We have officially been here on the farm for two years now. In some ways the time has flown by, and in others it seems a lifetime ago. When we began our farming adventures here, we thought we knew what we were getting in to. We had some experience, spent countless hours researching and planning, and had a network of friends and family to talk with if we had a problem. No matter how well you prepare for it though, the farming life can certainly throw some surprise at you!   

Growing up I knew I wanted to be a farmer. My biggest dream was to live on a farm, have a big garden, beautiful rolling hills dotted with animals, the smell of flowers in the gentle breeze, as I walk through a perfectly clean barn on a bright sunny day. There are only a few things wrong with the scenario I used to play in my head:   

• 1) In my visions I was always clean!  
• 2) In my visions the barn was always clean!  
• 3) There were no dirty animals!  
• 4) The air smelled like flowers!  

 Do you see a pattern here? Not once in all of my day dreaming did I conjure up a picture of me splattered in mud in the pouring rain chasing an escaped dirty pig through the yard and back into it’s electric fence with lightening flashing all around. Reality is quit different from my childhood dreams, but it is also so much more exciting! The longer we are here, the more we realize there are many things we never knew about farming!    

Pigs are clean animals  

Really, they are! Pigs do not wander around in their own filth as many people think. In the wintertime, our pigs are usually spotlessly clean on pretty days. However, pigs can not sweat. So in the summer time when the temperatures climb, they must find a way to cool down. They do so by taking a mud bath! The cool mud serves two purposes. First it cools the pig, and second it acts as a sun block preventing their skin from burning. You will notice that when the temperature goes back down pigs will seek a source of water and take a bath. They enjoy being clean! In the winter when the weather is very messy and muddy, our pigs do their best to stay clean. Even if it means taking a bath in t heir drinking water!  

   

Roosters are not good alarm clocks

We have all seen the movies where the rooster crows at dawn to wake the family up for their daily farm chores. Either the movies didn’t do their research, or our roosters are defective! When we had only two roosters thing were pretty quiet. One was dominant, and the other was ok with that. Our problem began when we started hatching our own chicks. We soon found ourselves with roosters of all ages. As they matured, these roosters would begin to compete for rank amongst themselves. The result, crowing from midnight to 6 am! Now, we try not to keep more than a handful of roosters of a mature breeding age. Typically, we have 1 rooster for every 6-8 hens. At this ratio, we have cut out much of the all night crowing!  

   

During a drought, cut hay

During the summer if you find yourself going through a period of drought and you really need rain, cut hay. Ok, maybe this isn’t based on solid scientific facts but it seems to me that every time the weather report says it will be clear and we cut hay…. It rains! So logically I am thinking a good way to end a drought is to cut hay! So next time your garden is dry, cracked, and resembling the grand canyon just go cut some hay.    

Get used to dirt  

The first spring we lived here I tried in vain to keep the kids clean outside. I honestly thought we could all get through our daily chores without getting messy. Ha! If you want to farm, seriously farm with more than just a horse in a barn stall, you are going to get dirty! Best thing to do is just accept this, go buy a pair of rubber boots and a few pairs of blue jeans and get to it. Throw your hair up in a ponytail, dig out that old t-shirt you haven’t worn since college and enjoy yourself! Chances are no one will see you anyway, and who cares if they do? There are some advantages to being known as “the crazy lady.”  

Farms do not have to smell

Everyone always associates farms with bad animal smells. One of our family’s favorite movies is Nanny McPhee 2. I love the scene where “the cousins” come to visit the farm. The little boy steps out of the car into messy, muddy, manure covered ground and says, “We’re in the land of poo!”  Most people just believe that is expected. While it is true that most factory farms do stink due to the large concentration of animals in small areas, smaller farms and well ran large farms do not have to smell. Using proper land use ratios, adequate bedding, and good husbandry a farm can be pretty near odor free. So it may not smell like fresh flowers in a gentle breeze, but any properly ran operation regardless of the type of livestock raised can maintain a low odor, even on the hottest summer day. Joel Salatin, leading farm advocate and author of many books including Folks, This Ain’t Normal (one of my favorites!) covers this topic, and many more typical farmyard myths.    

Dirty Stalls are not a bad thing

Lets re-phrase that, deep litter stalls are not a bad thing. I used to believe that a properly cleaned barn or pen was spotless with a single layer of clean bedding on the floor. The more I am learning about natural farming methods though the more we are seeing this isn’t the case. The most efficient, healthy, and productive way of handling stalls and pens is to use plenty of bedding, and repeatedly layer new bedding on top of the old. Then, when you have accumulated several layers of alternating manure and bedding, it can all be removed and used as compost. For more on this topic, I would highly recommend Holy Shit by Gene Logsdon. We are currently using this method in our junior poultry pens. We now have a nice bed nearly 10 inches thick of manure and bedding! And guess what? In a pen of 37 birds there is absolutely no odor beyond the smell of hay and feed.  

    

Bet your daydreams never included this image!

My Dad came over two weekends ago to watch the kids for us on a cold, wet Saturday so we could get some chores done that required more than one able body at a time. Our list of things to do that day included: Worm, vaccinate and do toenail trims on 14 sheep then band one young ram. Castrate, worm, and vaccinate a boar pig. Move four sheep into a new pasture. And finally, band, worm, and vaccinate a 300 lb. Bull calf.  The weather was supposed to be over cast, windy, with a 20% chance of late afternoon showers. I headed outside in a pair of old jeans, hiking boots, t-shirt and light jacket. Things were going smooth and quickly for a while. Had a little trouble with a few unruly sheep but nothing major. All we had left was doing the bull and moving the sheep. We were congratulating ourselves on what good time we were making! Suddenly, a rain drop lands on my nose. Then another, and within minutes a heavy, steady rain.  The temperature quickly dropped and the wind picked up. Andrew is holding the bull while I have the unpleasant task of banding and vaccinating. As I am standing to one side with my leg bracing the bull and my head practically upside down trying to fit a band on a wet bull Andrew starts laughing. He says, “Bet you never thought you’d be doing THIS when you grew up!” I can only imagine what I looked like there at that moment with my hair plastered to me, shivering in my saturated jacket with sheep and cow crap down my pants and blood on my shirt (where did that come from?). In that moment I realized how strong my marriage is. If he can love me looking like that, then we’re doing just fine! And no, I can honestly say I never, ever, not once, thought I would be doing that when I was young!   

Cats aren’t just cute house pets

Andrew is not a cat person. He never really has been, sure he has tolerated one here or there for my sake a few times during our marriage. That’s about where his relationship with them has ended. Until recently. Last year we found ourselves over run with rats in the garden, mice in the feed sacks, and moles all over the yard. We had not owned a cat in three years. Andrew agreed it may be time to call in back up. So we brought home our first two kittens Boots and Tiger. They sleep in the feed shed and enjoy their run of the place, coming inside to play with the kids in their down time. Things quickly improved, and we began receiving “presents” on the front porch when they were only three months old. Tiger is no longer with us, but we have since added Milo, Max, Jinx, and Stix to the line-up. Boots has trained them well, and we have not seen a live mouse or rat since last summer! The moles are fewer as well. I would much rather feed a few cats than be over run with rodents!  

   

Some things you just can’t learn from books. You have to live them, experience them, and learn as you go. While our life here doesn’t exactly match what I had pictured in my dreams, I wouldn’t have it any other way.   

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It’s been an interesting few days to say the least.  There is never a dull moment around here even if the girls whine on occasion that they are bored out of their minds!!  

  

On a positive note the hens are laying like crazy. They are still obsessed with the first nesting box though.  A few of them use two and three but mostly they fight over one.  I think they are starting to take turns now that they are getting this laying thing down pat.  Henny Penny insists on laying her egg in the feed room though.  I may add Houdini to the end of her name considering that she manages to get out and back in without tearing anything down. We are up to a dozen eggs a day so far.  It seems like each day or so we add another egg to the daily count.  I even bought the girls one of the red wire baskets to collect the eggs in.  They are tickled pink and carry that basket faithfully even if they only bring in one egg during that particular egg checking run!!  Liza has become the egg warden.  She keeps track of how many eggs come in, inspects them, and then puts them in cartons and has them organized in the fridge by date.  It’s amazing that during school we struggle with math but when it comes to eggs both Eliza and Aurora can add in their heads without any hesitation.  The chickens may be of more help than just providing food!

  

So now I’ll move onto the not so positive yet enlightening happenings of the past few days.

Our beautiful garden looks like a train wreck.  I have absolutely no love for skunks or deer at the present moment.  Chad and the chickens are even in a little bit of hot water!  The skunks have been hanging around the house and have even so graciously sprayed the front door.  I would imagine Otis spooked them.  Yes, them. Plural.  Two to be exact.  For future reference you can throw fire crackers that only emit a seizure inducing light show out the door at them and they will run to the other side of the driveway while you grab the phone out of the rain that you left on the ledge…just saying.  We are going to battle out the rest of the gardening season but there will be some sort of fence put up around it next year.  We have also been battling a bit of blossom end rot.  I love the fact that we are learning so many new things that will only make our garden better next year.  Unless you have awesome, self-adjusting soil, it takes a little bit of effort to be able to grow a bountiful garden.  Calcium levels are important for preventing blossom end rot.  Too much or too little water can throw the levels off.  I have read that putting eggs shells in with the plants at planting time is a huge help.  We applied a commercial fertilizer that included calcium this year but next year the egg shells are going it.  We have also learned that while fertilizer is a good thing, it can also be a hindrance at the same time by producing huge plants with no yield.  Chad is a fertilizing maniac.  I’ve kept him at bay this year and I think it is helping a lot.  Over fertilizing can also affect the magnesium levels of pepper plants and keep them from producing.  So with those few tid bits in hand, it’s only August and I’m already planning for next spring!! 

  

Saving the worst for last, our pigs embraced the Chik-fil-A advertising campaign of Eat Mor Chikin.  Up until this past weekend the chickens have been confined to their coop and run.  Chad and I have discussed letting them out but we were concerned about Otis attacking them.  We finally said we would deal with Otis if it happened and left them out.  They were in bug eating heaven and Otis didn’t do a thing.  They were in the garden but the damage was already done.  Day 1 was awesome and we were so happy that we made the decision to let them out.  Day 2 went south.  The girls were staying with their Aunt and Uncle so Chad and I went out to do the chores and left the chickens out.  Then we headed down to the shed to change the oil in the big truck.  Chad forgot something up at the house so we ran back up.  He headed to the garage and I headed to the “barn.”  I could see two of the pigs dragging something and I thought maybe Chad had thrown in some weeds but then it hit me that he hadn’t. I ran over and sadly it was a dirt-laden barred rock.  I started screaming and ran for a stick and the pitch fork.  There was nothing that I could have done but I wanted to get it away from the pigs as quickly as possible.  I hopped the barbed wire fence and Chad came running with the shot gun.  After everything had settled down he said the way I was screaming he thought a coyote was after me!!  Needless to say, a pig will eat ANYTHING.  I did some research and they are classified as omnivores.  Under stress they will eat their young and feral hogs will eat the carcasses of dead animals.  The chicken was able to slip through the 4” x 4” squares of the pig fence.  We picked up some of the same fencing that we used on the chicken run and are going to put that around the pig fencing so that everyone can co-exist in harmony.  We stressed to the girls that it’s important not to be afraid of the pigs but at the same time they should not let their guard down.  An animal is an animal.  Same rules apply to the chickens and rabbits.

  

We’ve had some ups and downs but it’s all a learning experience.  I think that I say this in every closing but we love the choice that we made to have the animals and to get back to the basics.  The girls are learning so much about the animals, the garden, and life in general.  I had better get back to the kitchen.  There’s plenty of canning, freezing, and dehydrating to be done.  Until next time!!

  

So I have started writing this about a hundred times over the past 4 weeks and never get past the first paragraph.  I am bound and determined to finish today.  I need to become more disciplined and write every week so that it isn’t a small novel when I do.  I feel like when the girls come home from somewhere that they have been without us and their mouths are running a mile a minute trying to tell us everything that they did or saw!!!

The weather has been interesting; it pretty much goes in hand with the winter that we just had.  Last week it was almost 100 degrees and you felt like you were going to die and this week it’s in the high 70’s.  We also experienced what we are certain was a mini tornado.  It managed to blow all of the screens out of our windows, move a pipe hay wagon through the field and into the middle of the road, push the windows out of the Allis, and blow our wood pile down through the driveway.  Amazingly it didn’t touch the coop or pig pen, the garden, or even move two little tables the girls had in the front yard.  Chad was holding on to one of our windows and said if one of the girls would have been by the window he has no doubt they would have went out.  Luckily we didn’t have any major damage.

 

 

Our building projects for the past month have been the outside runs for the chickens and pigs.  Both were well overdue and were a great addition.  My great uncle had sent Chad a care package of old nails, hinges, and so forth which we were able to put to good use during this phase of “construction.”  The chickens made short work of the grass and congregate at the fence when Chad mows the yard because they know they are going to get some of the clippings.  They still enjoy being inside when it’s incredibly hot but everyone pours out as soon as it gets cooler and like clockwork, head back in when the sun is setting.  The pigs also enjoy being outside but unfortunately they can’t handle the sun and got sunburnt on day 2 of being out.  They have since learned to stay inside during the day and go out when it’s not so hot to play and even sleep under the stars now and then.

Just as with the chickens, the pigs have also been a huge learning experience.  I went to feed one evening and it wasn’t too horribly hot but one of the smaller pigs wouldn’t get up but was breathing.  Everything stopped and all of our attention went to this guy.  Liza jumped right in and started scooped cool water on his ears and snout.  Luckily the air temperature was cooling as well and by morning he was considerably better.  We have since put in another fan and keep a portion of their floor muddy so that they can cover themselves in mud and cool down. 

All’s quiet on the rabbit and broiler front.  No baby bunnies so apparently I separated them in time or they were too young.  That’s fine with me.  In the mix of things we didn’t need bunnies to contend with.  We butchered the second group of broilers on Sunday.  We decided that we would skin them this time since we don’t eat the skin anyway.   Everything went off without a hitch and we have a nice supply of vacuum sealed chicken in the freezer now.  I will probably get another batch in September when the weather is a little cooler.  The heat added about 2 weeks onto the time that we had to feed to broilers.  The heat also seemed to wreak havoc on their poop.  I added oregano to their diet and it cleared it up.  I think that an outdoor run will be put on the list of things to do for the future broilers as well.

I am happy to report that we are now collecting eggs from the four ladies that I purchased to replace the roosters that will be departing.  There aren’t enough words to describe the excitement when we found the first egg on the floor.  We quickly constructed the nesting boxes.  Chad had plans for, frankly I’m not sure how many, but a lot of nesting boxes. Thankfully I convinced him that they would pick probably one or two and only use them.  Of the four boxes, nesting box one is their favorite.  It won’t be too much longer and the rest of the hens should start to lay.  I hope they decide to utilize the rest of the boxes because I’m not sure one will hold 30+ eggs!!

Our garden is doing very well.  We have never had tomato or pepper plants grow like these.  This year Chad took a suggestion from an older gentleman to put peat moss in with the dirt when we planted plants and seeds.  He said that the peat moss would make the soil looser and allow the roots to grow and take a better hold.  If that is what made the difference it was a cheap way to have an awesome garden.  We have been enjoying lettuce, onions, and cucumbers so far.  I didn’t realize that the girls hadn’t eaten garden lettuce before since we have only planted tomatoes and peppers the past few years.  We have had creamed lettuce & onions every evening for supper and if Chad doesn’t pay attention he usually doesn’t get any!!  I think I’m going to venture into the world of pressure canning this year.  It’s a little intimidating but I think I can handle it.  I’m not sure what kind to get so if anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear your thoughts. 

We have also been up to our ears in hay which is another reason why I’m behind on writing.  Chad and I help his cousin as much as we can during the summer.  Last time I checked we were above 5000 bales but that has been awhile so it’s hard to tell now.  I do know that there will be about 5 wagons to unload this evening!!   Luckily his bales are short so they aren’t quite as hard for me to handle.  Listening to everyone tell stories about how they used to have to make hay makes me thankful for disc bines, hay tedders, & kick balers!!

 

 

Eliza and Jorja did get to pull one time this year at a local festival.  They did a great job!  Eliza took 1^st in the kids 850 class and a 2^nd in the kids 950 class.  Jorja took 5^th and 6^th in those classes as well.  Liza also pulled in the adult 850 and 950 and took 5^th in both of those.  As much as we love pulling we are still glad that we took a break from the traveling portion this year.  There are two more local pulls that the girls will pull at this year.  Both of them are evening pulls and the girls are excited because they will be able to run the blue LED lights that I Installed under their frame rails.

 

  

  

 

 

  

 

So that's what’s been happening around here in a nut shell.  Every day there are little things that happen that make us glad that we chose to venture down this path.  It isn’t a lifestyle that is for everyone but it is for us.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and successfully battling the heat.  Hopefully by my next blog I will have convinced Chad that we need to enter the Farmer Olympics being held at the  Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs!  I'm really excited that something is finally close to home that we can go to.  Until next time!

Roughly ten months ago we embarked on a new journey into pig ownership. Our first gardening attempt on our new farm quickly turned into a colossal failure. Our chosen garden spot had been a well fertilized cattle pasture for twenty years. The rough winter turned into a wet spring, and an even wetter early summer. Then drought hit, and the few veggies that had survived the tremendous weed growth during the flood finally gave up. We were left with a horribly embarrassing garden full of weeds and dead plants. About this time I stumbled upon Hank Will’s article on plowing with pigs. He had wrote about his experience tilling and plowing his garden area with heritage hogs. The idea stayed with us, and we began researching hog breeds and looking for nearby breeders.

Within a month we found a local breeder of Poland China, Chester, and Yorkshire hogs. Our initial purchase of two piglets got us started, but we had four gardens plus a melon patch to weed! Our two became four and then six, and thus our journey into plowing with pigs began. For more details on our garden plowing experience, check out our previous blog titled “Pig Power! Using Pigs to Prepare a Garden.” Below you see our first two piglets, Bacon (gilt) and Pork Chop (barrow).

Our gardens are now growing beautifully, with very few weeds to deal with. Another benefit to using this method is the free fertilizer and composting material that gets worked into the soil by the pigs feet. Straw bedding and manure make for excellent soil after a few months of being trampled under pig feet! Below you can see just how bad the garden area was. Just a few short months with pigs on it and it is hard to believe the difference!  

Here we are just three months after putting the piglets in the garden.

Last month Andrew and I were lamenting about how over grown our wooded area behind the house had become. When we first viewed the property two years ago, it was very park like and pretty after years of cattle grazing away at the undergrowth. Since the previous owner removed the cattle before our purchase, it has sat vacant without being tended to. This 3.5 acre section of land sits directly behind our home, and separates us from our hay field. However it is the first thing you see when you park in the drive, or look out any of our western facing windows. How nice it would be to see a clean and tidy space! Our plan has always been to clean it up by removing the numerous dead trees and underbrush, fill in parts of the shallow ravine that run through the center, and sow it in pasture grass to make it a workable piece of land. Unfortunately, there are several fallen trees, tree stumps, and holes hidden by the undergrowth that made it nearly impossible to tend to with a tractor for fear of damaging something.

In February we took our two barrows to slaughter, leaving us with a trio of girls and one boar. Our four breeding piglets now all grown up, were still occupying parts of our garden area. On this particular day, we were also discussing just what to do with the pigs since we needed to plant the gardens. The best solution it seemed to both of our problems was a new plowing adventure! Why not turn the pigs onto the wooded area, and let them clear all the underbrush for us? Then we could come along to cut the dead trees and remove the stumps without having to wade through a sea of waist high weeds and brush to do so.

As you can see, our wooded area had gotten quit grown up. The worse part was the thistles, poison oak, and the ravine (more of a deep ditch really). I have read that some pigs can develop allergic reactions to poison oak, much like a human. I worried that our pigs may have problems with this as literally every tree trunk in site seemed to have fallen victim to the climbing vines. 

We already had an electric fence box that had been running our fencing around the garden areas for the pigs, as well as the remainder of a roll of electric wire. So all that was needed now was more step-in posts. Off to Tractor Supply we went, we purchased 45 step-in electric fence posts four foot tall. We also needed another 7 t-posts to secure the corners. The new pig pens are not equally divided. Instead, one side is roughly 2/3 the size of the other and both are in a triangular pattern to follow the lay of the land instead of in common square or rectangular dimensions. That is the beauty of temporary electric fencing, it is much more easy to follow the lay of the land than permanent fencing does. How many times have you spent hours trying to find a good way to enclose a ravine using wood posts and woven wire? It is very difficult to do so accurately enough to contain pigs. Not the case with electric! The entire system took in 1.3 acres and was up in a single afternoon. 

Now going back to the design, why did we not make equally sized pens? Well Bacon (my parents gilt) and Boss Hog (our boar) are the oldest of the bunch. They were bred three months ago. So we should soon have our very first litter of piglets! Bacon is growing quit large, and needed her own space to prepare for her piglets. So we have Daisy Duke, Ellie Mae and Boss in the larger section and Bacon alone in the smaller side. When Bacon’s litter is near weaning age, we will move them into the “common area” and move Ellie Mae into the smaller section. She was bred in April and will deliver our first litter of registered Poland China’s. Daisy Duke, the smallest and youngest of our girls, will take her turn soon after Ellie.

Now that the pigs were moved, we had a problem. While our DIY pig shelters constructed with t-posts, two stock panels, and a large tarp were perfectly adequate for just hogs, they didn’t make for safe or secure furrowing areas. I hit the internet in search of the ideal furrowing arrangement for a pasture based system. We do not want to contain any of our livestock in stalls or man made shelters. Instead, we choose to allow them to graze freely and grow naturally outdoors. We ran across a company selling “Port A Huts” and found a dealer a few hours away from us in Lafayette, TN. Andrew drove down to pick up a small hut with pig rails. The pig rails are designed to give the piglets a little space between the Momma pig and the wall to prevent piglet deaths from being laid on. These huts are specially designed to be durable, light weight, and easily mobile for relocation from pen to pen. Perfect for our operation! Port-A-Hut farrowing pen is pictured above in Bacons pen.

So here we have Bacon set up in her new wooded pen with her Port A Hut. She’s a very happy porker now! We have her situated just inside a grove of trees, easily visible from our kitchen window. This way, I will easily be able to watch her and our first litter of piglets!

As for Boss, Daisy and Ellie they will still have their DIY stock panel shelter. Not that they use it, they have been much happier lounging under the trees even during rain storms and heat waves. They seem much happier in the woods than they were in the garden. All the trees make wonderful scratching posts, and their mud holes they have already wallowed out last much longer in the shade than they did in the garden areas.

The pigs have now been in their wood pens for nearly four weeks. It only took about a week for the trio to root up nearly the entire pen. I was surprised at how quickly they did this, and to see that they did not eat what they rooted. They reminded me of steam rollers going as quickly as possible destroying everything in site. However, I was more surprised to watch their behavior after this initial demolition. After first knocking down all of the brush, scraggly shrubs, and large undergrowth they attacked the weeds and what little grass there was growing. When this was done, they stopped rooting the entire area and began selectively rooting around areas where they dug their mud holes and an area to bed down at night. With this accomplished, they continued rooting around the outer most sections of the pen while leaving the center alone. After that initial week of rooting, grass began growing back in the center of the pen. They have not continued to root in this area, instead they now graze on the grass there while keeping the remainder of the pen rooted clean. 

In just a few short weeks this area has gone from an over grown mess to a clean and clear work space. Now you can clearly see every stump and fallen limb, and the dead trees are easily accessible by tractor. Better still, the ravine that previously ran through the center of the large pen is now just a shallow dip thanks to our four legged wonders.

Here are a few pairs of shots for comparison. Each pair shows the area before the pigs moved in, and the other three weeks after the pigs. 

Shot 1:  Before and After
 

Shot 2 Before and After 

Here you can see all four pigs that make up our current plowing team. Bacon in the forefront in her pen, and Boss, Ellie, and Daisy in the background.

Boss, Ellie, and Daisy are very friendly. They come to you immediantly when they see or hear you expecting treats.

We will leave the pigs in their current location for several more weeks before moving them. At that time, we will rotate them to the neighboring 1/3 acre section of the wooded area. Our plan is to separate this area into three rotations with our last rotation being completed at the end of summer. As the pigs are moved off of one section and in to another, we will come in behind them with the tractor and pull up stumps then cut up dead trees and sow seasonal grasses. Hopefully by next spring our rough woodland will resemble a new and improved park like setting!

Here we have their next plowing project, the adjacent 1.3 acres.

Once Fall arrives, we will leave our breeding stock in the woods. Our plan is to keep a pair of piglets from this summers litters to move onto the gardens for fall “plowing.” In this way, we hope to always have breeder pigs in the woods, feed pigs in the garden and then in the freezer, and a healthy and bountiful garden grown with natural (and free!) fertilizer. Eventually we hope to use this same system for the woods on the back of our property to truly make the entire farm clean and productive. 

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It was the start of another story time on the farm. Just before the bedtime of the little goats and the baby chickens (because the mothers don't like them up too late). Farmer P. had started the fire with some old newspapers, and was attempting to smoke an opossum skin that the youngest farmer had prepared. The schedule for the evening began with a story from each of the animals species: Uffie was the designated storyteller for the chickens, Bubble had promised to tell a story on behalf of the pigs, Sunset (our heifer) was considering if she should participate, and Nutella was excited at the thought of telling a tale, and thus earning respect of her new herd. When the fire was just right, and the smell of slightly burnt opossum skin hung in the air the ceremony began.

Uffie clucked a couple times to clear her crop, then started:

“Once Upon a Time, there lived six guinea keets. Each one of these guineas had a special power. The first could fly into trees, the second could camouflage into any---”

Bubble then solemnly asked for silence, gave a speech about enjoying the quaint story Uffie told, and then decided to begin her story:

“In the dark days of winter, a heavy frost hung upon the ground. It was blistering cold, and the poor humans, in their thin skin had to continue to do chores. Even in the winter they had to feed the---”

“Is is over yet?” the baby chicken Snuffie asked.

“Yes, yes, I am sure that Bubble is done now.” Maybelle replied.

Sunset blushed, for it was her turn, and asked if she might go last. Supposedly, it was because she 'wasn't ready yet' (however, I think it is because Sunset knows that only the last animal ever gets to finish their story). Nutella was excited to tell her story and was alright going out of turn. This is the story she told:

“There once was a rabbit, that loved to run around the woods. And this rabbit loved trying to make friends. She liked to meet the ducks, and the deer, and the foxes, and one day---”

“I love it!” exclaimed little Meringue.

“But I haven't finished yet.” Nutella said, acting puzzled.

“Aw, that's alright, it was good anyway.” Passamaquoddy told her.

“Next week you can add a little more to it.” Squeak explained.

“You see, that way all the animals can say a bit before bedtime.” Bonnie finished for Squeak.

After Nutella had completed her story, Sunset thought that she would tell an action story, and because she has time to think while she chews her cud, it was rather elaborate (I have formatted it with Sunset's distinct accent, and took time to explain some of her actions while reciting):

“The mountain looooms
Above the pasture,
Holding it in a shadoooow
Keeping light fromoo entering
The stalls and rooooms.

(She lightly moo'd as reciting poetry without moo'ing is very difficult for her.)

The top of the hill,
Nooo one can glimpse.
It's height immooonse,
No one dare climb
Tooo face peril.

But a foooolish bison,
Dares a small
Cow to challenge
A mooonster huge,
The Lion. (This moo was more of a growl.)

[And the poem went on and on and on... (you can read the full text at the bottom of the page)]

Sunset finished her story, and looked around to see that most everyone was already headed to bed. But she wasn't upset, because the humans stuck around, and that is how she knew that she had told a good story. Before she headed to bed herself, she sneaked a midnight snack of Alfalfa, for talking had made her hungry. She spent the rest of the night contemplating about what sort of story she would tell next time the humans built a fire. Then she went to sleep, and dreamed about having an entire field of 'Alfoofa' to herself. Meanwhile, the humans went to bed themselves, thought about the morning when the alarms would go off, and it would be time to begin the chores.

[For those who don't know who all the characters listed in this story, they are:

Farmer P. - This is the head farmer, we like him because he moves hay.
Opossum – This is possibly the animal that hurt Drip's (another duck) foot a while back. Now a ghost.
“The youngest farmer” (a.k.a. Farmer T.) - This is the farmer that attempted to raise rabbits, we like him because he kills the predators (that would otherwise kill my chickens).
Uffie – This is the daftest chicken on our farm, and we love her.  She is also the WKH mascot.
Bubble – This is the pig that likes to make noise.
Sunset – She is a red dexter heifer. She thinks that Farmer E. is her best friend.
Nutella – This is our milking goat, and the newest addition to the farm.
Guineas – We had six, but now there are only five.
Snuffie – It's just 's not Uffie. But I like the little one anyway.
Cookie – This is a golden-laced cochin bantam chicken.
Maybelle – This is our high-maintenance queen goat. For reference: she doesn't like me much.
Meringue – The very first little princess goat born on our farm.
Passamaquoddy – A magpie drake. He is still on his quest to find a dragon.
Squeak – The best piggy friend of Bubbles. She likes people.
Bonnie – Our new farm puppy. She likes to find dead things.

Remember: These are quick summaries. You may see these animals featured in other stories.]

Below is the full poem that Sunset told [including the 'moo' accents]:

The Stoory of the Brave Moo-Moo

“The mountain looooms
Above the pasture,
Holding it in a shadoooow
Keeping light fromoo entering
The stalls and rooooms.

(She lightly moo'd as reciting poetry without moo'ing is very difficult for her.)

The top of the hill,
Nooo one can glimpse.
It's height immooonse,
No one dare climb
Tooo face peril.

But a foooolish bison,
Dares a small
Cow to challenge
A mooonster huge,
The Lion. (This moo was more of a growl.)

She takes a spear,
Her halter,
With hay,
Leaves her hooome
With many a tear.

In the cold
Of the mooountain
She shakes,
The sun she spies
So close to hooold.

It shines smoo bright
That for a moooinute
She is blinded.
The beast, hooodden
Strikes with all it's might.

Comes charging at our heroooooo,
The fearsome lion.
With claws flying,
And teeth clashing
Is an awful fooooe.

(She took a break, and caught her breath here. Moo'ing softly before continuing.)

But the brave hooofer
(With her halter)
Strikes back
Althooough strength
Is failing, she says

Moooooooooo.
Making a stooomp
Hits the flesh
Ooof the beast,
(Her halter askooow).

The lion falls
His yellooow coat
Is soaked in blooood
Of cooow and mooonster,
And lay with curled claws.

The heifer cannooot
Believe. She killed
The lion, that scared
All. She cooooked sooome
Hay on the spooot.

(Not sure if this was part of the poem, but a large, loud, elongated MOOOO was heard around WKH.)

Toooday, a farm-
Hooose is built
Where the
Dooel took place.
Here no animool is harmed.

There is now clover (She licked her nose thinking of delicious clover and Alfooofas.)
Here. Further oop
The hill, sooome goats
Have tooo,
Taken over.

The height of the
Mooontain is
Shrunk. The sun
Is seen frooom the
Town belooow.

Cooorn grows
In fields, for the
Sun shines.
In the distance
Yoooo can hear the
Rooooster's croooow.

And the sun
Sees the heifer
In the mooorning, and
Bestooows a kiss.
Mooooo.”

 

Sunset licking a salt block.

This week I thought it would be interesting to post the minutes to the most recent Grand Political Pig Party Monthly Meeting. The president is Squeak and the Vice-President is Bubbles. These are our two pigs. Since they can’t hold a very good meeting with only two animals, they asked us humans and some chickens to come and attend. In case you didn’t know, pigs are very political animals, and believe in justice, equality and liberty.

 

G3P Minutes 3/1/12
Grand Political Pig Party

Meeting called to order with the pig pledge.

“On my pig honor, I will do my very piggy best to be kind to my owners. To turn over all the soil. To grow fat and eat my food. To love pineapple with all my heart, and to not eat live chickens or other meat.”

Then attendance was counted by asking the question, “Who is your favorite goat?” There were two pigs, two humans, and thirteen chickens present. A total of seventeen beings came to the meeting.

The treasurer’s report stated that there was a rise in profits due to extra labor and kind contributions, making a total of one boulder, fifteen stones, and twelve pebbles. The Secretary’s report said that there have been no pigeons with messages, but there was a note from the chickadees, a copy of it is here:

‘To the FARM ANIMALS,
We wish to give our appreciation for letting us eat the leftovers of the chicken feed, and to let you know that we find the flax to be most welcome. We realize that we might have been inconsiderate in boasting how nice food is at WKH, and we understand that the crows are probably not a welcome addition. We all hope that this is not too much of a bother, but we are sorry for our actions just the same.
Sincerely,
The CHICKADEES’

Old business began, with the very controversial topic of the Electric Fence.

“We do not think that you have the right,” began Squeak, “to have us be zapped every time we touch the fence.” 

Bubbles appeared to agree with President Squeak’s assessment of the situation, but the humans present demanded (again) that they have a say in the topic.

Farmer E. interjected, “If you did not get quite so close to the fence you would not get electrocuted. And if you didn’t chase the chickens out of your pen, except if they have business to discuss, then you would not run into the fence.”

“It’s not that we mind particularly getting zapped, it is just that we find it quite offensive that you feel that you must treat us like animals,” Bubbles stated.

“But you are animals, that’s the point! If you stated in your pledge to not cross the fence, we might consider un-electrocuting it,”  Farmer R. interjected.

Uffie coughed and cleared her throat, but the argument continued. She then pecked President Squeak on the shoulder to get his attention.

“What, Uffie, what?” Squeak grumbled.

“I make a motion,” Uffie said clearly, “to put this on the table until next month, where we can again resurrect this topic after you have all had another month to consider what each party has said.”

“Second,” Farmer E. said.

Then the meeting continued to new business.

The matter of hay started. The G3P felt that their house should be filled with hay top to bottom, so that it would be possible to burrow through it like the bunny rabbits do. The humans' reasoning on the subject was that that was all fine and dandy for the rabbits, but burrowing through hay didn’t seem to be something suited to pigs. It was agreed by a two-thirds majority that the pigs would continue to get hay, but it would not be enough to burrow in like a rabbit.

Second item of business was the matter of paint. The pigs had a sense that they had been slighted when it came to building their house. I quote, “The goats have a painted house, the chickens have a painted coop, the dogs live with the humans who have a painted home, so why don’t we get our house painted?” The humans acknowledged the injustice that had been done and agreed they would put it as a priority to get accomplished. They also reminded the pigs that it would be impossible to paint their home when it is cold or rainy out. The G3P agreed to these terms and conditions.

Third item of business was about the community service project. The humans, who thought it would be nice to have a farm garden, originally envisioned this project. Then the pigs were employed in tilling of the ground, to create a garden bed, and were to be paid in food and board. Bubbles gave an update on their progress, and everyone seemed quite pleased with their efforts. At this point, the humans explained that they had seeds started indoors to be planted once the pigs finished their work. Uffie signed the contract for bug control of the garden on behalf of herself and the other chickens.

Fourth topic of discussion was the necessary reply to the Chickadees. It was motioned and seconded that the writing of the letter would be best done by the Porcelain d’ Uccle, Pastella. Meanwhile, Uffie went and fetched Lazuli, a guinea keet, to see if she could deliver the message. The G3P showed Lazuli the tree, and it was proven that it was possible to fly that high to send the message. A basic outline was given to Pastella of what the letter must contain, and with it instructions for her to bring it to the G3P for them to approve it once it was written.

The last item of importance was a very personal issue to the pigs. There was a shortage of pineapple in their food as of late, and they dutifully let the humans know how keenly they felt this terrible injustice. Farmer R said that she would look into the issue and do her best to remedy the problem. 
The meeting then concluded with the pineapple poem, which is as follows:

‘Pigs love food,
Pineapple.
You can turn it to tea if brewed,
Pineapple.
At political dinners they serve,
Pineapple.
They will sell it as jelly or preserve,
Pineapple.
Nothing is tastier than,
Pineapple.
Good even when fried in a pan,
Pineapple.’
  

Yesterday was a really exciting day for us here at ANS Farms. It was our first official “sheep visit” since we began raising katahdin last summer. We had a wonderful time with a very nice older couple interested in raising a few sheep of their own. During our conversation, the question was asked “How many animals do you have here?” Hmm… well, we had to sit and think on that awhile!

We don’t just do one thing here, but a little bit of just about everything. Which reminds me, I have been asked “Why Confessions of a Cracked Egg?” Apparently, I have never explained the origins of our blog title. Last year we needed to build our poultry flock. We started here with just 7 hens, not even a rooster. So in March we purchased a pure bred barred rock rooster and six more hens. Then we purchased some Narragansett turkeys. By April we were continuously running the incubator, doing as many as 108 eggs at a time of both chicken and turkey. Our friends thought we were crazy, our family just laughed. One day a Facebook friend posted a quote on my page that just about summed me up. “A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.”- Bernard Meltzer. This made me laugh, and just seemed a perfect fit for our blog!

So lets do a run down of exactly what all we have here these days. I’ll start with our family. One year ago when we were just starting our farming adventure there was myself, my husband Andrew, our oldest daughter Macey, and our son William. In October, our third child Cierra was born. Here they all are in their first group photo. Macey is now 6, William will be 5 next month, and Cierra is almost 3 months old.

  

So as I think you can guess I have a fondness for poultry. Our original hens were all cinnamon queens. Now, the majority of our chicken flock is barred rock. We still have those cinnamon queens today, with a few of their barred rock cross offspring which hatched out white. Our chicken total today is 23 hens, 7 roosters. Here are our original “Golden Girls” and the barred rock rooster.

  .

Besides the chickens, we also have 7 guineas. These were purchased to eat the potato bugs off our plants last year, and they did so quit efficiently! I was impressed by how well they ate all the bugs in the garden without damaging the plants. We have 5 royal purple guineas and 2 lavenders. The lavenders are by far my favorite, the royal purple remind me to much of a vulture. I would like to eventually replace the purples with more of the lavenders.

  

In the fall of 2010 GRIT featured a beautiful turkey on the front of their magazine. I was struck by the beauty of that bird, and began investigating different heritage breeds of turkey. Andrew and I decided to try the Narragansett turkey first. Our first purchase was supposed to be 3 hens and a tom. However as they grew we discovered we had 2 of each. They just became old enough to breed this past month, and we have their first eggs in our incubator now! Unfortunately, last week one of our hens wandered to close to our Poland China boar Boss. Boss Hog had himself a 30 pound snack before dinner. Hopefully some of these eggs will be hens! Last summer we found a local man advertising fertile turkey eggs. He raised Bourbon Reds, another heritage breed and the second breed we were interested in raising. We ended up with 108 eggs, and only had 11 hatch from that run. Of those 11, only 1 bird lived to maturity. Not the success we were hoping for! So today we have 3 Narragansett turkeys and one lonely Bourbon Red. Since the death of our other hen, both turkey toms have decided to compete for the attention of the remaining girl. Here they are having a gobbling match.

   

When we went last year to purchase our barred rock flock from a poultry hatchery we took both kids along. They saw some baby crested ducks, and just had to have a pair. We brought home Donald and Daisy that evening. Six months later, we discovered Donald and Daisy were really Donald and Daffy. These boys were hilarious, and pretty sweet creatures. Unfortunately, Daffy was killed by a hawk just a few weeks ago, leaving us with one pretty lonely Donald Duck.

   

So that makes a total of 42 total birds we have here now. We are hoping to double our number of laying hens and turkeys this year. I’m also looking for a female companion for poor Donald.

As for the four-legged farm critters we have plenty of those as well! Our largest stock here are Momma and Baby donkey. Momma and Baby are livestock guardians who purchased from a cattle and goat operation. They are both very sweet with humans, and deadly to dogs! We have seen them many times charge fence rows and make a huge commotion when neighborhood dogs have attempted to run the fence row. Last month Momma Donkey bent a twenty foot section of fence nearly in half after a pack of five dogs began digging and barking at the fence. While we weren’t very happy to have to repair the fence, we were thankful that the dogs did not get in to the birds, their obvious target after finding one dead bird outside the fence. Momma and Baby are both bred to deliver this summer. We bred them to a nice gaited donkey stud that belongs to a neighbor.

   

That is Momma and Eeyore visiting for the first time. Not long after this we had to put up hay in the barn that sits in their pasture. We discovered that donkeys REALLY like jelly beans. Only when you run out, they try to come through the window for more!

   

Our main livestock operation here is sheep. We started with a few different kinds of hair sheep. Of those, we have three left. Barbie is a full blooded Barbados ewe. Her daughter Annie (born on our Anniversary) is a Barbados and katahdin cross. Then there is Paint, she is a full blooded painted desert sheep. In late summer of last year we added a registered herd of katahdin hair sheep to the flock. We have 7 ewe’s and 1 stud. Our favorite in this flock is Lil’ Red, our only red katahdin. Red John, our stud and Old Lady (the oldest in the flock) are also characters. All of our katahdin have been pretty easy keepers so far, not to difficult to catch or handle and seemingly resistant to the foot rot problems we were having with the other breeds. All but two of our girls are bred to deliver in the next 30 days. We can’t wait to have a pasture full of babies! This is our first year lambing, and we are all pretty excited. Our current sheep total is 11 head.

    

These girls are either pregnant, or they each swallowed a barrel!

  

This past fall we added a few pigs to the farm in an effort to clear our garden areas in a productive and environmentally friendly way. We currently have 2 Poland x Chester cross slaughter pigs we are growing out, 2 registered Poland China breeding pigs, and 2 Poland x York cross females for breeding. Our first piglets should be born sometime in March. That’s another first for us! We don’t know much about pigs yet, and are doing a lot of learning as we go so this should be quit the experience! Here are our two newest sows, Daisy Duke and Ellie May right after arriving here in October.

   

Besides livestock we also have three dogs. Two of our dogs are registered redbone coonhounds. Both are show and hunt dogs. Andrew used to raise and train dogs for show and hunt. Since moving here though we have sold his other dogs just keeping these two, our favorites. Sweets is our young female, and Digit our male. Digit is the kids favorite hound ever. He’s pretty easy to handle, and William has been able to show him since he was three years old. Here he is at a show when he was three with “his” dog Digit.

   

Then there is Tucker. Tucker is a Brittany and Springer Spaniel crossed house dog we got in May. When we moved here, we had a Wheaton Terrier female named Lucy. Lucy was our family mascot, the kids best friend, and a joy to our household. She was a very talented dog that was able to climb six foot ladders, go down ten foot slides, sled in the snow, and do many other tricks. Shortly after moving here our new neighbors son shot and killed Lucy for running across their yard one day. She had never been over there before, and we did not realize she had wandered off until it was to late. The kids were devastated, and we were all upset over the loss. Tucker was a gift from Andrew’s mother to the kids, an attempt to give something back to them that they had lost. While he will never be Lucy, Tucker is a sweet pup.. Most of the time!

   

So back to the question of how many of what we have here on the farm. Looks like we are currently at 3 kids, 30 chickens, 4 turkeys, 7 guineas, 1 duck, 2 donkeys, 11 sheep, 6 pigs and 3 dogs. For now. Can’t wait to do an end of summer inventory in a few months! We are expecting February lambs, March piglets, June and July donkeys, and chicks all spring and summer long. The kids have also asked Daddy for two kittens, which he promised they can have now that we have two barns built. Who knows what else will make it's way onto the farm this year. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Summer has brought a very busy time to the farm. The last few weeks have seen the ducks grow a huge amount and we have got a lot of rain. Also we had a farm accident. My husband Matt was unloading our 1987 jacked up F-250, getting ready to go get some pigs from Warren Wilson College Farm the next morning, and stepped into a large hole in our road. He almost broke the ankle. In fact we did think that it was broke so we went to the emergency room which is something we will never do again unless we are in danger of dying. Matt was on crutches for 2 weeks but is now a lot better. The healing process is going to take a bit longer though. A nice older farmer helped me go get the pigs. Farming can be dangerous stuff. I hate to admit that my road is so bad that it can be a safety hazard at times. Private roads can be a pain when there are disputes about road maintainence. If one party is unwilling to pitch in on gravel, then you are in a hard position.

 

But on to brighter things on the farm. Matt is well enough to start working on the house again. We ordered the glass for the sun room and we should be putting the planks up on the inside walls early in July. After that it is on to the septic system and underpinning. If we get that done then we will have the winter to do all the detail work in the house such as cabinets, hardwood flooring, and trim and molding.

The baby ducks are doing well and do not look like babies any longer. It is amazing how fast they grow. We lost one more so we have 13 ducklings left. The weirdest thing is that they are old enough for their sex to be determined and it looks like they are all female. I would never have thought this could happen. Now we have plans to buy several unrelated male ducks and build a duck house to accommodate the growing flock. If each girl duck we have averages 8 duckings next year we could have as many as 120 ducklings! Luckily there are a lot of nice restaurants in Asheville that might be interested in local free range duck. That also gives us time to get all the rules straight and make sure we are doing things by the book.

 
Speaking of books, I am working on writing a comprehensive breed guide and how to care for guide on heritage breed cattle. It is going to take a lot of research but hopefully by the end of the winter it will be ready to be submitted to publishers. I have added several breeds in besides those that the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy recognizes as a heritage breed. The Jersey and Shorthorn should be included because they have been the cow for a lot of homesteaders over the years.

Bessie's calf, Biggers' Big Ben or “Benny” as we often call him, is well on his way to becoming an ox. I decided I wanted a Dexter ox instead of a Jersey-Holstein cross. Dexters are just so much calmer. Ben is pretty much weaned but he still is hollering at his Mama a lot. I got the halter on him and have started teaching him to lead. He has been much more cooperative than I thought he would be.

 

 

Besides writing the book and some magazine articles I have started to help the American Dexter Cattle Association with their website. I am definitely learning as I go. I had no Frontpage web editing experience before this. I want to do a lot of work on the site but it seems like there is always so much to do and then my computer got hijacked by a virus. My laptop runs Ubuntu linux. If I didn't have to use windows for Frontpage to work, I wouldn't fool with having a Microsoft product at all. On another computer note, we are trying to figure out how to beam internet up to our house. It is just a question of whether or not we have too many trees and hills in the way. We are up at 3.000 ft elevation. The local cable company is hesitant to install anything because we are half a mile up a dirt and gravel road.

The weather has been very wet here in western North Carolina. We have had thunderstorms and rain every day for around a week. It is good for the crops but makes it a bit difficult to get other things done. It has given us a break from the heat though. 70 degree temperatures are better than the 80s and 90s we were seeing. The pastures have greened up a bunch. I am a bit baffled that we have not got a bunch of shiitakes right now but we don't. Hopefully they will fruit soon.  The dogs have put on quite a show for the camera here lately.

 

 

 

Now for the really fun part of this blog post. The fine folks at Purina have invited us to take their 60 Day Challenge to see what a difference their feed makes in our animals. We are impressed with the quality of the feed and the animals seem to like it very well. The ingredients seem to be high quality and their coats and feathers have a good gloss to them. As part of the promotion I am giving away a 4 GB Flip Digital HD Video Camera to two of my blog readers. For your chance to win, send me your funniest farm story in 300 words or less. I will put everyone's name in a hat and draw out two winners. Your stories will be posted in my blog with your name or if you wish to remain anonymous on the blog let me know and I won't put your real name on it. All entries must be received in my inbox at samantha.biggers@gmail.com by July 20, 2011 at 5:00 pm eastern standard time. I will notify the winner via email and get their address so I can send them their camera.

Well I think that is it for this post. Hope everyone is doing well!

 
 

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Except for the mud and blackflies, I just love spring. It’s a time of birth and renewal.

Speaking of births, Charlotte gave birth to 11 little piglets yesterday. All by herself. See, they don’t need our help.

Dave left for work early that morning (so what else is new). He told me that she was going to farrow that day sometime since she was very antsy. J. and I had some errands to do, so we left for a few hours and when we got back, there were 11 little bundles of joy! They were all nursing contently. This morning though, it seems like there is one that won’t make it. He must just have been weak. I don’t dare go see in the barn. Dave will take care of that. Anyway. If he has passed, I can’t reach him anyhow, and there is no possible way I am going in there with her. Uh-uh. No way Jose! Not this chickie. If there is one thing I have learned in these last few seasons with the animals, it’s that pigs are extremely, excessively possessive mothers. Chickens, goats, cattle, etc., do not hold a candle to pigs. Mind you it’s different taking a little chick from a 3-pound mother, than taking a piglet from an almost 600-pound sow! Think about it, a pig is the only animal that we eat that given half a chance, would eat us back!

Well I got my seed order in the mail last week. I actually controlled myself. Phew! It was tough. Dave had already passed through it and marked off what he think we needed. It came to about 30 dollars. Then I went through...

The order came to 96 dollars. Egad! So I cut back on a few things. It came to 80 dollars. So I cut again. Everytime I cut something out, it’s like cutting off one of my fingers. Sigh! OK, well not really but I just want to grow everything! Needless to say I don’t have the time, money and land to grow all I want to grow. It’s just NOT FAIR! So then I cut again and the final total was 76 dollars.

It was a strange day all around. First Charlotte gave birth, then I figured I’d let the goats out for a few hours, since most of the snow is gone so that means I can get to the gate.

First I have to say that Febe and Whisper have never escaped. I don’t even have to put the fence on most of the time. Well guess what!? I can’t do that with the famous new escape artist, formerly known as Esme!

I put them in, stayed there for a while, then went in. As we were eating supper, I found that the “memmmm”s were getting kinda loud. I looked on the front lawn and there were 3 goats. Not good. Esme showed the other two how the escape. Nice of her.

But then Dave said, “ Didn’t you forget that the fence had let go on the other end of the pasture? That means that it’s shorted out somewhere.”

Oh.

So hubby and son fixed the fence and the goats stayed in. Fancy that! Amazing what seven strands of electric fence can do!

I fired up the incubator last week. It’s more than full – 53 eggs! I’m going for genetic diversification. Big words for a French Acadian woman! I really don’t know if it’s a real term. But it sounds good. Really, I’m incubating some of my hen’s eggs and two other friend’s eggs. Well not their eggs, but their hen’s eggs. Then I’ll have created a genetically diversified flock! Doesn’t it sound so professional and scientific?

March 2, 2010

Well I started this blog 2 days ago and I’m still not done. Time just flies by. I just can’t beleive how the hours pass by in a day. I need more time!

Yesterday started like a nice day. By evening things went from very good to very, very bad. Let’s just put it this way ... I’m fine but my car is not. After I dropped J. off at drum lessons, I figured I’d go get his birthday gift at Walmart. Well I made a left turn on a green light and got smucked in the rear passenger door. The guy was flying, but because I didn’t have a flashing green I’m in the wrong. They can’t prove he was speeding.

But when I looked to turn he was far enough away. So, I had more than enough time to make it. Guess not.

I don’t really want to talk about it anymore. Like Forrest Gump would say, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

Tonight Dave and I gave the piglets their go over. Within 5 days of birth, they need their iron shots, their wolf teeth cut and antibiotic shot. That’s all we do to them. They don’t like the dentistry but they don’t even peep when you give them their shots. I also took this year’s Christmas card photo while we had them away from mama.

Oh, on a sad note. That one piglet that I said looked like he wasn’t going to make it ... didn’t make it.

Well that’s about it for this time. Really it’s enough.

Have a Blessed Day.

Lisa

Shirley took the story she told in one of her first posts here, “Raising Chickens Triggers Conscious Consumer,” to the West Chester Story Slam in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Here's a video of her winning entry!

Big goings-on around the farm lately. A couple weekends ago we started working on our pig shelter so we could get started on our pork production. We wanted to get them before Spring while the prices were still low on feeder pigs. But we didn’t really want to keep them in the barn with the chickens and goats for various reasons, so we thought they’d better have their own little place to call home.

We decided to build a floor for the shelter to try to help keep the pigs cleaner and dryer – in hopes that it would keep them warmer for the rest of this winter. We spent some money at the lumber mill on some pressure-treated 2-by-4s for the decking frame. (I know, probably overkill, but we figure if it holds up until after the pigs are gone we might convert it to a buck house when we have some boy goats on the farm.) But other than that the structure would be a basic pine and plywood job with some salvaged metal roofing to top it off.

It went up pretty quick, although we did run into a few problems here and there because we didn’t draw up any plans, so it was kind of piece it together as we go. But our speed-square always came to our rescue. Over the course of a couple weeks we were able to get the walls all built and covered, but we’ve yet to start putting on the roofing. Because the truck has died we haven’t been able to get the rest of the materials we need – mainly a couple more sheets of plywood that don’t exactly fit in the Scion. So we’ve been put on hold.

But today I think we might try to put the roofing on without the plywood to go beneath it – it’s probably overkill anyway. We’re going to try to move the structure to be within one of our fenced in pastures. It’s going to be a pain since we’ll have to take the walls off (thank goodness for screws), but I’m feeling more motivated now. “Why?” you ask. Well, my dear friend, because we’ve got some little bacon bits that need a home. Thats right, folks, we’ve got some piggies in the barn.

Yesterday, we decided to go for it. After finding out that half of the people selling $40 pigs were sold out, we figured we’d best get our butts in gear before we found ourselves paying more than double that. We made a trip to Fairfield where an old-time farmer had something like 50 feeder pigs for sale. Now, remember I told you that the truck has been broken down? Well, I almost hate to admit it, but we strung a tarp up within the car and layed down some straw – yep, they were going to ride home in the back of the Scion.

Let me introduce you to the gang.

First off is Brick Top (seen here on the left of the picture), he’s the biggest of the group and seems to be really taking charge. He’s got some nice coloring with a band of white between his red coat, and a couple little black spots on his rear end. Next to him, the little black-spotted guy in the center, is Boris the Butcher.

Next up we’ve got Freddy Four Fingers, all red and the loudest screamer of the bunch. He’s also the smallest and sort of the low man on the totem pole so far.

Last but not least, check out the gray and black spotted guy on the top of the heap here in the barn. This, my friends, is Gorgeous George. Yep, this is how we found all these tough guys this morning, all cuddled together in a nice big nest they built.

Needless to say, the goats weren’t thrilled last night when these boys arrived. So we felt compelled to block off half the barn to keep them separated, but everyone seemed alright this morning. We hope by the end of the day we’ll be able to move the boys out of the girls’ house so we can all live in peace again.

So, what do you think? I feel a little crazy myself. I honestly never thought I’d own pigs … they’re not my favorite farm animal – but I do love bacon. Speaking of which, I think I need to get myself some breakfast.

Ok, I just can’t stand it anymore. I mean, I love winter, the snow is gorgeous, it helps keep the house warmer, and it’s fun. But seriously, I can’t stand the cold anymore. Kyle’s truck has died, and we’ve spent too much time freezing in the sub-zero wind gusts trying to figure out why (more than likely something related to the cold). We’ve lost too many eggs to the frigid temperatures, and I’m sick of having to supplement feed with so much grain. Our kids need grass. I am ready for Spring!

I know yesterday was Groundhog Day ... and Phil has officially proclaimed six more weeks of winter ... but I’ve got a news flash: I DON’T CARE!! Mwah ha haaa (maniacal laugh inserted here)! Spring never comes early up here so even if he had forecasted an early spring, it wouldn’t apply to us folks up here in Northern VT anyways. Best case scenario: we won’t really see spring until May, we need get through mud-season first. Regardless, I’m determined to hurry this season along. It was a welcome guest, but it’s time to show it the door.

This past weekend, Kyle and I made a run to Gardener’s Supply Company, an awesome, employee-owned, local gardening supply store. We thought we’d grab some house plants (they’re having a sale: buy two, get one free), and while we were there we picked up a handful of seed packets to start inside the house. I was planning on just doing one big order on the High Mowing Seeds website, but I just couldn’t wait any longer. I’ll order the rest of our seeds online, probably later this month, but I wanted something in-hand to start right off. We came home with paste tomatoes, Ring-of-Fire hot peppers, basil, parsley, rosemary, and lavender. We also grabbed some Provider bush beans, Chamomile and Echinacea that we’ll start later next month.

I’m planning the garden a lot more than I did last year. I’m reading more about companion planting and non-tilling, non-weeding options. The garden was the biggest disappointment of last year. I make no claims that I am a good gardener – I’m actually pretty terrible at it. I’m more interested in animal husbandry, and I think it shows: my livestock is thriving. But it also shows in the garden: it’s always overrun by weeds, and I don’t harvest what little there is to harvest in time so some things end up going to seed (which I don’t realize until things start sprouting after we’ve turned everything under for the year).

We’ve also spent quite a bit of time working on our pig shelter. Its relatively large, too big really for the size the pigs will be when we buy them. So unless we really pack it with mulch hay these little piggies will probably spend the first month or two in the barn where it will be a little warmer. We’re planning on picking up the new additions to the farm this Saturday. I’m pretty excited about it. I know they’re going to be meat for our table, but until then they can till our garden and enjoy the dappled sunshine in the little grove behind our house. They will be happy, which makes me happy.

This is going to be a big, busy year. It will be the first time keeping bees and raising turkeys and pigs. It will be the first time our goats will kid, so it will be the first time bottle-feeding babies and milking goats. I’ve worked at a dairy before, so I’ve done the twice-a-day milking, but never in conjunction with raising so many other animals, gardening, and beekeeping. And of course, on top of that we’re still renovating our house and working full time jobs.

Do I feel overwelmed? Nope. Well, not yet, give it some time. Spring is rejuvenating after waking up from a long winter slumber. I’m ready to wake up. How about you?