Watching things grow

This is a very fun time of year.
Matt remarked to me the other evening that we can practically watch the garden grow.

Potatoes!

We have some flea beetle enjoying our plants. As beginner gardeners we learning what we are up against in this venture

Here is an interesting observation regarding the quinoa. Its the stripe of green on the far left of the garden. Part of it is thick and green, the other part looks like it did last year: smaller, thinners and changing to bright colours. The area that looks good is where we had our garden last year. I believe it needs richer soil and it is only thriving in the area we have improved with compost over two years now.

But the garden isn't the only thing growing!

We moved our piggies with the trailer for the first time. This is something fairly important to us. The first year we raised pigs we didn't move them with the trailer until the day they went to butcher. What an ordeal, and the clock was ticking away! Finally, the last one we had to wrestle into the trailer, and with 220lbs of unwilling pig, it was not a fun time. Also, after months of loving on them and putting our hearts into raising them very best we can, who wants to take them to the butcher all stressed and worked up?
We have learned a lot since then, including the benefits of  pasturing them. We move them continually through the summer and each time we pop them in the trailer to move them. We don't have fancy chutes to load them, so really we are relying on their desire to load themselves. We try to make it a very rewarding experience and the first try kind of sets you up for future loading. 



This turned out to be a perfect first loading. A couple even followed little farm girl into the trailer before I had brought all the goodies out.
They are drowning in grass once again in their new spot and loving it!

Speaking of drowning in grass...

We had an interesting chicken moving experience.



We generally just take down all the chicken fencing, which is a predator proof electric poultry netting, and move the camper and set up over. Then we reset the fence and herd the chickens who didn't follow back in. We didn't realize quite how quickly the grass in the hay field was growing and about two minutes after letting the chickens out, they were completely gone! There was just rustling grass here and there and the occasional head popping up in a sparse area. We had to go all over gathering lost and wayward chickens. As we finished there was a suspicious rustling less than ten feet away, and sure enough, one last chicken! Now I remember why over last summer we used to move them in the evenings after their curfew!

 Here are some pictures from around the farm this week.

A gorgeous morning butterfly

I wish I could decorate my house as nice as the beauty we find outside...

Not to attract from the lilac, but notice how one flower at the very top only has three petals?

A squirrel came onto the deck during breakfast. Its was Tonka's delight to make it very unwelcome. She is still watching for it!

Love these colours!

Beep out hunting ants. No improvement to his leg but he is getting very agile by compensating in various ways.

Note little farm girls "chick purse". Its a little bag with an open top that beep rides in to his various bug catching destinations.

We fenced an area to til and plant green manures. It will be our garden expansion for next year. Right now I have horses eating down the grass. We were hoping to run pigs and let them weed it next but they are still too little to make quick work of it.



The garden is my favorite spot right now. Sun and warmth, good things growing, horses munching and chickens scratching.

And off all the good things we are growing, here are the most important ones!

I love sharing my days with these little farmers!

Firsts

This is just the best time of year!

 

Everything is just exploding with new life and we have the whole summer ahead of us to enjoy it! The trees are filling out with bright green leaves, seedlings are shooting up everywhere and piglets are exploring the world with nosy enthusiasm. I love being out and about in the busyness of creation. Birds are filling all that winter silence with their chattering, critters are out and about everywhere and the amazing earthy smells from the warm summer breezes are such a treat to take in. I have such a hard time staying inside for long.

We have had some firsts around here this last week. Some exciting firsts, and others I am sincerely hoping that there won't be a second!

First of all, we weaned our little piglets and put them out for the first time. They are being hot line trained and I am working to get all the ticklish out of them so we can handle and measure them as needed.
We have made a tradition of taking a family photo as we put our piglets out and this is the first year they are piglets that have been born on the farm! Not only that, they are healthy, feisty little Berkshires, which is a breed I have been admiring for a while. Its thrilling to see your dreams pulling together.

Letting the little guys out for the first time

This is a good first spot for them because there is a strong physical fence to contain them while they learn to respect the hot line.



They took a bit to figure out the hotline. Probably because once one touched they would all pile on top of each other and squish together. Then when the next one touched it would shock the whole group. I was scratching one today on the edge of the group and I got shocked through them all!

Horses are always watching them

Wondering what goodie I have for them today

Little farm girl has bonded with them. They seem to enjoy the same activities together.

They say pigs are very intelligent and we have been toying with that a bit. Before we fill the pig trough with feed we have been spooning some to the piglets who are willing to sit. Its crazy cute to see a piglet sitting for its dinner and I like watching the wheels turn in those little heads.

Nope, that is not how you get the food!

That'll do pig!

Another first. A loose pig in the barn. It was my fault really. I noticed something was wrong with how her latch was closing and I couldn't get it sorted out, but I also couldn't get her door open so I figured she would be fine. Thankfully she got out into the barn isle and I had closed up the barn over night. Its was quite a surprise to walk into the barn in the morning and see her her blinking in a very satisfied way while lying in a  pig sized crater in the barn isle. I don't think the dirt floor in there will ever be the same!

Right after that I went outside to discover a bear in the hay field. Not a big surprise really, but it was another first for me.

Once I went in, I watched little farm boy take his first tottering steps across the living room. A big first for him!

And then I also got my first mosquito bite of the year. I guess it had to happen at some point...



We have lots of different egg cartons we regularly reuse and I did a bit of research on the different egg labels that are all over them: cage free, free range, free run, omega enriched, vegetarian fed and so on. It was pretty disappointed to read what they actually mean. If the best you can say about your eggs is you don't feed your chickens other animal byproducts, that is kind of frightening! I also stumbled on some interesting research and articles regarding pastured eggs and how much more nutrition they contain, but I think that would be another whole blog in itself!



Our chickens are thoroughly enjoying being out. We were moving them every 3-4 days when we first put them out. I am glad to see the grass is growing quickly and we don't have to move them quite so often. In the this picture you can see the spots they had been. I replace and rake out their hay bedding from the camper over the areas so it looks kind of yellow. 



And an interesting observation. I actually noticed last year that we had the same crows around all the time.
Last year we had a Momma crow with three babies. They were around for most of the summer and they really made me laugh. The "babies" were indistinguishable from their mother until she would find a worm or insect. Suddenly there would be three full sized crows throwing themselves at her with their mouths wide open like baby birds. It would be a big cawing commotion and she would feed them as they all fought to be closest to her. It went on for a good chunk of the summer and I am sure they were fully capably of looking after themselves.

This year we have a crow with a limp. Its like one of her feet is stuck in a closed grip position. She hobbles around and seems to go places with us as we work around the farm. I am actually starting to think of her as a bit of a companion. Its kind of weird too and I imagine I am thinking to much into it, but three times now when I have gotten home she is waiting at the end of the driveway and comes with me to the house.

Anyway, as always, lots to do!

Spring Time Update

Things have been crazy busy around here. We have had a stretch of amazing weather recently and we have just crammed it full of spring time activity.
I was walking around yesterday thinking there is pretty much work to do on every square inch of the property! This has been a good lesson in priorities for us!

Anyway, this is what we have been investing our time in this week.



This week was little Farm Girls birthday! She requested a piggy theme for her birthday party and this was the cake that we made. I used the Quinoa cake recipe again. You honestly can't tell that its made with quinoa so everyone can enjoy it.
I told her she could pick any meal to have for her birthday dinner and the only thing she wanted to eat was eggs with meat from her "best pig, Scritchers." I had just run out of our usual cuts but I didn't want to disappoint so she ended up having pork jowl for her birthday dinner...

One of the piglets, nicknamed Popcorn because she pops and leaps, made a guest appearance at the birthday party. Unfortunately she was a bit of a party pooper.

And this week we had a farm visitor/ farm hand. My friend Stephanie stayed with us. We had a lot of fun together and I also put her right to work! Here she is enjoying a puddle in the hay field.

This is what I have been enjoying. The riding ring is dry and the horses are getting lots of work all of the sudden! Little farm girl got a riding crop for her birthday and has been delighted to try it out. Tex still is not keen to get moving, even with a crop tapping on him. It frustrates little farm girl, but I figure its a problem that I am happy to have!

I have been playing a lot with little filly. I did some work with her the other day and figured out exactly where she is at and where I would like to go with her next. She has a great attitude and lots of random skills from over the winter, now she just needs the important things! I have discovered that if I get up around 6:00 in the morning, I get a bit of time to myself to work with the horses. But, with little Farm Boys usual 4+ wakings during the night, it has made me into a bit more of a zombie than usual. I am not sure how often I can keep it up and still form complete sentences.

I have been having way too much fun with the three ponies. I line them all up and work them as a trio. Its a pretty cool feeling to have three moving in unison! Tex and Charlie remember everything from last year and are keen to work. The first time I did it, little filly was in the middle and she was licking and chewing with her lips for like ten minutes straight. Generally when horse do that they are digesting a thought. It must have given her a lot to think about! I have had some excellent moments with all of them working together, but if the center horse slacks off I can't seem to cue it back into action without disturbing the horses on the outside. Its got me a little frazzled, but I betcha I can figure it out by the end of the summer!



And we finally invested in a purchase that has been on our list for a long time. We would like to eventually work out a no till system, but for now while we are learning and breaking ground, we are going to use this.



This has been keeping me busy. Our lawn is very weedy and an increasing portion of it is just hawkweed and bare dirt. The soil needs a lot of work in itself, so before my garden leaps into action and while manure is still very scoopable behind the hay barn, I am spreading some into the lawn.



This was an experiment last year. We pastured chickens on the lawn in one of the worst spots to see what the effect would be. There was not the difference that we had hoped for, but as you can see in this picture (right in the center, towards the bottom) there is a circle of grass that has shot up through the hawkweed and is nice and green. This was the spot right behind the camper where the chicken impact was the heaviest. Maybe if we can get our soil a little better as a whole it will be able to compete a little better. Its all a learning experience...



Seeds coming up. This picture is of the broccoli, or maybe the cabbage. Its exciting to watch them grow!



These little critters are 4 weeks old now. Commercial pig operations usually wean at about 10 days old! Both our sows have small litters so they are not being drained by the nursing. I think we will watch the sows and how they feel about the matter. I notice this sow lying on her belly a little more, and when she gets up she will get a bunch of little piranhas on her belly. I would like to be able to put the sows back together when we wean so I think we will wait another week so the other litter hits this age too.



They are starting to think of me as the goodies lady!





If the pigs don't finish their grain overnight, we give whats left in the morning to the chickens. I will sprinkle it in a rows and jokingly say I have swath grazed the chickens. I didn't bring any this morning, but they were all hopeful.



Here is our garden plot, awaiting the weather to warm a little bit more. Its was below freezing last night here again. The front right quarter was last years garden. All the rest was pig rototilled last fall and they did an excellent job of clearing the sod. We are going to till compost in next and make some raised beds again by hand.

And here are my lilac leaves ready to join the world. I am loving spring time!

A Harrowing Farrowing - Round 2

This Easter weekend was not as relaxing as we had expected!

A newborn piglet in the hay

Piggy number two, or Emma, had her babies on Sunday. We had high expectations for her. Compared to her sister (who farrowed 7 babies last week) she is larger, hardier, more correctly put together and calmer.
Matt turned out to be quite the pig whisperer and has gotten her to really enjoy being scratched and rubbed over the last week. We were hopeful that we could be near her while the babies came without her being worried. Everything was set and ready, we were just waiting on her.

Emma looking uncomfortable after her belly had dropped. I really enjoyed watching her flop over and go to sleep late in her pregnancy. Her belly would start to wiggle with lots of little kicks. That pallet in the background makes a piglet nursery corner with a heat lamp just for babies.

Sunday afternoon she started farrowing. Everything started smoothly. Two piglets born. We tucked the babies under the heat lamp and kept checking back for more throughout the afternoon. They were born quite a bit larger than our first litter and refuse to stay under the heat lamp the few times we tried to tuck them away. They found and nursed from Momma right away, which was very reassuring after last weeks litter!

The next one was born all wrapped up in the sac. We lost a piglet from our last litter from not getting the sac off quick enough. I think I got there right after it was born and I snuck in and ripped the sac off its nose. He had slipped right underneath Momma so I thought I would slide him out and get the rest of the sac off him. It seemed like a good idea at the time but it turned out to be a very hard lesson learned for me. He gave a tiny squeal as I lifted him, which cause Momma to try and get up. She has been rather heavy with piglets and has had to rock herself back and forth to get off the ground. The little guy was so slippery that I couldn't get him out in time. Once she got up, I tried for a long time to revive him. I didn't realize having piglets would be so hard emotionally.

After that she got up and ate and drank. A sows womb is divided into two "horns" and there can be a bit of an intermission between when they empty the first side and roll over and start the next. I assumed this was her intermission.
Matt checked her every hour through the night, but no piglets. By morning we started to wonder if something was wrong. She was lying down and grunting with every breath and shaking all over. Sometimes we couldn't get her to open her eyes when we came to check on her.
After lots of reading, we decided that we had probably over fed her and with these large piglets one was probably stuck. My small hands made me the ideal candidate to check. I reached as far as I easily could but I didn't find anything. We checked on her throughout the morning while trying our best to get a hold of someone who knew more about pigs than us. We were pretty worried that she was in serious trouble and finally tried the vet. They were closed and we couldn't decide if this was a pig emergency worthy of an after hours emergency dispatch.
Oh the trouble with inexperience!
When it had been over 24 hours since the last piglet had been born and she didn't seem any better, we decided to give her one more feel and make sure we did a good job of it. This was pretty much the last thing I felt like doing so you can imagine we were fairly concerned.
I have never done this before, but I imagine if I piglet is stuck, it will be stuck on the way out. Once I got up to my elbow without feeling any tiny snouts or trotters, I figured that was probably far enough.

After that, I felt like we had kind of done everything we could for the time being. We just kept an eye on her. By night she was eating and drinking and her shaking had stopped. We continued to watch for piglets just in case. 
Now,we are two days after the piglets were born and we have finally called off piglet watch. Babies are doing well. Momma continues to eat lots and drink and get up and down and all that. She seems comfortable, so we are just going to let her and the babies be. As far as we can guess, she just had three in there.
And we had to learn the same lesson as last time, not to worry so much...

I have to say, having piglets has certainly brought out the worrying side of me. For me, it has been fairly stressful and a bit of a blow to my farming confidence that all the piglet losses have been on my watch. I also feel like I have gotten to know the inside of a pig a little better than I ever wanted to, but I am glad to know that if I need to I am able to step up and do what needs to be done. Matt has made a much better pig midwife than me and I am very glad to have him on my team.
We have learned a lot for next time and are feeling blessed to have seven little bundles in the barn!

Here is some pictures of our first litter at a week old:

And some pictures from around the farm this weekend, mostly taken by my very talented Mom!

These cats pose constantly, I have way too many pictures..

The horses got moved off the pasture. They will be in the riding ring until the grass gets established. Handsome Charlie is showing off how much I need to trim him again!

And the little filly dashing through the snow

I love the snow flying

And I just keep taking piglet pictures. I spend way too much time watching them...

 

In a piglet pile

They are getting to be pretty busy little things!

I feel a little bit like we have passed a farming initiation this spring. Maybe now we will feel like real farmers!