Homestead Springs
Farm & Forge
Welcome to Homestead Springs Farm & Forge, the home of Northwest Skillet Company.
While Peter is busy in the blacksmith shop building our handmade cookware, Sue can be found out on the farm tending the animals, stacking hay or building fence.
In the Fall, she is also busy stocking our larder with grass-fed lamb, pastured pork and chicken, plus all manner of associated abundance. There is lard to be rendered, bacon to be smoked and sausages to be handcrafted.
We are very pleased to offer some of our provisions, with all their grass-fed goodness and healthy omega 3s, directly to you from our farm kitchen.
Pasture Raised Leaf Lard
We are proud to offer leaf lard for your kitchen, the original Fat of the Land. You may have heard that saying, but do you know what it means?
Time was, back in our grandmothers' day, people relying on the land for their very lives prized the pig for all that it gave. Without a pig, grown fat on the bounty of the land and processed each fall into life sustaining meat and nutrient dense fat, the family would face a bleak year indeed.
Throughout the year the family pig made excellent use of any excess farm bounty be it leftover milk or extra garden produce. Pigs foraged in pasture and woodland settings turning grasses, forbs, berries, fallen apples, acorns and more into nutritious meat and, most importantly, life giving fat gleaned from the land on which they were raised.
It's easy to understand the value of meat to the self-reliant farm kitchen, but take a moment to consider the fat. Without this source of homegrown pork fat, a family might face a year without cooking oil, gravies, sausages and baked goods.
This time honored cycle still plays out at Homestead Springs Farm & Forge.
A pig produces two kinds of fat:
Back fat is particularly well suited to the art of charcuterie... salami, sausage and the like.
Leaf fat is the most prized type of pork fat. Once rendered into leaf lard through gentle heating, it is very light in flavor, melts beautifully, and makes the most amazingly flaky pie crusts and pastries.
In addition to our pastured pork, we are proud to offer pure, Pasture Raised Leaf Lard. The highest quality, most nutritious cooking fat available.
14 fl oz ~ $15
100% Grass-Fed & Finished Lamb
Sue raises Katahdin sheep, which we like to call "The Champagne of Lamb" because of the incredible flavor of the meat.
Katahdin's are a breed of hair sheep. They are not shorn for their wool but rather shed it naturally each spring. They lamb easily, without assistance and thrive on rough pasture and woodland. Their hardiness and docile nature make them a perfect choice for homesteaders.
Pastured Poultry
Our American Bresse chickens spend their days as nature intended, happily scratching and foraging for greenery and bugs under the watchful eyes of our livestock guardian dogs. Their diets are supplemented with locally grown, non-GMO grains.
Pastured Pork
Sue also raises Kunekune pigs, a heritage breed originally developed by the Maori people of New Zealand.
Our docile Kunekunes are raised on the natural forage of pasture and forest along with a supplement of local, non-GMO grains to produce incredibly succulent pork.
If you would like to inquire about the availability of pasture raised meats or breeding stock please call or text Sue at 541-605-8286 or email us at nwskillet@gmail.com.