Pigs for Christmas

December 19th was a night for many "Firsts" at our place. First of all, it was the coldest night this winter at 27 degrees. It was our first litter of pigs to be born at our farm, my first time to assist in the live birth of a mammal other than a human being, my first time to use dental floss as an umbilical cord clamp, the first piglet was breech (and the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th were also!!) and it was the first time that John and I voluntarily stayed awake past 9:00 since our kids were born! Yes, it was a very long night.

Peaches was very restless all day, not napping most of the day as she did in the latter stages of her pregnancy. Instead, she walked around most of the day and got up and down alot. Then about 6:00 in the evening, she began intensely building her nest. Scratching all the hay into a pile in her farrowing hut. She was panting and grunting regularly for about 3 hours until her first piglet was born at 9:35pm. It was a long time coming for that first little guy. He was presented breech. Between the 1st and 2nd piglets she was up and very curious. She finally settled down about an hour or so later for piglet number 2 who was thankfully a facial presentation and she seemed to have no difficulty with that piglet. Unfortunately, pigs 3,4,5 and 7 were also breech and were each difficult in delivering. The whole process was over around 3:30 am and I turned in for the night. Peaches seemed pretty tired out but curious and attentive to her litter. After all was well, John finally called it quits at about 5:30am and came in for some shut eye.

Day two was a good one also. After a difficult farrowing process, we were very pleased and reassured to watch Peaches start eating again, moving around well and portraying excellent mothering skills. So far the piglets, 4 males and 3 females, are all healthy and nursing well.

Peaches and Grits...

Those two don't normally go together, but when it comes to our "Peaches" and the new puppy "Grits" they go great together. Here's a couple snapshots of Peaches trying to nap while Grits is ready to play. It is amazing how gentle these pigs are. I am convinced that one of us could lay down with her and she would react the same way. The only problem would be if she were to roll over and squish us. This picture was taken back in November. She is rather large these days, about 350 lbs now that she is ready to deliver her first litter.

Where to Farrow?

Peaches is due to farrow in the next few weeks. So because the December farrowing date demands the need for heat lamps we have decided to build our farrowing pen and hut near the house. We think the east side of the garden has made a perfect fit for this purpose. John cleared the area, put down some bermuda, fescue and rye grasses and then we fenced the area using some of the welded wire fence left over from the garden and some logs for somewhat of a different sort of wattle fence. Then came the farrowing hut. We have contemplated this structure for quite a while. We finally decided on an a modified "hogtel" A-frame hut. The modifications from the "hogtel" are only a few: tall enough for us to stand up in comfortably if needed, 2 dutch doors, and a safety guard rail for the piglets.

Is the Third Time a Charm?

Let's hope so! As many of you know, we had a pond dug last year when the guys were here clearing the back pasture. Well, it has been a year now and we are just now able to keep water in the thing! It turns out that the bottom of the pond is just one giant rock vein....Remember the Roopville / Rockville blog post. This whole town is just one huge rock! Our pond has had a leak in it since day one. The first time we filled it up (pumped water from the creek) it took us almost 2 months. We noticed a leak on the other side of the dam at about halfway full. We soon realized that the leak was just too much to keep up with. We drained the pond. After much research about pond sealing, John ordered 2 tons of bentonite clay to put down on the bottom of the pond. He put an inch and a half layer down and then covered it with the dirt. This time the pond filled up in about 3 weeks. Wow! Big improvement! But, the leak was still pretty significant once the water reached a certain level. So, we drained it again. This time he used the middle buster and broke up lots of rocks that were near the surface, mixed in some red clay from near one of the banks and then just packed it over and over again with the tractor. This time the pond filled up in about one week!! It still has a small leak on the other side of the dam but it is manageable. We only turn the creek pump on one day a week to fill it back up. We are hoping that it will eventually seal off and we can put some fish in the spring. My "little farmers" are just itching to catch some catfish!!

Plump Peaches

Here is a quick look at our "Peaches." She is plumping up quite nicely... only about 3 1/2 weeks to go!

Chicken Tractor

Here is a look at our chicken tractor that we are using to raise a batch of 50 New Hampshire Red straigt run chicks for pastured poultry. The New Hampshire Reds are heritage breed selected more for meat production than egg production. They are medium heavy in weight, dress a nice, plump carcass as either a broiler or a roaster. They are also known for early maturity, early feathering and rapid growth. The standard weights are as follows: Cock-8-1/2 pounds; hen-6-1/2 pounds; cockerel-7-1/2 pounds; pullet-5-1/2 pounds.

John built this a couple of months ago and the chicks started living in it at about 4 weeks of age. They are staying in the front pasture following the pigs in rotation. This design helps keep the pastures clean and helps reduce feed costs as well. Hopefully we will have many of the broilers in the freezer come mid-January. Yum!

"GRITS"....Our New Addition to the Farm

Meets Grits!! Grits is our newest farm member. She is a Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog. What a sweet heart she is. She lives down in the front pasture with the pigs to hopefully ward off any predators. It is amazing that she is actually doing her job at such a young age (12 weeks now). One night John went out in the pasture after dark and she growled at him until she knew who it was. Good girl!! She actually hangs out with the pigs... everywhere they are she is there, too! She sleeps in the "Hogtel" with Peaches. Let's keep our fingers crossed that she will keep to her good habits and not wander off.

There's More Than One Way to Kill a Chicken

What a sad farming lesson we learned this late summer! For our first attempt at hatching our own chicks, we used the standard still air incubator with an egg turner and the 2 enclosed plastic thermometers. However, after seemingly constant monitoring of temperature and water levels, we only had moderate success; hatching 8 of 17 fertile eggs. Because there were several more live chicks that died after the first pip, we "conducted a thorough investigation" to see exactly what went wrong. The only conclusion we could come up with was that it was a hostile hatch environment for the little guys. As many standard incubators instruct, we removed the egg turner at the 18 day mark and placed the eggs on the wire screen. After the chicks hatched, they became living bowling balls for the other live chicks who were trapped in the shells waiting to come out. We feel like once the pip was made and then the egg was "bowled" over that the chick drowned before it actually hatched.

So for our next attempt, we had 30 fertile eggs. We moved the incubator down into the basement in a room that has Zero traffic flow (which we later found out that also meant Zero air flow), we purchased a new temperature and humidity probe (that we later found to be inaccurate by a few degrees as well as reading humidity improperly)and we were ever so cautious to place the eggs in a clean egg carton at the 18 day mark to make sure they would have enough stability while the others were hatching. We just knew we would improve our hatch rate... wouldn't you think so? Well, not at all. We went from bad to worse this time... NOT ONE EGG HATCHED! So we waited, and waited and waited. At about day 23 or 24 we finally decided to go in and see what was going on in there. We cracked open all the eggs and found a couple that died early in development, and a couple that died mid-way through development, but the majority were still alive... just wet and very slimy. Of course none of the chicks survived. What a sad day! This time we faulted the poor air circulation and poor temp and humidity readings. So much for a fancy Wal-mart temp probe!!

In order to reach our goal of getting some birds in the freezer before next year, we just decided to order some day old baby chicks from the hatchery. We chose the heritage New Hampshire Reds. Maybe next year we can fine tune this hatching business and hatch some Buff Orpington / New Hampshire crosses. Stay tuned...

Pasture Rotations

Here's a look at our pasture rotation plan for the front pasture (click image to enlarge). Now that we "know" the pigs and their true grazing ability, etc. we have decided to go to a rotational grazing plan to ensure the pigs are kept on clean pasture and are consuming the most that we can offer them. In the fall they will also graze the woods to glean the fallen acorns. We worked most of our weekend transforming the front pasture, moving pigs and planting our fruit trees. Hopefully after a few litters of pigs we can move on to the back pasture and fence it as well. But for now, the front is working well for them.

Just had to...

I just had to post my babies holding "their" babies!




The chicks are doing well and they are beginning to feather out a bit.

Eggciting News!!!

Here's a look at one of our new baby peeps hatching! It is hard to describe this experience, so I will let the video speak for me... enjoy!

The Enemy

This growing season, we have found many of these ruthless thugs in our garden. Some are obvious, flamboyant intruders. Some are well disguised, greedy giants. These guys are destroyers... seeking the tender leaves and fruit upon which to feast. This week, I have been a little slack in tending to the garden while John was out of town. Yesterday, I went to the garden to pick some tomatoes and was astounded when I saw the damage to one of our Brandywine tomato plants. I noticed the large holes in the fruit and the top of the plant completely leafless! I sat there looking for the culprit for quite sometime. Then, suddenly I saw it... very well disguised along one stem. There was no way I was touching this thing; so, as I sat and waited for John to come kill it, I watched him work. The speed at which this guy can munch away a leaf is amazing. In about 1 minute, he proceeded to eat about an inch off of a leaf! John had a tough time removing it from the plant as it had all of his feet wrapped around the stem.

Many of my farm experiences have reminded me of life lessons. This time I am reminded that just as we fight enemies that destroy life in the garden, we are fighting a truly wicked adversary that wars against us each and every day we live on this earth. I don't think it is a coincidence that my online devotional email for yesterday was about our adversary, the devil. The bible tells us in Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against ... the rulers of the darkness of this world." He is the Master of Deception as many times he blends in perfectly, just quietly working behind the scenes. Or, he may portray himself as flamboyant, tempting and beautiful. He will try to convince you that he isn't real, or that he is not actively seeking to destroy. But make no mistake, he is out to rob you of joy and fruit in your life.

The major lesson I have learned with this experience is that it takes a daily walk in the garden to inspect the state of the crops to keep the enemy out. This is so true for our spiritual lives as well. It takes a daily walk with my Lord to evaluate my heart, my life and my circumstances to be on guard for the enemy. Pride, selfishness and greed can wrap around us and be disguised as our prerogative and seem like a harmless part of life. But in the end that life will have no fruit! No joy! I pray that I will be diligent in my daily walk with my Lord in the garden of my heart and be on guard for the enemy.

All of this to say, I am thankful for yet another lesson from this farm life I am living.

Smooch!

Boss sends kisses!
Sorry, I just love to photo these guys.

"But Mommy, I HATE Sheep Poop!"

These are the words of protest Emma Katherine whimpered when she saw this pile of sheep manure in "HER" garden. She was truly so sad that daddy and the boys put poop in her garden. Hopefully soon, she will understand that this poop will make her garden grow next year.

Pear Shower

Today we shook the pear tree!!! What fun it was to collect the fruit with the kids. As I think about the pears showering down from that tree, I am reminded of the many blessings my God has showered down upon me and my family. It is my prayer that I will turn those blessings into praise and with His guidance, bless others in return! The following scripture encourages me to seek the Lord in the unplowed areas of my life. I challenge you to do the same.

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
Hosea 10:11-13

Out of Season Surprise

Late last winter I attempted a row of carrots in our hot box. Let's just leave it at that.

(skip several months...)

Blake loves to eat raw carrots... do not give him a cooked carrot. So for his first day of kindergarten, I packed him some fresh picked carrots as part of his lunch! I was really surprised when I went out to the weed infested hot box and found these orange sweeties!

This fall we plan to have another attempt at the carrots. John is with me on this attempt so, I have much higher hopes for a healthy crop!

Tomatoes Anyone?

The tomatoes are in.... and still coming! This is a picture from our first tomato canning. Our sweet friends, the Handley's, gave us a box from their garden and we also had about 20 lbs from our garden. We did tomato juice, tomato sauce, whole tomatoes and salsa. It was fun and tasty! Now I know why John will not eat a "store bought" tomato. I have finally seen the light!

Answered prayer....

You may remember a couple of months ago as we prepared the back pasture for planting, a blog posting entitled, "Praying for Rain". In May, we recored 28 days of rain on the calendar. That was great BUT, we didn't plant the Bermuda seed until June. Wouldn't you know that when we finally did plant the pasture, we had a dry spell. Just when we thought it was not going to be a success, God provided just enough rain at the perfect timing. Just right for germination, then again a couple showers during the early growth and then a couple more showers after it was almost a foot tall. Now we are already bush hogging! Thank you Lord, for answering even the little, seemingly insignificant requests!

"Let's Catch the Easter Bunny, Daddy!"

Rabbits are rampant over here. So this weekend Beau and Blake asked John if they could build a rabbit trap. John came up with this one. After it was built and baited, Beau said, "Daddy, can we catch the Easter Bunny?" As of now, we are still waiting for Mr. Rabbit to visit the trap. I guess Georgia bunnies don't like carrots and celery.

Dog Days of Summer

Here are a few snapshots of the girls playing and RECOVERING from the August Georgia heat! Bella is just loving her new home.... she loves to romp and play ANYWHERE out here. We have decided that Bella's tongue is so long that she may actually trip over it! Both of the girls love to run with the four wheeler.

Pink-Eye Purplicious!!!

That's right, if you ever have the chance to get your lips on some pink-eye, purple hull peas you will know exactly what we mean by purplicious!! These are our favorite so far from this year's garden. Served with cornbread, you can't go wrong!

When the peas are ripe for picking, the hull turns very dark purple. The pea is a beautiful light green with a pink-eye in the center. Yum!

Bee Blog

Well, I have to confess that I have neglected these poor little honey bees for quite sometime now. They sit back along the trees on the side of the garden....working, working, working the days away.... quietly, not bothering a soul. It is easy for ME to forget that we have honey bees. The truth is that I have been just as busy as these bees and have just not had the time to catch up blogging about them.
Since the last bee blog, John has added a brood box, a queen excluder and a super for each hive. He has also fed them a simple syrup for a couple of months to help encourage them to build the comb out. Hive number 11 is growing bigger than number 10 at this point. This year, our goal is to focus on growing the hives and potentially rob the honey next year.

Vine Ripe

Can you just taste the tomato and bacon sandwiches? We have enjoyed the beefsteak, better boy, early girl, and mountain pride varieties between two pieces of bacon and bread. But the sauce types such as San Marzano, Amish Paste and Romas are just about ready for our first tomato canning marathon. Can't wait! The kiddos are loving the husky "cherries" for snack time.

Here is a look at a few tomatoes on the vine. Y'ALL COME GET SOME!!

Coop Security

This is what you will hear if you peek in on the chicks in the coop while hard at work in the nest box. This young lady was alerting the rest of the girls that an intruder was on the prowl! They are so funny to listen to and watch. Click on the video.

Garden Glimpse

Here is a look at the garden today. A few red tomatoes, limas are almost ready, green beans and rattlesnake pole beans are ready. Zucchini is still coming in and we have some ears of corn now, too. The melons and cucumbers are slowly coming around. Our favorite time of the day is late evening... walking out to the garden to check on the day's progress and eavesdropping on the chatting chickens. It is just pure, peaceful bliss!

Blackberry Princess

We have a good little blackberry picker on our hands... Emma Katherine hung in there with us for two pickings of "bwackbawwies" on Saturday and Sunday evenings. The boys did pretty good too, but they had more fun hunting in the pasture and chopping down briars. Every time we looked at Emma, she was picking one then eating one. We all had blue hands, but she had a blue face too! We made six 1/2 pints of blackberry jelly late last night. We hope to make more next weekend if we go pick again. I haven't ever been one that is really crazy about jellies and jams, but this fresh picked stuff is hard to beat!! Delicious.

We're Plum Crazy!!

John picked the plum tree near the front pasture last week with a 16 foot ladder.
Don't know if it is a wild plum tree or not, but definitely a good one. Needs some pruning for next year. The fruits were small but very plentiful. I made two batches of plum jelly out of 8 lbs of plums. Yum!

Bean, beans, good for your heart...

the more you eat, the more you ..."get smart." That is what we sing when we talk beans at the table. Here are some pics from our bean snapping days. So far we have put up about 45-50 quarts of beans. Our friends went out of town and asked us to pick the garden for them so we have way more beans than expected. Blake and Emma Katherine like to snap beans with me. Fun times.

Boss Hog

We have a new addition to the farm! Boss is a 6 month old boar of the Majestic bloodline. Now we have two breeding pairs. He is a sweetie but, he is a bit timid. Hopefully soon, he will plop down for a belly scratch just like the others. We are excited to be able to offer breeding pairs as our reservation list for late fall / early winter is quickly filling up!

Bridging the Gap

The path to the garden has been a difficult one to navigate for the past year that we have lived here. A couple of weeks ago, John built this little bridge to cross the ditch. We just love it and our knees do too!

When thinking of how this bridge keeps us out of trouble and delivers us safely to the destination we are striving for I think of Jesus and the "bridge" he is. He connects the otherwise impossible gap between man and God. I found this devotional online to share with the boys today. I wanted to share it with you, too.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14:6

Have you ever been on a bridge and looked below? They keep you from falling into dangerous places! Having a safe way to get where you need to go, is a real blessing. God has prepared a safe way for you to come to Him. It is a part of the wonderful plan He has for your life on earth and in Heaven.

Jesus was God's only Son and God's Son came to earth. God told us all about it in His Word. He wants us to know how to come to Him! The Bible is God's voice to us about what His Son has done to save us. It tells how Jesus built the bridge to lead us across a huge gap. This gap separates us from God. The gap is our sins, the wrong things we do! God does not want us to fall into sin. Before we know Jesus, we are lost from God. Our spirits cannot know God's Spirit. God loves us and is waiting for us to come across the bridge. Jesus will forgive our sins so we can have the blessing of knowing God and living forever with Him. Our spirit can be connected to God's Spirit forever. This is the greatest of all God's blessings.
source: http://www.cherbearsden.com/kidsdevos/devo35ps.html