When we moved here to the farm, we had only two horses and one goat, and what seemed to be a huge pasture. When we lost Sailor, our first pony gelding, we bought two Belgian mares, Bella & Blondie, to keep Tori company. We still seemed to have tons of pasture. We even considered cutting & bailing it for winter.
Over the next year we added Goliath, a Belgian gelding, Rita, a saddlebred mare, Trigger, a pony gelding, and Money, a Canadian mare to our herd. Last summer we had some grass issues. Our poor babies didn't seem to be getting enough to eat. The grass wasn't growing fast enough, and they had it cropped off right at the ground. In spots.
In other spots- hmmm. The grass seemed to be quite long. Except that they weren't touching it. There were a lot of buttercups growing on one side of the pasture, and I allowed myself to think that they were the cause of this phenomenon. That buttercups must be bitter tasting plants to horses.
Last year we strung electric fence up around the yard- why cut the grass when I had hungry horses eager to mow it for me? Then more electric fence around the far side of the house to the woods, and around the garden. When they ate all of that up eagerly, and the pasture grass still seemed so short, more electric fence was strung out back in the first clearing. Despite all of this, those spots remained that they would not eat, and they continued to look at me with pleading eyes, saying that they were oh so hungry. We allowed them to talk us into feeding them baled hay long before winter.
This year our herd consists of Tori, Bella, Blondie, Goliath, Rita, and two new arrivals, Sugar, another thoroughbred cross mare, and Thunder, a pony stallion. We lost Trigger last winter, and sold Money this spring, so our numbers remain the same.
The area where we stored hay last winter had bad fencing, and our horses pretty much helped themselves all winter. Our cow Dori also wandered off early in the spring, so we knew we had fence repairs to do. My dad used to be a cowboy- he worked on a cattle ranch in BC many years ago, and we were lucky to have him here to teach us how to repair the fences. We started with the damaged main fence where the cow got loose. Then we fenced in the hay storage area.
After a couple of weeks the grass in the hay storage area was up to nearly a foot high. Wow. We put fence posts in around the yard and strung barbed wire, replacing last year's electric fence. The horses are still mowing the lawn twice a week. But we're still having the same issues as last year with the buttercups versus the cropped off right at the ground sections. Except it's worse. The cropped off sections have bare patches of dirt throughout them. I talked to my dad about it, and he said, of course, they like it that way. Did you know that horses and cattle prefer the sweet grass- the short, new, fresh grass? Did you know that they will keep munching on that grass, not letting it grow back, until they kill it? There's really nothing wrong with the buttercup section- it's just not as sweet as the cropped off section. And as long as they can reach the cropped off section, they won't eat the buttercup section.
The main pasture area had two lines of old fence posts, but no fencing. Some of the posts were broken off, and others need to be replaced. We've managed to fence off the majority of the cropped off section now. Replaced most of the old posts, and strung two strands of barbed wire across. It still needs a third, but that's where I ran out of barbed wire. Now waiting for TSC to get more barbed wire back in stock.
We're also planning to add another fence line across the front of the buttercup section. That will give us three main pasture areas, plus the hay storage area. Now we have to keep track of how long it takes each section to recuperate, and add additional pasture areas as needed. My plan is to eventually fence off the pasture side of the trail through our property. That will give them an additional 20 acres or so, although a lot of that area is wooded. We also have two large clearings on the other side of the trail, that might become pasture as well. And I want to replace the electric fence around the garden with barbed wire as well.
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Farm life in Northern Ontario. Farm Life in Northern Ontario.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Pig is in the Freezer
After I wrote that glowing post about pig staying put and working so well in the garden, she decided to be a pain in my ass. Got to remember not to let critters read over my shoulder or something. She stopped digging in the garden, and started escaping. At first it was every three or four days. Then every other day. Then it seemed like a nightly routine. We'd feed & water her at night, and find her curled up in the flower bed in the morning. Then last week she started escaping about 20 minutes after we put her back in her pen. Enough.
We shot her yesterday, or rather, hubby shot her yesterday. Gutted, skinned & hung her in the garage over night. Normally we'd hang our meat for 7-10 days, but the weather is not agreeable to that at this time of year, so this morning we butchered her and put her in the freezer.
We figured the total cost of Pig was $105 (purchase price) + $38 (feed) = $143
We got the following meals packaged & in the freezer.
8 stew (which is actually 2-3 days worth of meat. I plan for leftovers)
14 chops
2 ribs
8 roasts
1 tenderloin
19 doggy stew ( I kept the leg & roast bones, leaving some meat attached, as well as the liver)
Lard is still rendering on the stove.
The chickens also feasted on all of the innards, saving us a couple of days feed there.
By grocery store prices, we figure we got close to $400 worth of pork, plus animal feed & lard. An excellent return on our investment.
And a little side note- both Waldo & Wonder took the gun shots like pros. They're going to be great hunting dogs.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
No Vegetation Challenge: May Wrap Up
Things started off slowly, with a bit of whining from the kids. They aren't pleased to be missing their apples. They seem to understand the point of the challenge though, which is half the battle.
They baked 4 loaves of banana bread & four loaves of rhubarb bread. Fruit breads used to be their basic breakfast, but somewhere along the line we fell out of the habit, and fruit breads became more of a treat. It's good to see them coming back. I don't actually do much baking these days. I supervise, wash dishes, help with new recipes, etc. The kids do most of the ingredient gathering, measuring & mixing. We're down to 7 bags of frozen rhubarb now, with fresh rhubarb almost ready to pick, and half a laundry basket of frozen bananas.
They've been adding blueberry & raspberry sauces to ice cream. They've had blueberry smoothies with a batch of very watery home made yogurt.
We finished off the last bag of corn in the freezer. We have a bag and a half of green beans left. We had a couple of good stews, using some of our frozen turnip, the last of the brussel sprouts, and a bit of frozen cabbage.
Grandpa picked us some wild leeks. We've been looking for them in our woods, but haven't found any yet.
Twice we attempted dandelion greens, but didn't get to eat them. The first time I left them soaking in a bowl of water and forgot about them. The next day they seemed slimey, so I tossed them. The second time #2 was cleaning the dandelions, and left a large root attached. I didn't notice until I started serving. Yuck. Want some sand with that? We did make two batches of doggie stew with dandelions as the base for vegetation. I don't worry about cleaning them as thoroughly for the dogs.
Dandelion buds have been on the table at least twice a week. I think they're a winner. They're easy to pick, easy to clean. It's easy to throw a handful into soups, stews, and casseroles. No one really even notices them. I fried some in butter last night with mushrooms and garlic. Very yummy, but a little soggy. Next time I'll leave them out until the mushrooms are closer to being done. I've also got half an ice cream bucket put in the freezer for next winter.
Hubby bought his own green onions for steak one night. He couldn't live without them, and I just planted ours. The kids are still eating carrots. Can't really stop them when they're in the house. Of all the things to complain about, my kids are eating carrots! lol.
Asparagus is just starting to sprout, and as soon as the rain clears, we'll be out to harvest some cattails, which are supposed to be a lot like cucumber or asparagus. We'll see.
All in all, I think May went fairly well.
They baked 4 loaves of banana bread & four loaves of rhubarb bread. Fruit breads used to be their basic breakfast, but somewhere along the line we fell out of the habit, and fruit breads became more of a treat. It's good to see them coming back. I don't actually do much baking these days. I supervise, wash dishes, help with new recipes, etc. The kids do most of the ingredient gathering, measuring & mixing. We're down to 7 bags of frozen rhubarb now, with fresh rhubarb almost ready to pick, and half a laundry basket of frozen bananas.
They've been adding blueberry & raspberry sauces to ice cream. They've had blueberry smoothies with a batch of very watery home made yogurt.
We finished off the last bag of corn in the freezer. We have a bag and a half of green beans left. We had a couple of good stews, using some of our frozen turnip, the last of the brussel sprouts, and a bit of frozen cabbage.
Grandpa picked us some wild leeks. We've been looking for them in our woods, but haven't found any yet.
Twice we attempted dandelion greens, but didn't get to eat them. The first time I left them soaking in a bowl of water and forgot about them. The next day they seemed slimey, so I tossed them. The second time #2 was cleaning the dandelions, and left a large root attached. I didn't notice until I started serving. Yuck. Want some sand with that? We did make two batches of doggie stew with dandelions as the base for vegetation. I don't worry about cleaning them as thoroughly for the dogs.
Dandelion buds have been on the table at least twice a week. I think they're a winner. They're easy to pick, easy to clean. It's easy to throw a handful into soups, stews, and casseroles. No one really even notices them. I fried some in butter last night with mushrooms and garlic. Very yummy, but a little soggy. Next time I'll leave them out until the mushrooms are closer to being done. I've also got half an ice cream bucket put in the freezer for next winter.
Hubby bought his own green onions for steak one night. He couldn't live without them, and I just planted ours. The kids are still eating carrots. Can't really stop them when they're in the house. Of all the things to complain about, my kids are eating carrots! lol.
Asparagus is just starting to sprout, and as soon as the rain clears, we'll be out to harvest some cattails, which are supposed to be a lot like cucumber or asparagus. We'll see.
All in all, I think May went fairly well.
No Vegetation: The Challenge
It's been 2 1/2 years since we moved here to the north land, and while I've diligently foraged, picked, frozen and canned, we still haven't quite adjusted our diets to the fact that we no longer have an apple tree.
I love apples. The kids love apples. Even hubby eats an occasional apple. Living down south, we had two well producing apple trees on our property, as well as three trees available at my parents, and an abundance of cheap apples available locally through out the fall. By now we should be missing our apples terribly. But we're not. We don't miss them at all. Why? Because I fell into this habit of buying apples. Not once in a while in season apples. No. That would be a treat. No. I started buying apples EVERY week. On average, 6 pounds of apples a week, but when on sale, as much as 20 pounds a week.
I know we should eat local. Fresher, more nutritious, fewer food miles, less oil used for production, storage and transportation, cheaper, sometimes free... I grow and preserve what I can. I forage in the woods. I make my family eat weeds. And yet, here we are in our second spring with a cold room still mostly full of blueberries & raspberries, and rhubarb still in the freezer. Meanwhile, all winter long I continued buying apples. (and green beans, and mangoes, bananas, and pineapples. and oranges. and broccoli.) Hmm. That just doesn't seem right.
So I decided at the end of April, that I would not buy any fruit or vegetables from May 1st until either the first snow or October 31st, whichever comes first. We will use what we have stored. We will garden, we will forage, we will eat locally, from our yard and woods. We will not buy apples. I am allowing two exceptions- potatoes and carrots. We simply can not grow enough potatoes to last through the winter, let alone keep them edible through spring and summer. Must buy carrots for critters. Our soil has not been very welcoming to the growth of carrots so far, although we do get some nice baby carrots, again no where near the amount needed to make it through our winters for us, let alone the critters. All of our critters- dogs included, except the cat- eat carrots. It's a treat and a training tool. I don't think it should be a hardship for anyone. A little strange maybe, but no fears of malnutrition.
I love apples. The kids love apples. Even hubby eats an occasional apple. Living down south, we had two well producing apple trees on our property, as well as three trees available at my parents, and an abundance of cheap apples available locally through out the fall. By now we should be missing our apples terribly. But we're not. We don't miss them at all. Why? Because I fell into this habit of buying apples. Not once in a while in season apples. No. That would be a treat. No. I started buying apples EVERY week. On average, 6 pounds of apples a week, but when on sale, as much as 20 pounds a week.
I know we should eat local. Fresher, more nutritious, fewer food miles, less oil used for production, storage and transportation, cheaper, sometimes free... I grow and preserve what I can. I forage in the woods. I make my family eat weeds. And yet, here we are in our second spring with a cold room still mostly full of blueberries & raspberries, and rhubarb still in the freezer. Meanwhile, all winter long I continued buying apples. (and green beans, and mangoes, bananas, and pineapples. and oranges. and broccoli.) Hmm. That just doesn't seem right.
So I decided at the end of April, that I would not buy any fruit or vegetables from May 1st until either the first snow or October 31st, whichever comes first. We will use what we have stored. We will garden, we will forage, we will eat locally, from our yard and woods. We will not buy apples. I am allowing two exceptions- potatoes and carrots. We simply can not grow enough potatoes to last through the winter, let alone keep them edible through spring and summer. Must buy carrots for critters. Our soil has not been very welcoming to the growth of carrots so far, although we do get some nice baby carrots, again no where near the amount needed to make it through our winters for us, let alone the critters. All of our critters- dogs included, except the cat- eat carrots. It's a treat and a training tool. I don't think it should be a hardship for anyone. A little strange maybe, but no fears of malnutrition.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Food Storage Plans for Fall
It's only spring now, but the fall freezer plans actually began a few months ago. The fall freezer plans begin the first time I stick my hands in the dirt to start seedlings in January. I try to grow enough of the foods we like every year to avoid having to buy them in the grocery store. The garden gets bigger every year. I start more seedling every year. I have never been successful. But I keep trying.
Spring is also the season to order chicks. I ordered 50 hatch day choice chicks this year. It's the season to buy a pig. It's the season to buy cattle. Freezer planning starts early in the country when you're trying to be self sufficient.
Here's my plan for this year. 365 days, 365 meals.
35 chickens. I plan to keep some for eggs next year.
8 hams. Each hind quarter of our pig should be large enough to divide into two meals for us.
8 pork chops. (That's meals, not individual chops.)
2 ribs.
8 pork stew meat
1 tenderloin
4 quarts of lard.
That's based on what I remember getting off of each of our previous pigs. Pig could be much larger by fall than our previous pigs were, so we may have a bit of a windfall there.
30 rabbits. I bought 4 bucks & a doe in the spring. One of the bucks is already in the freezer. I need time to butcher two more. The doe has her first litter now, with six bunnies. I expect her to have three more litters by fall.
20 fish. This is dependent on us finding a decent lake & making the time to go fishing.
5 partridge- dependent on how hunting season goes this year.
That leaves 248 meals that I need to plan for. The current plan is to buy a bull calf, who will hopefully manage to impregnate my cow by fall, and then butcher him. We won't butcher until after hunting season though, on the chance that we may need freezer space for bear or moose. Although it would be nice if we got a small bear and a calf moose, leaving enough space to butcher the bull as well, giving us more variety. Can't be choosy though. Butchering is weather dependent, since we do it ourselves at home. It must be cool enough to keep the meat from going bad, but not freezing.
I aim for 365 servings of vegetation as well.
150 green beans
40 stew mix veggies- That's a pot of stew every week all winter. It includes green beans, turnip, brussel sprouts, dandelion buds, & carrots.
10 dandelion greens
10 asparagus
10 peas
10 parsnips
10 spinach
20 broccoli
10 cauliflower
43 corn. I love corn, but we're slightly too far north to grow our own. With a bit of luck I'll be able to buy a couple of bushels of local corn from the city south of us.
20 tomatoes (If they survive)
52 jars of pickled beets (one a week) will also be added to the cold room.
And 365 servings of fruit.
Our easiest and most plentiful fruit is blueberries. Between the freezer and the cold room I'll end up with at least 100 servings of blueberries.
80 raspberries. They're not quite as plentiful as the blueberries, but still we manage a good harvest.
30 rhubarb. I have a large rhubarb patch and it's almost ready to start harvesting.
35 pears. My parents have a tree, and they'll bring 2 or 3 feed bags full of pears up when they come to visit.
20 strawberries. I may be pushing my luck here, with new transplants in the garden this year.
In addition to these staples, I also pickle dill pickles, pickled carrots, pickled peppers, pickled garlic. These tend to be eaten more like condiments than servings. I can salsa. I make jams, jellies, fruit sauces & syrops.
We'll also store cabbage, carrots, onions, and potatoes in the cold room.
Spring is also the season to order chicks. I ordered 50 hatch day choice chicks this year. It's the season to buy a pig. It's the season to buy cattle. Freezer planning starts early in the country when you're trying to be self sufficient.
Here's my plan for this year. 365 days, 365 meals.
35 chickens. I plan to keep some for eggs next year.
8 hams. Each hind quarter of our pig should be large enough to divide into two meals for us.
8 pork chops. (That's meals, not individual chops.)
2 ribs.
8 pork stew meat
1 tenderloin
4 quarts of lard.
That's based on what I remember getting off of each of our previous pigs. Pig could be much larger by fall than our previous pigs were, so we may have a bit of a windfall there.
30 rabbits. I bought 4 bucks & a doe in the spring. One of the bucks is already in the freezer. I need time to butcher two more. The doe has her first litter now, with six bunnies. I expect her to have three more litters by fall.
20 fish. This is dependent on us finding a decent lake & making the time to go fishing.
5 partridge- dependent on how hunting season goes this year.
That leaves 248 meals that I need to plan for. The current plan is to buy a bull calf, who will hopefully manage to impregnate my cow by fall, and then butcher him. We won't butcher until after hunting season though, on the chance that we may need freezer space for bear or moose. Although it would be nice if we got a small bear and a calf moose, leaving enough space to butcher the bull as well, giving us more variety. Can't be choosy though. Butchering is weather dependent, since we do it ourselves at home. It must be cool enough to keep the meat from going bad, but not freezing.
I aim for 365 servings of vegetation as well.
150 green beans
40 stew mix veggies- That's a pot of stew every week all winter. It includes green beans, turnip, brussel sprouts, dandelion buds, & carrots.
10 dandelion greens
10 asparagus
10 peas
10 parsnips
10 spinach
20 broccoli
10 cauliflower
43 corn. I love corn, but we're slightly too far north to grow our own. With a bit of luck I'll be able to buy a couple of bushels of local corn from the city south of us.
20 tomatoes (If they survive)
52 jars of pickled beets (one a week) will also be added to the cold room.
And 365 servings of fruit.
Our easiest and most plentiful fruit is blueberries. Between the freezer and the cold room I'll end up with at least 100 servings of blueberries.
80 raspberries. They're not quite as plentiful as the blueberries, but still we manage a good harvest.
30 rhubarb. I have a large rhubarb patch and it's almost ready to start harvesting.
35 pears. My parents have a tree, and they'll bring 2 or 3 feed bags full of pears up when they come to visit.
20 strawberries. I may be pushing my luck here, with new transplants in the garden this year.
In addition to these staples, I also pickle dill pickles, pickled carrots, pickled peppers, pickled garlic. These tend to be eaten more like condiments than servings. I can salsa. I make jams, jellies, fruit sauces & syrops.
We'll also store cabbage, carrots, onions, and potatoes in the cold room.
Cold Room, Pantry, Freezer & Menu Planning
I have a huge cold room in the basement. Huge to me at least. It was one of the big selling points for me when we bought the house. It holds two large book shelves, and a shorter shelf. Two skids. 4 rubbermaid bins. There are two shelves that came with the house, both about 6 feet long. And room for more storage. I love my cold room.
I love my cold room because I live over an hour from the city. If I run out of something, it doesn't get replaced until I go to town. I love my cold room because I grow, forage and can as much food as I can through our short growing season. I love my cold room because I butcher my own meat, and sometimes attempt things like making my own ham. I love my cold room because I don't have to worry about keeping extra drinks in the fridge. They're cold enough downstairs. I love my cold room because I can store large amounts of root vegetables over the winter.
On one bookshelf I keep mostly store bought canned goods. I have minimum amounts of items that I keep there, so that I don't run out unexpectedly. Like at least one extra bottle of ketchup, relish and vinegar. I also have room to stockpile items we use frequently, so I can stock up when they're on sale. Like 8 cans each of pasta sauce, mushrooms, and cream of mushroom soup.
The other bookshelf is filled with fruits, jellies, jams, fruit sauces & syrops that I can myself. The smaller shelf holds dill pickles, pickled beets, and pickled carrots from my garden. It also holds about 4 weeks worth of pop & drinks.
On one skid I keep a large box of lard that I buy from a restaurant supply store. Occasionally cases of canned pop, onions, carrots, and empty jars make their home there. This is where I kept my buckets of hams in the making, as well as my first attempt at raspberry vinegar. The other skid is devoted to potato storage. I grow what I can, but also buy 50 lb bags from a local grower when I run out of my own. We eat a lot of potatoes.
One rubbermaid bin holds three 10 kg bags of flour. One holds three large sacks of rice. One holds onions and carrots.
Smaller, more perishable food stocks I keep in the pantry cupboard in the kitchen, along with dry goods currently in use. That's the pasta, beans, baking supplies, corn starch, salt, sugar, etc.
I have two large chest freezers, roughly 20 cubic feet each. They're usually each at least half full. Hopefully by late spring I have them emptied enough to combine them into one freezer and do a proper cleaning before I start refilling them for next winter.
That brings us to menu planning. Normally when I grocery shop I buy large amounts of whatever is on sale. Around February things in the freezer start getting pretty skimpy. It gets harder to find those pork chops that I know are still in there somewhere. I start wondering why I keep buying green beans when I still have frozen turnip and dandelion greens in the freezer. So I start menu planning. I pull everything out of the freezers and reorganize it. I make a list of everything in there. Then I take an extra calendar and start planning out menus from what I have left in the freezer. This year I had enough food to last through May.
Now it's the end of May, so I just went through the freezer again. There's still a ton of food in there. I didn't stop grocery shopping when I made the first menu plan, and sometimes leftovers last longer than I originally expected. So I make a new list, and another menu plan. We're currently stocked up enough to make it through July. It's almost empty enough to do that cleaning now though.
I love my cold room because I live over an hour from the city. If I run out of something, it doesn't get replaced until I go to town. I love my cold room because I grow, forage and can as much food as I can through our short growing season. I love my cold room because I butcher my own meat, and sometimes attempt things like making my own ham. I love my cold room because I don't have to worry about keeping extra drinks in the fridge. They're cold enough downstairs. I love my cold room because I can store large amounts of root vegetables over the winter.
On one bookshelf I keep mostly store bought canned goods. I have minimum amounts of items that I keep there, so that I don't run out unexpectedly. Like at least one extra bottle of ketchup, relish and vinegar. I also have room to stockpile items we use frequently, so I can stock up when they're on sale. Like 8 cans each of pasta sauce, mushrooms, and cream of mushroom soup.
The other bookshelf is filled with fruits, jellies, jams, fruit sauces & syrops that I can myself. The smaller shelf holds dill pickles, pickled beets, and pickled carrots from my garden. It also holds about 4 weeks worth of pop & drinks.
On one skid I keep a large box of lard that I buy from a restaurant supply store. Occasionally cases of canned pop, onions, carrots, and empty jars make their home there. This is where I kept my buckets of hams in the making, as well as my first attempt at raspberry vinegar. The other skid is devoted to potato storage. I grow what I can, but also buy 50 lb bags from a local grower when I run out of my own. We eat a lot of potatoes.
One rubbermaid bin holds three 10 kg bags of flour. One holds three large sacks of rice. One holds onions and carrots.
Smaller, more perishable food stocks I keep in the pantry cupboard in the kitchen, along with dry goods currently in use. That's the pasta, beans, baking supplies, corn starch, salt, sugar, etc.
I have two large chest freezers, roughly 20 cubic feet each. They're usually each at least half full. Hopefully by late spring I have them emptied enough to combine them into one freezer and do a proper cleaning before I start refilling them for next winter.
That brings us to menu planning. Normally when I grocery shop I buy large amounts of whatever is on sale. Around February things in the freezer start getting pretty skimpy. It gets harder to find those pork chops that I know are still in there somewhere. I start wondering why I keep buying green beans when I still have frozen turnip and dandelion greens in the freezer. So I start menu planning. I pull everything out of the freezers and reorganize it. I make a list of everything in there. Then I take an extra calendar and start planning out menus from what I have left in the freezer. This year I had enough food to last through May.
Now it's the end of May, so I just went through the freezer again. There's still a ton of food in there. I didn't stop grocery shopping when I made the first menu plan, and sometimes leftovers last longer than I originally expected. So I make a new list, and another menu plan. We're currently stocked up enough to make it through July. It's almost empty enough to do that cleaning now though.
Pig in the Garden
The search for piglets has ended. With the weather turning from 'maybe early spring' to 'is it summer already?' I ran out of patience looking for piglets. I had to get the garden started. Another trip to auction, and no piglets.
I came home with Pig.
You see how bad the weeds are? The garden looks more like lawn than garden. You can see how well Pig was working though. This picture was taken the day after we set up her pen.
Pig is a sow, and roughly a year old. She's almost as big as the last two pigs we butchered were. That scared me when we bought her. The last two pigs refused to be contained in their pen, escaping several times a day and wandering off in the woods. Too much time was spent chasing them home, and worrying about what had happened to them when we couldn't find them right away.
The price of Pig made her pretty irresistible though. $105 for roughly 200 lbs of pig. Less than 99¢/pound. Even if she was a complete pain and I had to butcher her right away, I just couldn't go wrong. I could not possibly raise a piglet to that size for that price. Wow.
So home she came. And she has been delightful! She seems so shy! Very quiet, well behaved, and happy with her little pen in the garden. She hasn't shown any interest in escaping. We've moved her pen over three times now, and we're almost ready to move her again. She is doing a great job!
I've transplanted strawberries & onions that I started indoors. Planted peas, lettuce, spinach, beets, radishes, parsnips, zucchini, squash, alexanders, brussel sprouts, and a few potatoes.
I came home with Pig.
You see how bad the weeds are? The garden looks more like lawn than garden. You can see how well Pig was working though. This picture was taken the day after we set up her pen.
Pig is a sow, and roughly a year old. She's almost as big as the last two pigs we butchered were. That scared me when we bought her. The last two pigs refused to be contained in their pen, escaping several times a day and wandering off in the woods. Too much time was spent chasing them home, and worrying about what had happened to them when we couldn't find them right away.
The price of Pig made her pretty irresistible though. $105 for roughly 200 lbs of pig. Less than 99¢/pound. Even if she was a complete pain and I had to butcher her right away, I just couldn't go wrong. I could not possibly raise a piglet to that size for that price. Wow.
So home she came. And she has been delightful! She seems so shy! Very quiet, well behaved, and happy with her little pen in the garden. She hasn't shown any interest in escaping. We've moved her pen over three times now, and we're almost ready to move her again. She is doing a great job!
I've transplanted strawberries & onions that I started indoors. Planted peas, lettuce, spinach, beets, radishes, parsnips, zucchini, squash, alexanders, brussel sprouts, and a few potatoes.
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