Just Ducks Swimming

Only a few pictures of ducks swimming.... because why not.  Kids enjoyed it, maybe others will too.

(Forgive my non professional camera and picture taking skills.)

They still have their duckling 'fuzz' in places so not mature yet.

Thank you Joan for the pool.  Ducks say thank you!!

Sleepy Piggies, Thirsty Ducks

These little piggies are 10 weeks old and growing fast.  They like to eat, sleep and test the social order (someone has to be the alpha).

Sleeping in the sun on a cooler day-

The solid black Mulefoot pigs, though smaller, typically sleep on top of the Hampshires.  Wondering if this is also a sign of dominance.

In the shade today, she looks happy-

These duckies are growing fast too, finally getting their real feathers.  And they like to drink ALOT, emptying this 2 gallon waterer daily between the 3 of them.  There is plenty splashing it about too.

Isn't drunk as a duck a saying, or is that because of how they walk?  I remember in some older Disney cartoons ducks being portrayed as barnyard drunkards, anyone else remember that?

Baby sweet corn coming up, first plot planting.  Second plot will be planted in 2 weeks or so.  Not an exciting note but I just like the picture.

Short and sweet for today.  All for now......

The BIG PIG News of 2016

THE PIGS HAVE ARRIVED!  And here is why this is the most exciting pig year yet----

Two of these wee ladies will become long term residents on our little homestead!!

We will be keeping two girls, then soon purchasing a boar to start breeding and raising our own pigs.  We will sell some of their piglets but also keep some for raising for meat.

Why are we raising our own?
The main reason is we are striving for higher quality meat.  We put a lot of work, time and money into this yearly investment so it only makes sense to focus on the best end product possible.  All pork is not created equal.  Some pork is lean, some is more fat, some have darker meat, some have better hams, some make better bacon, some breeds have longer loins giving more cuts in that area.... the list goes on.  (The same goes for cattle and their beef as more are probably familiar with.  I myself was raised to love those Black Angus.)

Here's some pics of them before I go on-

The two girls we will be raising to become breeder sows are a purebred Hampshire and a purebred registered Mulefoot; both heritage breeds.  We will be breeding both to a purebred registered Mulefoot.



Hampshires are a very old breed of pig but very common still because of their many good qualities.  They are a very muscular and possibly THE leanest pig breed in North America.  Hampshires are known for excellent carcass quality, hardiness and the ability to forage for their food (a trait of most old breeds).  The Hampshires are the ones with the white belt around their shoulders.

Mulefoots are also a very old breed and actually endangered, it is the rarest swine breed in America!  They caught our eye as soon as we started researching them.  Mulefoot's meat is dark, marbled very nicely and apparently very flavorful.  It is a unique rosy red color and very tender (only rare heritage breed pigs have this type of pork, common pork we are used to is considered 'white meat' pork and fairly dull in flavor).  In a blind taste test of 90 food connoisseurs, chefs and writers, Mulefoot pork won top prize over 8 other heritage breeds and 1 commercial breed.  Specifically they are known for their superior hams.  In the 1900's they were THE premium ham breed.  Mulefoots are extremely hardy, excellent foragers and highly disease resistant; once vaccines became a norm in farming this trait was no longer as important.  Another factor that made them less appealing is their small litter sizes, averaging only 5-6 piglets compared to 11-13 piglets born to commercial sows.  From my other research the demand for a larger size hog was another reason for their decline in popularity.

8 weeks old-

The name comes from their unique solid hoof, not split or cloven like regular pig's feet.

Cloven hoof

This trait was to help protect their hooves from rot while living in moist areas.


As far as pork FOR SALE --

• We currently have : Bacon, Italian sausage, Breakfast sausage, Bone-in chops and Ham steaks for sale.  Message me for price if interested.
• We will be sending 3 of the current pigs (2 mulefoots and 1 hampshire) away in the fall.  Their meat will be available for sale then but preorders are preferred.  We do large portion shares, such a 1/2 pig, and piece by piece as well.  Just FYI that large portion shares are flat rate per pound for all cuts and therefore cheaper.
• We will have piglets for sale from both the Hampshire female and Mulefoot female next spring.  And of course we will continue to sell pork.

Enough selling for now. :)

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References:
Blind Taste Test - The Grit
Slow Food USA - Ark of Taste
American Mulefoot Hog Association - Gourmet Meat






   

Snap-Pea Tee-Pee

Get it, snappy (snap-pea) tee-pee.  A sign my jokes are bad is that I have to explain them.

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We have no shortage of unwelcome saplings on our property so when we cut them down I recycled them into a tee-pee for our viney legumes.

I left an opening on one side only because I think it would be cool to go inside it once it is covered with plants.  Kids will like it anyway.

One little pea finding its support.

Arch 'gate' is also made of cut down sapling.  I planted Sweet Peas to grow up this.  Hopefully vines will improve its crocked appearance, oh well....

Things are behind here in regards to peas and other cool weather crops.  It has been a cool spring so I am not sweeting it, literally.    Though you can't see them lettuce, beets, spinach, cilantro, leeks, onions, carrots and white potatoes are also hiding/sprouting in there.

And the asparagus is still making its presence known, getting 1or 2 meals a week from it.  We will keep cutting it until the spears start getting smaller in diameter (the diameter of a pencil or smaller), showing we need to let it 'go' so it can start storing energy for next year.

Duckies growing very fast, but still cute.  I think they are about 4 weeks old?  Staying outside all the time now (biting my finger nails when I think of the raccoon and weasels, hard to keep them out).

We also doubled our chicken flock, adding 7 more Production Reds (RI Red/Delaware crosses) to the mix.  The initiation hasn't been that bad, as the older hens are not torturing them too much.  The farmer who raises these from hatchlings always trims their beaks to keep the peeking attacks on each other less harmful. Notice the size of the red combs on their heads, I hear you can tell how close one is to laying their first egg by the size and how red it is (it gets larger and more red).  I anticipate these will start laying early to mid summer. (14 eggs a day).

The older ladies are all enjoying the longer days and each are finally giving us an egg a day. (During the winter, shorter days, not all of them lay eggs daily.  The Production Reds are our most consistent.)

That is it for now, stayed tuned for exciting piggie news (it is exciting to us anyway).

Best Gardening Year Ever??

I always have this hope every year, but I'm feeling good about this season.

On the run today, so just a few words and lots of pictures.  Use your imagination.

Composted pig manure

Digging post holes for new chicken fence-

Tamping down the soil-

New fence-

Rouen (meat) ducks-

Possible barn design for building THIS year.  Rough size of 32'x30'

All for now......

So It Begins.....

Warm and dry enough weather has allowed us to start working on our little homestead's most valuable resource, DIRT.  The first warm work day is always exciting-

We bought a plow off Craigslist recently that has helped us with turning spring soil.  This has been on our wish list since we got our small tractor.

The plow flips over a strip of ground instead of churning it like a tiller.  Once the soil is 'flipped' all plant growth (weeds and our Winter Rye here) that was on the top is now underneath a clump of soil, which will cause it to die and rot due to the lack of sunshine.  I hear it helps warm the soil quicker as well.  Almanzo said so in Farmer Boy anyway.

Little man whacking away at the ground-

We will let this sit for multiple weeks then break it up more with out rototiller while we add compost.  We also turned over another plot in the back of our property; it was pure sod and our rototiller would not have been as effective.  It would've just churned the grass around and likely left plenty in tact to survive.  We added a tarp for extra killing.  BE GONE GRASS!

We are planning to make this our sweet corn and gourd patch (gourds for making bird houses; this variety here).  If all goes well I hope to possibly paint and sell these.

Food is already making its way out of the ground.  We should have enough asparagus to make a dish THIS WEEKEND!

Seedlings continue to sprout!

Lots to do, lots to do.

Needless to say I am glad for the return of the warm spring sunshine.... and also because of these thingies just installed on our roof.

We recently had solar panels installed on the back of our house.  Our property apparently was a prime candidate for benefitting from solar panels due to the way the backside of our roof faces (towards the south).  We had multiple solar companies stop and try to get us to sign up with them.  We choose a local company and went with the buying option instead of renting them; that way we received the SRECS (Solar Renewable Energy Credits).  The loan for purchasing and installing will be paid off in 5 years from the energy savings and then we will make money from the SRECs.  If you have other questions about these let me know or better yet just talk to my husband. :)

Off to gather some eggs and check for the second time today if my carrots have come up.... because I have a patience problem.