GET IN TOUCH

Our second farm tour for our homeschool academic co-op! The kids had so much fun they got to meet and learn about many of our livestock animals we have here on the farm, this was Lou Lou, our tortoises first time with a large group and she did fantastic and really seemed to enjoy hanging out with the kids. The goats and chickens got spoiled with treats also so really everyone was happy and full at the end of the day!

These little T Rex’s are coming to a table near you November 2024 😂 Our turkeys are raised completely on pasture, outside access 24/7, organic feed, the best of the best. Some people know I was vegan for nearly a decade before we decided to raise our own meat. Because of how much I dislike factory farming and mass production of meat, we are 100% committed to raising the healthiest, happiest birds and eggs from our table to yours! The quality is top tier because this is what we feed our family, we will not sacrifice quality for profits, not that this is really that profitable anyways, haha. We do it because we love it, we love raising the birds, we snuggle them as chicks, spend time with them each day, learn their personalities and preferences. Parting with them is not always easy but we pray for the gift that God has provided our family and thank them for their lives. This year we will be pardoning two turkeys because I missed having a few around, they are really are full of personality and I absolutely adore them! Our chicken raffle that we did was so fun we are considering holding a raffle for a turkey or two this thanksgiving! Would you be interested?

Congrats our to our winners @fernandflorafoto & @findcess! Thank you for everyone who participated this was so fun and suspenseful for me! I’m so happy for our winners!!!

Just a normal morning for me lately, I decided to pull out my phone and record after I finished milking Blossom, our oldest, easiest to milk, and by far the best producer. I wish I would have thought about it sooner because little did I know it would be the last time I milked her, and the last moments I would spend with her. Yesterday morning I came out to find that she had passed away in the early morning maybe an hour or so before I came out, it was completely out of the blue and we are still shocked and devastated. My husband, Mike, came home early from work so that we could drive her up to UC Davis for a Necropsy, hopefully in the next few weeks they will be able to determine what took our girl from us way to soon. What I was hoping was going to be a fun video now leaves me with the feelings of sadness and regret. Raising livestock is not for the faint of heart, we’ve had a lot of loss these last few months and it doesn’t get easier especially a loss of such a spicy and beautiful soul that I was growing closer with. Before she gave birth she was actually my least favorite goat but the more time I spent with her the more I learned to appreciate her timid and shy nature. She was a good mom and she will be missed.

CHICKEN RAFFLE! $10 Raffle ticket for the chance to win 5 whole homegrown chickens! They will be processed on August 31st and ready for pick up on September 1st at our farm here in Manteca. Our chickens are fed organic & non-GMO feed. On average our chickens range from 3-6 lbs. GOOD LUCK!

LouLou and a little doeling grazing together. LouLou seems to enjoy all her new and interesting friends and makes her regular rounds each day to say hi to everyone. #farm #chickens #homestead #manteca #goats #grazing

Check out the website for more details and we can’t wait to see you all for goat yoga on the farm! #manteca #goats #goatyoga #mantecaevents

Today was the first day of my milking routine. However, I separated the mamas from the kids last night and unfortunately didn’t make sure the door was latched properly so the kids wound up getting out and my plans were foiled 😢 we’re still waiting on a few tests from the vet so I’m not to disappointed in getting a table spoon from 3 goats 😂 my most ornery goat has turned out to be my easiest milker! I’m so looking forward to making cheese and ice cream 😍 if you have goats or use goat milk send me your favorite recipes please!

Please share 🙏

For those reaching out I finally fixed my website error and you can now reserve and pay for your spot for goat yoga on the farm July 31st (mommy and me) or August 3rd! We have the fantastic @zennedwithjenn leading an all levels yoga class, we will have beverages, snacks, and the cutest goats around. We may even get a special guest appearance from LouLou the giant Sulcata tortoise! Space is limited, so don’t wait to get your tickets. Comment below if you’re interested in us adding more dates for August! Please share with your friends and family!

Who’s ready for baby goat yoga?

Go to the link in my bio for more information and to buy tickets!

Tortoise update! I expected after living with her family for around 15 years that our giant Sulcata tortoise would take some time to start feeling comfortable and happy in her new home her with us. She transitioned here well but with the heat she was hiding out a lot in her house, which means that she likes her home. The last few days she has seemed to perk up when she sees me and is less skittish and more trusting of us. This has been so exciting for us because the family who gifted her to us spoke so highly of her wonderfully curious personality and we’re starting to see it more and more. She lived in a nice big backyard before and now she has many interesting new creatures to observe and watch! LouLou loves her bath time, grazing the grass, and eating things like nopals pads, romaine lettuce, and hibiscus flowers. She’s becoming more curious about her poultry neighbors and has found a few new favorite hiding spots. #sulcata #tortoise #sulcatatortoise #turtle #eating #feedingtime

We ordered 30 Easter eggers, 25 leg horns, and 25 rhode island reds. Aside from the Rhode Island reds, I couldn’t tell you who is who. They did through in a grey and a black chick which are most likely Easter eggers but I’m starting to think I may have just got a bunch of leg horns. We won’t know until the winter when they start laying 🤪

Our last kids for this year are born!

This is Louise aka LouLou our newest addition. She is a very heavy, 20 something year old Sulcata tortoise. She enjoys nopales, long naps, and sandy spots to sit in. What do you want to know about LouLou?

I couldn’t help myself 😅

Ever see a rooster ride a buck? 🤠 Heihei is a lone rooster that escaped processing by being cute and dumber than a rock. He lives with the two male goats and he does this all the time to the stinky buck😂

It’s a boy! With all the excitement going on this week I forgot to share that we have another big boy. He’s so beautiful and white as snow like our heifer calf Periwinkle! We still haven’t settled on a name for this little guy, the kids like Bronson, drop your favorite name ideas for him 👇

Most common question when people visit is why a few of our ladies are missing their back feathers. We call them favorites around here. Lots of people will either separate the rooster or put a saddle on the hen, we’ve had an issue with the chickens getting string loose and wrapping it around her tongue so, we just try to keep our rooster population low so our ladies aren’t too bothered with them but the roosters still have their favorites!

Our little one is 3! What a whirlwind of adventures and challenges. Our highs are high and our lows are loud but I wouldn’t change a thing. She is the most caring and sensitive girl, she’s always cracking us up and keeping us on our toes. I can’t wait to see what she does in the world 🥲 #happybirthday

Shout out to @maini__mike for being the man of my dreams 😍

It’s the zen breathing for me 😂

Oh how Ihave missed the beach 🏝️ nearly 7 years ago @maini__mike and I were preparing for our June wedding on a cliff in Capitol 🥰 I love that our littles love the beach just as much as we do! Happy almost anniversary @maini__mike

Finally I’m peeking! #popular #mywormsbringalltheladiestotheyard #chicklady #chickens #ducks #chickenlady #crazychickenlady #birds #poultry #eggs #localfarmer #tattooedfarmer

To be as carefree as a child in a field of blueberries.

The colors of spring are coming! This area is not my ideal garden area, the blackberries keep coming up, weeds are out of control, soil is eh but I love to garden and so it will work for now until we can remove all the trees in the proposed garden area. Unfortunately it is low on our priority list so maybe it will be next years project until then this area will serve me well enough. Happy growing! How’s your garden going?

Oh hello, Mr. Fox. #fox #farm #wildlife #pleasedontcomeformybirds

Come learn how to raise and process your meat birds from start to finish! #homestead #selfsufficient #growyourownfood #chickenprocessing

Such a fun day FULL of friends and fun! Thank you to all our friends and family that made our girls day so special. V ended the night with “this was the best day ever” 🥹 I can’t believe I’m about to have a 6 and 3 year old!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful mamas out there! And especially to the ones who are so present in our lives, I seriously couldn’t do it with out my village and I’m so blessed to be surrounded by the most tenacious, selfless, powerful women, and my girls are so fortunate to be able to learn from you all and be apart of one another’s journeys! @fernandflorafoto #happymothersday

This has got to be my favorite egg color so far! I wish I could figure out which of my backyard barn mix hens laid this! I’m thinking about setting up a camera in their coop just to find out! What do you guys think?

Come join us and learn step by step how to raise and process your own birds from start to finish!

I can’t be the only one, right?

fixing curly toes on quails

We had to move the day up to this coming weekend because these chickens are already huge!

So cool to see this little guy hanging around. I’m pretty sure he’s a southern alligator lizard, what do you think?

Teaching her early, my baby’s first tractor ride 😍 #farmkid #farm #homestead #working #tractor

Search on Hatortempt dried mealworms on Amazon or shop via my link in my bio for my 10% discount! https://jo.my/youngbloodfamilyhomestead10 @hatortempt #hatortempthappyhens #hatortempt #mealworms #homestead #chickens #ducks #geese #guineafowl #birds #farm #advertisement #ad

When your 5 year old finds a playmate in a snail.

Why do I always wind up wear my nice boots on the farm 🫠 Like I don’t know there going to get ruined 😜

Except for me he disconnected my car battery 😂 Of course when my husbands leaves for a weekend boys trip I start a project as a huge storm is approaching! But don’t get it twisted I do love my fix it husband 💕

It’s almost like when I hear “don’t do blah blah blah” my brain just says now I want to do it 😜 We are approaching our FIRST year on the homestead and we did a lot in this first year. Did we grow too fast? Probably, but now we’ll spend the next year fine tuning things! I can’t say in hindsight I’d change things because I would do it all again, challenges and all!

The anxiety is real 😫

I just wish they would stay small a little longer!

Is there a better way to seed a pasture?

It’s hard work and I’m happy he’s doing it 😂

Valencia loved the fish tickling her feet #fishfeet

5 days in Cancun in 30 seconds #cancun #mexico #familytrip #internationaltravel

Matthew 19:26 Everything is possible through Christ 🙏 #saved #christian

Oh how I would love to spend my time intentionally curating an appealing esthetic for social media, I see all these cute instagram pages all so well put together with their monochrome colors and thoughtful witty captions. But that ain’t your girl, I’m a mess and I ain’t changing anytime soon 🤪 #imamess #instagram #estheticinstagram #blameitontheadhd

Well that was a surprise! We did NOT suspect this cow to be pregnant so imagine my surprise when I see a little white dot in the field HALF the size of little Ferdinand! Welcome to the world Periwinkle! #charolais #cattle #heard #homestead #farm

Look at today’s spotted eggs! We are working hard on getting our shit together paperwork wise and being able to bring farm fresh eggs to our local farmers market this year! I can’t wait for everyone to see our beautiful arrangement of colors and shapes, can you spot which one is a guinea hen egg?

It’s a boy! We are over the moon for our first calf born on the homestead! Welcome Ferdinand to the heard! I was getting the hay loaded and saw something in the field in the back and did a quick head count to see and everyone was accounted for so I knew it was a baby calf cuddled up. It normally takes me 2 minutes to load 2 bales and I think it took me a whole 30 seconds 😂😅 He’s so sweet and I can’t wait to see his personality especially since his mom is our ✨ spicy ✨ mama. #calf #charolais #heard #cattle #eatbeef #homestead

I said what I said, what do you think can you have to many birds? #sorrynotsorry #crazychickenlady #ducks #chickens #homestead #farm

Anyone else have evil plotter in their house? #evilcat #blackcat #catsofinstagram

Another day another project. Just kidding I did both the chicken nesting boxes and this goat milking stand today because adhd. My phone died before i could film the last part of the neck holder and feed box but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. We hopefully should have a couple kids by this summer so enough time to get the does familiar with getting in the stand and milking! #goatstand #diy #homemade #farm #homestead

We had some plywood that got damaged by the rain and was unusable for what we were going to use it for but my chickens needed a new nesting box since they HATE the one I paid $250 bucks I figured I could throw something together real quick. Is it beautiful? No, but it’s functional! Hopefully the girls love it. The goose has been laying in the boxes and breaking the chicken eggs so hopefully there is enough space for everyone now!

I’m so over the moon with these 😍 @fernandflorafoto

@fernandflorafoto has done it again! I just want to cry seeing these beautiful pictures 🥰😍 I seriously love them and had such a hard time picking 10 for this post 😭 huge thanks to Krystena for the dresses for me and my girls and just the pure talent that she has for what she does! She captured my girls so well and I cannot wait to frame these in our home!

Who else is ready to start gardening this season!? I’m starting a few flowers like yarrow, calendula, and snap dragons and just got about 10 loufas, some cauliflower, broccoli, massive kale and cantaloupe seedlings going as well. I’ve been also working on sprouting barley for the cows, goats, and chickens as a treat. I have a lot that I plan to direct sow in march once I move the chickens back to their run. What are you growing?

These bad boys can bay all day long without stoping. Not recommended for neighborhoods, apartments, public, or really anywhere that’s not a rural property. For having the largest ears of the dog species they listen for no man and could care less about you if chasing a squirrel is involved #treewalkercoonhound #itsajoke #louddogs #huntingdogs #baying #barking #dogbreeds #slightlyannoying

What do you mean you don’t have gallons of chicken feet in your freezer for your doggos? Our furry babes work hard on the farm and love to get spoiled with treats and belly rubs from mama. Funny our dogs go wild for frozen or dried chicken feet but won’t touch a fresh one 😂 at least nothing goes to waste here! #chickenfeet #dogs #dogtreats #lgd #maremmas #coonhound #treewalkercoonhound #heeler #Chihuahua #dogsofinstagram #farmdogs

Cutest audience #charolais #cattle #hefiers #cows #heard #homestead #beef

Welp, we were thinking our roof was all good to go after having it professionally replaced in December. We’ve started our remodel these last few weeks and this has been a huge project. The walls were stained with cigarette smoke, layers of wall paper, and we suspected water damage, so we knew that we wanted to strip the house down to make the fixed we need. We took the ceiling and insulation out as were planning to have new insulation and drywall installed this week, only to find the roof support beams are nearly completely rotted away from water damage and not fully repaired or replaced as we had believed. After some engineering on Mikey’s side we were able to get everything reinforced and aligned and it only set us back a week! We were planning to have the electrical done over the weekend but now that will be next weekends project. #homereno #updating #remodeling #renovation #home #modularhome #modular #roof #homestead #doityourself

I guess we can all agree to disagree #petty #homestead #homesteading #contentcreators #switzerland

Getting all cute to see my chickens. Do you think they will be impressed? 🤗#farmchores #homestead #eggs #food #fancy #grwm

Check out all the work we’ve done this week! Who knew our sister and her partner buying a new house would lead us to actually start our remodel. We’ve been very productive and are making incredible progress and I’m soooo looking forward to moving forward and moving our family from the 5th wheel into a house. What are you guys excited to see? We have a kitchen and bathroom to still design and I’m feeling very overwhelmed this time around with design and concepts, probably because I’m so overwhelmed with planning our property layout and managing all the day to days. I may need a to start a Pinterest board! I’m thinking moody farmhouse….. thoughts? #homeremodel #modularhouse #remodel #goodbones

Our spontaneous trip to Tahoe this weekend! Thank you to my friend Alana for inviting us to go with them. We had the best time with you all and am so glad we could make it!

What a beautiful night with great friends. #glowfari

Self-sufficiency is thrown around a lot but what does it actually mean to be self sufficient? We started this journey with self-sufficiency as a top priority and goal and over the last 6 months I’ve realized how unattainable and unrealistic that is for us to be a completely self-sufficient on our 10 acres. My goal has morphed, it isn’t to be completely independent from outside sources but to find community within the sources that I need to provide for our farm. Could we grow alfalfa and wheat for the cows on our property size? Maybe. Would we spend almost as much to prep, seed, care, and harvest it than to buy it. Likely. And devoting 5-6 acres to wheat and alfalfa would take away from other projects that I have planned, like a fruit orchard and a new barn, maybe a vineyard or olive grove. So our vision for self sufficiency has changed but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t working on ways to be self-sufficient at all. We’re getting ready to seed our pastures so that we can provide all the grass for our girls hopefully both for summer and some of winter, I’m planning ways to add more grassy areas to cut for supplement for our chickens and other birds and building more chicken tractors to forage more of our birds. Our goal is to shorten and protect our supply chain and the things that we need and hopefully along the way we can become self sufficient in some aspects but it’s just not our goal. What does self-sufficiency look like for you? #farm #homestead #cattle #chickens #ranch #selfsufficiency

Heelers for life. #blueheeler #queensland #chihuahua #mix #mut #farmdog #ranchdog #punchy #hearding #heardingdog

My first official class on the farm! A big THANK YOU to the ladies that came out and braved the cold with us. It was freezing and then the rain came but these ladies stuck it out. Special shout out to my mom and my girl Rachelle for making it run so smoothly. And Mikey for everything because nothing would be possible without all the love and support I receive from you ♥️ We processed 20 chickens in about 5.5 hours! Our biggest birds were 7.3 lbs and the smallest was 4.6 lbs! One of my personal goals is getting over my imposter syndrome and feeling like I don’t know enough to teach or to show people how to do things. This was such a great experience for me and I hope to offer more classes and field trips throughout this year! #farmschool #homestead #classes #ranch #firstclass

Anyone else getting excited for summer? Honestly I strongly dislike summer AND winter I think it’s kind of funny as someone living in California I don’t like “temperature extremes” in our extremely mild climate (what do you mean you CANT be barefoot/sandals in winter?). Spring and fall are superior I wish I was doing my garden planing for the spring but without a fenced in area I risk everything 😂 I hope your all getting ready to plant your seeds (broccoli, tomatoes and peppers is what I would be starting with)…. meanwhile I’ll be over here staring at a tree with a fence growing through it that’s currently standing in the way of my garden plans 😝 #gardening #zone9 #california #garden #vegetables #fruits #country

Pretty much a round of applause every morning. #chickens #ducks #guineahens #geese #applause #theyloveme #applauseapplauseapplause #roundofapplause #farm #homestead #ranch

I cant with these 😂😂😂 #farmermike #tiktok

My baby’s first time on the ice 😻 She started out afraid and in tears that she wasn’t getting it. V is naturally good at a lot of things she does and then I was also getting frustrated that she wasn’t doing what I was instructing her to do. Then I saw @avrge.atbest and her little one having a good time and I remembered this experience is about her having a good time, not to learn how to ice skate, just to have fun trying something new. Once I took a step back and remembered that I wanted her to enjoy this experience and that she wouldn’t if I didn’t collect myself and figure out what she needed from me it completely changed her demeanor. She just needed me to be there to catch her and support her through it. I told her that she’s not always going to be good at things the first time, she’s like me and things usually come easy and when they don’t we tend to give up on it. And I told her that girls like us keep trying, I told her how many times I fell down my first time on the ice and that I kept getting back up. She was scared of almost falling so I reframed it to “wow you caught yourself!”. Then she got comfortable she didn’t want to stop. As parents we be unaware of our influence in over our kids moods and experiences and I’m glad we were able to make this one a experience to remember ♥️ #iceskating #christmas #winter #newyears

What a year. Can’t forget that we added 2 dogs, 4 goats, 6 cows and 8 rabbits to close out our first year on the farm. (We also gained a peacock but she was already here!) I can’t wait to see what we accomplish in this next year 😍#farm #homestead #ranch #chickens #geese #quail #ducks #guineahens

Feeding the birds

I’ll never not love baby bunnies even when they pee all over me 😭 #rabbits #dutchrabbits#dutchbunnies #bunny #bunnies #homestead #farm #pets #notmeat

So excited for the kids to have this new obstacle course for the kiddos! And grateful to my guy for spending his day off to put it up 🥰 #merrychristmas #hooroo

Merry Christmas from ours to yours! These little babies are growing like weeds and are so stinking cute! #dutchbunny #dutch #rabbits #bunnies

What are your 2024 goals? I don’t really recognize the new year in the dead of winter but starting spring my motivation for new projects will come back and we can start kicking butt again. I so look forward to our 2nd year on the farm 😍 #newyear #newgoals

These little babies get cuter each day! Listen to their little noises, I just can’t even 😍 #dutchbunny #dutchrabbit #dutch #rabbits #bunnies #socute #babyanimals #babybunny #farm #homestead

It’s a struggle, but if anyone wants to come over I’ll have this place spotless in 10 minutes 😭😭😭😂😂😂 #adhd #cleaning #organizing #homemaker #stayathomemom

Finally the day has come! Our first incubated chicks have hatched. We have 18 eggs and so far 4 of them have hatched and I see many pipped. It’s so hard not to open the incubator! But we are loving watching this process. It’s a fun game of who’s who with all the different parents since I just grabbed that days eggs so almost everyone is a half sibling. #incubator #hatchingday #chicks #backyardchickens #barnyardchickens #eggs #fertileeggs #farm #homestead #ranch

Look what I found this morning! We have babies! 6 or 7 little rabbits all snuggled in mamas fur 😍😍😍

She’s so metal 🤘

Over the last 3 years I’ve struggled. The one thing that I know, in hindsight, that really trapped me under was feeling like I was missing my purpose. Being at my lowest and just not knowing where to turn to anymore, I made the conscious decision to turn it to God; to give Him my worries and my fears, to pray to Him for guidance and strength to make it through. After months of praying, and praying with really no expectations of anything coming, he reached me and I knew the path that God wanted me on. I remember the moments after it hit me, I felt light which I hadn’t felt in years. Being Christian wasn’t anything I had seen in my future I’d had been a pretty committed atheist for the better part of 2 decades even now when I feel Gods presence so vividly I have a hard time saying things out loud because I use to think “those people are crazy”. My life has done a 180, I hit such a low point that I saw no way out of and He put out his hand and pulled me out all in His timing and it literally makes me cry when I think about my journey to God because I see the beauty and strength in it even though it was messy and hard. #christian #atheisttochristian #cowsmakemehappy #cows #farm #homestead #getbacktoearth

Come learn to process meat chickens from start to packaging with us!

Our elf’s shenanigans, @maini__mike has been a rockstar at hiding the elf in the mornings before the girls get up which is the only way we can keep up with this haha. Some of my favorites not included because I forgot to get a picture: tight rope walking, ice cream eating, silverware draw hiding, and iPad watching. #elf #elfontheshelf #elfontheshelfideas #christmas #xmas #holidays #cheers #joy

When you find Jesus and try to convert your chickens #saved #lordandsavior #chickens #barnyard #farm #homestead

Chicken genetics are a trip. #barnyardchickens #farm #ranch #chickens #hens #roosters #chickencoop

Feeding the cows 🐄🐮🤠