We turned our lives upside down several years ago in order to begin living in a way that we felt was consistent with our family goals and values. We wanted to know where our food came from and what is involved in its production. We wanted our kids to SEE and WALK BESIDE us as we put food on the table, spaces in their home, acquired new skills, and built memories that would last a life-time.

Many of these goals have been reached.

But not every activity on the homestead is a joy. There’s slaughtering and butchering animals (yes, we even eat many that have been named). There’s disbudding of baby goats to be done (it gets harder every spring to find hands willing to help with that chore, I’m learning to do it solo). And another chore that I don’t care for is banding the baby boys who don’t make the cut to grow up as breeders. This unpleasant chore is presented below for your viewing (dis)pleasure.

We’re slowly (and with the occasional blooper yet embedded, which we don’t know how to edit out) trying to produce some video content for our blog and here is our premier attempt! Enjoy!