Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader

Real food from scratch: sourdough, raw milk cheese, gardening, fermenting & off-grid living. Books + free guides →

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Pig photos taken yesterday. Butchering day is today. They're not as big as I've raised them in the past, but they are eating a lot of food and it's time to turn them into bacon.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

@Mathew_Winters1 I raise both. Goats make lovely milk, pigs make lovely bacon, but for land clearing purposes, pigs are far better - they fluff up the soil and get it ready for new plants to grow.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

2 different kinds of tomato relish from homegrown tomatoes.

Classic tomato relish from A Year in an Off-Grid Kitchen, and green tomato relish adapted from a Cornersmith recipe.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Homemade mead

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Beef bone broth ready for pressure canning.

The main reason I got a pressure canner was to have bone broth on hand all the time and it has not disappointed.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Purple pea seeds

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Ever wondered what it is like to rely on a wood cookstove, and use homegrown firewood as your only cooking fuel?

Link in comments and bio.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

The bacon seedlings are growing nicely

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

The last of the bacon...

I did not make enough bacon last year. This year's supply of bacon is currently trotting around in the forest getting fat and won't be ready for a month or two.

I will need to make much more bacon this year!

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Bottled pears in light honey syrup.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

We planted around 400 cloves of garlic this week.

I've been growing garlic for a long time, but this is the first time I've soaked them in biodynamic preps before planting - in the bucket with the garlic is CPP and BD500.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Lunch today - round steak stir fry with onions, garlic, turnip, and kale, served up with homemade kimchi and rice.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

A daughter tending her vegetable garden.

We made 4 foot x 4 foot raised gardens for our children and it seems like a good size to grow a variety of crops and learn.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Our first harvest from the Cox’s orange pippin tree.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Zucchini harvest season… Better late than never. This lot have now become a triple batch of pickles with mustard, dill, and onion. Recipe is in my cookbook.

Costata Romanesco are my favourite zucchini to grow. Even at this giant size they are still tender and full of flavour.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

No, Molly, that is a garden bed, not a bed for dogs

#maremma

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

We are at 100% cheese self sufficiency now. It’s lovely having so much homemade cheese that we can use it in cheesy pasta sauce (I also grate some raw on top for extra cheesiness and raw cheese benefits).

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Broody hen with chicks

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Homemade fish and chips

We haven’t eaten any takeaway or restaurant food for five years and I’ve never felt better.

I got fed up with turning a blind eye to the unhealthy ingredients. If I want organic potatoes and healthy fish fried in tallow, then I need to make it at home.

[Kate Downham - Off-Grid Homesteader @katedownham]

Lambs in the nightly lockup paddock, photo from early January. These sweet things have grown a lot since then, but are still just as lovely and woolly. I’m looking forward to milking some of these ewes and making things from their wool later this year.

#milkingsheep #dairysheep