98Rachel Koski (Farmer Rachel)
Joined 6 years ago from Pennsylvania, now farming in Minnesota Last activity 10 days ago
My name's Rachel: Beginning farmer, gardener, firewood chopper, cider and fruit-wine maker, lover of animals and all things outside and earthy. I have a profound interest in learning and mastering skills that have been (almost) forgotten since the industrial revolution - and a passion for sharing what I learn. I used to manage a living history farm in Pennsylvania with my husband, and now we have our own 20-acre farm in Minnesota, One23 Farm. (Find my Etsy shop at www.one23farm.etsy.com)
I raise various farm animals, including sheep and rabbits, and sometimes chickens, goats, and pigs. We have a market garden, and I'm hoping to sell cut flowers soon as well!
I can also drive horses (yes, just like we did before we had cars!), drive cattle for work, breed hogs, and make soap. I love producing food for myself and putting some up for the cold winter months. I guess I'm a homesteader, whether I meant to be one or not!
I have a B.A. in English, an Australian Cattle Dog named Honeybear, and an old F150 truck. My favorite person is David. Insta is @farmerrrachel (4 R's!) or @one23farm.
All of my work on Hubpages is dedicated to my father, whose journey in this life ended on March 28, 2013. I was 12 when he first advised me to write what I know. In the summer of 2010, he asked me if I thought I could make a living on a small farm, and thereby planted the seed of a dream that has become my life's work.
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Homemade Hot Process Castile Soap Recipe for Bars or Liquid
9 months ago
In this article I explain how to make your own castile soap using both the hot and cold process methods for bars or liquid soap!
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How Much Hay Do My Animals Need for Winter?
10 months ago
"How much hay do I need for the winter?" In this article, I'll discuss how I calculate how much hay to buy each winter without buying too much or too little.
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How to Make Homemade, All-Natural Liquid Laundry Soap
10 months ago
For next to no money and almost no effort (yay!), you can make your own all-natural liquid laundry soap and say bye to expensive, harsh commercial laundry detergent forever.
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Free-Range Meat Rabbits
9 months ago
Cage-free, free roaming, and ranging rabbits for meat—does it work? Read on for what I did and what I learned.
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Hypothermia in Lambs
10 months ago
Crucial information that could save the life of a lamb that is cold, chilled, or has hypothermia. Hypoglycemia and starvation are addressed as well.
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Best Breeds of Sheep for a Small Farm
10 months ago
My top five picks of sheep breeds for the small (or hobby) farm, plus bonus material!
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How to Use an Electric Net Fence for Livestock
10 months ago
An easy to use, novice-friendly guide to setting up and energizing an electric net fence for the purpose of containing livestock animals.
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Buying a Small Farm: Tips and Info
2 years ago
Stock-piling cash, moving halfway across the country, shopping for, and finally deciding to purchase, a small farm. (Or, why has Farmer Rachel been away from Hubpages for so long?)
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Ethical Concerns Regarding Raising Livestock Animals for Food
5 years ago
Raising animals for the purpose of human consumption appears to be something of a moral and ethical dilemma, and here's why: Animals including cattle, sheep, chickens, hogs, geese, ducks, goats, and all others are living, thinking, feeling beings...
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Five Weird and Uncommon Chicken Breeds
5 months ago
Five chickens breeds that are weird-looking, interesting, uncommon and downright different.
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Breeding Sheep: A Guide for the Task
5 years ago
Whether you're planning on breeding your pet sheep, the sheep on your homestead, or you're interested in trying to earn some extra money getting into the markets for lamb, mutton, or wool, this article will provide you with the information that you'll need to get started breeding sheep.
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How to Split Fence Rails Out of Logs
2 years ago
In the past, it was necessary for people who lived out in the country to know how to split fence rails out of logs for the purpose of building fences to protect their crop fields, their property boundaries, or to contain their livestock. But what's the point in knowing how to do it today? Well,...
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Health Benefits of Chopping Firewood
10 months ago
What's so great about chopping wood? How about more self-confidence, stronger and tighter abdominal muscles, and relief from stress and frustrations.
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Hot-Process Soap Making Adventures, with Recipes
2 years ago
Hot process soap making is one of the ways to make all-natural soap at home. But can you make the soap really, really pretty? What can you add to it to make it more interesting? Here's an account of some of my recent adventures in hot process soap making. You should be able to learn something, too!
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Raising Chickens and Pigs for Meat and Self-Sufficiency
10 months ago
Looking for a little more self-sufficiency? This article will tell you what you need to know about producing your own chicken and pork.
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Raising Chickens for Eggs or Meat: Basic Guide
4 years ago
Everything you need to know to get started raising your own chickens for eggs, meat, or both.
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Mowing With a Scythe
6 months ago
A bit about scythes- why I like mowing with one, and why you might like it, too.
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Five Best Egg Laying Chicken Breeds
2 months ago
My top five picks for egg-laying chicken breeds.
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Why Young People Should Consider Becoming Farmers
21 months ago
If no one has suggested that you consider farming as a career, then let me be the first. Within the next 20 years, more than half of all the farmers in the United States will be too old to work, retired, or deceased.
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Hard Apple-Pear Cider Recipe
16 months ago
A hard apple cider recipe with a twist! Simple, easy-to-follow instructions for making apple-pear cider.
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Easy Ways to Suppress Your Appetite by Eating Real Food
6 years ago
The best way to suppress your appetite is to feed yourself properly.
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How to Make Simple, Homemade Peach Wine
18 months ago
Country wines are so much fun and perfect for those of us who aren't brewing or wine-making experts! Here's a simple recipe with easy-to-follow instructions for making peach wine from whole peaches.
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Visiting Lancaster County, PA - Amish Country
2 years ago
There's so much to do in Lancaster County, PA! Here you can read about local markets, horse-and-buggy rides, Amish buffets, and more; and take a little picture tour of my most recent visit to Amish country.
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How to Make Ginger Beer
2 years ago
Simple, easy to follow recipe for delicious home made Ginger Beer.
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How to Raise and Care for Geese
20 months ago
Raising geese is a lot easier than you may think. The effort is well worth it especially if you use the natural tendencies of the geese to benefit you. Read on to learn about weeder geese, pet geese and security alarm geese!
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Natural Soap Colorants - How to Color Your Homemade Soap Naturally
2 years ago
Whether you're new to soap making or a seasoned vet, why use artificial ingredients to color your all-natural home made soap? Check out these easy to use natural ingredients that will give your soap the beautiful colors you're looking for!
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Preparing Soil for a New Garden
2 years ago
How to go from no garden to new garden using simple methods and only hand tools.
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Working With Draft Horses on a Small, Sustainable Farm
5 months ago
What's so great about working with horses? An article about utilizing the horse as a source of power, based on my personal experiences using them to perform farm labor and other tasks.
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Home Made Soap Made Easy, with Recipes for Natural Soap
2 years ago
Learn how to make simple, natural, authentic soap at home, using ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen. Soap making does not have to be a costly hobby - in fact, you may find that it's ultimately cheaper than buying soap!
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Types of Oak Trees (With Pictures of Trunk Bark)
2 years ago
Who doesn't love oak trees? They're big, beautiful, useful, and can live for hundreds of years. Here's a list of some, with pictures of bark and leaf descriptions to aid in identification. Happy oak hunting!
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How to Chop Firewood Basics, Including Large Tree Trunk Sections
4 years ago
Chopping firewood is fun, it's great exercise, and if you use wood to heat your home and you're not chopping yet - well, it's high time you learned that firewood should warm you twice! Here's just about everything you need to know to get choppin'.
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How to Make Soap Using Lard and Lye, Home Made Soap Recipe
4 years ago
If you want to try your hand at soap making, this is a very simple, easy to use recipe with only three ingredients: Lard, lye, and water.
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How to Care for Sheep as Pets
10 months ago
Aside from being an important agricultural commodity, sheep are often kept as pets. This article discusses what you need to know if you have pet sheep, or are considering acquiring some in the future.
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Five Types of Hardwood Trees to Use for Firewood - Oak, Cherry, Sassafras, Locust, Ash
4 years ago
Splitting firewood by hand can be really fun, and is a great source of exercise. Read on to learn about five different types of hardwood trees & how they stack up to one another in terms of heating, cooking, and split-ability.
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How to Make Hard Apple Cider
2 years ago
A simple recipe for fermenting apple cider.
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How to Make Raspberry Wine
2 years ago
A simple, easy-to-follow recipe with instructions for making homemade raspberry wine from whole raspberries.