Episode 156: From Field to Front Door: How Agriculture Touches Every Life

Introduction

Hi and welcome back to The Homestead Education Podcast!

I just want to remind you that you can find all of my Homestead Science books on my website — a great way to teach agriculture to today’s youth and aspiring homesteaders through small-scale farming and self-sufficiency.

If you’re part of a school or co-op and need invoicing, please reach out to me directly.

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A Little Catch-Up

It’s been a while since we’ve just talked and caught up. Earlier this year, I pre-recorded a bunch of podcast episodes so I could take time off with my kids over the summer. Then I took a few more weeks off before jumping back in, and I realized we haven’t really connected in a long time.

So, I wanted to sit down, share what’s been happening here on the homestead, and talk a bit about where things are headed.

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Life on the Homestead

Let’s start with the homestead itself — because that’s what we’re all here for, right?

Our vet was supposed to come last week so I could check which cows are bred, but the visit got pushed to tomorrow. So, I still don’t know exactly who’s pregnant and who’s not!

We currently have one steer and two heifers I had planned to butcher this fall. The goal was to sell whole, half, or retail cuts — plus stock our own freezer. Over the summer, we sold out of beef quickly through rancher packs that included pork quarters.

Our prices were fair — not the cheapest, not the highest — but considering ours are grass-fed, I probably could have gone up a little. That success got us excited to process the other three animals this winter to help fund the slower season.

Then I realized one of my heifers might be bred. I didn’t think she was old enough when she was with the bull, but apparently she was! She’ll be two in November, so it’s fine — just unexpected.

After thinking it through, I realized it might be a blessing. She’s out of our Belfair (half Jersey, half Dexter) and her sire was a Hereford, which makes her about three-quarters beef and one-quarter dairy. That’s a great cross, and her calf will be half Brown Swiss, half Belfair — a solid beef-dairy mix.

We also have another heifer that might be bred — she’s Angus and Hereford, which is an ideal beef combination.

When I looked at cow-calf pair prices locally — about $3,500 each — I thought, “That’s insane!” But the market’s strong right now, and long-term, keeping these girls for breeding makes sense. We have access to affordable hay and work-trade options, so expanding the herd slightly could be worthwhile.

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Butchering & Beef Updates

We will still butcher the steer. He’s grass-fed and just about two years old — the perfect time.

We’ve butchered at 30 months before, but that adds costs because of mad cow protocol requirements. Beyond 24 months, the processor must remove all spinal bones, which means no ribeyes, and it costs more per pound.

When I did the math, letting him grow to 30 months would actually lose money — the extra feed and higher butchering cost outweighed the additional meat yield. So we’ll process him around 1,100–1,200 pounds live weight.

I’m happy with his growth, and we’ll have pork going to the butcher next week, too. We keep a regular rotation every other month so we always have meat available.

Our “Rancher Packs” — combinations of beef and pork — have sold incredibly well. In fact, I had to pause sales to make sure we had enough beef left for our own freezer!

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Pig Breeding & Scheduling

This time of year, all our sows go in with the boars. One of our biggest markets is for feeder pigs in the spring, especially for kids showing pigs at fairs. Those need to be born in the same calendar year, so we aim for January farrowings.

We put the boars in on September 15th, meaning our earliest piglets could be born January 1st. It keeps us right on schedule.

Some sows don’t breed right away, but that’s fine — we have customers who prefer spring piglets, too. The older sows breed back easily, so we can get May–June litters, which are always popular.

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Chickens & Heritage Meat Birds

We’re starting to lock up the chickens for the colder nights and getting ready to butcher some heritage meat birds we’ve raised all summer.

They don’t grow as fast as Cornish Cross, but they’re cleaner and hardier. We’ll see how they taste — if they’re good, we’ll keep doing them for our family.

However, for customer orders, Cornish Cross still makes more sense because of feed efficiency and time investment.

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Shipping Pork Nationwide

We’ve been working on shipping pork for nearly a year now. The website is ready, and the shipping process will be the same as for our books. The main hurdle has been the cost of bulk shipping supplies — around $3,000 upfront for insulated boxes, ice packs, and packaging.

Now that everything’s here, we’re ready to test shipments. Because of our rural location, we can only ship Mondays or Tuesdays to avoid weekend delays.

We plan to send trial boxes to family across the country to see how they arrive and adjust as needed.

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Meet the Team: Miranda

You’ve probably noticed that recent emails come from my wonderful assistant, Miranda.

She’s been with me for over a year and recently came on full-time, which has been a huge blessing. She also homeschools, so when she comes to the office, she brings her kids, and they play with mine while we work.

Having her full-time has allowed me to create more products and manage shipping without chaos.

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Behind the Scenes: Printing & Production

Shipping delays have always been my biggest frustration. When we started this business, I printed everything myself on an inkjet printer. It worked, but it wasn’t ideal quality.

Then we switched to a print-on-demand company — convenient but unreliable. Products were late, wrong, or missing. Events would arrive before the books did.

So this year, we decided to bring printing in-house.

We bought professional equipment and supplies, plus a 12×28 shed to convert into a full print shop. The only hiccup? The electrical isn’t done yet — so right now, the entire operation runs out of our homeschool room and living room!

It’s chaotic, but it’s working.

We’re now printing most of our books ourselves. Quality is higher, turnaround is faster, and it feels incredible to control the whole process.

We’re still spiral-binding right now — it’s sturdy and easy for workbook use. Perfect binding (like softcover spines) will come later once we upgrade equipment.

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New Products

Homestead Economics

A half-credit high school course split into two parts:

1. Economic principles

2. How to start a homestead business

Students learn about planning, budgeting, taxes, and marketing. It also includes project work — a required reading list, business plan templates, and spreadsheets.

Seasons on the Homestead

An educational activity book for ages 5–12, filled with coloring pages, games, and small research projects.

Lessons can be done independently and integrate science, history, and math — perfect for homeschool families.

It’s available for $20 digital / $30 printed, and since we’re printing in-house, it ships the next day!

You can also get 12 free lessons by joining our email list — one new activity delivered each Monday.

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Teaching at Co-Op

We just started our homeschool co-op again. I’m teaching Construction Projects and Homestead Science this year.

I was surprised to see how many 12-year-olds weren’t comfortable with tools, rulers, or basic measuring. It’s not the parents’ fault — the curriculum just doesn’t emphasize these skills anymore.

This reminded me exactly why I started The Homestead Education. Kids need these opportunities.

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A Word for the Year

Every year I choose a “word of the year.”

• A few years ago it was Intentional — making deliberate choices.

• Last year it was Growth.

• This year, it’s Soaring.

Honestly, there have been times when I didn’t feel like I was soaring — not as a person, parent, or business owner. But the goal remains the same: keep lifting, even through the hard stuff.

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Rethinking Agriculture Education

Something I’ve been reflecting on all summer is how we teach agriculture. I want to change how people view agricultural education — not just for farming, but for life skills.

We’ve spent years telling kids to “learn to code,” but technology can’t feed us. Even commercial farmers rely so heavily on technology that many don’t know the hands-on side anymore.

We need to bring back real skills — growing food, building things, cooking, fixing, and creating.

I’m not trying to eliminate conventional agriculture — it’s essential for feeding the world — but we can alleviate its burden by equipping more families to feed themselves.

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The Future: Agriculture for Everyone

FFA and 4-H are wonderful, but they don’t cover it all. Only about 3% of students who take high-school agriculture courses go on to actually work in agriculture.

But 100% of them eat every day.

That’s where my mission lies: helping more people — whether they farm, homeschool, or just want to eat better — understand and take ownership of their food.

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Closing Thoughts

I don’t know exactly how this movement will unfold yet, but I’m committed to making it happen.

I’ll keep sharing updates as I talk with educators, ag professionals, and families who want to bridge the gap between home economics and agriculture.

Thank you for listening, for learning, and for growing with me.

Until next time — keep growing.