Clearing out some space

Far and away the most dramatic thing to happen around here lately was us getting some help from our neighbor Artemio to clear some land.  We'll start with an early "before-ish" kind of picture:

The first one is looking past the pig hut into the brush, the second is the mini-excavator that did the bulk of the work.

Now here is a picture of the after for the 1-2 acres we got cleared (with some quick growing pigs in there for good measure):

It's pretty exciting to have done this and is a big step towards doing more of what we want to do on the property.  So much of our effort has been going into fighting the brush, it will be nice to focus on more fun things (like planting).  Thanks to Jeff's Dad who came over soon afterwards to sow rye grass seed, which will hopefully come up and keep the dirt from washing away.

In other farm news we have a goat who we feel sure will deliver kids any day now (though as is usually the case, we've been thinking this for a couple of weeks now).

Piglets at Play

The piglets are 2 weeks old today, and we still have 9 of them: 5 boys and 4 girls.  Pearl is being a great mama, and all of her babies are thrifty and growing fast.  We enjoy hanging out with the pigs at meal time, watching the little ones play, while the big ones feast on home grown pumpkins and other food stuffs.

Another post about babies!

Wow, I hadn't realized how long it has been since we posted.  But nothing makes us want to write, or at least share pictures and videos, like new babies on the farm.  Let's not bury the lead, and let everyone get their piglet feeding frenzy fix:

There it is, porcine cuteness incarnate.  We haven't written much about the pigs previously, but we had decided to try our hand at breeding and raising pigs.  So we bought two registered Berkshire pigs - one boar and one gilt (a gilt is an unbred, or first time breeding female.  I'd like to think the name is somehow a corruption of guilt - which we often push especially on our human females when they first breed.  Of course, the males are "bores" their whole lives no matter what).  They are Alpha and Pearl respectively.  We got her first, and he was much younger and smaller when they first arrived. We got to see them attempt to breed over and over again, and that led us to believe she would be due August 17.  We waited with baited breath, and did our best to contact all of our pig people before the day to glean whatever wisdom we could.  Sadly (temporarily) that day came and went, and we kept waiting for pigs only to find disappointment.  We eventually concluded that on their first attempts at amore he was just a little too short to full complete his boar-ish duties.

Gilts (and sows) go into heat every 21 days or so, so we eventually set our sites for 21 days later, and hoped with all of our hearts (stomachs and wallets) that she was really pregnant.  Finally on September 10 we were rewarded.  I got a call at work fairly early in the day to let me know the little pigs had arrived.  Our advice had been to leave them alone early on, because disturbing them leads to momma (especially new mommas) accidentally crushing them getting up and down.  So for the first couple of days, we gave her her food, but didn't do much more.  Around the 2nd or 3rd day I turned off the electric fence, fed her, and got in there with them.  Our prime pig man, Tommy Searcy of Gum Creek Farms, had advised us that if a first time momma brings 4-5 pits all the way to weaning then she is a good momma.  That day I was able to count 9 squirming, walking, adorable live baby pigs . . . and 2 that she had probably accidentally crushed.

So far the number remains at 9 live piglets.  We have been told to expect at least a bit more attrition.  Almost a week after birth, they are much more active now, which means more agile and more able to dodge momma when she lies down for them to feed.  That said, we aren't counting them just yet, but hoping the majority will make it to weaning age.

More New Kids on the Block

Several new youngsters have joined us here at The Haven recently.  Geneva kidded a week after Luz in mid-April.  Another girl!  We named her Catalina.  Flora, Dora, and Catalina are all doing well and enjoy playing together.  Next, we found a good mate for Pearl.  We had to go all the way to North Carolina for him, but he is a great "little" boar.  He was almost 5 months old, when we got him in April, and he is growing fast.  We named him Alpha (after Alpha Pig, a character in one of Raine's favorite tv shows).  Despite being 4 months younger than Pearl and still smaller than she is, he's definitely the boss of the pig pen.  Lastly, we acquired a new Great Pyrenees puppy.  She was just 8 weeks old, when we got her in May.  Athena is adorable and people friendly, but we are trying very hard not to love on her and handle her too much so that her primary attachments won't be with people but rather the animals she will one day protect.  She and Xander are getting along well, and hopefully, he will teach her all about being a good guardian.  We plan to breed them too someday.

Google earth

Our little corner of the world.

2014 Kidding Season is Here!

Luz, the dominant Spanish doe, had her kids today.  She had two girls, which we are considering naming Dora and Flora.  Mother and daughters are doing well.

Purple Iris

Goings on

Thinking it might be nice to have more regular updates on here, so some shorter ones more frequently may be happening.
Things are finally thawing out for us.  The daffodil bloom has come and gone.  Our chicken losses have slowed but continue.  We lost one tonight to drop us down to 3 total.  That's a far cry from almost 20 this past fall.  Pearl continues to grow, and it turns out a good suitor is hard to find.  Hopefully we will find her fella within the next two weeks.  Our 3 pregnant goats just aren't sure they're ready to release their babies on the world.  Seems like they must pop in the next few days, but we've been thinking that for weeks now.

In the plant world, the garden is coming along, lots of seedlings are in the ground and more in the greenhouse. Peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, basil, eggplants, and greens.  We had fresh spinach as part of Annie's birthday dinner last night.  Also before the recent rains we planted a lot of cover crops - mostly rye grass, but some sorghum and buckwheat.  Hoping the rains didn't wash that away - so the goats get an especially good salad bar this summer.

All in all its an exciting time of year to have a farm!   -Jeff

Do not cast your pearls before swine.

Meet Pearl, the pig!  Pearl is a 7 month old Berkshire gilt (young female pig).  Raine referred to her as our new friend, when she came to us about 3 weeks ago.  In the photo, Jeff is trying to comfort Pearl and get her to enter her new pen.  Pearl ended up spending the night in our new, old and crusty livestock trailer (Fred is now working on fixing it up a bit more for us).  The need to relieve herself and a new tactic used by Jeff finally convinced her to leave the trailer (poor thing!).  Pearl is now settling in well in her new digs.  She has been trained to the electric fence and has gained access to a large pasture area, which she is beginning to explore.  We have not gotten a boar yet and are considering attempting artificial insemination.  AI is supposed to be fairly easy (and, yes, there is a you-tube video on that) and is far less expensive than keeping a boar.  The challenge is detecting her estrus cycle, so everything can be timed just right.  We have been checking her for the signs of estrus twice a day, and, possibly, we saw some of the signs yesterday.  Possibly.

It is also possible that the goats will be kidding soon.  Their udders have started filling out, so it shouldn't be long now.  In fact, they will probably all give birth right after we leave town for a short vacation later this week.  In any event, hopefully all will go smoothly.

Spring is definitely around the corner.  The daffodils are just past the peak of their bloom, and the forsythia are just starting.  Things are starting to green up, so the animals will soon have lots of fresh forage.

Annie

Introducing Twisted Oak Farm

Last fall, we had a small gathering of family and friends to celebrate the new developments that year on our 10 acres across the road as well as the naming of the land, Twisted Oak Farm.  We all walked the property, visited with the animals, feasted on Fred's stew, and enjoyed a big fire in the new fire pit we made by the goat barn.  Since then, we have built a shelter for hay bales and firewood as well as a new pig hut.

Pig hut, goat barn, and shelter

Our goat herd currently consists of 4 goats: the buck and 3 does.  We slaughtered all of last year's Spanish kids for meat, since they turned out to be so small.  However, the does are definitely starting to show, so we should have a new batch of kids in the coming months, which will hopefully grow better.  We also hope that we will be past any further crazy cold spells by then.

Predators have taken a huge toll on our chicken flock.  We are down to only 6 hens.  We have trapped a couple large coons and 2 small possums, since the beginning of November (when we had 17 hens and a rooster).  We had been making the coop harder and harder to get into, but the last coon kept eluding the trap and eventually getting through our defenses.  Finally, a larger and sturdier trap caught it.  Right now, we are not planning to rebuild The Haven flock.  Instead, we may start raising meat birds at Twisted Oak and eventually start a new laying flock there as well.  Xander, our livestock guardian dog, appears to be doing well with the goats.  We shall see how he does with other animals.

Portable pig hut

As the mention of the pig hut indicates, we are gearing up for more pigs.  Jeff raised 2 feeder pigs a couple of years ago, but this time, we are going to try our hand at breeding pigs.  We hope the pigs will help with land clearing and plowing gardening space.  We aim to develop a rotational grazing system with the pigs, goats,and chickens to maximize the health and productivity of the land and the animals and minimize the amount of commercial feed needed for the animals.  Fred is taking part in this new pig adventure too. He and Jeff built the pig hut, which is portable, so it can be moved to different pastures as needed.  Jeff is excited about raising Berkshire pigs, which have been referred to as the Kobe beef of pigs.

Composting tumbler

I have started lots of seed for this year's garden, and all of the garlic I planted last fall appears to be doing well.  We purchased a deeply discounted greenhouse kit, which we have set up in the clearing behind our blueberry bushes at The Haven.  It will help with getting young plants started plus other gardening needs.  Jeff also built us a composting tumbler, which will hopefully produce compost more quickly and easily.  We found a good local source of used food grade metal barrels for making composting tumblers plus other things such as a smoker.

We acquired 6 apple trees last weekend.  Our first fruit trees!  We'd visited a local apple orchard about a month ago and got a great tour from the very nice and knowledgeable owner.  We chose a variety of southern heirlooms with which to start: Gold Rush, King David, Liberty, Roxbury Russett, Lowry, and Black Twig.  We prefer tart apples, but we got a couple of sweet ones too.  We also took into consideration time of maturity and natural disease resistance.  They are planted along the middle of the southern property line of Twisted Oak.  At the recommendation of the grower, we will pick the blossoms for the next 2 years, making our first harvest the year Raine turns 5.

Yule log burning

Jeff thoroughly enjoyed the cob building workshop he attended in TN last fall.  He is eager to start experimenting with cob here, using our soil.  As soon as the weather gets warm enough, we will build a cob oven at The Haven, as our first cob project.  The whole family is registered to attend a cob building workshop in KY, during the first week of May.  Even Raine will get involved as part of the associated kids' camp.

Jeff and I are very happy about starting to develop our land, and we are excited about all of our plans, especially building our own home.  Of course, there is some apprehension too, as we wonder about having the time and resources to accomplish everything and managing the other challenges we might face.  However, we will do our best to figure it all out as we go along.  Furthermore, I suppose when we are finally able to start living on our land - at least in some capacity, we will rename this blog again.  :-)