It was Freezer Filling week at the Homesteady Farm!
This last week I put $500 Dollars worth of ground meat in the freezer.
It was time to grind up all the venison we had. Generally speaking when you harvest a deer, the front half of the animal is made of tougher meat.
Meat that doesn’t do well as steaks or roasts. The good news is that it makes some delicious ground meat!
That much meat has serious value! What do you pay for locally raised, organic, free range ground beef in your area? Our area farmers ask 10$/LB.
That means I saved my family almost $500 on ground meat this season. (NOT to mention all the money we save on steaks from the other half of the deer!)
But here is the thing…
Not all homestead endeavors are profitable when you compare time spent and money saved!
In fact, many of the topics we have covered in our podcast over the last few years got a Thumbs Down from my Farm Accountant, Accountant Mike.
- Egg Laying Chickens
- Bees
Dairy Cows(oh wait he changed his mind on that one)- Egg Laying Chickens Again
Sometimes you spend a ton of time on some homestead endeavor, and the results don’t add up to much… For example,
This weekend My Daughter and I made Farm Fresh, Raw Milk Maple Ice Cream.
We took out our Ice Cream maker, filled the mixer bowl with fresh raw milk, raw cream, homemade vanilla extract, farm fresh eggs, and some maple syrup to sweeten it all!
We stood over the churn for 25 minutes (after spending the same amount of time prepping), scraping the sides to prevent ice crystal formation. And… when it was all said and done,
We spent 1 hour making about a quarts worth of ice cream. Barely enough for our family.
Was it worth all the time and effort?
Accountant Mike would say no. $3 worth of Ice Cream in the Freezer, for 1 hours work.
When you look at both these products we have put in the freezer, meat and ice cream, one is clearly “worth” more than the other.
But when you step back and realize that both experiences taught you a skill everything changes.
That is the beauty of Skills. Skills are priceless.
I remember as a kid, sitting in history class, learning about the “Renaissance man”. The man who could do a little of everything.
A Jack of all trades, master of none. It seems that over the last 100 years, people have learned less and less skills.
I think Paula Cole would echo the question with me…
Where have all the Renaissance Men Gone… Do do do, do do do
A lot of them are in a nursing home now….
Let me explain.
My grandfather grew up on a working dairy farm. He did all the animal chores by age 12.
He could run the dairy farm by the time he left to go to the navy at age 16..
Returned home afterward and become a carpenter, who built homes from the ground up completely himself.
Running a farm, living as a solider, building a home from the ground up, that is a Renaissance Man.
Kids don’t get this same exposure today.
Full day Kindergarden, video games, iPads… They just don’t teach the same life skills.
Fortunately we all crave creativity and learning.
This homesteading movement has inspired many of us to learn skills we were never taught. And thanks to Youtube, Podcasts, and good websites, we can learn them, even if we can’t find a mentor!
Homesteading can be a medium to learn the skills again.
Jack Spirko, of the survival podcast, shared 20 skills every child should be able to do by age 14 including:
- Be able to identify edible and dangerous plants in their area
- Grow plants and propagate them
- Safely use firearms
- Use basic hand tools (mechanical and wood working)
- Use basic power tools (drill, saws, etc.)
- Cook (this doesn’t mean make Kraft mac and cheese)
- Catch fish local to their area
- How to train a dog
- How to use a shovel, a hoe, a pick and a rake
- Start a fire, keep it safe and put it out
You can see the rest of them Here.
This is what’s so great about homesteading, you can teach your child a lot of those basic skills right there on the farm, working alongside you.
My daughter and I made Ice Cream together. She learned how to milk the cow, separate the milk and cream. She learned some cooking basics, (is ice cream making called cooking?) I got a little better at my Ice Cream Making Game.
Was spending 1 hour together with my 6 year old daughter making $5 worth of Ice Cream that was gone in the following 10 Minutes worth it?
Absolutely.
This Weekend, I challenge you, Learn a new skill yourself, with your child, or teach a child a new skill that you are proficient in.
Then leave us a comment on the blog letting telling us about your mad skills!
Happy Farm Friday.
The Question of the Week – What Cheaper Bow to Buy?
Submitted by Jesse on FB: “Love the show. Looking to buy a bow to go deer hunting. What would you recommend? Not wanting to spend a bunch of money since it will be my first bow, but don’t want something that won’t be effective at the same time…”
Want to find out my answer? Watch the Livestream at our YouTube Channel! Today at 3:30 PM!
Our QOW is brought to you by our super chaters!
Homesteady Pioneers – One Click… 20 BONUS podcast episodes download instantly
A new feature to the Pioneer Library is our one click bonus podcast download! Find it on our Pioneer’s Only podcast page, click it and get all of our bonus podcasts from the past 2 years in a handy zipped file with just one click!
Coming Next Week
Learn about setting and achieving goals, hear the story of how I killed a Trophy Buck in 5 minutes of hunting, and see how we prepared our first roasted pheasant!
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