Chrissy Lynch

We're in the Ozarks, too (Southwest Missouri brand)! Interested to hear what others have to say. ♡

You ate your chicken backwards. Bone broth... It is a way to get the animal product nutrition and protein gently into a system that isn't prepared for it. If I were you, I wouldn't try meat at all initially. Instead, a small daily portion of bone broth made from whatever humane and environmentally sound source you can find. The way I understand it, plants products require a more alkaline stomach environment to digest, and animal protein requires a more acidic environment. If, after being vegan for over a decade, your digestive system has kicked into purely alkaline gear, it may be that you need to supplement your acid while your system transitions. Maybe spike your broth with apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. Drink the broth in isolation(without plant products that initiate alkaline conditions). Wait a few hours before eating plant material. When you find that you tolerate the broth, I'd move on to small portions of meat with broth.

Someone mentioned appropriate bacteria and enzymes needed for digesting any particular foodstuff... Both bacteria and enzymes are greatly reduced in cooked food. You *might* try raw meat in tiny amounts at some point, probably only after you find that bone broth is tolerated. Maybe flash cooked, mostly raw meat, such as in Pho... Basically just warmed in broth. Or, on the topic of a source of appropriate bacteria for digesting meat... You might share an icecream cone with a dog. You know, swapping germs with a dedicated carnivore... Of course it would have to be a much loved raw-fed, ethical foodie dog. Hard to find. I always wonder at the folks that preach health food and feed Fido Kibble and Bits. I digress... I think that supping or upping stomach acid will be important, as well as colonizing your system with the appropriate microbes. Another route might be traditionally fermented veggies as condiments... Kimchi, kraut... Acids with enzymes and bacteria.

I've used sumac in a handful of garden-support applications. When fresh, even thicker trunks are flexible... I was able to weave a nice trellis. I used the thinner, twiggier pieces for bean and pea support. I have often wondered how sumac behaves in a 'coppicing' situation... How quickly it grows back(if at all) after being cut. I never went back to check the spot I cleared out to make trellis and have since moved.

Thanks, Judith, for the help! I grew up in the "Show Me State", and love the independent folks that live there. I know there is a huge garden/crunchy/permie/natural network there that is growing, and it is part of our motivation for going back. If nothing else, I'd love to get to know other permaculture oriented folks in the region! Good neighbors are a treasure.

Hello, Ozarkians! I hope this finds you all wearing the winter well. Wish I were there now sniffing nippy air, redolent with woodsmoke. On our way, though! My family(as in the one I hail from) owns land in Douglas County(SWMO), and we're(the family of my making, husband and kiddos) wrapping up our time here in Kentucky so that we can move closer to it. Circumstances don't currently permit moving TO it, and that is okay. Just want to be near it and working on infrastructure.

In the meantime, we are on the hunt! Looking for a rural rental property within a 45 minute drive of Ava, Missouri(where hubby will be working). I sincerely hope to find something online... Anyone familiar with the area is going to know how difficult it is to find ANY kind of rental property, let alone a homestead-friendly one. Mansfield, Sparta, Seymour, Gainesville, Mtn. Grove, Dora, Norwood... For the right place, we'll drive.

By 'right place' I mean a few things. Homestead-friendly, first. Can we garden, have chickens, a dairy cow(in order of importance)? Is there a well, and a woodstove(in order of importance, again)? We also have cats and a dog(which we take seriously, no hungry reproducers staked out on chains). Next, is it livable? We don't want fancy or high-falutin by any means, and would be willing to work on minor repairs. Realistically, though, we need something in good shape because we have kids, one income and want to focus on gardening vs. a rough, needy house or trailer. *Conversely, if there were an opportunity to use 'green' methods to rehabiliate a building and we had creative license to experiment, we might consider that on the grounds of experience gained.* This ties into the next point... For a decent, comfortable place that fits our needs, we could potentially be long-term tenants. How dreamy is that? Reliable, quiet, friendly gardeners that want to settle down and pay you on time for a few years? One of the needs to be met is affordability. We are a self-sufficient(read; no assistance), homeschooling family with one income hoping to rent in Southwest Missouri. A posh organic chalet with granite countertops for $875 a month isn't in our budget.

We do have references. Our current rental situation has been a blissful one, where I invested much time and money into a great no-till organic garden and gifted the landlords at every opportunity with veggies. I asked in the spring for a cow, and didn't get an answer. Apparently it just took me putting proof in the pudding... Not long ago my landlord said he was impressed with our care of the property, enough so that he would trust us with a dairy cow and make room for her in whichever area would be most convenient for us. I fell a little in love with them at that point. I am almost sad to go, but my home(the Ozarks) calls and the time is right.

I appreciate the time spent in reading this, and look forward to responses, if even only leads. Thank you!

So, I live in the very best rental house ever. Well... Maybe not best ever, but it is pretty excellent. Located in Central-ish Kentucky, about 20 minutes north of Somerset. Right in the heart of cattle country. In fact, this sweet little house sits on the edge of a wonderful farm... The owner runs a small herd of mixed beef cattle. There is over 100 acres of beautiful land that the awesome land-owners gave us free reign to play on. Acres and acres of wild blackberrie, some wild black raspberries and also some wild pawpaws. Hosts of medicinal wild herbs. A spring just down the hill and a small seasonal creek which geodes fairly burst out of(crystal hunting with kiddos!). A stocked fish pond. The area is very rural, we can see our neighbor’s house but it is still very private. The views are excellent. The trees are excellent. The owners are truly great people. The house is small and cute, two bedrooms. Dog and cat friendly area. Imminently walkable/bikeable neighborhood, the roads aren't busy and are all paved. The area has a nice network of "crunch" happening... First annual Sustainability Fair was held in Somerset this year. Established farmer's market in town. Freshly installed high-speed internet. Just all around awesome, but it gets better...

The landowners(Chris and wife, Betty Jo) gave me permission to garden, as big as I want. I purchased tons of compost and laid out the best no-till garden I ever have, and have laid tons of mulch and grassclippings, as well as lugged poo up the hill from the cow field... The garden this year was OUT OF THIS WORLD. I give them lots of produce, and they even expressed how impressed they were with my 'different' gardening method. *haha* They gave me permission to have chickens, but I never ended up getting any. If we were staying I probably would, and also try to talk them into a cow. I've been working on it. While the house is on city water, they have a well just outside in the yard, though there is no pump. They might just allow the right tenants to install one, if they paid(and it would be no less than the water bill for the year, I am sure). The house also has a nice gutter system, and I bet Chris and Betty Jo would be okay with water catchment barrels.

And to top it all off, rent here is very affordable. $425 a month, and one month deposit.

I share this info because it was such a stroke of luck for us to find this place. I really adore the owners(like, LOVE them), and living here has been peaceful and fun. I invested a good amount of money and lots and lots and lots of time and effort into establishing this kick-ass garden. The raised compost beds can be worked with your hands. There is 100 feet of fence-line along the yard where I laid compost and mulch and grew cukes, morning glories, and squash. Next season it should be rich and ready for vining beans or flowers. I am currently planting some fall crops, and tucking in some of the excess beds in prep for the winter... Sheet composting garden residue and crass clippings. I have some perennial herbs tucked in here and there... Catnip, yarrow, thyme, chives, oregano, chamomile is busy reseeding itself. Might set out a chunk of lemon balm from the planter. There is a big bed full of Swiss Chard, mixed colors, that will be coming back next year. I'd really be kind of saddened for this beautiful garden to be flattened back out into hayfield(sits on the corner of an alfalfa hayfield) or overrun with weeds. I'd love for someone to take advantage of all the work I've done, to pick up where I leave off.

Our lease is up in late October, but we're looking to rent month to month until Spring(February or March). Anybody out there interested in renting this little patch of bliss? I'd like to take contact info/leads to Betty Jo(this is the farm she grew up on, by the way, her dad built the house) when we're ready to go and spare her the trouble of finding another tenant. From what I gather, she has had a string of bad ones in the past. They just love us, probably because we keep the yard nice, grow veggies and flowers, and are never late on the rent.

If you start with raw sweet cream, and make butter with it, all of the friendly 'critters' present in the raw cream will still be there. You can get cultured butter just by letting raw sweet cream butter age in the refrigerator. My mother has a sure-fire way to turn sweet cream butter into cultured butter quickly, that she discovered quite by accident... She makes raw sweet cream butter a few pounds at a time using an electric churn attached to a large glass jar. She would wash the butter in the jar by kneading the butter in several changes of water. One evening she didn't have time to spread the butter out to salt and freeze, so left the mass of butter floating in cool water in the covered jar. Apparently the temperature and environment and lack of salt made for a quick culture, as in the morning it tasted and smelled like aged butter! I LOVE cultured butter! I think that it has a faint cheesy flavor, a richer more pronounced presence. Cultured butter, aged in the fridge for a few months(yes, it keeps forever) takes on a 'parmesan' note. Cultured butter used in baking is truly excellent... Actually being able to taste the butter in a baked good is something most people have never experienced.

Interesting anecdote... I once had a large tub(you know, recycled cool whip container type situation) of raw butter get pushed to the back of the fridge. It was there a LONG time. Upon tasting it we found it to be cultured past the point of our liking. We gave the whole thing to the dog. It took her about three or four days to eat it... In this time she went from having ticks and fleas to being COMPLETELY bare of any detectable parasite. I don't know if it did something to her blood pH, or if it just changed the way she smelled, but for the rest of the season(late spring up until winter) she remained pest free. It was awesome.

Returning the Howdy! I checked out all of the links you posted(and contacted you via FB), and it paints a picture of awesomeness. Definitely something I could see myself participating in. I am wondering if you've found help? I say "see myself" as in it is all terribly interesting to me, you are the proverbial hop and skip away, and getting paid for fun sounds awesome. Realistically, I have a husband and three small kids and don't know how that would translate into a live-in internship situation. Do you see any possibility of hiring out any of the work needing done, without the 'room and board' aspect? Also, do you have openings for your landscaping crew? We currently rent on the edge of a lovely farm in Pulaski county north of Somerset, but my husband is currently looking for a better(meaning more fulfilling and interesting) work. Our lease is up in October and we've considered renewing, but the right opportunity would nudge us from our current rural paradise.

As far as our story... My husband works so that I can stay at home with the kiddos(8,5 and 2.5). We homeschool, child-led learning style. The kids participate in many facets of my work and hobbies... Gardening, lawn care, food prep and preservation, wild food harvesting(it's blackberry season!), nature hikes with a focus on identification of and wild-crafting native herbs. The rest of their time is spent pursuing their interests and learning their passions. It is a very casual, laid back relationship with the kids, and their involvement with most of what I do makes for good times. I've been studying permaculture, sustainable agriculture, native plants, green building and heirloom gardening for years.

I was raised on a small farm in the Missouri Ozarks that my family, collectively, still owns. We hope to one day build a small intentional community(permaculture philosophy based) there. I would really relish the chance to shadow a successful sustainable business, especially one intimately tied into many of the things I find most fascinating... I think whatever I pick up through osmosis would be very helpful in my quest to build a functional system at my own family land in the future. My husband grew up in Kentucky, and we came here after a stint on the Missouri land. We were following a job opportunity(so conventional and eventually proving unsatisfying) and chose to leave the farm. I was pregnant with our youngest then, and the farm was a handful more than we could manage at the time. In our time there my husband studied the use of traditional farming handtools, the scythe and ax, most prominently. While I am the gardener and plant enthusiast of our bunch, he has a strong working knowledge of these things that he picked up from our time there.

I can say that myself and my husband would be interested in any work opportunities that you have even though we may, as a family unit, not fit the exact slot of live-in help.

Anywho... I hope that this finds you having an awesome and productive summer, and best wishes for a successful search for help!