Category: Farm Life

Making Our Homestead Sustainable, One Chore at a Time

August 22, 2026 Christine

There are mornings when the four-wheeler looks less like farm equipment and more like the supply cart for a very demanding zoo exhibit.

The front rack carries jugs of water. Meanwhile, the back basket might hold hay, buckets, the milk cooler, feed, and freshly chopped zucchini for the goats and chickens. Somehow, everyone at The Tart Farm has a breakfast order.
However, the four-wheeler represents more than convenience. It has become an important part of making our homestead sustainable as we get older.

When the Wheelbarrow Did All the Work

Two years ago, I didn’t have a four-wheeler. Everything that needed to reach the goat barn and chicken coop went down our steeply sloped driveway in a wheelbarrow. That included feed, hay, water, tools, and anything else needed for morning or evening chores. Going downhill with a loaded wheelbarrow requires plenty of control. Of course, whatever goes down also means another trip back up. At the time, I simply did it because that was how the chores got done.
Still, homesteading has a wonderful way of teaching you where you need better systems.

Working Smarter Around the Farm

Eventually, the four-wheeler changed the entire routine. Instead of balancing multiple loads in a wheelbarrow, I can load everything at once and drive it down. Now we are taking another step forward.

When my sister and brother-in-law visited recently, my brother-in-law installed gutters on the goat barn. They will help direct rainwater away from the barn and improve drainage around an area that can become very wet. My sister has since bought me a rain barrel, and Rick is getting ready to finish the system by connecting it to those gutters.

The barrel will do double duty. In addition to helping manage rainwater, it will give me a water source right beside the goat barn. We also plan to add a heater so the water won’t freeze during the winter. That means fewer jugs of water loaded onto the four-wheeler and fewer trips from the house, even when the temperature drops.

Building a Farm We Can Keep Enjoying

We are getting closer to our sixties, and I think about that when we plan projects now. The goal isn’t to eliminate physical work. Farm life will always involve lifting, carrying, walking, cleaning, fixing, and occasionally chasing something that has absolutely no intention of being caught. Instead, making our homestead sustainable means looking at repetitive jobs and asking, “How can we make this easier on our bodies five or ten years from now?”

A four-wheeler helped.
The gutters and rain barrel will help.
And I suspect our farm will keep evolving one practical little improvement at a time.

Preferably before the goats add anything else to their breakfast order.

Categories: Farm Life

Tags: Farm Efficiency

Farm-Fresh Zucchini Lasagna: Making the Most of Summer Abundance

August 18, 2026 Christine

By August, zucchini is less of a vegetable around here and more of a recurring houseguest. Just when I think I have picked everything, I find another one hiding under a leaf, and the plants are still happily producing blossoms.

When the Zucchini Just Keeps Coming

We eat plenty of zucchini fresh all summer. I also shred and freeze some for winter, when a bag of summer garden vegetables feels especially welcome. Some goes into jars as pickles, too. Still, a productive garden always encourages a little creativity, which is how this farm-fresh zucchini lasagna landed on our table.

Turning Garden Zucchini Into Lasagna

I started with Downshiftology’s zucchini lasagna recipe, which replaces traditional noodles with thin slices of zucchini. Since our garden was supplying the zucchini and the goats were supplying plenty of milk, I decided to make the recipe fit what we already had on hand.

Making It With What We Have on the Farm

First, I made the meat sauce so it could cook for a while and let the flavors come together. I browned ground beef, then added fresh tomatoes cut into pieces along with a small can of tomato sauce. Instead of relying on a jar of pasta sauce, the fresh tomatoes became the heart of the sauce.

Then came my favorite change: the cheese. I used our fresh goat milk mozzarella along with homemade goat milk cottage cheese in place of the ricotta. Those two ingredients made this feel less like a recipe I happened to find online and more like dinner that belonged here on the farm.

After that, I layered everything with slices of fresh zucchini and followed the basic method from the original recipe. The result was rich, cheesy, full of fresh tomato flavor, and an excellent way to use several zucchini without making yet another loaf of zucchini bread.

The Freezer Test That Never Happened

I had actually planned to freeze one serving of this farm-fresh zucchini lasagna to see how our version handled the freezer. That experiment failed for the best possible reason: there wasn’t any left.

Fortunately, the garden is giving me another chance. The zucchini plants are still blossoming, so I fully intend to make another pan while the ingredients are coming straight from the garden and barn.

Next Problem: Yellow Squash

Now I just need some recipes for the abundance of yellow squash the garden is providing. Any suggestions?

Categories: Farm Life From the Garden

Tags: zucchini

Why Goats Work for Our Family and Our Milk Supply

August 13, 2026 Christine

Land was only part of our decision to keep dairy goats instead of a cow. We also had to think about milk, animal size, daily work, and what our family would actually use.
That is why choosing a dairy animal is about much more than deciding which animal gives the “best” milk.
For us, goats fit the scale of what we need.

The Right Amount of Milk Matters

A good dairy cow can produce an impressive amount of milk. That can be wonderful if you have a large family, make a great deal of cheese, or have another good use for all that milk. For us, that amount could quickly become too much. Our goats give us enough milk to do quite a lot without moving our entire life into the dairy. We drink it, cook with it, and turn it into chèvre, mozzarella, cottage cheese, ricotta, cajeta, and other foods. Their production also gives us enough extra milk to support a small number of herd shares.
That scale works for us.

Why Goat Milk?

Goat and cow milk are more alike than some internet claims suggest. However, goat milk does have differences in its fat and protein structure. Research also shows that goat milk contains relatively high amounts of short- and medium-chain fatty acids. A review available through the National Institutes of Health explains several of these differences. Some people find goat milk easier to digest. Still, it contains lactose, and people with a true cow-milk protein allergy should not assume goat milk is a safe substitute. The National Library of Medicine notes the high degree of cross-reactivity between cow and goat milk proteins.

For us, the attraction is much simpler.
We like it. Fresh, properly handled goat milk tastes mild and works beautifully for the foods I want to make. I also like following the milk from the animal, to the bucket, to the kitchen, and finally to whatever happens to be bubbling, draining, or setting on the counter that day.

Smaller Does Not Mean Easier

I would never recommend goats simply because someone heard they were an “easy” alternative to cattle. Goats apparently missed the meeting where that was decided. They need strong fencing, good nutrition, hoof care, shelter, health monitoring, and parasite management. During lactation, dairy goats also need regular milking. Their smaller size makes some jobs easier for us, but they are still a daily responsibility.

That is why choosing a dairy animal should include an honest look at your household as well as your pasture. Think about how much milk you will use, how much animal you can safely handle, and how the daily chores will fit your life. The best dairy animal is not the biggest producer or the one that looks most like a traditional homestead. It is the one that fits.
For us, that is a goat.

And, admittedly, quite a lot of cheese.

Categories: Dairy Goats Farm Life

Why We Chose Goats Instead of a Cow

August 10, 2026 Christine

When people picture a small homestead with fresh milk, a certain storybook image often comes to mind: a family milk cow standing peacefully in a green pasture.
I love that image.
It just isn’t our farm.
One of the most important parts of choosing livestock for your homestead is looking beyond how many acres you have. You also need to consider what those acres actually look like, what grows there, and what the animal needs to thrive.
For us, those questions led to goats.

Acreage Doesn’t Always Equal Pasture

We have acreage, but much of our mountain property is wooded, sloped, and decidedly uninterested in becoming a postcard-perfect cow pasture.
That matters.
Cattle are mainly grazers and make good use of grasses. Goats, however, are browsers. Given the choice, they happily eat leaves, vines, weeds, shrubs, and other plants growing above ground level.
In other words, some land that looks pretty unimpressive from a cow’s point of view looks suspiciously like a salad bar to a goat. NC State Extension explains that when goats have access to both browse and pasture, browse may make up more than half of what they choose to eat. Their grazing guide also notes that goats eat plant species and plant parts that cattle often leave behind.
That makes goats a much better match for the type of land we already have.
Of course, that does not mean we simply turn them loose in the woods and call it farming. Our goats still need hay, minerals, clean water, shelter, good fencing, hoof care, parasite management, and regular attention.

Look at the Land You Actually Have

The bigger lesson is not that everyone with woods should buy goats. Different animals need different things.
Instead of asking only, “Do I have enough land for this animal?” ask, “Does my land provide what this animal needs?”
Ten acres of steep woods and ten acres of established pasture take up the same amount of space on a tax map. However, they are not the same livestock resource.

That principle matters on a large farm, a small homestead, or just a few usable acres. Before bringing livestock home, look closely at the plants, slope, fencing, water, shelter, and feed you can provide. Choosing livestock for your homestead should start with the homestead you actually have, not the one you picture in your head.
For us, that reality pointed toward goats.

Categories: Farm Life

Tags: livestock

Why We Started Herdshare: Sharing More Than Milk

July 29, 2026 Christine

A Natural Next Step

Understanding why we started a herdshare begins with our family’s effort to produce more of our own food. That journey grew through gardening, raising chickens, preserving fresh foods, and learning to replace commercially prepared products whenever we reasonably could.

Adding dairy goats felt like another natural step. However, goats require a substantial investment of time, shelter, equipment, feed, veterinary care, and daily hands-on work. Since we knew how much effort milking would require, we chose the best animals we could reasonably afford. Ellie and Nessa come from high-quality, high-producing dairy lines, making that commitment worthwhile for our family.
Then they began producing more milk than we could use ourselves.

That abundance sparked the idea for our herdshare.

Sharing the Choice

Not everyone has the room, property, time, or physical ability to keep dairy animals. Even a small herd needs secure fencing, suitable housing, reliable care, and someone available every day. A herdshare gives members partial ownership in a dairy animal rather than making them customers purchasing milk.
That distinction also matters under North Carolina law. The state does not allow raw milk to be sold directly to consumers for human consumption. Raw milk sold as animal feed must carry a non-human-consumption label.
However, North Carolina General Statute § 106-266.35 allows an independent or partial owner of a cow, goat, or other lactating animal to acquire raw milk for personal use or consumption. For someone who does not own and care for a dairy animal at home, a herdshare provides a legal path to make their own choice about whether to use their share raw or heat-treat it themselves.

Small and Personal by Design

Our small, personal farm naturally fits this arrangement. We keep shares limited so we can protect the goats’ welfare, maintain our standards, and know the people who share ownership in our herd.
Members can learn about Ellie and Nessa, see how we care for them, follow everyday farm life online, and eventually visit during member events. We want them to receive more than a jar of milk. We want them to feel connected to the animals, the work, and the farm behind it.
We did not create the herdshare as a path to quick profit. Member fees help offset part of the feed, supplies, and ongoing care, but they do not come close to covering every expense or hour of labor.

Ultimately, why we started herdshare comes down to choice, abundance, and connection. It allows us to share what our goats produce while giving a few local families a closer relationship with their food and the animals behind it.

Categories: Dairy Goats Farm Life

Tags: Herd share