The Phat Hen

Website

The Phat Hen I live in rural North Dakota, close to the Canadian & Minnesota border. My husband farms (4 generation) small grains and raises beef cattle.

The Phat Hen a Homesteading Blog, Author Esther Donohue🐓🧺
Sharing our farm-life and homesteading adventures.
📍North Dakota | 🫜Zone 3
Sourdough | Canning | Chickens | Cows | Gardening | From Scratch Cooking. We have three children. Our little homestead is tucked away in a valley. We raise chickens, have a small herd of goats, one horse, 4 dogs, cats, and will hopefully be adding quail soon. I can all our produce, love gardening, and being as self-sufficient as possible. I am a professionally trained chef, teaching Culinary Arts full-time to high school students. When summer comes, I start my side hustle, my food truck. I love sharing my knowledge with others so I started The Phat Hen blog and I have been sharing homesteading content and chicken posts on there!

Sourdough bagels and bagel bites. I do have a favorite! Everything bagel seasoning and the jalapeno cheddar, which I use...
09/20/2026

Sourdough bagels and bagel bites.
I do have a favorite! Everything bagel seasoning and the jalapeno cheddar, which I used the fresh jalapeños from the garden and they are packing some heat🔥🌶️😬

What’s on the menu for this weeks meals?Last week we had.🐮Beef roast.🍝Italian meatballs and spaghetti.🐖Ham and scalloped...
09/19/2026

What’s on the menu for this weeks meals?

Last week we had.
🐮Beef roast.
🍝Italian meatballs and spaghetti.
🐖Ham and scalloped potatoes (leftovers will be one of my lunches this week)
🍲Ham and potatoes soup (leftovers one of my work lunches this week also)
🍅BLTs- since we had beautiful garden ripe tomatoes.

I may make burritos or chimis with the leftover beef roast for supper tonight.

Sunday will be homemade sourdough pizza.

I’m thinking this week⬇️
🐟Walleye & shrimp with hushpuppies and a salad.
🌶️Chili- making a large batch so I can preserve (pressure can) some for quick meals later.
🐖Porkchops? Or pork ribs- whatever I have more of in the freezer. Potatoes and veggies.
🐮Country fried steak, mashed spuds, white gravy and veggies.

Saturday- steaks
Sunday- burgers or BLTs again!

My work lunches this week⬇️
🍲Leftover ham and potato soup with rosemary garlic sourdough.
🥔Leftover scalloped potatoes and ham, w/ green beans.
🍅BLT salad- with sourdough croutons
🍚Burrito bowl (I have some leftover rice in the fridge), just need to cook some meat and veggies.
🐔Chicken salad with lots of garden fresh veggies.

And yes all this will be prepped to an extent and meat will be thawed ready to go!
Saves me so much time in the evenings when I get off work.

Moving my dill sauerkraut to the fridge. Brine got a bit cloudy ontop due to my metal lids, cause I forgot to put parchm...
09/19/2026

Moving my dill sauerkraut to the fridge.
Brine got a bit cloudy ontop due to my metal lids, cause I forgot to put parchment under them.

Oops!
I also may have under estimated the fresh dill, so it’s defiantly dilly! I’m thinking it will be soo good on sausage.

I’ll be making a spicy sauerkraut and a regular with the freshly picked cabbage.

Hoping to ferment those ones at least 15-20 days.

Storing them in the fridge because canning will kill the beneficial bacteria.

Any guesses on what’s on the tree?!
09/19/2026

Any guesses on what’s on the tree?!

Pulled cucumber plants, jalapeño & pepper plants, cabbages came out, yellow squash and we picked the ripe tomatoes. Corn...
09/19/2026

Pulled cucumber plants, jalapeño & pepper plants, cabbages came out, yellow squash and we picked the ripe tomatoes.

Corn stalks will be used for fall decor and will be pulled in the morning.

Trying to get the garden cleaned out before I run out of energy, 2 1/2 months till Baby arrives.

Ripp and I started picking and cleaning out garden #1 tonight.The cabbages were nice and heavy!Extra leaves will get to...
09/19/2026

Ripp and I started picking and cleaning out garden #1 tonight.
The cabbages were nice and heavy!
Extra leaves will get tossed into the chicken pen, nothing goes to waste around here, the hens will be eating good the next couple days.

Sunflower selfie. I need to get a photo standing next too these plants! They are so tall.
09/19/2026

Sunflower selfie.
I need to get a photo standing next too these plants! They are so tall.

Daily egg post. Loving these hues.
09/18/2026

Daily egg post.
Loving these hues.

Used up some more fresh herbs tonight. This time in supper.Homemade Italian meatballs from our farm raised pork and beef...
09/16/2026

Used up some more fresh herbs tonight.
This time in supper.

Homemade Italian meatballs from our farm raised pork and beef.
Used what was left of my spaghetti sauce canned last year.

And fresh made garlic & herb breadsticks.

Lots of tomatoes! I’ll be making more zucchini salsa and tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes. I even bought some tomatoes s...
09/15/2026

Lots of tomatoes!
I’ll be making more zucchini salsa and tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes.
I even bought some tomatoes so I have enough to make lots of tomato products.

Address

Pekin, ND
58361

Website

,

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Phat Hen posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share