Three Meals a Day (and Not a Store-Bought Chicken in Sight)

Around here, we cook three fresh meals a day — every single day. No drive-thrus, no frozen dinners, and absolutely no store-bought meat. It’s not because we’re trying to be fancy or win some homesteading award — it’s just how we live.

We raise all our own meat: pork, goat, turkey, chicken, and even quail. We buy our beef locally (because community matters), and soon, we’ll be processing our own lamb too. It’s a big commitment, but knowing where our food comes from is important to us. There’s a certain peace that comes from feeding your family with food you raised yourself.

And when it comes to dyes, preservatives, and weird ingredients we can’t pronounce? No thank you. We keep our meals clean and real — just the way nature intended.

We don’t make special meals for the kids, either. If we’re eating goat curry, the kids are eating goat curry. If it’s quail with roasted veggies, that’s what’s on everyone’s plate. We don’t force food, but we do keep introducing it. Over and over if we have to! We believe in the power of a wide palate — because if someday we ever need to provide for ourselves, we want to know our kids will be ready and able to eat what we’ve got.

And the wild thing is… it works. Sure, there have been a few dramatic “but I don’t like squash!” faces at the table, but with time and gentle persistence, they come around. Eventually, every child here learns to love (or at least tolerate) the taste of homegrown goodness.

Cooking three times a day might sound exhausting (okay, sometimes it is), but it’s also deeply satisfying. There’s something beautiful about gathering around a table full of food that came from your own land, prepared with your own hands.

So if you're wondering what it's like to feed a family on home-raised meat with no shortcuts and no dyes — it’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it.

With full bellies and muddy boots,
🌿 The Hippie Farmer