Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Busy busy and more to come

Been insanely busy around here! LJ is recovering quickly from his knee surgery, but is still mostly off his feet, so I've been running my butt off. Spreading gravel (went through a dump truck load over the course of the last two weekends, and need another load), taking care of critters, house, and (future) hubby. Henry has finally decided that the new puppy is friend and not food (they make-out for god's sake, which is hilarious and a little disturbing). We made a trip to One Green World last weekend and bought 3 lingonberries, a black spanish fig, and a chojuro asian pear (to replace the one that the stupid goats snapped in half... need it for cross-pollination!). Planning on taking out some alders and putting in another 3-4 apple trees this year. We have 10 pekin ducklings ordered, and they should arrive in a couple weeks (nummy num num ducks). We're watching for pigs at the right price, and haven't yet decided how many to get this year, though I'm gonna expand their pen regardless of the number. Last year's pen was more than large enough for four, but we have some more underbrush nearby and it would be nice if we could use the porkers to help clean it up.

I know it's already mid-February, but I'm still planning a run down of our first year on the property. Just gotta find the time to sit down and write it! :)

Hope everyone is doing well!

9 comments:

Lindsey at NW Backyard Veggies said...

Lingonberries? Awesome.

LindaG said...

I've just recently been reading about using pigs to help with clearing land, so I'm curious to see how yours do for you.

Hope your hubby heals quickly!

Chai Chai said...

Pigz clearing brush, nice
Bacon working on the hoof
Land ready for new use

www.FarmLifeLessons.blogspot.com said...

I am so excited about getting our first piglets! I can't wait!

Sounds like you have a lot going on! Hang in there!

Lana

Charade said...

I didn't know pigs could clear underbrush. Our acreage came with only one animal restrictive covenant - no pigs. Guess we'll have to hire goats.

kpannabecker and jpannabecker said...

I must have missed something. What new puppy?

Rae said...

Lindsey, haven't ever had them, but we had a space that they should do well in, so we'll see!

Linda, they did well clearing out a lot of the brambles under the cedars last year, so we'll see how this round goes.

Chai Chai, that's awesome. :)

Lana, you're gonna loooove pigs. They're so fun when they're smaller, but by the time they're big enough for slaughter, you're ready for them to go (at least we were). Makes the bye bye easier!

Charade, goats do much better job, so you're good there. Just make sure you have REALLY good fencing. Trust me.

KP, we got Gus end of August/beginning of September last year. I haven't posted about him since I found him obnoxious, and Henry really didn't like him, which meant we may not have kept him (because Henry is king). I'll do a post on Gus Gus the weasel dog here soon.

Miriam said...

I'm stuck on the part where you casually mentioned spreading a dump truck full of gravel?!! How do you do that and not totally wreck your back? I need to know your secret because I have gravel in my future...

Rae said...

Well, Miriam, most of it was moved via tractor (which is exhausting in its own way). Though, since most of the places I moved the gravel to weren't easy to get around in on a tractor, I spread most of the gravel by hand with a hard tine rake. Tractor definitely helps. A LOT. I was still broken on Monday, though. :)