http://www.perennialacresholmestead.com/

Perennial Acres Holmestead, Jonesborough, TN (2026)

10/17/2026

**Want to learn how to turn a whole hog into freezer-ready pork?**

Our Whole Hog Butchery Masterclass is coming up November 7–8, and there’s still space to join us!

Over two days on our farm in Jonesborough, TN, James and Audra Holmes will walk you through the process, from whole hog to finished cuts. You’ll learn how to break down a hog, identify the different cuts, package pork for the freezer, and make sausage, bacon, ham, and lard.

Whether you’re a homesteader wanting to process your own animals, a hunter looking to build your butchery skills, or simply someone who wants to better understand where your food comes from, this workshop is for you.

**Ready to learn a skill you can use for years to come?**

Visit the "Events" page of our website (link in bio) or click the click in the comments

📍 Perennial Acres Holmestead | Jonesborough, TN
📅 November 7–8

Please reach out with any questions you have!

10/16/2026

Do you have your own personal food bank?

We needed ours this week.

Before our trip, we pretty much cleaned out the fridge. Our last dinner was a “leftover medley,” and anything uneaten went to the chickens and pigs as we headed down the driveway.

When we got home, a grocery run was top priority. Except I woke up feeling awful. So did the kids. And James.

Our youngest said, “That’s okay Mommy. You don’t need to go to the public grocery store. You can just go downstairs to our private grocery store. Can you make me some toast and jam for breakfast?”

And she was 100% right. ❤️

Fortunately on our way home from our trip, we’d stopped at a farm stand for raw milk and apples. I wholly intended to go to the grocery store for a full re-stock the next morning. But, our personal stores were able to fill in until I was finally able to venture out.

We didn’t make it to the grocery store for FOUR days. What did we eat, besides toast and jam?

🍲 Turkey and dumplings, using home-canned turkey and vegetables.
🥣 Homemade granola, with ingredients I keep on hand.
🌮 Rabbit tacos, with a frozen rabbit cooked in the Instant Pot, plus canned corn, beans, and salsa.
🍎 Roasted pork and apples, with fresh bread from the bread maker (It doesn’t always have to be sourdough!)

That supply took a huge weight off my shoulders. I could spend the day on the couch recovering and snuggling our sick kids instead of dragging myself out for groceries.

Whether you’re sick, facing a natural disaster, stretching the budget, or feeding surprise guests, a home food supply comes in handy. This isn’t about preparing for the apocalypse. It’s about making everyday life easier when things don’t go as planned.

We’ve been building our stores for over a decade. Raising and processing our own meat has helped. Processing an animal yourself lets you use more than familiar cuts—and put food in your freezer and pantry.

Our Whole Hog Butchery Masterclass is coming up next month! Want to learn how we do it? You can find the details are on the "Events" page of our website.

If you couldn’t get to the grocery store for a week, what meals could you make with what you already have?

10/15/2026

It’s time for the big reveal…

How could we possibly leave our farm—with about 100 animals—for over two weeks?!

If you’ve been following along for a while, you know we’ve built systems to make farm life more flexible. Every week, I share my “Fill-It-Up Friday” in our stories, when I test and refill our high-capacity feeders and waterers.

You see, we don’t just switch our farm into “vacation mode” when we’re ready to leave. We test our vacation systems every day of the year.

I still believe livestock should have eyes on them every day to check that they’re healthy and doing well. But that doesn’t mean I have to haul feed and water out to them daily, or let animals in and out every single day.

These systems let me prioritize homeschooling our kids, take weekends off (or away!), and worry less about farm chores when it’s raining or we’re sick. We’re building a farm that fits our family—not making our family life fit the farm.

But for this trip, our systems alone weren’t enough. I trust them to keep things going for a few days away. For a trip this long, they made it easier for our farm sitter to check on everyone. She came every other day. Some visits were just a check that everything looked as it should; other days, she refilled feeders and waterers, just like you see me doing on Fill-It-Up Friday.

And then there were our good friends, who are also egg customers. We asked if they’d be willing to collect eggs while we were gone. They did more than that: they checked on the animals, flagged concerns to our farm sitter or us, and helped make sure everyone was cared for.

Even with all that help, the biggest lesson our family took away from this vacation was this:

Build a life you don’t need a vacation from. Then build systems that let you take a few days off!

We’re glad we went—and we’re also really glad to be home and settled back into our routines. I think it’ll be quite a few years before we take another vacation that long! ❤️

If you have a homestead or a farm, what’s one system you’ve put in place that gives you more freedom?

10/14/2026

After coming back from a long break, it seems fitting to do a fresh introduction, so here we go!

Welcome to Perennial Acres Holmestead! I'm Audra Holmes. Along with my husband, James, and our two daughters, we're passionate about providing real food for our family, regenerating our land, and sharing what we learn along the way.

When we moved from a suburban half-acre to our farm in Jonesborough, Tennessee, in 2020, we had zero livestock experience and only a little gardening know-how. It was a big learning curve—but the food we now grow and raise is so worth it! We dove into researching, taking classes, building infrastructure, and growing not just food, but our skills, too.

Today, our farm is home to Silver Fox Rabbits, Myotonic Goats, KuneKune Pigs, holiday turkeys, laying hens, a garden, and an orchard. We focus on regenerative practices like rotational grazing and improving our soil, while building systems that make farm life more manageable. Raising our own food is TIME CONSUMING, so anything that reduces daily work while still caring well for our animals and land is a win-win!

We also process our own animals here on the farm and host hands-on workshops to teach others these skills. Knowing where your food comes from is one thing; knowing how to put it on your table is another.

One of the biggest lessons we've learned? Community sufficiency matters more than self-sufficiency. We buy local foods we don't raise, trade goods, share ideas, and support other producers. We can't—and don't want to—do it all ourselves!

Expect real farm life, practical tips, and lessons learned the hard way. As a former teacher, I love sharing what works (and what doesn't). We're all about systems over overwhelm—you won't find me pushing anyone to a certain level of homesteading. Instead, you'll see how we set realistic expectations of our time and use systems to beat overwhelm.

Around here, we Learn, Build, Grow together, and I'm glad you're part of the journey. ❤️

Whether you've been here for years or just found us, I'd love to hear from you! Where are you from, and what's one thing you're growing, raising, learning, or dreaming about these days?

10/13/2026

After 5 years of posting multiple times a week…

It was apparently time for me to take a break. 😂

It all started with a hack of my personal Facebook account in early August that cut off my access to our farm page on both Facebook and Instagram. That only took about a month to resolve…

When it first happened, I was honestly afraid that our farm business was over. So much of what we do involves connecting with people through social media, and I worried about what would happen if I couldn't reach the community we'd spent years building.

But then the most amazing things happened.

Our workshops still filled up and went on as planned. Livestock were sold. Tours were booked. Thanksgiving turkeys were reserved.

That's when I realized that as much as social media helps us build community, it is not the community. You and me — together, we are the community.❤️

And while I was away from social media, farm life just kept on keeping on. Piglets were born, rabbits were bred, corn and beans were harvested and canned, plans were made for goat breeding season, and animals were rotated to fresh pasture. There is a LOT that's happened around here!

A few weeks later, I finally got let back into all things Meta, only to find myself in the middle of packing and preparing the farm for vacation.

For the first time since our honeymoon more than 11 years ago, James and I took a real vacation — something longer than a long weekend. We spent two weeks exploring the Mediterranean, visiting Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Greece!

And of course, the farm didn't come with us. 😂 We had about 100 animals to care for while we were gone, so we put a lot of planning into making sure everything would run smoothly during our time away.

Make sure you follow along this week, because I'll be sharing more about how we prepared the farm to carry on without us, what happened after we got back 😱, and all the things that we have been planning here while I've been quiet.

It's good to be back! 🌿

08/01/2026

If you really want to know where your food comes from...

That means doing more than knowing the farmer.

It means doing more than raising the animal yourself.

To truly know where your food comes from, you have to be willing to see the entire process through.

From life...

To harvest...

To the meal on your family's table.

That's why we process every animal we raise for our own family right here on the farm.

And it's why we believe these are skills worth learning.

For generations, people knew how to raise, butcher, and preserve their own food. Somewhere along the way, many of those skills were lost.

We want to help bring them back.

Whether your goal is greater self-sufficiency, raising your own meat, or simply understanding your food on a deeper level, we'd love to teach you.

🍗 September 5 — Poultry Processing Workshop

🐇 September 12 — Rabbit Processing Workshop

🐖 November 7-8 — Whole Hog Butchery Masterclass

Or, if you're ready to dive in, save your spot with our **Fall Farm Processing Series Pass** and join us for all three.

These are intentionally small, hands-on workshops, so once they're full, registration will close.

Visit the **Events** page on our website for complete details, or comment PROCESS below and I'll send you the information directly.

We'd love to have you join us.

07/30/2026

Every animal we have ever raised to feed our family has not only lived its life here on our farm (and in many cases, was even born here), but has also taken its last breath here.

We believe strongly in processing our own meat, and there are a lot of reasons why.

First, our animals don't have a bad day.

There is no trailer ride to a processor. No unfamiliar sights, sounds, or smells. No waiting their turn at a butcher shop. By processing on-farm, we believe we're able to give our animals the most peaceful and least stressful end possible.

It's also about respect.

If we're willing to eat meat, then we believe we should also accept the responsibility that comes with producing it. Processing our own livestock reminds us that meat doesn't begin in a package at the grocery store. It comes from an animal that deserves to be cared for well throughout its life and treated with dignity at the end.

It's about responsibility, too.

When we process our own animals, we're accountable for every decision we've made along the way. Their genetics. Their nutrition. Their housing. Their health. We don't hand the final step off to someone else—we see it through ourselves.

Processing day also gives us a firsthand look at the health of our livestock. We observe the liver, heart, fat distribution, body condition, and other indicators that help us evaluate our management practices and continually improve the way we care for our animals.

And finally...

This is what "knowing where your food comes from" really means to us.
There is never any question whether our pasture-raised, GMO-free fed livestock is the meat that comes back to us. We know every step of the animal's life—and its death.

We know our food.

Because we believe so strongly in processing our own livestock, we also believe these are skills worth preserving and passing on.

That's why we've opened registration for our Fall Farm Processing Series.
🐔 Poultry Processing
🐇 Rabbit Processing
🐖 Pig Processing
Or, if you want to learn all three, join us with our Fall Farm Processing Series Pass.
For complete details, visit the Events page on our website, or comment PROCESS below and I'll send you the information directly.

07/17/2026

**Silver Fox Rabbit Kits Available!**

We've got Silver Fox rabbit kits ready for new homes!

Available:
🤎 Chocolate
🖤 Black
♂️ Bucks and ♀️ Does

One of the compliments we hear most from visitors is how calm and friendly our rabbits are. Our kits are handled daily from a young age, helping them grow into relaxed, curious rabbits that are a joy to work with.

We raise Silver Fox rabbits because they've been an outstanding fit for our homestead. They have excellent temperaments, are attentive mothers, grow efficiently, and produce exceptional meat. In our system, we've consistently seen them reach around **5 pounds live weight** and **about 3 pounds dressed** by 12 weeks—even when raised on pasture in rabbit tractors.

Our rabbits are fed a quality non-GMO pellet along with fresh greens and forage whenever available.

At this time, we have individual bucks and does available. We do **not** currently have breeding pairs or trios available because both litters have the same sire. We're hoping to have breeding sets available again this fall.

📍 Pickup is at our farm in Jonesborough, TN.

Send us a message if you'd like pricing or to reserve your rabbit kits before they're gone!

07/14/2026

Rain wasn't about to stop us.

With storms in the forecast all weekend, we spent Friday evening turning our garage into a temporary processing classroom.

Despite the rain, we had a fantastic Rabbit Processing Workshop!

And this was just the beginning...

This fall, we're excited to offer three hands-on processing workshops:

🐔 September 5 — Poultry Processing
🐇 September 12 — Rabbit Processing
🐖 November 7 — Pig Processing

We intentionally keep our workshops small so every participant gets plenty of one-on-one instruction and leaves feeling confident.

People are often surprised by how simple rabbit processing really is.

There isn't a huge list of specialized equipment.

There isn't a dedicated processing facility.

Most of the time, James can process a few rabbits on the tailgate of his truck before I even make it outside to help.

That's one of the reasons we believe rabbits are such a great place to start learning how to raise your own meat.

Over the years, we've processed everything we raise or hunt to feed our family—deer, chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, pigs, goats, and even the occasional unexpected mercy cull when an animal couldn't be saved.

We weren't born knowing how to do any of this.

These are skills we learned because we wanted to take responsibility for where our food comes from.

And that's exactly why we teach these workshops.

They're not really about rabbits.

They're about helping people discover that processing their own food is something they *can* learn.

Whether your goal is greater self-sufficiency, raising your own meat, or reconnecting with skills that previous generations relied on, we hope our workshops help make that first step feel a little less intimidating.

If you'd like to be the first to know when tickets are released, send us a message with the word **WORKSHOP**, and we'll add you to the notification list.

Perennial Acres Holmestead

10/17/2026

10/16/2026

10/15/2026

10/14/2026

10/13/2026

08/01/2026

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07/14/2026

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