Homestead Matters

10/01/2026

Sometimes dinner is just a set of plugs!
Chipotle Chicken legs (from our own birds) and jasmine rice.
Picking onions now to balance!

09/26/2026

Y'all! Run over to Shady Magnolia Homestead's new website and tell me what you're buying! I'm torn still!

09/16/2026

This weekend we hosted an apple press party with the Eugene Area Gleaners what a time! In a few hours, we washed/QA'd/cut/pressed hundreds of pounds of apples, both gleaned and picked from home. Everyone brought home some c***r. We had 10 5-gallon buckets filled with pressed apple parts.
We had some big plans!
24 quarts of freshly pressed apple juice (c***r becomes juice once heat is applied) and 3 quarts of water (more to come on that)
We overnight soaked half of the pressed apple chunks and repressed it in the morning for 9 gallons of second pressing c***r. the second pressing c***r is our first attempt at hard c***r. Updates to come on the journey.
The second half of the pressed apple chunks will become apple c***r vinegar. First time I've used a hygrometer to measure specific gravity in liquids and adding sugar to adjust. Half felt like I'm Breaking Bad over here!
Now, the canned water. Two reasons. Last round of c***r wasn't enough to fill my canner, so to help stabilize the jars from jostling around, can water. The second reason - old school preparation. Jars take up space filled or empty. Why not have potable water easily portable? Next level is to find some cheap cotton hand towels and add a clean one to each of the water jars in future processing so you have clean towels in sterilized water? Just one more notch on the crazy Caiti cap, don't mind me. I'm over here living my best life and loving every new adventure!

09/10/2026

Go visit this auction for a few of our quail community members who suffered a car crash and a house fire. So many amazing listings! If you've been looking for an excuse to get into something new, or just get more of something you already have, go bid now - Auction end Saturday!
(We're donating a Hatching Program for quail or chicken, whatever your preference, so if you're local to Eugene area, consider this your sign!)
Everything helps get these families back into the swing of things after some tragedy. Thank you!!

YALL!!!
THE QUAIL COMMUNITY RELIEF AUCTION IS ALMOST HERE! 🐥

Two families in our quail community had their lives turned upside down within days of each other.

❤️ Emilee of Five Little Quail Homestead was involved in a serious car accident with Elijah from Microraptors. Her vehicle was totaled, and they are both still recovering from the accident. Emilee is also trying to care for her family and her quail barn without the reliable transportation she had before.

❤️ Brian & Dani of B + D Quail lost their home, their entire quail flock, their foam shipper business, and so much more in a devastating house fire.

So our community decided we were going to come together and help. ❤️

We have SO many amazing donations from quail breeders, homesteaders, small businesses, artists, and just some really generous people who wanted to do something for these families.

We are still adding a few last minute items, so keep checking back!

🐥 AUCTION DETAILS

Opens: Thursday, September 10 at 12 PM CST
Closes: Saturday, September 12 at 6 PM CST

👉 REGISTER NOW:
galabid.com/quail-yeah⁠

You can register ahead of time so you’re ready to bid when it opens tomorrow!

All remaining proceeds after applicable auction and payment processing fees will be split 50/50 between the two families.

Please share this post and help us get as many eyes on this auction as possible! ❤️

Let’s show them what the quail community can do when we come together. 🐥❤️

P.S. I’m still adding items throughout the day today AND some items are hidden until tomorrow 👀👀🫣

Here’s the link!!

https://app.galabid.com/quail-yeah/items

09/04/2026

If y'all haven't discovered Feathered Knechtions Quail , consider your life incomplete until you go follow this farm. Hilarious, down to earth, and experienced, they are venturing outside of their own websites, farmers markets, dehydrated and freeze dried pet treats, they know what they're doing and open to sharing with others. Go see how y'all can be a great fit! And if you don't need a virtual assistant go follow anyway!

Surprise Launch🫶 I debated whether I would share this on social or not but I’m just so excited to not share with you guys something I’m starting.

As some of you know, I’ve created websites and done graphic design virtually for several of my friends in the quail/farming community and it’s something I love spending time doing and because of that I’m now going to offer virtual assistant services for my friends who want to spend less time doing administrative work and more time doing the stuff they’re passionate about (cuz that’s why we all started farming/homesteading in the first place, right?!)

So if you want some virtual help or wanna chat and find out if there is something I could possibly help you with, reach out to me in messenger and I can give you more info. This is just a brief overview of what I can do and some of the things I love doing but for those that know me you also know I LOVE learning new things so let’s do this !

See ya’ll in messenger ;)

09/04/2026

The quail community is like a second family. Between a serious car crash and a house fire, let's rally together and show once again, why the quail community is so amazing!

🔥 TWO FAMILIES. TWO DEVASTATING LOSSES. HOURS APART. 🔥

And we decided we’re going to do something about it. 💛

If you haven’t seen my video yet, here’s what’s going on:

Emilee from Five Little Quail Homestead was involved in a serious car accident that totaled her vehicle. Thankfully, no one was critically injured, and none of her five children were in the vehicle. But Emilee is extremely sore and having a hard time moving around, while still trying to care for her five kids.

She also has a long drive to her rented quail barn to care for her birds and run her business, and losing her vehicle makes an already difficult situation even harder.

Then Brian and Dani from B + D Quail experienced a devastating house fire. They lost their home, their birds, and their livelihood.

Thankfully, everyone made it out safely and they have somewhere to stay, but now they are facing the overwhelming task of rebuilding their lives and their business from the ground up.

These are people who have been incredibly kind and helpful to me since I started getting into quail. I truly would not be where I am today without people like them.

I couldn’t get this off my heart.

So we are putting together a QUAIL COMMUNITY RELIEF AUCTION! 🐦💛

And the response has already been incredible!

Some of the donations currently being offered include:

🥚 Hatching eggs
🐣 Large hatching egg assortments
🔥 An incubator AND hatching eggs
🔥 Heat plates
🐦 Quail shirts
🪵 Custom engraved egg displays
🪧 Handmade wooden quail signs
🧺 Embroidered towel sets
🌱 Hoya plant bundles
🪺 Egg roll out cages
🎁 Handmade and small business items
🐐 And possibly even a Nigerian Dwarf goat or a 2027 kid! 😂

We’re still working out the logistics on the goat, but HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE?!

And this does NOT have to be quail related!

🐔 Chicken breeders, we want you too!
🌱 Homesteaders, come on!
🎨 Artists and makers!
🛍️ Small businesses!
🐓 Anyone with something awesome to donate!

Chicken hatching eggs? YES.

Quail earrings? YES.

A handmade sign? YES.

A shirt, plant, artwork, jewelry, woodworking, gift basket, or anything else people would love? YES!

There is NO donation too big or too small. Every single item helps.

💛 WANT TO DONATE?

Fill out the donation form here:

https://forms.gle/di8mGCJ7SxpzgrPv9

For physical donations, we are asking that items be able to ship directly to the auction winner and that donors cover shipping whenever possible. If shipping is a concern, please still reach out and let us know so we can make the expectations clear in the auction listing.

📅 AUCTION DATES

Our goal is:

Thursday, September 10 through Saturday, September 12

with the auction closing at 6:00 PM CST on Saturday.

I will confirm everything and send the auction link as soon as it is ready!

We are trying to get this going QUICKLY so we can get money to these families as soon as possible.

And once it goes live, we need everyone to SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!

💰 WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?

After necessary auction and payment processing costs, all remaining proceeds will be split 50/50 between Emilee and Brian’s families.

The goal is simple: raise as much as we can and help them start rebuilding.

Maybe we raise thousands.

Maybe we raise hundreds.

Either way, it will be something they didn’t have before. 💛

💛 WANT TO HELP THEM DIRECTLY?

Emilee’s GoFundMe:

https://gofund.me/f854debcc

Brian’s GoFundMe:

https://gofund.me/081b8a467

🥹 A HUGE THANK YOU

I have to give a very special shoutout to Aaron Guidro at Guidro’s Family Farm.

This idea was something that had been weighing heavily on my heart, and I reached out to Aaron because of his connections within this community.

This would not be happening the way it is without him.

Thank you, Aaron, for helping turn an idea into something real. 💛

And thank you to everyone who has already offered donations, shared the post, or offered to help.

I genuinely had no idea this would grow this quickly.

This community is something really special.

Let’s show Emilee, Brian, and Dani what that means. 🐦💛🐔

LET’S HELP THEM REBUILD.

09/04/2026

Dinner last night was one of the tastiest meals I've made in a long time. It's also one locally sourced! Braised Chicken thighs, in a reduced herb and white w**e tomato demiglace, long grain coconut rice, rice vinegar pickled cucumbers, salted corn kernels, and butter poached Yukon gold potato steak frites.
Our chickens and herbs, neighbor's tomatoes, gleaned corn and rescued cucumbers. I didn't want to stop eating

08/26/2026

Apparently, I Have Chosen Produce Over Sanity. 🌽🍑😂

I should probably be cleaning my house.

I am, in fact, not cleaning my house.

I am stressed.
There are things that need to be done.
Laundry exists in several distinct geological layers.
There is a suspicious amount of stuff on every horizontal surface.

And yet…

When someone says, “Hey, do you want some produce?”

My brain goes:

YES. ABSOLUTELY. BRING IT TO ME.

Because apparently I don't have enough going on.

So while my house continues its slow descent into chaos, I've been washing, chopping, blanching, boiling, peeling, slicing, dehydrating, pressure canning, water-bath canning, freezing, and generally finding increasingly creative ways to make food stop being perishable.

At this point, I have accepted that I am not the woman who keeps a spotless house during harvest season.

I am the woman who looks around at the mess and says,

“Well… at least there are 28 quarts of corn.”

And honestly?

That's something. 😂

The 2026 Preservation Tally So Far:

🌽 CANNED:
161 jars of various fruits, vegetables, jams, jellies, fillings, syrups, and preserves

🍑 DEHYDRATED / DRIED:
About 36 pint-equivalents of dried produce, including corn, peaches, peach skins, plums, bell peppers, onions, herbs, and more

6 trays of blackberry fruit leather

❄️ FROZEN:
Berries (blackberries, raspberries, blueberries) currently taking up residence in the freezer, because apparently even the freezer gets to participate in this madness.

📦 STORED:
Enough jars, bags, trays, and miscellaneous containers of preserved food to make Future Me feel extremely smug.

And the funniest part?

I'm still taking produce.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but apparently the answer to
“Are you stressed?”
is not always “Do less.”

Sometimes it's:

“Yes. But is that a box of peaches?” 😂

My house may be a mess.

My stress level may be questionable.

But come winter?

I'm going to be VERY glad I was apparently incapable of saying no to produce. 🌽🍑🫐

08/26/2026

Okay, but why did nobody tell me that corn silk is basically strawberry blonde?

Because I just spent the day pulling this stuff off hundreds of ears of corn…

…and then I looked at it in my hand and realized:

Oh.

That's my hair.

Apparently I've been genetically compatible with corn this entire time.