A Thanksgiving Walk
images from this morning’s walk to repair the fence that was down from the weight of the snow
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Alonzo and the Cows
Alonzo, a registered Devon, came to hang out with the cows for a couple of months. He settled in just fine the first day, went to work the second day with a red Angus heifer, and has been courting another of the black Angus cows today. When a heifer (female bovine who has not produced
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Beauty
A tree I found in the hedgerow has a gaping hole in it made by an old barbed wire fence. Squirrels have hidden their acorns inside.
3rd Annual Pig Roast
Each summer since 2012, we have invited Dave’s family up for a pig roast. All but the the aged, pregnant, infant or wimpy camp out. The eight cousins all 9 and younger enjoy getting filthy, shooting arrows and guns and eating all the desserts Grandmom brings. The adults get hungrier and hungrier as the pig
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Early Spring
Spring is here, and we are all happy to be outside more. Everything seems to be about preparation this week. Preparing to send the animals out to pasture, preparing the garden for early crops, gathering the needed fencing and feed and equipment. Our ducks got held up in the mail again and only five were
The Newest Bovines
Yesterday Dave went to an auction to buy some heifers he had previewed a few weeks ago. Three of these ladies are due to give birth in June. One is a stocker for meat. They came off the truck at a run and covered in dried mud. Our herd greeted them with bellows from another
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Measuring Up
To determine if a pig is ready for slaughter or to gain an idea of how quickly it is growing, we need to know its weight. The thought of wrestling a pig onto a scale or somehow scooping it up in a sling is humorous, but the method we use is simple. We take its
Garlic and Snow
A gardener and general outdoor enthusiast in New Jersey gave us a box of garlic bulbils he collected from his patch. He has been growing this variety since the mid 1980’s when he acquired it from an old Polish gardener. So Dave tilled a strip six feet wide by 80 feet a few weeks ago,
The Pigs Move In
…to the greenhouse. Last week, we put the finishing touches on the pigs’ winter quarters. We spread hay in their yard, installed gates and whey troughs, put up chicken roosts and nest boxes. Persuading the pigs to walk up the hill to the new yard took some effort, but they are happy to be inside,