Serpent’s Homestead

Homesteading & Self-Sufficency with a Rural Lesbian Witch

[wildlifer-deactivated20220928]

pro tip for all of my homesteading/farmcore/sp friends: a lot of the skills and fun things you can do to provide for yourself are historical skills. if you look into homesteading history around the 1800s you will find a ton of stuff that you can still do today. i learn a lot of these things at my job and i’m always delighted when i demonstrate them for the public and people are surprised to realize how easy most of them are to do with a little bit of time!

for example: i know how much most of us adore baking bread from scratch. did y’all know you can make your own butter relatively from scratch as well? all you need is cream from the grocery store and a jar and the ability to shake the shit out of it. a super simplified version of a butter churn.

you can make dyes at home with nothing more than a few choice plants. depending on where you live, of course– here in the south, black walnuts are everywhere, and those make an awesome brown dye with nothing more than some water and the nuts. doesn’t even need a mordant (depending on the fiber of the cloth you’re dying)

you can make your own firestarter or glue with pine sap (which is also useful for a whole host of other things!) and a diy double-boiler (which can be as simple as what i do– an old pot and a few sheets of tin foil)

you can spin your own yarn using the oldest known method of creating fibers: a drop spindle. get yourself some wool from a local farmer or a craft store and get to spinning (just don’t get frustrated when it back-twists!)– there are TONS of tutorials for diy drop spindles out there, too, most of which can be made with things like pencils and old cd’s 

there are a ton of other historical skills that may require a bit more tools and research, but they fit right into the niche interests of alot of y’all i see on here talking about providing for yourself and farm skills, that kind of stuff. 

things like basket weaving, broom making, canning, knitting and crocheting, hell even making your own rope (not recommended unless you have the patience of a saint), open hearth cooking, simple pottery, quilting, splitting wood and woodworking, chair caning… not to mention the vast doors that open when you get your hands on a bit of simple carpentry experience.

as long as you do your research first, you can do almost anything on your own. we’ve done so in the past of our history and now that we have modern conveniences to make it all easier, what’s stopping us from learning what we want to learn when we can?

[m00npixie-blog]

- Edible Wild Flowers - from the book “Foraging and Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook”, by Dina Falconi & Illustrated by Wendy Hollender

[askboxmemes]

True/False game. Make an assumption about me in my ask and I’ll tell you if its true or false. Go.

[happysuggestions]

Please send some in. I have nothing to do.

[softcore-revolutionary]

Do et

[clovenpriest]

i think folks really need to learn the difference between “minding your own craft” and “fixing incorrect information”

just because someone corrects you/critiques you does not automatically mean they’re disrespecting your craft

that part of LEARNING and GROWING.

[mellifexfarm]

[swan-bones]

Hands in the Dirt

Block print, 2017

by Kelly Louise Judd

[serpentshomestead]

The Almanac: The Witchy Gardening Tool That’s Completely Mainstream

Almanacs, those little books you see in every feed store or gardening section. Have you ever looked at these? They are the witchiest gardening tool everyone uses. Here’s a basic breakdown for your gardening to make your plant spirits happiest.

Originally, almanacs started out as merely lists of astronomical events. All almancs still do this, listing retrogrades, eclipses, full moons, and tides, but now, though, they are far more. These almanacs, as used by farmers in modern days, actually break down the best days for planting, based on the celestial movements. How do they do this? Let’s look at a picture!

Now, if you’re a practicing witch, even if you don’t study astrology, you probably know at least some of the symbols, right? And it’s weird that April has all those different ones listed, right? Those are meant to help people planting! So how does that help us with our homesteading and gardening dreams? Well, a few pages away, the almanac breaks down those astrological symbols as they pertain to the garden:

Here they tell you which signs to plant what, or if it’s a bad day to plant at all. Aries? Good for plants with vines and stalks. Taurus? Root crops. So, looking at that first page again, how does this break down?

Well, as I’m typing, it is the 23rd, a Leo day. Let’s look at Leo -- Destroy those really annoying weeds that KEEP COMING BACK. (Which explains why I’m in here writing this post and not out there planting, but...)

The constant flip flop might be annoying, and if it is, do what my grandmother does, mark the date ranges on a secondary, normal calendar and write what you plan to do that day across it. (There may also be apps that work as almanacs, but I don’t use them, so I can’t recommend any! Feel free to research and add ones you like on this post for others!)

[biodiverseed]

There is a local urban farming message board that is filled – filled – with people trying to give away their three year old chicken to a “good home.”  Are you kidding me? You own the chicken. Your home is a good home. And once it’s not, your soup pot is a good soup pot. I once joked to a good friend that I could stock my freezer for the entire year off no-longer-laying hens being given away free “to a good home.” This pisses me off, as you can probably tell. There is absolutely nothing ethically superior – and quite a bit that is ethically dubious, if you ask me – about enjoying the benefits of a young laying hen and then turning over the care or slaughter of that hen to someone else once it stops laying. That is not how animal husbandry works and it’s not how pet ownership works, and those are your two choices. I don’t care which path you take with your chickens, but pick one. Playing Little Suzy Farm Girl until it’s time to get the axe and then deciding you aren’t up for chicken ownership just doesn’t fly with me.

“You absolutely should not get backyard chickens,” by Erica on Northwest Edible Life (via voidcarcharocles)

[serpentshomestead]

Four Sharp Pointy Things You Need at the Homestead

So, as I begin this blog, I wanted to start out with something fairly basic. I know, I said to myself, I will talk about my go-to-knife! Then before I knew it, I had a list of all manner of sharp and (usually) pointy. These are all things I consider basic indispensible tools, but I detail why, and if it doesn’t fit your needs, than you don’t need it! this is just a guideline, so don’t take it as absolute truth.

#1 : A Good Utility/Pocketknife

This was where this post began. If I had to pick my most important tool on the homestead, this would be probably my top choice, much like how if you ask me my top choice in magical tool, it would be my black-handled witch’s knife. Now, a good knife doesn’t have to be a specific brand, or cost hundreds of dollars. I personally have a Buck 110, but I inherited it from my Pappy and didn’t pay a penny for it. What you want in a good pocketknife for the homestead can be found in cheaper pocketknives. You want a knife that has a good edge and will hold it, this knife will get a lot of varied use and abuse and you probably won’t have the time to be sharpening it at the drop of a hat. These are not the sewing scissors that get ruined when someone uses them to cut paper. You want it to be portable, whether for you that means a fixed blade you wear on a belt or around your neck, or a folding knife you keep in your pocket, boot, or purse. Utility knives are used for everything from cutting the twine on straw bales to gutting wild game, or cutting twigs for snares. You want them with you, that’s why you need to make sure your utility knife is legal in your state, laws for knives vary, and you want to make sure that you are not accidentally carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. 

#2: The Axe and/or Hatchet

No, these aren’t the same things, and depending on your lifestyle, you may need both, just one, or none at all. An axe is meant to be wielded two-handed, a hatchet one.  Axes also balance the weight differently, but this is less important. Axes are often used for big jobs like splitting firewood, felling trees, and hewing lumber. If you don’t use a smoker or burn wood for heat, then you may not need an axe. A hatchet is meant for smaller, more versatile jobs, like that annoying branch on the apricot tree that just isn’t of any use, or to dispatch the cranky old rooster for the pot. Either way, A chopping tool is a necessity somewhere and sooner or later on the homestead.I advise against a straight-handled axe or hatchet, you want one with a gentle curve to the body of the handle This helps provide better balance as well as absorb some of the force of the chopping upon impact, allowing you to use it longer before your arms protest. 

#3: Paring Knife

If the utility knife is the must-have outside on the hoomestead, the paring knife is the must-have for the kitchen. Yes, here are those fancy chef knife sets with all the fancy knives, but those are expensive, and really, this is meant to be a basic guide. The paring knife is the general use-all in the kitchen. Mine is generally always out on the counter, or in the dish drainer, waiting to be taken up. This gets used for everything from chopping vegetables, to peeling fruits, deveining shrimp, trimming excess fat, and more. You want a paring knife that is comfortable in the hand. You also want to make sure that it is not too big. A good paring knife is 3-4 inches, no more. You also want one that has a gentle curve to it. Another option is a  steel buttcap, which can be used to smash garlic, or other little forceful tasks that crop up in the kitchen. 

#4: Boning Knife: 

If you are homesteading seriously, you will probably at some point, be processing meat. This could be anything from small game birds and chickens, to freshly-caught fish or even sides of beef. When processing meat you need a sharp boning knife. The average boning knife is 5-7″ and may be either very flexible, or flexible, but somewhat stiff.  A boning knife for fish or poultry should be flexible, while beef, venison and pork is better with a slightly stiffer (but still flexible) blade. Boning knifes are vary narrow and taper to a fine point to cut thin and get in very small areas of a carcass. It may be straight, or curve upward, depending on use and what is comfortable for you. I prefer a straight boning knife, personally.

So that is my collection of four sharp and pointy things that are necessities on the homestead. Of course, this is my personal list, and your needs may vary, but I think it is a good place to start if you are wondering about what kind of things you might need outside and inside your home when trying to become more self-sufficient. 

[etamina-amata]

To Keep Predators from Poultry

Disclaimer: Don’t be stupid. Ensure your henhouse and chicken runs are as safe as you can make them before bothering with magic. It’s just easier than bothering your local witch, and they’ll get cranky. 

Required:

1 blood egg

Red yarn or thread

Spade, shovel, or post hole digger..

1 coin

Candle or sealing wax

Staff, stang, or wand

Instructions:

 Using your tool of choice, draw a circle large enough to encompass the poultry yard, house, or run. In the center of the circle, dig a hole as deep as possible. Go as deep as you think you need to, and then go even deeper. Wrap the blood egg completely in the read yarn or thread, tight enough that it will not come off, but not so tight that you would crack the shell. When no shell of the egg is visible, seal the ends with waxThen place the coin on top of the still hot wax and wrap again. Once the coin is no longer visible, seal the ends with wax again. Place the bundle at the bottom of the hole, and fill it in with the soil you had previously removed. 

Then incant three times:

Oh, hunter, come no further. Further do not come. 

Your belly will fester and bleed according to custom. 

[etamina-amata]

To Restore Milk To Livestock

Required:

An earthenware or ceramic pot.

Hearth (A stove may work? I’ve never tried)

The last milk the creature in question gave or if unavailable, the milk of the closest lactating animal on the property, but the former is preferred. 

Witch’s knife, black or bone-handled.

Four bluebells

One ounce of blessed thistle.

Jar

Directions:

Place the milk in the earthenware pot, and place it by the hearth. Draw the blade through the milk from east to west, then north to south three times, chanting “Bonne volonté est reputé pour le fait” Then place on a slow hearth (Low or medium-low heat) and bring to a simmer. Add the bluebells and the blessed thistle and stir three times. Remove from the heat and pour the concoction into the jar and give it to the owner, who is to take the jar to the southernmost part of their property and pour out the contents.