Ronnie rarely ever ate out at work unless it was required to remain social with the crew. I always made meals for him that were healthier than fast food. This is goat based broccoli potato soup. It was made with goat milk and goat butter: homegrown organic broccolini tops and a few organic fingerling potatoes from the garden.

Items purchased: Organic flour for thickening.

Garden goulash is our most typical dish. We have it several times a week for lunch and dinner. Whatever is ripe gets lightly stir-fried with curry spices.

Items purchased: organic curry seasoning, organic ginger powder, organic pepper, salt.

We eat salads in the spring. I forage for dandelion greens and flowers. The dandelion greens are very high in vitamin K and good for you. The flowers must be peeled free of their bitter green edges. I believe the consumption of pollen helps keep fall allergies at bay.

Items purchased: Vinegar and organic oilve oil.

I have been making all of our loaves of bread for over a decade. Whitebread has a super high glycemic load that makes us too tired to work after eating it. Some commercial breads have ingredients in it I rather not consume. L-Cysteine is an amino acid used as a preservative in bread. It is made from cow horns, duck, and chicken feathers, but most of it is made from human hair collected from hair salons in China.

My homemade loaves of bread are as simple as can be. Ingredients are organic flour, organic sugar, organic milk, organic butter, yeast, and salt.

I like to grow colorful foods! This is a venison roast with beets, purple potatoes, carrots and herbs. All homegrown and organic.

There is always an abundance of pork. I love the smell of food on the rotisserie in the fall while watching football in the evenings.

Homemade honey BBQ chicken on the rotisserie.

Items purchased: None.

Short-ribs on the grill cooked over hedge. Hedge is often overlooked as a good wood for cooking. It has a very pleasant aroma and taste when used for lightly smoking.

This is a pork rollatini stuffed with rosemary, garlic, and mozzarella cheese slow smoked on applewood.

Items purchased: Apple wood chips, butchers twine.

A pork roast in the oven with cracklings.

Items purchased: None.

Sausage soup is a staple in the wintertime. It is made with German or Italian sausage heavy on the fennel, cabbage, potatoes, chicken broth, and diced tomatoes. It is served with homemade rye bread for dipping in the soup.

Items purchased: Organic rye flour, organic white flour, organic sugar, and yeast for the bread.

This is venison sloppy Joe in the making served on organic homemade slider rolls.

Items purchased: Organic olive oil, Worcestershire, organic flour, organic sugar, and yeast for the rolls.

Turkey pot-pie.

Items purchased: Organic flour.

Chicken pot-pie.

Items purchased: Organic flour.

This photo is of grinding pig fat down to render lard. All of our fried foods are deep fried in our homegrown lard.

Lard is healthier than refined commercial oils when it has not been highly refined to be shelf-stable.

It does not have a high smoke point so foods much be cooked a little lower and slower.

Rooster Fries. The mountain oyster of the poultry world. They are delicious! They must be slow fried at 225-250 degrees until golden brown. Cooking them too hot or too fast makes them have an odd texture.

Items purchased: Organic coconut, organic flour and salt.

Chicken wings!

Chicken wings ready for the table.

I love homemade fried pork and venison ravioli. I served it with homemade marinara sauce.

Items purchased: Organic semolina flour.

Someday I will have a real wood cooking stove in our home. Until then, I make do with the wood heat stove. We have been saving up for a new LaNordica America or Mamy stove.

This is a massive pot of chili that I will portion out and block-freeze in leftover containers and then vacuum seal to have chili on hand throughout the winter season.

Fresh oyster mushrooms can be found in late summer and into the winter months in Kansas.

Do not attempt to harvest and eat mushrooms until you are fully educated. A misidentification can lead to sudden death.

A massive hen-of-the-woods mushroom, also known as maitake.

Just because many people harvest and consume wild mushrooms, it doesn't mean they are all safe for everyone. Ronnie gets violently ill when he eats this type of mushroom, even in small amounts. I do not react to it, but to keep Ronnie safe, I no longer harvest them.

A collection of wood ears and wild coral mushrooms being prepared for the dehydrator.

Morels are the most precious mushroom to find in the woods. When harvesting, please tap them roughly before cutting them from the soil. This drops spores and leaves the root system (mycelium) to grow more mushrooms next year.

Fall means rounding up odds and ends, drying herbs, wild mushrooms, and peppers for seasonings. I am also making a homemade Kaluaha from organic home-roasted coffee. A cocktail served hot or cold on a hard winter night is cozy by the fire with coffee liquor, fresh goat milk, and goat cream.

What do we Eat on the Homestead?: Portfolio