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WAY worth it financially. I would consider freezing, though, for several reasons. I froze pureed vegetables in ice cube trays, then dumped the cubes into freezer bags. Each cube is pretty much a baby serving of food. Did this for both my kids and saved loads of money and containers.

Don't peel--don't core! Just quarter, cook down, then run through a food mill, which will take out all the undesirables. I make deep-dish 9x13 farmer apple pies, which can use 25 apples at a time. Applesauce. Fruit roll-ups. Dried slices. LOTS for fresh eating. Kids and DH eat up to 4 per...

12 pints of pickled watermelon rinds, the last of the season!

Canned 12 jars of pickled watermelon rinds for sale at market.

I still remember the taste of a wild boar my uncle killed when I was a small child, it was that good!

A customer placed an order for soap, lip balm, body balm, and canned goods--whohoo!

Prepping for canning up the last of the tomatoes. They were picked green but have ripened. Not sure how tasty they'll be, though...

Me, again :) Sold 15 chickens Sat, 2 yesterday, 20 today, 25+ tomorrow. Whoohoo! Butchered 145 birds Sat, and it looks like most of them will be gone before we need to freeze them.

Our bacon grease is so smooth and creamy that I've been using it as lip balm while cooking :) I had to tackle DH for a kiss when he found out what was on my lips :) Glad we have 2 hogs this year. We got completely away from eating pork when DH's family no longer raised it. Last year had 1 hog...

I was just working out today what I need to charge for chickens butchered Saturday. Here are the costs I factored in: 1. My time feeding, cleaning and watering. For me, 1/2 hour per day for 60 days at $15/hour. I'm not factoring in time butchering. I also did a separate calculation in which I...

It was an incredibly difficult growing year, so don't beat yourself up. I'm planning for another couple years of drought, so a great time to soil build with grass, leaves, straw, anything that breaks down and helps in moisture retention. It'd also be a great time to start scoping out mulch...

Packed my meal for work, as always. Set up our chicken butchering area for the big job (145 birds) on Sat. It will save us a load of $ rather than having them done by someone else, but a ton of work. Asked a friend for help digging trenches for a new water line. He will contribute his labor in...

Does that cost include your time? I bet it doesn't, and your time should not be given away for nothing.

Last night went hiking with DH and kids on the back 40. We found 2 apple trees loaded with fruit! We only had 1 large bag but probably got about 50-60 lb of apples this picking. They'll be eaten fresh and turned into sauce, probably some farmer apple pies also :) Also made pickled watermelon...

Animalfarm nailed it exactly. There's not a lot of room for our preferences here. You can't have that much of the country in drought with as many cattle as our nation has, without real consequences. When the farm has been in your family for generations (or even if only a few years), you do...

Don't forget ALL your costs, like electricity for the heat lamps, waterers, bedding, etc. One year we butchered in July and had nearly $100 in ice alone. I moved their arrival dates after that so we could process in Oct and eliminate ice altogether.

16 pints of pickled watermelon rind 14 pints of tomatillo salsa

Chocolate mint :)

Oh, that sounds good! The great ones from last year were a bit dense and chewy, a perfect texture. I can picture the cukes being like that :)

I've got a load of mint to pull out of the dehydrator, then a load of choc-mint to get in when I have time. DS did a batch of turkey jerky last week that is excellent!