Pig News!

Spotted in the woods.... Spot!

 The title of this post is not a typo... Kevin went to a Sustainable Farming Association committee meeting this afternoon and came home to tell me that he has six piglets reserved.  Six!  That means we will have a bunch of pork available in the fall.  Locals, if you want us to put you down for a half, let us know.

Out in the goat pen...

Vinca is getting really wide!

Echo on the left, Vinca on the right.  Echo is a first timer so she has not expanded nearly as much as Vinca

 

Kevin ordered some new fencing which came this week.  It's portable electric mesh.  He set it up in the back yard and we put ForestRanger out there for a couple of hours.   They checked it out, got a few shocks, and most importantly, stayed in!

The hens made a break for it when we filled up their big waterer n the coop this morning, so I just let them roam around.  They really seemed to enjoy getting out in the pasture for some of the greening up grass.

In the house, I have 36 eggs in this borrowed incubator. 

So, that first week of April is going to be pretty interesting around here, with eggs due to hatch, kids due to be delivered, and little pigs arriving. 

I guess that's about all the news from around these parts.  Until next time, be well.

Muddy Weekend

This post is about mud, goats, and chickens. 

So, it's pretty muddy.  We've been enjoying unseasonably warm weather.  Between the snowmelt and frost coming out of the ground, there are some mucky, muddy places around here.  The guys are having to take a break from their woods work until the logging roads dry out a bit.

Carolyn is here this weekend and it is warm enough that she is staying in her camper.  Lily, who's main goal in life is to become a housecat, took advantage:

Yesterday, we (Carolyn and I) took a little field trip to the Anderson farm.  Our little bit of mud is but a pittance to what they have to deal with.  They are right on the Mississippi; the land is low, flat, and heavy.  And wet.  Very wet.  I was there to purchase a few hens, which I did, but the most fun part was the goats.

They have goats.



Lots of goats.

Do you see the dog in this picture?

                                     And that was just the one pen. 

I fell for this beautiful doe.  I wish I could have brought her home!

We left with a crate of 6 beautiful hens (sadly, no goats) and upon arriving home they had multiplied into 6 beautiful hens plus 2 nice eggs.

Isn't she pretty?

The new hens have settled in nicely and one of them has been so kind as to show us that we had a couple of holes in the coop-yard fence. 

Our does are just waiting.  I reviewed the due dates and they still have a bit to go.  The absolute earliest we could possibly have kids is March 29.  I think Echo is due April 6.  I think Vinca is due about a week later. 

Echo's first baby bulge.  She doesn't look very excited, does she?

So, that's the update for this week.  Yeah Spring!!!

Be well friends.

Sunny Sunday

Wow, it feels and looks like spring around here… lots of water and mud!

Just a quick update from the farm today.  This weekend I was busy on Saturday morning making soap again.  This time it was shaving soap.  I made it round so it can easily be dropped into a mug.  It has lots of goodies in the ingredient list including finely ground oatmeal. 

The weather was so nice that I took my lettuce seedlings out from under the lights in the way-down basement and out to the real-deal sunshine of the greenhouse.  I spent a little time out there finishing clearing away desiccated tomato vines that I didn’t get to last fall. It was so warm in there that I opened up the door for the afternoon.

Future salads!

Kevin and I had some of that quality couple time that you can only get while cleaning out the goat’s pen in the corner of the pole barn.  It was getting that mattress-y feeling in there from so much bedding and hay underfoot.  We still have a month or so to wait for kids arrive.

The chickens are really enjoying the warm weather too.  I gave them a couple layers of an alfalfa bale, which made them even happier.  You might not think of chickens as hay eaters, but they love it when it’s really leafy. The occasional dried grasshopper is just a bonus!

Remember those tracks I posted about last Sunday?  They were muskrat tracks!  We watched the little guy make them.  It was almost like he was trying to get into the garage.  Of course by the time we got the camera he had gone around the house and headed for the pond.  Seems kind of early for them to be out and about.

You may recall that Kevin got a smoker for Christmas from the kids.  Today he tried it out on a pork loin.  It turned out great even though he didn’t know what he was doing really… another new learning experience!

Very tasty!

So I think that is a good thought end with. We are never too old to learn something new. Never, ever stop learning.  

Be well friends.