Homestead Highlight: Sarah

 My greatest inspiration in my own backyard farming adventure has been to hear the experiences of others. I invite you to read along here as Homesteaders share their adventures and experiences from their own farms, backyards, and homes.

Want to be featured as a Homestead Highlight? I would love to hear about your experience. For more information follow the link to the information page and share your own homestead here at the Backyard Farming Connection!

Today I welcome Sarah, David and Noah to this space

We are Sarah, David and Noah. We have a one acre farm in the extreme south end of Seattle, under the flight path for the airport.You can find her blogging at Several Gardens Farm.

We raise goats for milk, chickens for eggs and occasional meat, bees for honey and queen improvement, and ducks as an experiment we may not try again.

We also grow fruit trees and veggies, especially artichokes. Our latest project, which we are about halfway through, is converting our 5000 square foot front yard from weedy lawn into productive permaculture orchard. My biggest accomplishment is our annual cider party, attended by up to 50 families, where everyone brings their unwanted apples and leaves with gallons of yummy cider.

We are also science geeks and repair freaks. We love fixing things and keeping old tools and equipment usable.

My biggest mistake is not exactly a mistake. It was being too cowardly to take a chicken processing class until I had lost a hen to a predator. I had to bring her to the vet for euthanasia because I didn’t know what to do. It was needlessly stressful for her, me and my then kindergarten aged son. I recommend all chicken owners learn basic bird first aid and also how to quickly and humanely dispatch a chicken who has reached her end of life. Even a pet chicken won’t live forever and it’s a compassionate gift to make her last moments peaceful and quick.

I blog (now Noah is helping me) at http://severalgardens.blogspot.com/