It's that time for pigs and pumpkins

Each fall, the delicacy fruit is shared with the beasts, and since the mama pigs need all the energy they can get until weaning time, they are first in line for this year's crop of pumpkins. But fear not, the Misfits will get their share too and I will take photos of the event. Our crop this year would have been better but a certain short, wily coyote type goat squeezed under the fence and ate a bunch of buds. Okay, it was Little Goose, followed by his always partner in crime, Little Moose.

I encourage eating with mouths closed, but as you can see from the movie, nobody ever listens to me around here.

A day with pigs

I have been letting Earnest in with Doris and Pearly June for days at a time, and also they have been allowed out into a middle pasture for grass eating, which they of course love. By the time I bring them back to their hut at night, they fall to the ground in their piggie collapse and fall off to piggie sleep.

Doris and June are over a year now, as is Earnest. I've been tracking their cycles so hope to have piglets sometime this year, but it's a crap shoot the way I'm choosing to do it. I like having Earnest in the barnyard-he is just such fun and agreeable, and Marcella is so close to him, so for now I let him go back and forth. He seems to like his pig dates, but also likes his barnyard. When the girls aren't in heat, they pretty much ignore the poor fellow, try as he does to impress them, but they push him off, or snap at him in pig language.

The other afternoon after a day of grass eating with his ladies, Ernest was napping by the pig hut. I called him to come back to the barnyard. He always responds and runs to me. But he just kept napping. He was happy there. I felt like the mom who must witness her five year old say for the first time,

"Mom, please don't walk me to the bus today, I can do it my own self."

Pigs working 9-5

I bet you all think it's easy to get pigs to rototill up the vegetable area. It is, but it is not always that easy to get them to stay there, and focus on one job–they get a whiff of grass or a sight of a field in the distance, and woops! There they go, under the pasture fence.

That is the first lesson you learn about pigs-they need a board on the bottom of the areas you plan to contain them in. Oh sure, they might last in a good fenced area for....a day...

{Insert laugh track from Dirt Farmers and all Misfits}.

I was also told that pigs won't necessarily root if they have grass.

{Insert laugh track from Dirt Farmers and all Misfits}.

My very experienced pig friend...yes, I do really have "pig friends"....recently shared with me that she has sows and gilts that root, no matter what, and others that don't. So after I let Doris and June into a small paddock near the orchard for some grass, I was shocked...

SHOCKED! {Insert laugh track from Dirt Farmers and all Misfits}....

to see that Doris and tilled half of it up.

Oh well, it needs reseeding and grading anyway. Thanks, so much, Doris.

So yesterday, I went on my mission, Dirt Farmer in tow since he was under the weather. I bought pressure treated 10' boards to secure on the bottom of our vegetable area so Doris and June could really do some work for me. I worked all morning on it, and at precisely 2:15 west coast time, I let them in to their new work area. At this writing, there have been no escapes. But the day is somewhat young. Rather than measure and cut the boards precisely, as I had first planned, I did it my way. Why cut and measure when you can get the job done faster? And besides, this is just a dry run to see if it works. If you walk around the farm it's pretty obvious which areas I have worked on, versus where Martyn has worked.

I sat with the pigs for awhile when they first entered the garden and observed them-the only way to get to know any creature-sit and watch, and keep your mouth shut. Doris appears to again be the rooter, but in the garden I was all for it. The paths between beds had become grass ridden and even though we put weed barrier down, then hog fuel some years ago, it needed more, and it got way ahead of me. So I was happy to see her literally pulling up the long roots of the very tough grass in the paths. OKAY, so she's taking the barrier too, it needed to come up to get the grass out.

I was very pleased with myself and Martyn came by and siad it looked pretty good. But if there had been a bubble over his head like a cartoon, it might have thought,

"Oh well, at least she got it done and I don't have to do it."

Yea, kind of raggedy, but my girls are working it.

The farm as church

I was not raised with a church background, or a religion. Years later when I was in my thirties or older, my mother said she wondered if they did us a disservice by not giving us some sort of organized Sunday church going. I told her that it allowed me to figure it out on my own as an adult, and I didn't have to peel off the many layers and dogmas many churches prescribe too. I went to church for a short time at certain periods in my life, often to hear the choirs and I did enjoy the spirituality of certain buildings and communing of people.

But nature is one of my churches. So is the farm. I know it is Passover today and we-me and the Misfits and the other worker bees of the farm-are all busy today putting our spirits into action here on the farm. As is Martyn, of course.

I have new gates up which I'm pleased with-thanks to the Dirt Farmer- so now I have the pigs tilling up some of the vegetable area. But now that the ground is drier, they seem to prefer eating grass. The first weeks of warm weather I let Doris and June graze, but they rototilled soft areas of grass looking for worms. I was worried I had trained them to only till since they spent the winter in a dry paddock being fed hay and feed. But yesterday I spent the majority of the day with them as I tidied up the veggie area, getting ready for planting. And they mainly ate grass and weeds. If I created a wet spot for them, they did a bit of rototilling. I am still learning the language of Pig and it is very interesting.

Yesterday was also a big day for Earnest as he spent it with Doris and June. I have been on the fence about breeding them. It was my intention when I bought them all. We are self sustaining and while you can rest assured that Doris, June and Earnest will always be part of Apifera, some of the offspring will be sold, and a couple will grace our table. I know this rankles some of the rescue world-a world I separate myself from and stay out of discussion with online-but Martyn and I choose to eat pork and chicken and some lamb [lamb is anything up to a year-so if you are a zealot vegan, please do not write snarky comments about us killing baby lambs-they will be deleted anyway as I don't tolerate dogma from anyone of any agenda]. Anyway, the pig behavior is so different than sheep, and with pigs the fencing must include a bottom board, or the pigs will lift the fences with their noses. One of the reasons many small farms are going to the smaller pig breeds is their manners and maintenance are much easier-on fences and farm. Having experienced the power of Big Pig-who we tried to adopt so she could retire here- I know how important good pig fence is.

SO I wanted to see how Earnest's weight and height was compared to the gilts [an unbred girl pig]. Earnest is a Kunekune and will get to be about 200-250#. The girls are Guinea Hogs and currently a tish taller. The Kunes are a wonderful, docile breed. So are the Guineas, but from what I read and hear, the Kune is more docile. Earnest is not pushy at all and still easy to handle.

So, in they went. And little Earnest began his job with gusto. I will keep this post PG rated, but let me assure you Earnest gave it the college try-for hours. I was there the entire time and even made him take time outs with mud baths. From what I can see, I'm not sure he is quite tall enough to make full contact-but we'll find out. I was pleased to see he is catching up in size, as I know the Kunes grow a bit slower.

Today I have the smaller Misfits in the veggie bed, and Old Rudy is in the back yard off my back studio-usually shut down to animals-but Rudy is helping me clean up brush and grass there. The sheep are grazing, Aldo is watching, Scooby is napping..oops, well, we all must rest during our work. The donkeys are busy with brush and eating too. Chickens are grooming the flies off water buckets. Marcella is trying to help with everything.

So church today-with a big top blue sky and warm temperatures-has been glorious.

Autumnal signs and a game of pig ball

Martyn and I have somehow created a mystery squash. It came up in our vegetable area, not the squash/pumpkin patch. We think some of the compost we carried into the veggie garden this spring must have brought this new creation on. It appears to be a spaghetti squash-pumpkin? They aren't quite ripe but I offered one to Doris and Pearl who vigorously challenged each other to a game of Pig Ball, a favorite autumnal pastime. Within about five minutes they had it opened and eaten.

Pony shelters, pig naps and life as the young elder

Martyn is busy, busy, busy building the pony structure for Old Mama Sugee and Wilma. We should have a roof up today and a structure so next weekend I can put up cedar siding. I have a lot to do in the paddock area too like putting in new gates and posts, making a culvert for winter water flow and improving existing fencing. I think we will also do a rain collection gutter on the hut too. Sugee and Wilma will then have nose neighbors - Boone and the rams, and Doris and Pearl on the other side. Eventually they can mingle with goats I think, as long as Sugee is secure. They get along with everyone it appears.

It's hot, but tomorrow should cool down. Martyn amazes me how he just works in it, without complaint. I'm so fortunate to have a friend and husband like this! The farm is a source of continuing projects, and of course I can't build much on my own which Martyn points out is a blessing! I did manage to secure the back gate on the hay barn so that Boone and the rams can't snack on the hay anymore. Rascals.

I feel quiet, but in a nice way. I told Martyn I feel like I have stepped up a level in age this week. I feel like a young elder now, not only in heart, mind and attitude, but also in appearance. And it's all fine. I've lost my mother and two aunts in the last four months with only one remaining uncle left. I am taking my place on the great mandala I guess. One thing I've noticed is a new and improved distaste for other people's dramas - especially those who always seem to be in one calamity or another. There is enough healthy excitement every time I go to feed the barnyard that I am shunning anyone or anything that brings uneccessary personal stuff into my life. Martyn and I talked about that last night - we don't need it, or want it, or deserve it. We just want to help our farm, do good work in our businesses, and enjoy our days and nights together. As usual, he treated me to a wonderful meal last night with lantern light and stars joining us.

I have to start the autumnal chore of trimming feet and giving shots to the sheep and goats. I get slower every season I think. I'll wander on out after I write this and do the rams and the goats. Maybe I'll do the sheep tomorrow, or next weekend. But first I took time to sit with the pigs for a little bit and watched them nap, and then sat and watched Martyn work on the new hut. He's like a goat on a ladder, up and down with ease. I thought of all the projects my parents worked on together, and Dick and Alice - or so many of our now young farm friends. When you work on a house together, or on land and a farm, you are part of it. It never leaves you, and vice versa. I won't fast forward to a day when we can't be here. But if we do have to leave someday, our blood and that of any creature living here others is here forever.

Doris hard at work

Pigs, a Pearl and a Doris

I'd like you to meet Pearl and Doris. These two ladies are three months old and will live long and happy lives here, even after retirement. I will breed them in the spring so they will be working gals here at the farm - Working gals with fields to roam, a mini swimming pool, mud holes to lie in and plenty of belly rubs.

They are guinea hogs, a heritage breed that is becoming more popular due to their smaller size and wonderful temperament. When full grown they top out at around 150# for females, about the size of 2.5 Rosies.

They are so different than Rosie, who will always remain our little Grumpolopogus, a princess in her own realm. These two gals follow you around and wherever you stop, they stop, and flop. Pig people know the "flop"! I was working on some fencing for them and it was all I could do to keep them out of the way so I could hammer nails in the fence posts.

You can not resist sitting with them and rubbing their bellies and ears. I'm very happy to have them here, they have already brought me such delight. Rosie has met them through the fence, but Rosie is a non pig gal, I think. These pigs will get along with anyone, but at this point I am keeping them separate.

Pearl [the one with white feet] acts more like the little sister [they are litter mates], and Doris is slightly bigger and bossier. I hope to get a good photo of them in their make shift pool, it is very amusing.

I think these two will end up in a lot of future art and story!