Lacto-fermentation is the process used when we make fermented vegetables, fruits, and even kombucha. Lactobacillus bacteria converts sugars into lactic acid. This good bacteria inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria. The lactobacillus organisms that develop when we ferment food preserves it, but it’s also a boon to our digestive tract. Foods fermented in this way provide us with the probiotics that we’ve heard so much about in recent years.

A chicken tractor is a handy and functional structure that every homesteader should have. Almost no one had one 10 years ago, but now it is necessary equipment! Here is everything you need to know if you are looking to add one to your homestead.

My high school German teacher used to occasionally remind our class of misfits that "Diese Klasse ist keine Demokratie!" Apparently a herd of goats is also not a democracy. From the I can't believe people study this for a living desk: When a herd of goats moves from one spot to the next, does one decide where to go next, or is it a democracy and majority vote wins? Sometimes it is just fun to learn about the behaviors of our animals and not just how to provide for them. Biologists, armed with GPS tracking collars and computer models found that goats aren't like other herding animals, they don't vote.

Female mammals only produce milk to feed their young. It’s as true for a woman as it is for a cow, a nanny goat or a ewe. Dairy production, therefore, typically relies on female animals falling pregnant every year and most of the young being sent away for meat along with the less productive older females. So, it’s fair to say, there is typically no milk without meat. But what if a farmer showed that goats that only were pregnant once still produced just as well? A French goat farmer has sparked an unexpected movement doing just that.