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Heritage Skills

  • Money growing on a ground with larger stacks of quarters
    Ultimate Guide: How to Make Money from a Small Homestead (101 Creative Ideas)
  • 6 Truths About Dairy Goats You Need to Know
  • Alpine dairy goat
    The Best Goat Breeds for Milk, Meat, and Fiber
  • Duck breeds, like the Ancona's pictured here are great for homesteads.
    Best Duck Breeds to Consider for Your Homestead
  • Three ducklings standing together on a table.
    12 Things You Need to Know About Caring for Ducklings
  • Three baby chicks on a table
    How to Care for Baby Chicks
  • Buying land for homestead: lush, green farmland spread out over hills pictured here
    20 Tips to Buy the Perfect Homesteading Land
  • Should You Wash Farm Fresh Eggs?
  • 10 Brilliant Tips for Keeping Chickens Cool this Summer
  • 8 Reasons You Need Ducks on Your Homestead
  • Moody flat lay of dried herbs, candles, and rustic tools, evoking old-world self-reliance.
    41 No-BS Skills to Rely Less on the System
  • 12 Simple Tips for Starting Your Homestead
  • 10 Things You Should Know Before You Start Homesteading
  • The Importance of Heritage Breeds on the Homestead
  • 10 Ways to Naturally Repel Spiders
  • How to Stay Warm for Winter Homestead Chores
  • 7 Heritage Chicken Breeds for Your Homestead
  • Maples and several other tree varieties can be tapped for sap like the ones pictured here.
    How to Tap a Maple Tree
  • Raising Laying Hens: What You Need to Know
  • Caring for Ducks in Winter
  • Sun rising over a farm
    150 Homesteading Skills for the Modern Homesteader
  • Ducks, wild and domestic, eat a variety of foods like the insects found in this garden.
    What Do Ducks Eat? Your Guide to Feeding Ducks
  • Certain breeds, like the silver fox pictured here, make excellent meat rabbit breeds.Certain breeds, like the silver fox pictured here, make excellent meat rabbit breeds.
    16 Best Meat Rabbit Breeds for your Homestead
  • Autumn trees
    31 Fall Homesteading Chores to Get Ready for Winter
  • A closeup of a broad breasted white turkey tom.
    Raising Turkeys on the Homestead
  • Delaware chickens, like the one pictured here make great meat chicken breeds
    12 Meat Chicken Breeds Perfect For Your Small Homestead
  • A group of Indian runner ducks in a run
    The Ultimate Breed Guide for the Indian Runner Duck
  • A basket full of fresh chicken eggs with a carton of blue eggs and brown eggs in the background.
    When Do Chickens Start Laying Eggs?
  • Silver Appleyard ducks in a yard
    Silver Appleyard Ducks - Everything You Need to Know

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About

Elle McCoy, author of The Rustic Elk, with long wavy hair reflected in an ornate vintage mirror, sitting at a candlelit vanity with makeup brushes, perfume, and dried flowers.

Hi, I'm Elle.

I'm a storyteller, photographer, and home cook who believes the best memories are often made around the table.

Here you'll find seasonal recipes, wild game, garden harvests, preserving traditions, and stories gathered along the way. Because good food is about more than what we eat. It's about the places we've been, the people we've gathered around our tables, and the moments that linger long after the plates are cleared.


→ Meet Elle

Currently...

📖 Reading: The Witch by Freida McFadden
🎵 Listening: Of Witches & Wretched Things
Savoring: Apple butter whiskey sours & the last little bit of October magic. 🍂
🌿 Growing: Herbs on the windowsill and chrysanthemums on the stoop
🗺️ Planning: Cozy autumn days, a little kitchen magic & surviving the semester
📺Watching: Working my way through the Friday the 13th films after binging Camp Crystal Lake.

Browse by Category

  • Preserving
  • Wild Game
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Recently...

  • Homemade canned peach pie filling in Ball mason jars made with fresh peaches, Clear Jel, cinnamon, and vanilla using a safe water bath canning recipe.
    Canning Peach Pie Filling
  • Wooden pantry shelves filled with homemade canned tomatoes, green beans, jams, and preserves in mason jars.
    The Ultimate Guide to Home Canning & Preserving

Recent Favorites

  • Slewfoot by Brom
  • Maeve Fly by CJ Leede
  • We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
  • The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Listen with Me

☾
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Found Along the Way

A good paring knife doesn't ask for much attention, but it earns its place every single day. From peeling peaches to hulling strawberries and slicing garlic, it's the one tool I reach for without thinking.

Find it Here ->

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Building a life smelling of wild herbs and quiet rebellion since 2016.

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