About

The skills to create the life you’ve dreamed about.

Life from scratch is for people who want to do things for themselves.
You aren’t content eating anonymous meat out of Styrofoam packages.
You want to buy local food and grow your own food. You want to cook meals from scratch and preserve your food by canning, freezing, fermenting and drying. You want a life that puts you more in touch with nature, your food and your community. The “rat race” isn’t for you. You believe that life should have purpose and you’re striving to create the life you want. You, my friend, are in the right place.

What’s here and how we do things at Life From Scratch include:

From scratch, real food recipes
cooking skills for all levels
Food science
Wide row, permanent bed, organic, minimal till Gardening
Techniques for extending your gardening season
Foraging
Food preservation
Animal husbandry for poultry, rabbits, goats, sheep, dogs, parrots and cats
Butchery
Hunting
Permaculture and forest garden techniques
Intensive, rotational, pasture management

I’m Emily Swezey the resident blogger, coder, writer, artist, chef, farmer at Life From Scratch.
I’ve been playing with critters and plants since I could crawl. I live and work at Speckle Farm, our arid off-grid farm in North Central Washington. I spend my days working to improve our pasture and soil, establishing gardens and orchards, raising heritage livestock, writing, and selling Speckle Farm’s bountiful yields. I have a Bachelors of Arts and Sciences from my Alma Mater, The Evergreen State College where I studied food science, writing, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, the food system, genetics and Permaculture design. On Life From Scratch I share the skills I’ve learned that make our life style possible and write about our often entertaining off grid farm life.

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Would you like to get to know us a little better? Here are some posts to read, enjoy!

Our Love Story

Once upon a time there was this guy…

The art of waiting

Only A Farmer at heart understands

When the smoke clears

The little that I know

To Shave or Not to Shave, ‘Tis the question

In 240sq feet: Real Food the Small Way

Eating Animals: A Reality Check

Whole Again