Saturday, March 7, 2015
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Sunday Morning Shearing
Today is Shearing Day. There's no one on the Island that does sheep shearing(that I'm aware of anyway) so its a matter of getting on the list of who ever is making the trek over to shear Quadra's sheep population. This year I got on Garrett's list and he did a great job even though the sheep's wool was damp despite me having locked them in the barn for the last week. He apologized saying that it wasn't his greatest work and I told him that they were missing their winter coats but still had all their parts so I was happy.
Zeus was first to be shorn. He was happy to get out of the barn and into the grass when it was all said and done.
Bubby getting her first shave
Lavender waiting her turn
Fairah kept Lamb Stew company while mama was being shorn.
Lavender was very uncooperative this year
Zeus was first to be shorn. He was happy to get out of the barn and into the grass when it was all said and done.
Bubby getting her first shave
Lavender waiting her turn
Fairah kept Lamb Stew company while mama was being shorn.
Lavender was very uncooperative this year
$65 later, the sheep are shorn and their hooves are trimmed. Not a bad deal at all.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Lamb Stew
The long awaited lamb arrived today between the hours of 10:40am and 3:10 pm. Of course. Because I wasn't home during that time. Lavender probably heard my car leave the driveway and said, OK GO!
I had been checking her daily for the last week knowing that it would be any time. Last night she was running circles in her pen and the ram, Zeus was being an ass; butting her and herding her. I enlisted the kids to help me and we moved the 17 young chickens from the stall next door and put them in the coop with the big birds. Then with lots of encouraging(and threatening) we managed to get Zeus through the gate into the other stall by himself. I put down fresh wood chips and told Lavender she could lamb any time. So she did.
She's a normal scrawny little ewe lamb with the tiniest little curls of wool. It won't be long before she's fat and frisky and running around the field with her mama and her half sister, Bubby.
I had been checking her daily for the last week knowing that it would be any time. Last night she was running circles in her pen and the ram, Zeus was being an ass; butting her and herding her. I enlisted the kids to help me and we moved the 17 young chickens from the stall next door and put them in the coop with the big birds. Then with lots of encouraging(and threatening) we managed to get Zeus through the gate into the other stall by himself. I put down fresh wood chips and told Lavender she could lamb any time. So she did.
She's a normal scrawny little ewe lamb with the tiniest little curls of wool. It won't be long before she's fat and frisky and running around the field with her mama and her half sister, Bubby.
The kids are already begging me not to turn her into lamb chops in the Fall. I have reminded them that even though she's adorable and little now she will be fat and dorky looking like her half sister by the Fall and we're a food farm not a petting farm. Okay, we're a petting farm too. Who am I trying to fool? But someone has to earn their keep around here because the dogs and the cat certainly are not!
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
I used to blog...sortof
I literally have no idea where the winter has gone. All of the sudden it feels like spring and I'm supposed to be doing spring things but I haven't done the things I'd planned to do through the winter. I think life must go faster in your 30's.
So anyway. Its ridiculous that I haven't blogged since I butchered the pigs. The pork is delicious by the way! Here are young chickens I hatched in November. I had 23 eggs sitting on my counter that I couldn't be bothered to wash and put in the fridge so I put them in the incubator instead. 17 of them hatched. My roosters are earning their keep. Unfortunately, most of these birds are roosters. Which means I will have some chicken in my freezer in another month or so.
Last weekend I'd planned a brunch for friends at my house. I took out this 12 pound bag of pork to grind up for sausage patties.
The first Australorp to hatch in a batch of 39 eggs the kids and I drove down to Duncan to acquire.
Saturday night(the night before the big brunch) one of my kids woke up with the flu. She barfed all over her dog. Dexter wasn't quite sure what to do with himself covered in barf. I gave him a bath and he felt somewhat better.
More chicks hatching!
Today is a day off from work. I decided that rather than 'waste' it I needed to get some stuff done. Its not very often I actually accomplish what I write on my list but I did it and more. My house is still a pig sty but my list didn't say anything about cleaning the house.
Fuzzy butts on their way out to their cozy new home in the barn.
So anyway. Its ridiculous that I haven't blogged since I butchered the pigs. The pork is delicious by the way! Here are young chickens I hatched in November. I had 23 eggs sitting on my counter that I couldn't be bothered to wash and put in the fridge so I put them in the incubator instead. 17 of them hatched. My roosters are earning their keep. Unfortunately, most of these birds are roosters. Which means I will have some chicken in my freezer in another month or so.
Last weekend I'd planned a brunch for friends at my house. I took out this 12 pound bag of pork to grind up for sausage patties.
The first Australorp to hatch in a batch of 39 eggs the kids and I drove down to Duncan to acquire.
Saturday night(the night before the big brunch) one of my kids woke up with the flu. She barfed all over her dog. Dexter wasn't quite sure what to do with himself covered in barf. I gave him a bath and he felt somewhat better.
More chicks hatching!
Today is a day off from work. I decided that rather than 'waste' it I needed to get some stuff done. Its not very often I actually accomplish what I write on my list but I did it and more. My house is still a pig sty but my list didn't say anything about cleaning the house.
Fuzzy butts on their way out to their cozy new home in the barn.
So I guess that's about it. My next big project is fencing a chunk of the yard for the chickens to have safe free ranging away from the dogs when I'm not home. One day all the things will be done.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Bringin' home the bacon
The long awaited Thanksgiving finally arrived this passed weekend. Why was it long awaited you ask? Beyond the fact that it is usually filled to brimming with roast turkey and all the fixings, pumpkin pie and many reasons to be thankful? Well for me, it was the agreed on weekend in which my three pigs that I have been growing with pasture, grain and everything I could scrounge from my and my parents' compost were set to meet their maker. Their last breakfast on Sunday was a lovely blend of whole wheat, whole barley and Granny Smith apples my mom had picked from her tree for the occasion.
Sunday night after a big turkey dinner that I cooked for the family, I locked the three little pigs in the barn where they made their last nest of wood chips and hay and snuggled into their pig pile. At this point, I felt kinda sad. They're awfully cute when they're pig piling. Even when they fart. I said thank you to them for the meat they would provide for my kids and me and closed up the barn knowing they might be dispatched before I got home from work the next day.
I got home from work on Monday and Ryan, the super awesome!! guy who agreed to slaughter and butcher my pigs for me, had already shot and bled the first pig. I sent the kids in the house, threw on my coveralls and went out to help while the kids watched from the window. He shot and bled the second pig shortly after that and I helped him and another friend Dan drag her out of the field. Pig #3 wasn't interested in cooperating. He smelled the blood, he'd heard the shots and unfortunately saw his sisters through the fence. I won't go into details over his dispatch. It wasn't pleasant for myself or Ryan and certainly not the boy pig either. Sometimes things just don't go as planned and this was one of those times.
Shortly thereafter, all three pigs were dragged into the barn and Ryan set to work skinning. We decided on skinning rather than the scalding and scraping of the hide because for 1.) I had nothing in which to bathe a 300ish pound pig in hot water and 2.) its a helluva lot of work! Skinning was labor intensive as the pigs were lean and their skin was thin but less work than scalding and scraping.
Indi guarding the boy pig from the other dogs(If I can't eat it, no one can!) while Ryan skins pig #2.
Pig #1 hung, skinned and gutted. Ryan finishing the skinning of pig #2.
Fairah watched the whole process from the shooting of pig #2, and the skinning and gutting of the first two before she got too cold and went inside to warm up. My aim has been to raise kids who aren't afraid to humanely raise animals for food and if they still get excited about the meat on the table after watching 50 lbs of guts come out of a pig into a wheel barrow then I must have succeeded in that aim! Her and I dug around in the guts to identify all the organs and made guesses as to how they compare in size to our organs. Science at its finest, people!
All three pigs hung, washed and ready to be covered for the night.
Yesterday afternoon was butchering day! Ryan was back and brought Ken and they quickly went to work cutting bellies, roasts, chops, ribs and everything in between!
The dogs helped themselves to the bone bucket dragging out more than they could possibly chew on.
Only the mother/son team can tolerate being near each other with their treats. Indi turned into a snarling, growling, teeth baring, hackled beast chasing off dogs and chickens alike.
The butchering team cutting chops and ribs and stir fry meat. I was super helpful with taping the packages and writing on them! Yay me!
Part of pig #1 in the freezer. Yum yum yum! Didn't I do a good job with taping and writing??!
Sunday night after a big turkey dinner that I cooked for the family, I locked the three little pigs in the barn where they made their last nest of wood chips and hay and snuggled into their pig pile. At this point, I felt kinda sad. They're awfully cute when they're pig piling. Even when they fart. I said thank you to them for the meat they would provide for my kids and me and closed up the barn knowing they might be dispatched before I got home from work the next day.
I got home from work on Monday and Ryan, the super awesome!! guy who agreed to slaughter and butcher my pigs for me, had already shot and bled the first pig. I sent the kids in the house, threw on my coveralls and went out to help while the kids watched from the window. He shot and bled the second pig shortly after that and I helped him and another friend Dan drag her out of the field. Pig #3 wasn't interested in cooperating. He smelled the blood, he'd heard the shots and unfortunately saw his sisters through the fence. I won't go into details over his dispatch. It wasn't pleasant for myself or Ryan and certainly not the boy pig either. Sometimes things just don't go as planned and this was one of those times.
Shortly thereafter, all three pigs were dragged into the barn and Ryan set to work skinning. We decided on skinning rather than the scalding and scraping of the hide because for 1.) I had nothing in which to bathe a 300ish pound pig in hot water and 2.) its a helluva lot of work! Skinning was labor intensive as the pigs were lean and their skin was thin but less work than scalding and scraping.
Indi guarding the boy pig from the other dogs(If I can't eat it, no one can!) while Ryan skins pig #2.
Pig #1 hung, skinned and gutted. Ryan finishing the skinning of pig #2.
Fairah watched the whole process from the shooting of pig #2, and the skinning and gutting of the first two before she got too cold and went inside to warm up. My aim has been to raise kids who aren't afraid to humanely raise animals for food and if they still get excited about the meat on the table after watching 50 lbs of guts come out of a pig into a wheel barrow then I must have succeeded in that aim! Her and I dug around in the guts to identify all the organs and made guesses as to how they compare in size to our organs. Science at its finest, people!
All three pigs hung, washed and ready to be covered for the night.
Yesterday afternoon was butchering day! Ryan was back and brought Ken and they quickly went to work cutting bellies, roasts, chops, ribs and everything in between!
The dogs helped themselves to the bone bucket dragging out more than they could possibly chew on.
Only the mother/son team can tolerate being near each other with their treats. Indi turned into a snarling, growling, teeth baring, hackled beast chasing off dogs and chickens alike.
The butchering team cutting chops and ribs and stir fry meat. I was super helpful with taping the packages and writing on them! Yay me!
Part of pig #1 in the freezer. Yum yum yum! Didn't I do a good job with taping and writing??!
So there it is from start to finish. We have yet to try some but I think the fruits of our labor will be on the menu tomorrow night! And after all the complaining I did(which was totally justified) I think I'll definitely raise pigs again next year. Ryan is already on board and we are both brainstorming to come up with better more efficient ways to process. Although I took a backseat role this year in the processing end of things; observing and learning, I definitely plan to get up to my elbows in guts next year!
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Goats: Day 4
Today they broke out of their stall in the barn and discovered the hay loft.
And had a very nice time tap dancing on top of my tool cabinet.
And had a very nice time tap dancing on top of my tool cabinet.
At least I don't have to worry about them trying to eat me but I'm going to give myself a time out as punishment for getting goats.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Welcome to crazy town
Lets talk about goats, shall we? As you may or may not know, we now have a pair of goats to add to our flock of miscellaneous farm creatures. I guess I figured that I had conquered pigs(erm...sortuv...)
so why not move onto goats? Seems reasonable? *Insert CRAZY here*
Rewind to two days ago. Awww they're so cute!!!
Then yesterday was a shit day. I worked, then came home and got that phone call. You know, the we-regret-to-inform-you-that-you-didn't-get-the-job phone call. I really wanted the job! I'm usually a total pessimist when it comes to stuff like that. Oh, you know, I'm probably not qualified anyway. But everyone kept telling me they couldn't imagine a better person for the job! And how I was totally going to get it. So, when I didn't get the job, it sucked. A lot. I maybe cried. I maybe tried to seek support from someone who no longer supports me. I maybe had to have a friend peel me off the ceiling a bit. Shit. Day.
Today was Town Day. Eyes still puffy from maybe crying yesterday-- Lets buy school supplies and shoes for me and go to Costco and visit the in-laws...erm no scratch that, forget visiting the effing in-laws! And do some more grocery shopping and visit my brother and then come home and have a hot dog roast!!
Can you see the excitement on their faces? Super excited. Blarg.
Then I discovered the pigs had busted the electric wire. The goats were out with the sheep but their gate was still closed. And a certain boy child was yelling at me to rescue the cat from the other side of the fence. I spent the next 20 minutes fixing the electric fence with a pitch fork at the ready in case the pigs decided to turn on the hand that feeds them and leave my children motherless. Then chased the goats in circles while they jumped over five foot high gates and the sheep moved in to eat the goats' hay. I maybe swore a lot. And maybe considered loading the goats into my car and returning them to where they came from. Sometimes I take on too much. Or maybe it just seems like too much when everything seems like too much. Maybe I have some booze in my tea while I type this post.
I have to keep reminding myself that this is the life I've created. There will be shit days and then there will be awesome days like the day I created the rad fire pit area you see in the picture above. Its crazy but its fun and exciting too. And if all else fails, I know this much is true: the pigs will be bacon at the end of the month so I won't have to deal with their shenanigans for much longer!
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