For Rachel Tayse Baillieul of the blog Hounds in the Kitchen, homesteading means leaving apple cider out to see if it will actually become apple cider vinegar.

And sure enough, after several months of air exposure and a nice strain to remove the scum from the top, her home-pressed cider turned into delicious apple cider vinegar.

Rachel and her husband Alex grew up with an appreciation for home cooked meals, but neither were experts on growing and making their own food when they began their homesteading experiment. Instead, Rachel and her family are simply willing to try almost anything and learn as they go. 

In her backyard in Clintonville, Rachel uses seven raised beds to grow her produce, along with plots of land on the side of her house for herbs and berries. She also has several fruit trees and has even used a telephone pole to train her beanstalks skyward. When deciding what to grow in her limited space she follows two basic guidelines: grow what you like and grow something you can preserve. After a few years of growing her own food Rachel realized that she was growing produce she did not particularly love (such as radishes).

This was a habit she formed from her parents and her grandparents before her. Now she only grows a single row of radishes instead of four or five. Last season her daughter, Lil, had her own plot in the backyard, but as her interests changed, the carrots and peas she grew were soon replaced by lots and lots of flowers. Now Lil can grow her flowers around the trees in the front yard while the good soil and sun lit areas in the back can be used for fruits and veggies.

Another adventure for the family was adopting four hens to keep in their backyard. They built a coop (and a fence to keep the "girls" away from the ripening vegetables), and now the chickens run around the yard and produce one egg each per day, except when they are molting. When the weather is nice, Lil enjoys standing in the yard watching her "Chicken TV" and interacting with the hens. They seem to tolerate Lil's attention pretty well. The chickens also help Rachel by turning the soil in the winter months as they scavenge for food.

Rachel believes in having a close relationship with her food. Instead of visiting the grocery store for her every need, she prefers to make things herself.

While they don't really have any more room in their backyard to keep more animals, a friend of their offered them a chance to gain direct experience in where their meat comes from.  Rachel and her husband, Alex, went to the farm and learned to slaughter a pig themselves which they shared with another friend.  

They were excited to better understand what it means to use the whole animal and to make use of some untraditional pieces, such as meat from the jaw or the head (which their friend used to make head cheese). Walking into the experience Rachel did not know what to expect, but she knows now that slaughtering her own meat is an important part of knowing her food and is not as scary as it seems. 

Rachel and her husband have a large freezer in the basement where they preserve meat and sausage they make themselves. They also keep large amounts of flour that they buy in bulk in the freezer. Preserving food for the winter months is very important to them, and canning is a large project for Rachel after harvest. This winter, Rachel conducted an experiment where she would only spend $100 on fresh produce. Everything else would come from her stash of preserves. 

Not only does she preserve her own food, but often people will offer her their extra produce because they know she does a lot of canning. Rachel is always happy to teach people how to can their extra bounty, and will gladly trade some of her own fruits and veggies for one she didn't grow herself. Sharing her projects with the community has led people to come to her with these opportunities like raising chickens and pressing her own cider.

Rachel also enjoys teaching cooking classes, especially classes that help parents cook with the aid of their children. She believes that having kids help in the kitchen will help them establish healthy habits to last a lifetime.

Rachel believes in having a close relationship with her food. Instead of visiting the grocery store for her every need, she prefers to make things herself. She makes her own beer and liquors, cures bacon from local pork belly and dries her own fruit. This way, Rachel knows that everything her family consumes is healthy and delicious!

Check out Rachel's blog Hounds in the Kitchen to explore her family's latest adventures in homesteading and see all of the great resources and advice she offers to our community.