Benefits of Eating Grass Finished Lamb

By Angie Mentink

*Sheep have the highest CLA levels of all animals!

*Sheep raised on pasture have twice as much lutein, 14% less fat, and about 8% more protein compared to grain-fed lamb

*Lamb is an excellent source of Vitamin B 12 and a good source of niacin

*Zinc and selenium are found in high amounts

*Lamb is rich in iron, mostly in the form of heme iron, which is highly bio available

*Often people that cannot tolerate beef do well with lamb! Continue reading “Our Hair Sheep” →

Instead of celebrating the Fourth of July on the actual day, a Monday, we scheduled our festivities for the day before, Sunday, July 3. We originally had planned on going down to the dam and swimming, but when Sunday arrived, we decided against that idea. The sky was overcast and a chilly wind was blowing, making the day way too cold for swimming. Continue reading “Fourth of July Frolics” →

By Alena Mentink

Butchering our first duck came about in a rather unpleasant way. It started with a snapping turtle that the boys discovered on the sledding hill. The turtle looked harmless enough, but thankfully the boys knew better than to touch it. They thought it might be a painted turtle, like we have seen before, but since they were not at all sure, they left it alone. Continue reading “Enjoying the Weather” →

Our family has been enjoying the beautiful spring weather and spending lots of time outside. Now that Dad has finished setting up the play set, the babies love to play there and also enjoy helping Mom in the garden. The boys have taken several fishing trips down to the dam. Continue reading “Work and Recreations on and off the Farm” →

By Alena Mentink

The rain we received has been a huge blessing.  The pastures and hay fields suddenly sprang to life and became a carpet of green. The lilac bushes leaped into bloom, although we think that a late frost killed a large portion of the flowers. The bees have become active and have been feasting on the many dandelions surrounding our property. Continue reading “The Blessings of Spring!” →

By Alena Mentink

This week truly has felt as if spring has come. Part of the reason for this is due to the warm weather. Another reason is because we have been planting seeds. At the end of last week we repotted all the house plants that we ordered. Continue reading “Signs of Spring on the Mentink Family Farm” →

By Alena Mentink

Permaculture is working with nature instead of against it. It is also making thoughtful observations before putting useless labor into a project. Instead of thinking that things need to be done a certain way, permaculture is remaining open to new ideas. The term permaculture is made up of the words permanent, agriculture, and culture. This means that you are creating a permanent, self-sufficient food supply that will sustain a culture. Permaculture was first created for the use of food production. However, because permaculture is an idea that stimulates new thoughts, permaculture is continually growing and changing. Continue reading “What is Permaculture?” →

By Alena Mentink

This winter has been very busy, fun, and full of new experiences. We have worked on school, made lots of plans, and enjoyed being outside.   This fall, Dad and the boys went hunting. Continue reading “Our First Winter” →

The last several months have felt like a whirlwind! We have prepared our old place to sell (pictured below), moved, established our camper outside of our new residence to temporarily live in, prepared our animals for winter, started cleaning up around our new place, made a lot of decisions, experienced a few unexpected hardships, prepared a wood chip garden, and started gutting our new, old house. We had A&A Roofing put a metal roof on our house. We hope to collect water for the gardens eventually. We also participated in our first holiday show and filled Christmas orders. We have met so many nice people through this transition!

Through all of this we continue to homeschool and encourage our kids in as many skills as we can. We also continue to grow/raise a lot of our food and make almost everything from scratch. We know the Lord has and is at work giving us extra energy and strength, wisdom, patience, and so much more!  Our prayer is that we will be good stewards of what He has provided for us. We are so undeserving of His blessings! Continue reading “We Have Moved!” →

Tomorrow will be our sixth week of the local farmer’s market. This is our first experience selling at a farmer’s market. Our family has had a lot of fun through this process. We have enjoyed visiting and educating our community about local, natural products and we are blessed to see our children grow as we attempt to instill an entrepreneurial spirit in them.

Our oldest Alena, 14, has been busy sewing aprons, weaving pot holders, and baking cinnamon rolls. Kailey, 11, has been baking bread each week. She recently purchased two nubian does. Caleb, 9, loves to build and has been making raised beds and recently started worm farming. Aiden, 6, will be raising 5 broilers this fall.

I hope to share some tips on selling at a farmer’s market after we have more experience.