Fall Update

Fall is well under way here! Its beautiful and has brought a bit of a change of activities for us.



We scrapped our summer To do lists and prioritized what we need/should get done before the snow flies. This week kept us busy with finishing the garden up and also working to get the greenhouse set for winter.



Also, I have been busy in the kitchen, which is not my favourite but it sure feels nice once you are done! We had a pumpkin pie and roasted seeds making day, lard making day and spent a day making soap with friends!

This pretty much sums up what is left in the garden now. Just beets and carrots, and a little bit of quinoa left as an experiment.

A braided garden snack while we work.

A gardening failure. A beet supposed to go to seed this year. It sure grew large, but that is about it! The pigs really enjoyed it anyway...



It feels very natural to have pigs next to the garden! As we pull things out they get tossed over our shoulder to their eager snouts. Here are Popcorn and River shaking their quinoa stalks like puppies. Pigs are never boring!



They all have favourite spots to be scratched. The magic spot for "the Biggie" is his forehead, and its sometimes the only way to get them to hold still for a picture! That is a very cute snout!

Here is my quinoa before I pulled most of it.

Here is where I put it to finish drying. I am quite excited to see what happens with it.

I was amazed at the variety of colours that we got.

Here is one little quinoa flower in my hand. It doesn't look much like quinoa does it?

But after a gently rubbing it with my finger, ta da! There is a quinoa seed there on the left. Not quite dry enough yet, but getting there!



We had a good few days work of harvesting potatoes. The little farmers really enjoyed it! I wasn't really happy with the quality or the yield of each of the varieties we planted, but they are so delicious and juicy. We will be eating potatoes for a very long time!



Here is what was keeping Matt busy this week. We had some logistics issues because we would really like to put the chicken camper in here for a chunk of the winter, but once the walls are on it complicates things. Where there is a will, there is a way! Just a more complicated way...

It looks awesome! I am so excited to start using this greenhouse!

And because I never get tired of horse picture, here is Mr. Charlie looking goofy.

And, I may have spent more time in the kitchen than I would have liked but I can't imagine a better view than this!
Things like this make my heart so full!

When will we paint it green?

We are still busy as ever on the farm!
Our greenhouse is looking awesome and nearing completion, which is really exciting!



We put up the plastic last week in the quick breaks between downpours. Even Little farm girl was working hard.

We were very thankful to have our friend Kevin out helping get it finished!

The weather forced us to take lots of breaks

Matt securing the wire that holds the plastic on

Ta da! Now it just needs some end walls and possibly a heat source. I am so excited to have this up before winter. Next year is going to be a really exciting growing year for us!

Little farm girl was a little disappointed though. She had made the assumption that to make it true to its name we would paint it green once the plastic was on.



We also implemented the next step in our plan for next years garden. We staked off next years plot, which is planted with peas and rye to improve the soil, and have our pigs rototilling and removing the weeds for us.



Its a pretty nice feeling to be out working and look over and see the pigs hard at work too. They love this and it is sure an asset to our gardening.
They were pretty enthusiastic about eating the peas. By the next day they had sure made a big difference already!



Matt cleaned up and disked the area they were in last. We should be able reclaim a good chunk of it into hay field again.

I have a favourite chicken! (Hint, its the one with the toque...)

The pigs commandeered the chickens portable fence energizer when we moved them so the chickens had to move along too.

With the shorter days they have gone into their seasonal molt. They are putting all their protein into growing new feathers and egg production takes the backseat for a little while. It is their natural cycle and its good for their bodies to have a break so we are happy to let them. So far we have been able meet our egg customers requests but I don't think I will be able to say that for long. Right now we are getting a little over half of our summer time egg production. We do have up and coming hens from our summer hatch but I don't expect them to lay until just before Christmas.



For a day or two we felt like pretty good farmers this week. We have our animals moving systems quite down pat. They are happy to load in the trailer and be moved, we know what we are doing in terms of taking it all down and refencing, everyone including the little farmers have a job to do and everything worked like clockwork. It was exciting to feel efficient and to celebrate a day of hard, satisfying work as a family.



We did feel pretty good until we crunched some of this years numbers. I think this winter we will have to take a realistic view of our farm and make some changes. We are so passionate about what we are doing and just savor these days we get to spend out working on the farm. I can't imagine anything better than working alongside each other, raising these animals how we believe they should be raised and being able to feed our family with confidence and joy.

One of the very biggest struggles in starting this farm will be changing our mindset about trying to compete with grocery stores prices.
Silly! I know, but it is going to be a big struggle for us!
We honestly feel like what we raise and grow is some of the very best you can buy, not just in quality, but better for the environment, the animals themselves and for your health as well. We have a huge desire to share it with friends, family, neighbours and other young families that may be budgeting for groceries. The reality that we are finally coming to is that we have to be realistic and we cannot lose every year and still make this farm a long term venture for us.

I mentioned to Matt that maybe we just should not raise pigs if we can't make a go of it and keep our prices very competitive. He quickly reminded me of those icy spring mornings this year and going out to check on the newborn piglets. The squirmy warmth of them against your chest and the feeling of great responsibility to give them the best lives we can.

We can't change how everyone eats, and we cannot change things for the pigs being raised in industrial factories.

We can give these pigs the best lives we can, and we can a give a choice to those out there who feel the same responsibility that we do to what they eat.
For now, I think that is all we can do, and I think we should keep doing it.