Turning Dirt

Another week has passed and we have managed to get caught up on all the things we neglected when we spent our weekend haying!
I have lots of more important things I could be doing so I will just post a bunch of pictures!



Look at what we are doing to our best hay field! Matt has not plowed before so it has been a bit of a learning curve to get the implement attached and adjusted properly to match our tractor.

There was lots of plowing, evaluating, making changes and repeat...

And here is why we are plowing. We are investing in our future garden plot. We are plowing and planting some green manures, which is not as gross as it sounds...
We are planting our plot with crops specifically to improve the soil and then we will turn them down into the dirt. As we expand our production we hope to have the soil ready and at its best.



I found the plow so captivating to watch, like watching a fire or running water. The sharp circular wheel cuts the sod like a pizza cutter and the angled blade turns it all upside down. It was pretty mesmerizing to walk on the turned over sod. As you walked along, the plow would be turning the path over and it would be unrolling in front of your feet like a red carpet. It was pretty fun, but maybe you had to be there...



Once we got all the settings right, the whole tractor sat on an angle as Matt plowed.

Dirt turned over

To make way for more of this goodness!

And the pigs are in what we call the pig jungle now. Its one of my favourite things of the year. Its actually like a jungle, with thick grass and little meadows, a log pile, rock pile, trees and a muddy wallow. They are so happy in there and I makes me smile every time I look out my window.



We had a friend who's family owned a pig farm. The stories he told us about how pigs were kept were sickening. We felt so strongly that if we ever got some land of our own we would raise meat for ourselves that had the best lives possible. It makes my heart sing to see these guys playing and rooting in the sunshine.



We were out playing with them all morning yesterday. The grass in this spot is well over my head and we were sneaking through trying to hide from the pigs. It was like Jurassic park watching the tops of the grass shaking closer and closer until finally a tiny snout would appear by our boots. Then off we would tramp with piglets hot on our tail until we could lose them again and hide. They would charge around bucking like little bulls together until it got too hot and they all settled to snooze.



When they were little we would ask them to sit. They still remember and sometimes rush to be the first to sit and get goodies or rump scratches. Its kind of endearing...



And little farm girl has learned to trot on Tex all by herself. She is quite assertive with him and it able to actually get him working. You should have seen her smile!