Manifest Destiny Meet Amish-ish Destiny - Real-life Homesteading Journey &Tips.

Most of you probably learned about Manifest Destiny (photo credit) in the their America History classes but I'm going to tell you my story of our daughter's Amish-ish Destiny and her Homesteading Journey and how to earn more than you spend on a small farm.

The key ones I can think off:

• 1 Young Girl & 1 Young Boy destined to be a Farmer
• Behavior Conditioning Skills
• 1 Farm
• Hundreds of Chickens
• Bunch of Pigs
• A few Goats & Dogs
• And some old equipment

But first how about some eye candy video shorts.

I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania (PA) that was surrounded by farmlands and some Amish communities. If you don't know about Amish folks, they live a very simple life (see more). No electricity, TV, microwaves, cars, phones, computers, etc. Some Amish factions don't even use buttons or zippers on their clothing!

Anyway fast forwarding to after moving to Southern California, marrying a beautiful and smart wife, we had an amazing baby girl (let's call her M). When we all went back to PA for visits, our little M had the chance to experience farm and Amish life.

Like most dads, I wanted to be sure she associated with the right crowd and more importantly the right type of boy - especially in SoCal. So I started very early (5ish, I think) and would often tell her she can date any boy she wants as long as he was Amish (my amateur behavioral conditioning). I figured the odds were in my favor since the chances of finding an Amish boy in SoCal is as close to 0% as can be. Needless to say, high school years had little drama (although we did nickname her scoldy-locks - she was an ardent vegetarian then vegan - but that is a whole other story).

After college she got into Public Relations (she's now a VP which is another by-product of my early conditioning :-), volunteered at various charities, and turned out to be a real good human (but still scoldy).

But one day I got the call. "Dad, she said, I met a guy ... he's not Amish but the closet I could find."

They (R&M we'll call them) now live on an 11 acre Santa Cruz farm raising chickens and pigs, holding Farm to Table dinners, conducting Farm tours, running a eco-ranch farm-to-table subscription biz, basically living an Amish-ish life.

I wanted to share their story and their effort to make people's lives better and healthier via their ecological ranch and how they created their homestead.

BTW, it was a true Amish-ish Destiny since R's mother is an awarding winning quilter. Not to mention my woodworking skills that strive to reach Amish quality.

Also need your advice in the last step of this ible.

12 years ago, R got the crazy idea to start a pasture poultry operation to produce eggs. Through countless trials and tribulations he kept going. R said he wouldn’t recommend this profession to anyone unless you are extremely dedicated but says "someone has gotta do it" and he wouldn’t be here without his friends, family and faithful customers.

If you want to see and hear how they started and now operate their ecological ranch farm, your can viciously experience their journey in the following steps.

R says he could honestly write an entire book about the degree of deception within the Meat and Egg Industry (aka BigFrama). "They spend an unbelievable amount of money on marketing and advertising. Anytime you see some commercial and the farm looks perfect and pristine, know something is up."

He's aware these corporations must make a profit but says it shouldn’t be founded in pure misinformation. "Transparency and accountability are usually off-the-table when we talk about food."

For example, a "Free Range" chicken just means they have < 2 sq.ft. cube to live in before the die. That's more like "DeRanged" chicken. No wonder why the Pollo is Loco.

"These multi-billion dollar meat packers have production contracts with feedlots on one side and big retailers on the other. 95% of the volume of meat goes through five big brokers. This is why all the meat at the stores and butcher shops is the same and since only 7% of the pig is bacon and 3% of the cow is NY steak, people are often left with lots of cuts they don’t want (or shouldn’t if they knew)."

"We know that low-grade, mass produced meat and eggs aren’t good for your health or the environment. Also, the welfare of the animals used is pretty brutal. Net, access to high-quality, local meat and eggs is getting harder and harder every day."

See the Strategy and Plan R&M came up with next.

Cowspiracy - Where's the Beef ... COMING FROM? (video)

2015 was the year that the USDA removed beef and pork from having a County of Origin label. You know, it's type of label on ALL other food products/crops…. One day "they" must have woke up and thought “Do American consumers NEED transparency with beef and pork? The answer was: Nah, let's methane "gas light them".

So the US beef industry started relying on cheap imported lean meat to blend with our domestic overproduction of fatty meat to make something we all love ground beef.

My beef with the grocery store beef is the American consumer is totally left in the dark in terms of knowing where the beef (or pork) came from…. Call the butcher, call the manager, call the CEO, but no one knows….

Talk about a boarder crisis, we wouldn’t need to irradiate or ozonate meat if we got it local.

So R & M’s plan was to create an ecological ranch to provide a farm-to-table alternative for consumers.

Key steps along their journey:

First, then found some land and started raising chickens for eggs then branched in to pigs for high quality pork. (See their first chicken coop in the next step - a WinneEggo.)

The were avid Farmer's Market vendors and then started a Farm-to-Table Meat & Egg subscription program to allow consumers to buy exactly what they want and nothing they don’t, all from their smart phone or computer.

Next, they created a Food-to-Table event space to host dinners from local chefs.

This naturally led to providing farm tours and hay rides which attracted local schools field trips that help spread the world and educate young'uns on ecological farming, food quality, and of course supporting local small businesses and farmers which they build synergistic relationships.

Finally, I wouldn't have called this an Amish-ish life if I didn't share the problem solving and tips they learned along the way.

Experience many of these activities in the next steps.

R's first mobile chicken coop was a 35ft class A Winnebago motorhome. He got it from a scrap yard for $400 then completely gutted it and installed roosts and an automatic door. The chickens really enjoyed it for the year or two.

R "recouped" (pun intended) his expense by selling the appliances from the RV. (Never waste - Very Amish-ish)

No parking lots or waiting in lines fighting crowds. All the meat is born, raised and processed within the same 150-mile radius. They provide a subscription home delivery program and also have some cool farm events!!

BigFarma meet SmallFarma (video)

Come and Get it

This dinner started off with an amazing Viet Cajun Feast from local chef. Complete with Hot Sauce Bar, Beignets, and plenty of Local Booze. Zydeco music was bumping and the food kept flowing.

The next morning another local chef dazzled folks with a "Brunch to Remember". Fluffy frittata, Passionfruit mimosas, and of course, the cutest baked goods from the local Bakery.

Everyone met all the animals, fed some pigs, and took a ride on the hay wagon. Soooieee!

R&M built relationships with local restaurants, bakers, and grocers, etc to spread the word that choice food is a food choice.

Here are just to name a few of their eggy delights made by their wholesale partners:

🥚by the carton

🥚deviled egg salad

🥚hard boiled with salt and pepper

🥚in a breakfast burritos & frittata

🥚and of course house made cookies

Don't forget to watch the cookie video. Hmm Cookie

Eat more local, healthy (sustainably raised) meat and dairy!

Hot Yoga Meet Goat Chill

"Goats and chickens can coexist, why can’t us humans figure it out? Nature has many lessons." - Old McDonald (1706) maybe

(BTW Zen farmer was my first AI generated image - A I like it.)

OMEGAmazing (video)

Einstein figured out E = MC2 but he also once declared that his second greatest idea after the theory of relativity was to add an egg while cooking soup in order to produce a soft-boiled egg without having an extra pot to wash.

One of the most brilliant minds in history was fueled by a steady diet of eggs. I guess that's where the saying "Smart Egg" comes from.

Here's another equation for you. PASTURE RAISED CORN AND SOY FREE EGGS = MORE OMEGA 3 and LESS OMEGA 6 = THE IDEAL CHOLESTEROL PROFILE.

There is a lot of time & space information and misinformation about the benefits/risk of EGGS. Remember not all eggs are created equal! The hens’ diet plays a MAJOR role in the nutritional composition of the egg. Environmental impact and animal welfare are also important to consider!

BTW check out my Eggstraordinary Egg ible and you can also learn more about wrinkly eggs here.

Tractor (video - just because)

Ten year old R went to some old timey farm outside of LA and milked a cow for the first time. Fast forward 23 years he got the opportunity to return the favor (minus the milking part). Kids summer camp day at the FARM!!! YEHAWWW

Kids hang out with the chickens and goats, spread some hay, see old equipment, and can see the baby piglets!

Apple Computer became Apple Computer by having their PCs in schools first. I guess that was their behavior conditioning plan to turn school kids to virtual Apple sales reps. Wonder if Jobs at eggs too?

EVERYONE WANTS TO RAISE ANIMALS BUT NO ONE WANTS THE FLIES."

Rather than reply on chemical pesticides to control flies uses good Ole Mother Nature.

Years ago, R&M bought a monthly supply of fly predator eggs. You hang them by the animals, after a few days they hatch and spend their whole lives hunting fly larvae. They don’t bite humans or animals, only fly larvae.

Once these predators find the Larvae they lay their eggs (i.e., oviposit) while the larvae is still alive. Few days later when the larvae metamorphosis into a fly they are full of baby predators who happily consume the fly from its inside out.

The newly hatched fly predators fly away to find more larvae. The cycle continues until it gets cold then they overwinter. These little predators can fly a quarter mile! They have been so successful and have an established population!

If you hate flies (and who doesn’t) or you have animals and fly issues then check them out. (And no you can't use them on politicians you don't like.)

Guess Who's Coming For Dinner

The dark humor of R.... "It’s like seeing your kids come back from college and they are all grown up. It’s a very proud parent sort-of feeling!! Good job little piggies!"

Osso Bucco is making it debut. Slow cook this up and it will melt in your mouth.

Mild Italian Ground Pork is back. Stir fry this up in a scramble or cook it into some meat sauce with your favorite pasta.

Bacon and Deli Ham is at the smokehouse.

Yes, These were the pigs that were eating tons and tons of organic apples and sweet melons for the last few months.

Hope you like learning about the Amish-ish homesteading journey of my daughter "M" & her husband "R" as they pursue their mission to produce high-quality food in a way that enriches their customers health and our environment all borne on their ecological ranch.

And look at our Scoldy-Locks all grown up and a carnivore. I lost a Thanksgiving dinner bet during her vegan era!

This was my July birthday present.... So USDA Meet GPA (Grandpa you'all)

Now time to comment. For a baby present, should a financial gift go to a 529 college fund or a Tiny House for us to stay when we visit.

I can hear the crowd chanting "Tiny House, Tiny House, Tiny House....?"

(FYI College, Amish kids stop at 6 grade usually so a 529 maybe superfluous :-)