up fat straight from the pig. The ground or cubed up pork fat is then heated and melted down. During the rendering process the fat separates from skin, meat, or other tissue that may be encased in the fat. Then it’s filtered and stored away where it turns solid at cooler temps or stays liquid at higher temps or somewhere in the middle depending on environmental temps. Lard can be used in frying, baking, seasoning cast iron, oiling pans for cooking, oiling leather, and even in homemade body products. Note Worthy: lard comes from pig fat and tallow comes from beef fat. Here is a short video of me rendering down beef fat into tallow using a different method than what I explain in this post .  Can we render a...