It All Comes Back to Chickens...Podcast Episode 28

It is time for the 2nd episode in our series on chickens!

As we continue to talk chickens, we realize that everything comes back to chickens, including our 10 minute foray into a cult in southern Cali led by a 90's heart throb. You know...just the norm.

So come have a little listen about the genetics of the modern day chickens and how they gained popularity through history.  

Click here to listen directly on SoundCloud, or listen on your favorite podcast listen-y thing-y like iTunes, Stitcher, etc!

This week we learned a ton from these great sources/articles...

Smithsonian Mag (also you have got to check out the epic picture they have of a chicken in royal clothes. I am def framing that sh*t.)

Penn State Extension

ThoughtCo

Thanks....

Of course we always wanna give a shout out and thank you to All the Apparatus for letting us use their song 'The Aeronaut' for our Intro and Outro!  Show you love by checking out their BandCamp here!

Support...

And if you love what we do and would like to support us, please like and share with your friends!  

(And if you are so inclined, you can even check out our Patreon page to support the podcast even more!)

You can also follow us at...

Instagram

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Modern Dinosaurs this week on the Fiberton Podcast!

In this episode we begin a series on what many call the gateway drug to farming/homesteading...the chicken! These modern dinos have quite the history, and in this first part we discuss where they come from and their religious significance through time.

Check out this episode here on Soundcloud or on your favorite podcast player like iTunes, Stitcher and more!

This week we learned a ton from these great sources/articles...

Smithsonian Mag (also you have got to check out the epic picture they have of a chicken in royal clothes. I am def framing that sh*t.)

Penn State Extension

ThoughtCo

Thanks....

Of course we always wanna give a shout out and thank you to All the Apparatus for letting us use their song 'The Aeronaut' for our Intro and Outro!  Show you love by checking out their BandCamp here!

Support...

And if you love what we do and would like to support us, please like and share with your friends!  

(And if you are so inclined, you can even check out our Patreon page to support the podcast even more!)

You can also follow us at...

Instagram

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Knitting, Explosions and a Special Guest! AKA - New Podcast Episode!

Hey lovely peeps!

It has been a busy couple of weeks, but we are excited to share a new podcast episode...this week with explosions AND a special guest!

Click here to go directly to Soundcloud to listen, or head over to your favorite podcast player like iTunes or Stitcher! (And don't forget to rate and review if you do so others can find us!)

We talk a bunch about knitting, and I refer a ton to these articles by Sheep and Stitch:

http://sheepandstitch.com/the-history-of-knitting-part-1-mysterious-origins/

http://sheepandstitch.com/the-history-of-knitting-pt-2-madonnas-stockings-and-guilds-oh-my/

Thanks to Sheep and Stitch for the great articles!  Head over to see some of the photos and paintings we refer to in the episode!

We also mention our sister podcast, Keeping Up with the Clampetts, who you can check out here.

And local chicken farm, Dare 2 Dream!  Check them out more here!

And of course, thanks to All the Apparatus for the intro and outro music!

Thanks so much to everyone who listens! We <3 you!

- Ric and Ash

We are back!

Ok...ok...we know we have been completely MIA for too long. And there is much to tell.  But the short story is that we have landed back in our old home of San Miguel, CA in the Central Coast region of Cali!!  And we are finally getting all settled in.  We came back to a whirlwind of activity, some wonderful, some sad, all of which has been a lot of hard work.

We were welcomed home with arms wide open, tons of wonderful support. We put the sheep out in their old pasture, this time with the addition of little Champ and Mickey.

We said a very sad goodbye to JB the Wonderdog, whom Ric and I had for almost 16 years.  He lived a long and happy life, traveled more than many people get to (making it across the country twice) and was laid to rest with some old friend's here at the ranch.  Rest in peace, buddy.

We have been reconnecting with old friends, working hard at our jobs and, of course, keeping Fiberton Acres going.  I am quite pleased with the progress we have made in the short 3 months we have been home.

We won't continue to regale you of it all now, but know that we shared some through our podcasts (find those here on Soundcloud or on your fav podcast player!) and we have begun work on our Fiberton Acres book!  It will be a mix of stories, homesteading advice, recipes, patterns and more!

And just a reminder to follow us on social media, like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, and to check out new additions to the online store!

Thanks so much to everyone for the support!  We are so excited for the things the future brings!

- Ash and Ric

Podcast Episode 15 - Big News on the Farm!

Hey folks!  Sorry it has been so long since we have shared a podcast episode with you all!  A LOT has been happening with Fiberton Acres.  We thought what better way to let you know what is happening than to tell you in a new podcast episode!

The spoiler...we are moving!  To learn all the details, click here to listen on Soundcloud or listen on your podcast play of choice!

A few of the other things we reference in this week's podcast:

Fiberton Acres and New Products

Our Instagram (to see Ric dancing while tilling)

Our Patreon Page! (To get exclusives on our travels and more!)

Our Email List!

All the Apparatus, our intro and outro music!

Podcast 13- Cast Iron! Third try was a success

After multiple failures we have a success!
Computer crashes, memory issues, and some other things I don't remember made us a bit late on this wonderful episode all about cast iron!

Cast iron is great and wonderful but FYI those wrought iron fences attracts ghosts.

Check out the episode on your fav podcast player, or click right here to listen directly on SoundCloud.

Hobby Farms Cast Iron Article (and other useful links)

Fiberton Acres and New Products

Our Instagram

Our Patreon Page!

Our Email List!

All the Apparatus, our intro and outro music!

Podcast Episode 12 - A LITTLE Episode...about Shetland Animals

This week we dive into not just one animal, but all of the little animals from the Shetland Islands. We learn more about these sturdy little animals and why we want to collect them all!

I went a little crazy on the page markers....

Check out the episode on your fav podcast player, or click right here to listen directly on SoundCloud.

Some of the things we reference this week...

Shetland Breeds (the book)

Fiberton Acres and New Products

Our Instagram

Our Patreon Page!

Our Email List!

All the Apparatus, our intro and outro music!

Podcast Episode 11 - A Brief History of the Farmer's Almanac!

This week we wanted to talk a little about how farmer's might get ready for the planting season, which morphed into a show about the Farmer's Almanac.  Check out some of the history and our ramblings about the Jackyl song, The Lumberjack at SoundCloud here (or on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you find your pods!)

Some of the things we reference this week...

Fiberton Acres and New Products

Our Instagram

Our Patreon Page!

Our Email List!

All the Apparatus, our intro and outro music!

Podcast Episode 10 - ¿Como se llama?

This week we talk LLAMAS!!!  Yay!  I want one so bad!  Check out this week's episode here at Soundcloud, or on your preferred podcast player!

Not a llama, but Ric begged me to post this.

Some of the things we reference this week...

Fiberton Acres and New Products

Shorn Store and Shearing Service

Our Patreon Page!

Our Email List!

Keeping Up with the Clampetts Podcast (and previous intro and outro music musician)!

All the Apparatus, our intro and outro music!

We leave you with this....

Llama Cheese...its a thing

5 Small Things to Start Today...Cuz life is hard, but the only way we fail is to not try.

You'll get strange looks of obvious disapproval and disbelief. Telling people your goals and dreams may seem scary at first but it is how you make it a reality. When we decided to leave our day jobs and risk everything to start a small farm in another state, we heard more than our share of “Why?” and “Can you make any money doing that?” And the best responses we have are usually, “Because it makes me happy.” and “Maybe not.” That first answer is the most important.

The world is not against you, the world simply is. You can make your world, make your farm, write your book, choose your friends, record your album. If you have to be a barista, get a retail job or rely on the kindness of strangers and friends to get it done then do it.

When we moved across the country so I could attend school (taking our farm with us) we got even stranger looks than the first time. It was the roughest trip we could have imagined. We broke down for a week and ran out of money, all while driving directly away from everyone we’d ever known. But we knew we could survive, and you can too.

Life sure does throw some curveballs.

This isn’t about how hard we had or have it, this is about you. This is about you doing it. What do you want to do? How can we help you do it?

Time is a limited resource, I know it sucks to think about, but you have only so much time to be happy and every second spent not being happy is a second lost to the winds. If you fear the possible failure, let me tell you something.

Not trying is failure.

I’m not saying to drop everything and do whatever you want, I’m saying we are entitled to the pursuit of happiness, and we need to chase it. You can pursue happiness relentlessly -be that cop who gets suspended from a case for “Being too close” and keeps searching for the facts until he brings down that suspect. You are that cop searching for your happiness.

Making the best of an inconvenient and stressful situation.

Honestly though, here is a short list of things you can do to pursue your thing. Because as George Watsky says “It’s gotta be somebody. So why not you?”

Podcast.

We started ours last year, we have over 200 plays already and it makes us feel good every time someone listens. I takes us about 5 hours a week to do, and we record on the mic built in to Ashley’s computer. If you have questions, we'd love to help you get started.

Write something.

Write a blog, write a short story to share with your friends, write a poem. I write every time I need to create something. I’m writing a book of poems, a fantasy book, a blog post, and a romance book if i ever get past the opening line. Maybe someone other than Ashley will read one of these, maybe nobody will, but I made them and that makes me proud.

Farm/Plant Something.

Plant some things and watch them grow, care for them and if you have excess share with others and enjoy the bounty of a harvest like man has been doing for generations. Food is at the core of humanity.

Sing.

As cheesy as it sounds, sing. I can’t hold a note or carry a tune, but I sing. Try it out, miss all the notes and give it your all.

Above all of this, practice compassion and love.

It’s hard to be kind and compassionate toward those you see as opposing you, but just remember the concepts of John Green in a speech written for an ALAN Conference, He tells us to imagine others complexly. No person is entirely what you think they are, you can’t fully understand your own thought processes let alone those of another. I try to assume the best in others as much as I can, and I’ll be the first to admit it is the hardest thing I have ever done (And I’ve moved an entire a farm across the country in a broken down Winnebago.)

In closing. You have time to express yourself and pursue your happiness, in fact the only thing you don’t have time for is to not.

- Ric

Hippity to the Hoppity (AKA our angora rabbit podcast episode)

In this week's episode, we talk about something we actually have some experience with!  Angora bunny-heads!  You can listen directly here at Soundcloud, or through iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you find your podcasts!  (Don't forget to totally help us out by rating, reviewing, etc, as that helps more people find us!

(We go hard.)

Some of the things we reference this week...

Our Patreon Page!

Our Email List!

Keeping Up with the Clampetts New Podcast (and previous intro and outro music musician)!

And All the Apparatus, our new intro and outro music!

And this awesome cookbook...see Ric, you can totally find it online...

(My new favorite...it is going to make us fat. Don't care.)

This week's podcast...Coyotes!

It is that time of the week again!  We just released our newest podcast episode (can you believe we are already at Episode 8?!) and this week we talk coyotes. Ric may have been a little confused on the subject matter, but as we have had some coyotes close by on the farm as of late, I wanted to learn more about them.  They say the key to assuaging fear is to learn more about it. But not 100% sure that worked in this case.

While we were recording, my cat shared her take on it all with some serious body language....

And a few other references we made in the episode....

Our New Kit!

Our Patreon Page!

Our Email List!

Our Friends' New Podcast (and previous intro and outro music musician)!

And All the Apparatus, our new intro and outro music!

Thanks for listening all!  Let us know what subject you want in an upcoming episode by commenting below or at info@fibertonacres.com!

- Ric and Ash

New Year, New Hustle...and special 2017 manifesto download!

First...Happy New year!  We hope you had a great first couple days of the year.  Admittedly, 2016 brought a LOT of change for us at Fiberton, and we have had to work really hard to keep ourselves treading water.  But we are also looking forward to the New Year as that marker for sitting down, an figuring our priorities and coming up with a new game plan.

The last several years I have been making a "Manifesto" for the year.  Something nice to look at, that I can hang on the wall, and that reminds me of the things that we want to work toward. Some of the things are just reminders to self about being 'yourself' and others are larger concepts or plans for the business.  These are personal and business goals and aspirations for the year...aka, how we wanna hustle this year:

Here is a pic of it hanging up... (tiny home = awkward photo angles)

I made it 8x10, so I could easily print and then frame it for all to see.  I love sharing, because it creates a bit of accountability, too.

So, want to make your own? We have created a special downloadable blank manifesto for you! Maybe you have been practicing your hand lettering, and want to fill it in by hand?  Then download the PDF version here. Or you want to drop it into a doc or drawing program and make it your own.  In that case, download the png image here, and draw your own text boxes in the spaces. (We used google draw and used their fun open source fonts. Just make sure that you format the page to be a 8x10.) Either way, we hope it inspires you to make some reminders/aspirations for your new year. (Oh, and don't forget to unclick "fit to page" when you go to print!)

Thanks for being our awesome readers, and let's all get that hustle on!

Ash

PS - If you have not had a chance, or you want to hear about the crazy year I spoke of above in our own voices, please check out our podcast!  Just look up Fiberton Acres on your preferred podcast platform. like iTunes, Stitcher, etc, and subscribe, OR you can go direct by clicking here!

Podcasts, Patreon, and Recipes, Oh My!

We have been freezing here on the ol' homestead. Literally.  We may have slightly underestimated how cold it would get in our new home, and how the RV would do.  So we have been distracting ourselves with other things.

First and foremost, with our podcast!  We have been enjoying this so much!  This week we reminisce the foods of summer, in particular, tomatoes!  Who knew we would have so much to say about tomatoes! You can find the podcast on your fav podcast listening thing-y-mo-bobber (like iTunes, Stitcher, etc) or you can click on the image to go listen directly. And please make sure to hit the like button and if you can, rate and review!  It helps us get seen by other folks!

And speaking of, we have created a Patreon account!  If you are not familiar with Patreon, it is an awesome site that helps people support artists, including podcasters like us! For as little as $1/mth, subscribers/supporters can get exclusive content!  Check it out here!

In our podcast, we talked about a few recipes that we created this week out of necessity.  One was Ric's special winter warm up drink (with rum), which you can find here on our FB page.  Make sure to follow us there for other fun stuffs, too!

We also talked about how we sort of ran out of propane and had to make due with the microwave.  I created my own "Mexican style omelettes in a bowl" and they turned out awesome! We had to share this recipe.  If you don't feel like dirtying extra dishes, or you are living a simple lifestyle or just feel like a quick meal, here you go!

Fiberton Acres Microwave Mexican Style Omelette in a Bowl

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• Splash of milk (dairy or non)
• 1 hot pepper, diced
• 1 tomato (yay!) or 1/4 cup of canned diced tomatoes without the liquid
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder (or if you have Adobo seasoning, use that!)
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• Some Parmesan cheese (or even better is cotija!)
• Cilantro to garnish

How to make this lovely dish:

1. Crack eggs into microwave safe bowl
2. Beat eggs and add splash of milk and spices and whisk well.  If you are at work or something, use a fork to whip that up.
3. Add tomato, pepper and a small handful of cheese and mix well.
4. Put in the microwave on high for 3-4 mins (start with 3 and check center to see if eggs have set.  My microwave I have to do 4 mins.)
5. Chop up a little cilantro to throw on top, toss on a little more cheese and enjoy! Add salsa if you like, too!

Last, but not least, we referenced the Ball Blue Book Canning guide!  Here is a few shots of our 1983 guide and the things we referenced...

That's it folks!  

-Ash and Ric and the Fiberton gang

Introducing our new podcast!

We are super excited to present our new podcast! Fiberton Acres' podcast is a Humorous History of Horticulture and Husbandry. A fun introduction to what we do, but more than that, it looks at the history of animal rearing and husbandry, agriculture, and some of the fun and funny things that we did, and some of the adventures that we have encountered in our forays into our relatively new farm life. We are also excited to take time with others in the field, other small farmers and ranchers, to see what they do and why they do it.

This episode is looking at a broad history of sheep and the uses of the domesticated sheep.

We found most of our details from:

• http://www.sheep101.info
• http://www.pbs.org/pov/sweetgrass/sheep-facts/
• http://www.onekind.org/education/animals_a_z/sheep
• http://www.famu.edu/cesta/main/assets/File/coop_extension/small%20ruminant/goat%20pubs/Sheep%20Facts.pdf
• http://www.think-differently-about-sheep.com/Sheep%20_Facts.htm

We also want to say thank you to Charlotte Cleary for helping us with our research, and to Lefty5Strings for our intro and outro music!

Make sure to subscribe on whichever podcast player you use, and we will post each episode here! Right now you can find us on Soundcloud, iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn!

Thank you to everyone for your support! Head over to our Facebook page to leave your comments! (Or hit us up at Instagram or twitter @fibertonacres!)


- Ash and the Fiberton gang