Round Here

Hi ya'll! Welcome to Homestead's Delight - Life in the Ozarks. This is our first note in this stream and we want to introduce ourselves. We are a small family of three that lives in 10 acres in Izard County Arkansas. We have lived here since 2003 when we escaped the big cities up in the north east. Since then we have homesteaded, homeschooled, worked at home, and generally been enjoying living life! We are Dody and Paul.

That picture was taken very early on in our relationship at the Little Rock Zoo right here in Arkansas. That little baby is my eldest child pictured below. We have been together, more or less since. We have been married for 18 years and went on many adventures together. Shortly after this picture was taken, we got busy making a large family.

That's our brood when they were little! Weren't they all so cute! That little baby being held by his big sister is my 14 year old son Ian. All the rest have grown up, gotten jobs, moved out, went to college or gotten married and had babies of their own! Yes, Paul and I are grandparents now!

Over the years we have raised children, goats, pigs, ducks, geese, chickens, quails, rabbits, cats, dogs, and even Beta fish! The kids always had a furry friend to cuddle. We grew gardens, canned wild blackberry jams, pressure canned our own turkeys, and ate our own home grown farm fresh eggs. We want to share our lifetime of experience with you!

Critter Corner

Critter Corner is where we post a picture of one of our darling critters. Occassionally it might be a grandchild! Today though it is our baby piglet Charolette. I know you clicked on this note just because of the cuteness. She is only a few months old and is a mini pig. She was born right here on the farmlette in July. Her mom and dad were pigs we bought form a neighbor. They are a kune kune mix.

Plant Profile

I want to share with you about Jerusalem artichokes. We have grown them for over a decade and these things are the origional survival spud. You can grow them in sand and still get half a pound of roots for little to no work. They are perennial plant. They require little to no work. Just make sure to put them somewhere out of the way. I have seen almost no pests in teh ten years we grew them. However, buying your own sun chokes might cost a pretty penny as just 5 roots cost about $10. We sell ours for $50 a 5 gallon busket locally. Why? Because we have several 5 gallon buckets of them every year. Anything we don't sell, we can every year!

Which brings me to the next section...

Country Cooking

Did you know that you can pickle and can Jerusalem Artichokes in a hot water bath? That link is directly to the National Center for Home Canning which provides safe and time tested recipes. Basically wash, peel, cut, and put Jerusalem in vinegar overnight. Then make pickin solution, pack into jars, and process for 10 to 20 minutes depending on your altitude. This is what a finished jar looks like!

That's all for now folks! If you enjoyed this note, feel free to subscribe to my stream and join our little homesteading family. I promise to jam pack it full of lovely recipes, pictures of critters, slice of life tid bits and so much more form out her ein the Ozarks. A monthly subscription is only $1 a month or $11 per year. You are bound to learn so much that it would be worth $11 a year.