Thanksgiving Weekend

Left to Right:  Baby Daddy (boar), 4 piglets (all sisters), Big Momma (pregnant Sow)

Cris and I both took the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off to get some extra farm work done.  I gave the house a much needed dusting and think I am finally getting a handle on the farm dust...but, don't get me started on the mud.  Three days of rain makes for some major mud.  We really need a sidewalk and driveway that goes to the carport that has not been built yet.  It's on the list.  For now I put plastic grocery bags on my shoes to get to the car when it's too muddy out.

Alex was here for Thanksgiving and he enjoyed playing with the dogs, cows and the newest addition to our farm....the pigs.  We welcomed a pregnant sow (this will be her 2nd litter of pigs), a boar (he is NOT the father of the upcoming pigs) and 4 female piglets (all sisters but not related to the boar or sow).  The boar will be able to breed with all the females and any female pigs born to the sow since he is not related to any of them.  We set up an area in the main fenced field for the pigs.  The boar and sow came off the truck just fine and settled in to their pen.  The piglets were terrified and took off in 4 different directions....right under the electric fence.  Thanks to the efforts of 3 dogs, 4 humans and a utility vehicle, we eventually rounded them all up and put them in the 10x10 dog kennel for a few days to get used to the area.  Teddy the Wheaten Terrier was great at rounding up the pigs when they ran off and he was able to get three of them to stay put long enough for us to grab them.  Unfortunately, Nugget, the labradoodle is not a fan of the piglets and we had an incident two days ago when Nugget got into the dog pen and went after the piglets.  He had a hold of one by the neck and was shaking it.  Piglets scream something awful too.  We have a shock collar on Nugget now and Cris had to shock him a few times on the highest power to finally get him off the pig.  Two of the piglets ran out of the dog pen and went straight for the sow and boar in their pen....so we put some medicine on the bite marks on the hurt pig and then put the remaining two in with the big pigs. That is where they are now and seem happy to be there.  We added a very low electric line to keep them in the pen and they have already learned to respect the fencing.  They are really so cute.  The sow is expected to delivery the first of January which means Cris may have to come home early from Maryland in December but we will play that by ear.  Cris made a 'farrowing pen' for momma pig .... he wants to paint a stork on it with a piglet in the handkerchief.

The cows are doing great and we are able to pet Harriet and Zinnia now as well of Hyacinth.  We move them to a new field about every third day and the pigs get moved about every 3-4th day too.  When we get chickens they will follow the pigs and cows.  They will scatter the manure and eat all the bugs.  It is so nice to be able to use our food scraps to supplement the pigs food. Nothing goes to waste around here...if they pigs can't eat it, then the worms do.  

We are still working on the fence...that will be a long term process.  We want to fence in the perimeter of the pond next so we can put the pigs in there to dig up the area we want to clear and also, pigs love, love, love acorns and there are plenty to be found in the woods.

Our friend, Larry came over last Sunday to hunt.  He got here around 6am, got settled in around 6:30am and shot a buck around 7am!  I watched his friend field dress the deer and I want to try and do it myself the next time Larry comes out and gets a deer or if Cris gets one.  It wasn't as gross as I thought it would be.

Cris scared me today and he got a stern talking to about ATV safety.  Daisy had walked down towards our neighbors house while we were installing t-posts.  I went down on the UTV to call her back and Cris came down on my Polaris ATV.  We found her and Cris went a little too fast on the gravel road..... tried a sharp turn and the ATV went up on it's side and flipped over.  He landed in a ditch with the ATV over him.... if his body had not landed in the ditch, things would be different.....as it was, he was fine.  I screamed his name a couple times as I was running towards him down the road (I could not see him, all I could see was the ATV) and he did not answer.  Then he finally grumbled.... "I'm OK"..... He told me later he was giving himself a 10-point diagnostic check (checking for broken bones etc...) and that is why he did not answer me right away.

The hoop house has an abundance of lettuce and the radishes are huge!  The squash plants are large but the buds are slow to grow.  The herbs are fantastic as well.  We harvested some cilantro, dill and parsley for our neighbor.  The herbs were beautiful.  So green and fresh looking.



Last Saturday we went to our friend's house for their family's yearly stew cooking event.  They take a large black kettle (think witch's brew type kettle) and start cooking the stew over an open fire in the morning.  By lunchtime it's ready and it was delicious.  We met their very large family and everyone was so welcoming.  We all had a bowl or two of the stew and the kettle was still very full.  Each year that they make this, they divide the stew up and each family takes some home to freeze.  It was a very nice day.

Next week is our monthly meeting with friends at the dairy in Middleton.  It's our Christmas meeting and I've been trying to decide what little gift to take to everyone that reflects the 'sustainable living' lifestyle.  I think we are going to bring everyone some of our fresh cut herbs.

Rain is in the forecast the remainder of this weekend so I think we are going to work in the barn and go through the many boxes we have brought from the Memphis house.....decide what to keep, what to burn (some of Cris' paperbacks got wet and have mildew), what to recycle (or donate) and what is just plain trash.