I really am still alive. There's just too much going on to find time to blog. Pigs went to butcher, turkeys too. We'll cull the young roosters here in a few weeks, and Dunder will be butchered as well and replaced by one of his offspring. Darkwing and Launchpad are gone... We gave the two drakes to our neighbor's brother, who has a pond. We drove by to look, and they were happily swimming around with his other ducks. Currently working to get the old house ready to go on the market. I'm at this moment covered in paint, taking a break from kitchen painting. The next few weeks will be spent working at the old house, along with a full time job and farm chores at home. Gotta get this last coat on and head home to check on the 5 new chicks (3 ameraucana and 2 speckled sussex). We saw them at the feed store and, well, we're suckers.
Hope everyone's well!
Showing posts with label Pigs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pigs. Show all posts
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The Icky Chickies have arrived!
And, the next-to-final shipment of springtime fluff balls has been picked up! (still need to get some turkeys) Today we brought home 17 Cornish X meat chicks. Ordered 20, but the gals at the local feed store mis-counted, and when we got the couple miles home and called, they had already sold the few birds they had left... grrrrr!
Behold an Icky Chicky, while it's still cute (the cute phase only lasts about a week).
Haven't posted in a bit, as we've been running our butts off. Over the last couple weekends, we have ground out around 20-25 stumps and smoothed the stump areas out in preparation for more lawn/chicken/goose/duck yard locations. We've seeded and leveled and seeded some more. This last weekend we thinned a small grove of alders and maples to the north side of the current chicken yard. We limbed the saplings, and will use them to beef up our chicken run construction. Last year the heritage turkeys (never ever again) liked to jump to the top of the chicken run and they collapsed it more than once. Since we're pretty sure it will be a prime guinea perching spot, we need to beef it up before we put those birds outside. And now for the rest of the happenings....
Bees-
Yes, we're getting bees this year (or rather, LJ is getting bees this year). The hive is painted lemon lime and is sitting in the shop. The plastic inserts are in the house where shop-living mice can't gnaw away at the beeswax coating. We've cleared an area near the garden but away from any areas we want to clear this summer (don't think the bees would take too kindly to saws and the tractor running next to the hive). We leveled the area, and LJ seeded it in clover in the hopes that the clover will spread and help to choke out other weeds. He picks up his 3lbs of bees on Friday, so we need to get the hive set up this week.
Yucky Duckies-
Are growing like weeds. They are freaking huge at just 4 weeks old, and are out in the chicken tractor. We're planning some brooder musical chairs, hoping that the layer ducks can go outside before the Icky Chickies outgrow their brooder. The Icky Chickies will go in the big brooder when the laying ducks go outside. The guineas will go outside so the turkeys can go in their brooder. And, if all goes well, the Yucky Duckies will go to the processor just in time for the Icky Chickies to go into the chicken tractor. That's the plan, in any case. *fingers crossed*
Guineas-
Are also growing rapidly. They are scared to death of us, unless we're refilling their feeder, at which point they jump all over our hands to get to the food (which they mostly fling out of the feeder and onto the floor).
Laying ducks-
More quick growth! All 4 run away from us. Darkwing the runner is sweet and calm once caught, as is the Swedish female (I named her Olga, which LJ does NOT like). The white-ish runner is a spaz, and very vocal (still no name), as is the Swedish male (Sven… LJ doesn't like that name either. Lol). I hope the runners are both female, but we'll just have to wait and see. They were straight run, so we have no idea. I'm thinking at least one male, one female, given the difference in personality and vocalizations. Darkwing is rather quiet and raspy. The white-ish no-name is a freak and extremely noisy. Another we'll see situation, eh?
Pigs-
Are doing well, though one has a cough and we'll need to catch him and give him a shot. We've had to treat two others. Not fun trying to catch a 60 some-odd lb pig, sit on it, and jab a needle in its neck. Not fun at all. You wouldn't believe how loudly they scream. Not over the needle, but over being caught. Craziness! We don't like medicating, but neither do we want to have animals that are sick or unhappy. It's a line to walk. I've read blogs/stories of people that just let their critters die rather than call a vet or administer wormer or antibiotics… all in the name of "natural". The way we see it, that's cruel. Additionally, they're LIVESTOCK, not wild animals. The "natural" has been bred out of them over countless generations. True, some are a bit more hardy or disease resistant, but all the same, I don't get letting an animal suffer. If it doesn't fit your ideals, treat it and sell it so it doesn't "contaminate" your farm. Ok, ok, turning my rant off now. :0)
Geese-
I have 4 eggs in the incubator right now, and they seem to be doing well. My only concern is that the eggs have not lost enough weight. I've been trying to follow the incubation guide that a wonderful dude named Pete posted on the backyardchickens.com forum. The ideal is for the eggs to lose approx 13%, so the goslings aren't overloaded/overheated, and so they have the room they need to breathe and move in the egg. I've been doing a daily water spritz and 15 minute cool down for the last several days, which mimics momma goose's getting up/taking a swim/setting back on the eggs. We'll see how it goes. They are due to hatch next Tuesday or so. The goosey gals are still laying eggs. I checked the nest last night, and they had built up a nest of 27 eggs. One egg had broken on top of some of the others. I removed the broken egg and the ones that had been contaminated by the contents and threw them to the pigs (the pigs LOVED that). I stole the four freshest eggs (for another incubator run), removed the eggy straw, replaced the eggy straw with fresh, and replaced the good eggs in the nest. Baby Girl hollered at me from 3 feet away the whole time I was in there, and has since been on the nest. Perhaps my messing with her nest convinced her to get down to business? Hope so, because it would be great to have some naturally hatched goslings. Again, fingers crossed!
And, that's about it for the moment. Lots and lots going on, and dreaming of SUN. Right now it's a dream, but hopefully will return well before July this year!
Hope everyone is having a great week!
Behold an Icky Chicky, while it's still cute (the cute phase only lasts about a week).
Bees-
Yes, we're getting bees this year (or rather, LJ is getting bees this year). The hive is painted lemon lime and is sitting in the shop. The plastic inserts are in the house where shop-living mice can't gnaw away at the beeswax coating. We've cleared an area near the garden but away from any areas we want to clear this summer (don't think the bees would take too kindly to saws and the tractor running next to the hive). We leveled the area, and LJ seeded it in clover in the hopes that the clover will spread and help to choke out other weeds. He picks up his 3lbs of bees on Friday, so we need to get the hive set up this week.
Yucky Duckies-
Are growing like weeds. They are freaking huge at just 4 weeks old, and are out in the chicken tractor. We're planning some brooder musical chairs, hoping that the layer ducks can go outside before the Icky Chickies outgrow their brooder. The Icky Chickies will go in the big brooder when the laying ducks go outside. The guineas will go outside so the turkeys can go in their brooder. And, if all goes well, the Yucky Duckies will go to the processor just in time for the Icky Chickies to go into the chicken tractor. That's the plan, in any case. *fingers crossed*
Guineas-
Are also growing rapidly. They are scared to death of us, unless we're refilling their feeder, at which point they jump all over our hands to get to the food (which they mostly fling out of the feeder and onto the floor).
Laying ducks-
More quick growth! All 4 run away from us. Darkwing the runner is sweet and calm once caught, as is the Swedish female (I named her Olga, which LJ does NOT like). The white-ish runner is a spaz, and very vocal (still no name), as is the Swedish male (Sven… LJ doesn't like that name either. Lol). I hope the runners are both female, but we'll just have to wait and see. They were straight run, so we have no idea. I'm thinking at least one male, one female, given the difference in personality and vocalizations. Darkwing is rather quiet and raspy. The white-ish no-name is a freak and extremely noisy. Another we'll see situation, eh?
Pigs-
Are doing well, though one has a cough and we'll need to catch him and give him a shot. We've had to treat two others. Not fun trying to catch a 60 some-odd lb pig, sit on it, and jab a needle in its neck. Not fun at all. You wouldn't believe how loudly they scream. Not over the needle, but over being caught. Craziness! We don't like medicating, but neither do we want to have animals that are sick or unhappy. It's a line to walk. I've read blogs/stories of people that just let their critters die rather than call a vet or administer wormer or antibiotics… all in the name of "natural". The way we see it, that's cruel. Additionally, they're LIVESTOCK, not wild animals. The "natural" has been bred out of them over countless generations. True, some are a bit more hardy or disease resistant, but all the same, I don't get letting an animal suffer. If it doesn't fit your ideals, treat it and sell it so it doesn't "contaminate" your farm. Ok, ok, turning my rant off now. :0)
Geese-
I have 4 eggs in the incubator right now, and they seem to be doing well. My only concern is that the eggs have not lost enough weight. I've been trying to follow the incubation guide that a wonderful dude named Pete posted on the backyardchickens.com forum. The ideal is for the eggs to lose approx 13%, so the goslings aren't overloaded/overheated, and so they have the room they need to breathe and move in the egg. I've been doing a daily water spritz and 15 minute cool down for the last several days, which mimics momma goose's getting up/taking a swim/setting back on the eggs. We'll see how it goes. They are due to hatch next Tuesday or so. The goosey gals are still laying eggs. I checked the nest last night, and they had built up a nest of 27 eggs. One egg had broken on top of some of the others. I removed the broken egg and the ones that had been contaminated by the contents and threw them to the pigs (the pigs LOVED that). I stole the four freshest eggs (for another incubator run), removed the eggy straw, replaced the eggy straw with fresh, and replaced the good eggs in the nest. Baby Girl hollered at me from 3 feet away the whole time I was in there, and has since been on the nest. Perhaps my messing with her nest convinced her to get down to business? Hope so, because it would be great to have some naturally hatched goslings. Again, fingers crossed!
And, that's about it for the moment. Lots and lots going on, and dreaming of SUN. Right now it's a dream, but hopefully will return well before July this year!
Hope everyone is having a great week!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Grassy goodness
We opened up the rest of the pen to the pigs this weekend. They fell on the grass like ravening beasts. Mmmmm... Grassy goodness and happy piggles.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Ha! I touched one!
Little piggies let me touch them last night while they ate! All it took was 5 minutes of sitting really still, and a few sweet rolls... :)
I'll write more later in the week, but for now, we have 3 barrows (castrated males) and 2 gilts (young females). They were born on 12/28.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Pigs are here!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
It's piggy time!
Spotted an ad for weaner pigs today for $100 ea (pretty good deal at this time of year) and the pics on the ad look like the same barn we got our pigs from last year. I would love to get this year's weaners from the same guy, as last year's were lively, healthy, and grew out really well. Looks like he has durocs available this year, and if he's still got 4 or 5 this weekend, we may try that breed instead of yorkshires like we had last year. From what I've read, durocs grow fast, exhibit good feed conversion, and the meat shows excellent marbling.
In any case, hoping to get porkers this weekend. Probably gonna do one more year just for ourselves and our friend Jim, and then we'll probably be up for selling pork next year (and one day actually raise our own).
Happy Friday Eve everyone (that's apparently what the morning news is calling Thursday... Friday eve... Love it!)
In any case, hoping to get porkers this weekend. Probably gonna do one more year just for ourselves and our friend Jim, and then we'll probably be up for selling pork next year (and one day actually raise our own).
Happy Friday Eve everyone (that's apparently what the morning news is calling Thursday... Friday eve... Love it!)
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!
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!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Mmmm... Pork
Pork "shoulder" roast with potatoes... Mmmm. Problem is, when I unwrapped this roast to season it (butcher paper labeled "shoulder roast") there were 3 RIBS attached to the roast. Wth? Maybe I'm stupid, but I didn't know there were ribs in the shoulder? I had to cut cartilage and bones out of this, and then trim, roll, and tie the roast. Ugh. Just when I think I've calmed down about the way our local butcher mangled our pigs, I get fired up again. Can anyone explain to me how there would be rib bones in the shoulder? Regardless, considering that we wanted all our roasts to be boneless... Sigh. So, add boney shoulder roasts to bone-in loin roasts, no tenderloin, and all thick (no thin) cut bacon, and my brain is boiling. We're soooo going to have our hogs hauled down to Hubbard next year where we'll try Voget Meats. Though we may take some ground into the sucky butcher to have brats made... Their brats are excellent.
Anyhow, this roast was definitely delicious. I don't think we could ever go back to store-bought pork. We gave some friends a shoulder roast instead of a bottle of wine as a host gift when they threw a party a couple weeks back. For Christmas, they got a new smoker, and tried it out on the roast. Apparently the results were spectacular. So, they went out and bought another roast at the store to make the meal again. Well, our buddy called LJ to complain that the store bought roast was "crap". Lol. He said the store meat was extremely fatty, and mushy. We're pretty happy about that comment. Sorry that he got cruddy meat, but very happy that our pork came out so good, especially considering that the estimated live weights for the four pigs we raised were between 340-380 lbs. Big pigs, but lean, tasty, and the chops are HUGE! It may not be economical, as the pig's rate of growth slows as they get bigger (meaning more feed for less gain), but I think we'll grow them out past the recommended 225-250 mark again this year. Because when I want a chop, I want a CHOP. :)
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Off to butcher
The mobile slaughter guy came out to the house this morning. He was apparently really impressed with our pig pen (about 1/3 acre or so of woods) where they could root and frolic (yes, pigs really do frolic). He said it really showed in the pork, and that for such large pigs (Pretty sure they were well over 300lbs), they were tight and lean and not as fatty as he'd expect them to be at that size. Best part? He said that they were probably the best hogs he'd done all year! :) How cool is that?! Considering that this guy was booked nearly a month out when we called to make a slaughter appt. and was recommended by our butcher, I'm going to take that as a big fat compliment. Woohoo! Can't wait to get the meat back from the butcher!
I'll see what sort of pics LJ got, and try to post on the slaughter process this weekend.
Hope everyone's having a great week!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Mud bath!
Monday, June 27, 2011
His first crow, and it was pathetic
Yes, gimpy roo finally crowed. Long since over his limp, he's still a little slow. Yesterday, he finally crowed, and it was one of the most pathetic things I'd ever heard. But, at least he tried!
This morning, as I was feeding the geese and filling waters before work, I heard gimpy-roo practicing in the coop. All the ladies were out in the yard, enjoying the morning scratch, and gimpy was in the coop all by himself, singing his heart out. It was pretty bad, sort of like a rooster being throttled while trying to imitate a cat in heat. I laughed until I cried. After a few minutes of early morning serenade, our bossiest buff lady was fed up with gimpy's antics. She turned to face the coop and cackled at him loudly a couple times. When that didn't stop him, she left the yard at a run, and scrambled up the ramp and into the coop, cackling at the top of her voice. Next, I heard a crash and a couple outraged squawks, and miss bossy calmly hopped out of the coop and returned to her breakfast. A couple moments later, gimpy followed. Apparently, she'd informed him that enough was enough, and breakfast was on the ground. Poor gimpy...
Farm updates... Probably not going to be posting much over the next two weeks, as Mom is coming to visit, and we have a LOT to do before she gets here. So, quick updates, and I'll hopefully be able to squeeze a couple posts in later to explain more.
Birds- I finally made a new door to the coop and a new ramp, and hope to get a window installed next weekend.
We lost a turkey poult last week. Whatever killed it didn't eat it. The bite on its neck looked like it was from rodent incisors. My best guess is that a squirrel or something was raiding the food and lashed out at the poult when it investigated the trespasser. It was one of our two bronzes. :(
Goats- the goats stripped their pen in two weeks. We're hoping to get them moved to a new impenetrably thick brush zone this week. Nuts! Lyle will likely be rehomed, as he keeps jumping into the pig pen to steal food, and is pretty mean to the other goats (especially poor Snowy). We don't want to have to build a fortress every time we move the fencing, so Lyle needs to go.
Pigs- they still think they're goats. They've started pushing down saplings so they can strip the leaves off. I swear they learned it from the goats. Good pigs.
That's about it for the moment. Hope everyone has a fabulous week!
This morning, as I was feeding the geese and filling waters before work, I heard gimpy-roo practicing in the coop. All the ladies were out in the yard, enjoying the morning scratch, and gimpy was in the coop all by himself, singing his heart out. It was pretty bad, sort of like a rooster being throttled while trying to imitate a cat in heat. I laughed until I cried. After a few minutes of early morning serenade, our bossiest buff lady was fed up with gimpy's antics. She turned to face the coop and cackled at him loudly a couple times. When that didn't stop him, she left the yard at a run, and scrambled up the ramp and into the coop, cackling at the top of her voice. Next, I heard a crash and a couple outraged squawks, and miss bossy calmly hopped out of the coop and returned to her breakfast. A couple moments later, gimpy followed. Apparently, she'd informed him that enough was enough, and breakfast was on the ground. Poor gimpy...
Farm updates... Probably not going to be posting much over the next two weeks, as Mom is coming to visit, and we have a LOT to do before she gets here. So, quick updates, and I'll hopefully be able to squeeze a couple posts in later to explain more.
Birds- I finally made a new door to the coop and a new ramp, and hope to get a window installed next weekend.
We lost a turkey poult last week. Whatever killed it didn't eat it. The bite on its neck looked like it was from rodent incisors. My best guess is that a squirrel or something was raiding the food and lashed out at the poult when it investigated the trespasser. It was one of our two bronzes. :(
Goats- the goats stripped their pen in two weeks. We're hoping to get them moved to a new impenetrably thick brush zone this week. Nuts! Lyle will likely be rehomed, as he keeps jumping into the pig pen to steal food, and is pretty mean to the other goats (especially poor Snowy). We don't want to have to build a fortress every time we move the fencing, so Lyle needs to go.
Pigs- they still think they're goats. They've started pushing down saplings so they can strip the leaves off. I swear they learned it from the goats. Good pigs.
That's about it for the moment. Hope everyone has a fabulous week!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Rainy weekend, critter updates, babydoll sheep
What a crummy weekend, weather-wise! We made the most of it, but what I would give for some flippin sunshine!
Saturday morning we went shopping. Work clothes, critter food, and other supplies. We even managed a quick stop at the gun shop where I drooled over various shotguns and a s&w 642 airweight. Drooooool... I did my best to not actually drool ON them, but it was a close thing. :)
We got a shelter up for the goats, and they're actually using it. (just a tarp suspended between trees with straw underneath, but it works for summer).
The pigs think that they are goats. We've been chopping down branches and saplings for the goats, and we threw one in the pig pen just for the heck of it. Holy cow. The pigs went nuts. Spinning, squealing, headbutting, piggle antics. They stripped the branch of leaves, and enjoyed every last moment of it. I even saw Spot gingerly pulling leaves off of a blackberry vine and eating them. WTH? Yeah, they eat new shoots and root up the root balls, but tree and blackberry leaves? I could swear the pigs learned this behavior from the goats, with whom they share a fence. Especially since they just started this within a week of getting their new neighbors. Weird...
The turkeys are finally outside, since it is supposed to get pretty warm this week, and they would have overheated in the shop. We clipped their wings, and put them out in their new pen yesterday before going to a Father's Day BBQ. When we got home after dark, we checked on them and found that they had eaten quite a bit from their new feeder (a PVC feeder like we made for the chickens), and they had drank quite a bit of water from their nipple waterer. Score! We did have to go out and move the sleepy little birds under their shelter, but they seem to be doing just fine otherwise. Sure are funny birds, and they have so many different calls. It is fun getting them to talk back to you. :)
For Father's Day, we went to LJ's step-sister's place for a BBQ. We had a great time, good food, and lots of play time with their three dogs. And then we got to go see their 3 babydoll sheep... OhmygodIwantalittlebrownewokbabydollsheep! Her little black sheep, sun faded to orangy brown was the cutest thing I've ever seen. I, no joke, had a 5 minute giggle fit over his little chunky monkey ewok-like face. If only we had pasture, I would get a whole mess of them. Holy cow, they were CUTE!
Anyhoo, LJ is on a short time schedule change, and we'll probably be too busy for me to get on much over the next few days. I'll try to get some more pics up soon (turkeys maybe?) but no promises. Hope everyone has a great week!
Saturday morning we went shopping. Work clothes, critter food, and other supplies. We even managed a quick stop at the gun shop where I drooled over various shotguns and a s&w 642 airweight. Drooooool... I did my best to not actually drool ON them, but it was a close thing. :)
We got a shelter up for the goats, and they're actually using it. (just a tarp suspended between trees with straw underneath, but it works for summer).
The pigs think that they are goats. We've been chopping down branches and saplings for the goats, and we threw one in the pig pen just for the heck of it. Holy cow. The pigs went nuts. Spinning, squealing, headbutting, piggle antics. They stripped the branch of leaves, and enjoyed every last moment of it. I even saw Spot gingerly pulling leaves off of a blackberry vine and eating them. WTH? Yeah, they eat new shoots and root up the root balls, but tree and blackberry leaves? I could swear the pigs learned this behavior from the goats, with whom they share a fence. Especially since they just started this within a week of getting their new neighbors. Weird...
The turkeys are finally outside, since it is supposed to get pretty warm this week, and they would have overheated in the shop. We clipped their wings, and put them out in their new pen yesterday before going to a Father's Day BBQ. When we got home after dark, we checked on them and found that they had eaten quite a bit from their new feeder (a PVC feeder like we made for the chickens), and they had drank quite a bit of water from their nipple waterer. Score! We did have to go out and move the sleepy little birds under their shelter, but they seem to be doing just fine otherwise. Sure are funny birds, and they have so many different calls. It is fun getting them to talk back to you. :)
For Father's Day, we went to LJ's step-sister's place for a BBQ. We had a great time, good food, and lots of play time with their three dogs. And then we got to go see their 3 babydoll sheep... OhmygodIwantalittlebrownewokbabydollsheep! Her little black sheep, sun faded to orangy brown was the cutest thing I've ever seen. I, no joke, had a 5 minute giggle fit over his little chunky monkey ewok-like face. If only we had pasture, I would get a whole mess of them. Holy cow, they were CUTE!
Anyhoo, LJ is on a short time schedule change, and we'll probably be too busy for me to get on much over the next few days. I'll try to get some more pics up soon (turkeys maybe?) but no promises. Hope everyone has a great week!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Garden, berries, and sunshine
We got so much done last weekend, I wish I had another long weekend. Especially this one, as I woke to a pale blue sky stretching from horizon to horizon. Beautiful.
Garden- Tomatoes, basil, and cukes are in the ground, finally. I have more basil to plant, but it's nice to have so much out of the way. LJ also got some corn planted, and it may just have a chance. I can't remember the name of the variety, but it has a lower germination temp than most, and a much shorter length of time til harvest. Maybe this weekend we'll be able to get the peppers in the ground, with expected high temps tomorrow to give them a little boost. I'm also planning on getting my beans planted, at least this first round. They've been sprouting between damp paper towels in the cupboard for about a week, and are ready for some soil before their roots start latching onto the paper.
Onion sets are well on their way!
Berries- Awhile back, I wrote about a vendor of mine that had been pushed out of his job by a company he'd worked at for over 20 years. Well, he got snatched up by a competitor, and is now my vendor again! On Monday, LJ and I went over to his house, invited to help thin out his raspberry and strawberry patches. Woohoo! We came home with around 10 raspberries, and many more strawberries. He and his wife have been doing a lot of landscaping lately, and he also sent me home with a handful of big black plastic nursery pots. Score! Now I can repot the itty bitty baby apple trees I bought at the garden fair in May. We planted the raspberries in the rain when we got home. They were droopy for a couple days, but soon perked up. For the strawberries, we needed to pull a stump that was on top of a little rise in the driveway. LJ dug most of the dirt out from around the stump, and yanked it out with the tractor. After smoothing out the top, we planted the 4 currants (2 black, 1 red, 1 white) and a ton of strawberries around them. It was really the only area we had to put the strawberries, as the only other place is around the house, which is a serious slug zone. I hope they do alright. If not, I suppose we'll try again somewhere else.
Not pretty, but at least they're in the ground.
The meat chicks are growing rapidly, and they really do creep me out a bit. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics yet. The turkeys are doing well, but are nuts, and cleaning out their brooder is always a challenge. They are very good at escaping, and can fly a bit already. The Royal Palm is especially tricksy. Hope to get pics up of them soon.
Piggles and bits... The pigs are getting huge. We got a weigh tape to try and estimate their weights. If we did it correctly, they're about 140 lbs. Nuts! They sure are fun to have around the farm. Very photogenic, too!
Rest of the weekend... We split and stacked around 1/3 cord of alder. A buddy of mine at work snagged me some really nice pallets, so we were able to get the wood stacked off the ground. Now, I just need to pull out all the wood that's seasoned for this winter, level the ground on the other side of the shed, and restack it all. Ugh. Very good exercise, at least. And, we'll have nice dry wood this winter. Excellent.
And that's about all for now. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!
Garden- Tomatoes, basil, and cukes are in the ground, finally. I have more basil to plant, but it's nice to have so much out of the way. LJ also got some corn planted, and it may just have a chance. I can't remember the name of the variety, but it has a lower germination temp than most, and a much shorter length of time til harvest. Maybe this weekend we'll be able to get the peppers in the ground, with expected high temps tomorrow to give them a little boost. I'm also planning on getting my beans planted, at least this first round. They've been sprouting between damp paper towels in the cupboard for about a week, and are ready for some soil before their roots start latching onto the paper.
Onion sets are well on their way!
Berries- Awhile back, I wrote about a vendor of mine that had been pushed out of his job by a company he'd worked at for over 20 years. Well, he got snatched up by a competitor, and is now my vendor again! On Monday, LJ and I went over to his house, invited to help thin out his raspberry and strawberry patches. Woohoo! We came home with around 10 raspberries, and many more strawberries. He and his wife have been doing a lot of landscaping lately, and he also sent me home with a handful of big black plastic nursery pots. Score! Now I can repot the itty bitty baby apple trees I bought at the garden fair in May. We planted the raspberries in the rain when we got home. They were droopy for a couple days, but soon perked up. For the strawberries, we needed to pull a stump that was on top of a little rise in the driveway. LJ dug most of the dirt out from around the stump, and yanked it out with the tractor. After smoothing out the top, we planted the 4 currants (2 black, 1 red, 1 white) and a ton of strawberries around them. It was really the only area we had to put the strawberries, as the only other place is around the house, which is a serious slug zone. I hope they do alright. If not, I suppose we'll try again somewhere else.
Not pretty, but at least they're in the ground.
The meat chicks are growing rapidly, and they really do creep me out a bit. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics yet. The turkeys are doing well, but are nuts, and cleaning out their brooder is always a challenge. They are very good at escaping, and can fly a bit already. The Royal Palm is especially tricksy. Hope to get pics up of them soon.
Piggles and bits... The pigs are getting huge. We got a weigh tape to try and estimate their weights. If we did it correctly, they're about 140 lbs. Nuts! They sure are fun to have around the farm. Very photogenic, too!
Rest of the weekend... We split and stacked around 1/3 cord of alder. A buddy of mine at work snagged me some really nice pallets, so we were able to get the wood stacked off the ground. Now, I just need to pull out all the wood that's seasoned for this winter, level the ground on the other side of the shed, and restack it all. Ugh. Very good exercise, at least. And, we'll have nice dry wood this winter. Excellent.
And that's about all for now. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Mmmm... Sod
In order to plant most of our fruit trees, we had to cut out a circle of sod. As it turns out, piggies think sod is extra tasty. Sod is a mix of 3 of their favorite things... grassy goodness, tasty roots, and wormy dirt. Piggy paradise!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Woodsy pigs
Pigs really DO leap over logs! :) I snuck out to their pen to try and get some pics of them out under the trees, and couldn't find them. I happened to step on a branch, causing a very loud cracking sound, and they came boiling out of the woods. This log is a little taller than my knee. There's plenty of room to go around, but they apparently think this is the very best route to the front of the pen.
They're right at home in the trees, and have made many many paths through the brambles.
After all that hard work, they definitely deserve a nap. This particular pic is a couple weeks old, but it's just about the only time I've been able to see where they're resting!
They're right at home in the trees, and have made many many paths through the brambles.
I like to see dirty noses on our pigs. Means they've been working away out there!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Goslings growing, piggy injury, springtime fun
Not too much going on lately, so not much to post.
Arnold turned up limping a couple days ago. He wouldn't put weight on one hind leg unless he absolutely had to. He was eating well, and we couldn't see any obvious sign of injury, so we gave it a day to see if it improved. Luckily, he was better the next day, and is just fine now. Must've just pulled something trying to leap over a log. :)
The pigs have rooted through the woods to the back of their pen, and many places in between. They're doing a great job of clearing the area out, and must be eating the baby blackberries, as I haven't seen masses of them in the pen (they are nearly everywhere else on the property).
The goslings are growing nearly as fast as the blackberries. They are almost fully feathered now, and getting a bit heavy to lug outside every afternoon for their grazing time. We are going to try and get a fence up around the yard this weekend, so they can start spending most of their time outside. Their oil glands are up and running, but they haven't yet preened themselves all nice and water resistant yet. Still end up totally waterlogged. They've been bathing in a tub every day when we take them out. Afro absolutely loves the water, and totally hogs the tub. She has a mohawk Afro now, as her cheek and most of her neck feathers have come in, except for the top of her head and down the back of her neck. It's pretty funny. The goose babies will soon be spending all their time outside. Sweet Boy has proven that he is willing to protect his girls. He lets them know when he sees a hawk, and even went after the cat (hissing at her). Skid appears to be appropriately afraid of the crazy feathered monsters. :)
Everything is finally starting to bloom. There appears to be some sort of cherry tree in the back yard. Go figure. I guess we'll see if it fruits. My columnar apples are just about to bloom. Hoping to get fruit off of both of them this year. The poor old apple tree in the backyard seems to be doing well. We liberated it last fall from the blackberries that were engulfing it, and cut back the trees that were around it so it would get some sun. Poor thing was covered in moss, had very few leaves, and desperately needed a heavy pruning.
Now, freestanding in the sunshine, pruned, it is covered in leaves and getting ready to blossom. We only saw one little lonely fruit at the top of the tree last fall. Perhaps it will do better this year. :)
Heading to the garden show tomorrow with KT and Paula. Should be lots of fun, and I'm probably going to spend waaaaaay to much. That's alright, though. Not like we don't have the room for more plants!
I'm spending the last bit of my day helping out another department, answering phones. Answering phones, staring out the window, and reading blog posts. Not the worst way to end the week. Not the best, but it'll do. Happy Friday!
Arnold turned up limping a couple days ago. He wouldn't put weight on one hind leg unless he absolutely had to. He was eating well, and we couldn't see any obvious sign of injury, so we gave it a day to see if it improved. Luckily, he was better the next day, and is just fine now. Must've just pulled something trying to leap over a log. :)
The pigs have rooted through the woods to the back of their pen, and many places in between. They're doing a great job of clearing the area out, and must be eating the baby blackberries, as I haven't seen masses of them in the pen (they are nearly everywhere else on the property).
The goslings are growing nearly as fast as the blackberries. They are almost fully feathered now, and getting a bit heavy to lug outside every afternoon for their grazing time. We are going to try and get a fence up around the yard this weekend, so they can start spending most of their time outside. Their oil glands are up and running, but they haven't yet preened themselves all nice and water resistant yet. Still end up totally waterlogged. They've been bathing in a tub every day when we take them out. Afro absolutely loves the water, and totally hogs the tub. She has a mohawk Afro now, as her cheek and most of her neck feathers have come in, except for the top of her head and down the back of her neck. It's pretty funny. The goose babies will soon be spending all their time outside. Sweet Boy has proven that he is willing to protect his girls. He lets them know when he sees a hawk, and even went after the cat (hissing at her). Skid appears to be appropriately afraid of the crazy feathered monsters. :)
Everything is finally starting to bloom. There appears to be some sort of cherry tree in the back yard. Go figure. I guess we'll see if it fruits. My columnar apples are just about to bloom. Hoping to get fruit off of both of them this year. The poor old apple tree in the backyard seems to be doing well. We liberated it last fall from the blackberries that were engulfing it, and cut back the trees that were around it so it would get some sun. Poor thing was covered in moss, had very few leaves, and desperately needed a heavy pruning.
Now, freestanding in the sunshine, pruned, it is covered in leaves and getting ready to blossom. We only saw one little lonely fruit at the top of the tree last fall. Perhaps it will do better this year. :)
Heading to the garden show tomorrow with KT and Paula. Should be lots of fun, and I'm probably going to spend waaaaaay to much. That's alright, though. Not like we don't have the room for more plants!
I'm spending the last bit of my day helping out another department, answering phones. Answering phones, staring out the window, and reading blog posts. Not the worst way to end the week. Not the best, but it'll do. Happy Friday!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Roughing it
The pigs have officially given up the pig hut. They don't need no stinkin pig hut. They're rough and tough farm pigs, as opposed to those namby pamby lazy pigs that live in a barn. Nope, these pigs are wild hogs, rooting through the underbrush, leaping over logs (ok, they don't really leap, but they try) and braving the vicious chipmunks. Brave brave pigs. Good pigs. They've made themselves a nice hollow against a rotten log under the cedars. They stayed relatively dry and cozy through the rain and hailstorms yesterday. Smart pigs. Wild pigs. Not too wild, though, to follow me around or take pear slices from my hand. Piggies looooove pear slices. :)
Happy Friday!
Happy Friday!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Encouraging the pigs to roam
So. Stupid pigs are on somewhere around 1/3 of an acre. We figured a nice big pen instead of a little muddy pen was better. Well, piggies prefer to hang out around their hut, thrashing the ground into pig poop slurry. So, we started moving their food tubs farther away every time we fed them. Helped a bit. Finally, we started locking them out of their house during the day. Helped a LOT! They have a huge pen full of trees and logs and ferns and good forest duff. No reason to be huddled like little scaredy cats in the pig hut. We made a little more progress when we started chopping up pears and apples and chucking them in the bushes. Still, they weren't quite exploring like we had envisioned. And suddenly, brilliant idea. LJ : "Bet those pigs would like molasses." Me: "Pretty sure I saw a jug of molasses when I reorganized the pantry this morning..." Score!
So, jug of molasses in hand, I tramped through the woods, dribbling stinky sugary goodness along my trail. Oooooooh buddy! Piggies LOVE molasses. :)
The pigs spent all day yesterday tromping through the woods, rooting away. They munched on blackberry and other roots, and seemed to have found a few squirrel stashes. At first I thought they were chewing on rocks. Nope, hazelnuts (and maybe some rocks). They made a couple different beds out under the trees, and even after we opened their hut back up, remained out in the brambles and ferns.
Spot, the runt that freaked out and screamed if a human came anywhere near him, is now the most friendly of the bunch. He will take pear slices from my hand, and leads the pack running in when we call "hey pigpig!" (aka, come eat). Progress is definitely being made, both at taming the crazy pigs, and at turning them into efficient rototillers. Woohoo!
Goslings are a month old, and getting huge. The two large Toulouse (Sweet Boy and Sweet Girl) have their breast feathers, tail feathers, shoulders, and their wing quills are starting to feather. Little Girl and Afro are a bit behind. We can't wait until Afro gets her head feathers, so we can see if she has an afro with adult feathers as well as baby fluff. Afro was the suicidal girl (aka Stupid) and is very sweet (to people). She's the only one that doesn't squawk and thrash when I pick her up. She's a terror when it comes to the other geese, but only when they're in the tub. Pulling out feathers, mostly. Soooo, the babies spent most of the day yesterday outside. If they saw us walk by, they'd shriek and try to follow us, but after about 5 min would calm and start grazing.
This post is getting a bit long. I leave you with a pic of Sweet Boy and Baby Girl (aka Micro, Little Girl, Runty). Happy Monday!
So, jug of molasses in hand, I tramped through the woods, dribbling stinky sugary goodness along my trail. Oooooooh buddy! Piggies LOVE molasses. :)
The pigs spent all day yesterday tromping through the woods, rooting away. They munched on blackberry and other roots, and seemed to have found a few squirrel stashes. At first I thought they were chewing on rocks. Nope, hazelnuts (and maybe some rocks). They made a couple different beds out under the trees, and even after we opened their hut back up, remained out in the brambles and ferns.
Spot, the runt that freaked out and screamed if a human came anywhere near him, is now the most friendly of the bunch. He will take pear slices from my hand, and leads the pack running in when we call "hey pigpig!" (aka, come eat). Progress is definitely being made, both at taming the crazy pigs, and at turning them into efficient rototillers. Woohoo!
Goslings are a month old, and getting huge. The two large Toulouse (Sweet Boy and Sweet Girl) have their breast feathers, tail feathers, shoulders, and their wing quills are starting to feather. Little Girl and Afro are a bit behind. We can't wait until Afro gets her head feathers, so we can see if she has an afro with adult feathers as well as baby fluff. Afro was the suicidal girl (aka Stupid) and is very sweet (to people). She's the only one that doesn't squawk and thrash when I pick her up. She's a terror when it comes to the other geese, but only when they're in the tub. Pulling out feathers, mostly. Soooo, the babies spent most of the day yesterday outside. If they saw us walk by, they'd shriek and try to follow us, but after about 5 min would calm and start grazing.
This post is getting a bit long. I leave you with a pic of Sweet Boy and Baby Girl (aka Micro, Little Girl, Runty). Happy Monday!
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