Farewell 2013 Pigs and Giving Thanks

It was a dark and stormy night as we said farewell to the pig yesterday evening.  I just realized I did not get any pictures of them this past week.  I think the last pictures were from last week.  Anyway....

Piggies at 8 weeks old-

 Pigs around 25 weeks old (sorry I didn't get a better picture of all 4)-

We estimate they weigh around 250lbs each.  So they put on about 200+ lbs in the 17 weeks (4 months) we had them.  250lbs is around the ideal weight you want to be sending them off at.  This is for efficiency reasons.  Maybe I will post more on that later.

Corralling them into the trailer last night was an adventure, in the dark and in the mud.  Thankfully Jonathan was home to help man handle them.  We managed to get the biggest three in without too much stress but the smallest pig slipped out the trailer door before we could get it closed.  Pigs are VERY smart, crazy strong and can be VERY dangerous when panicking.  Once the smallest was separated from the group it panicked and became quite hard to get into the trailer.  Jonathan and our friend did a great job handling the pig and thankfully no people or pigs were hurt in the process.  Might I add that Jonathan did NOT grow up on a farm so kudos to him for learning how to handle these animals and not afraid to muscle the pigs around.  There was alot of contact and muscling that went on.

We are very thankful that all 4 pigs were sent off healthy yesterday.  We're keeping 1 pig's meat for our self and have sold the other 3's meat to friends.  This 'thanks' even made it onto our Giving Thanks Tree-

Baby girl is thankful for simple things as well-

I would like to make Thanksgiving as big of a deal as Christmas in our house.  Taking time to give thanks is super important (you don't have to wait till Christmas to give thanks for our Savior being born)!  I know it is hard to compete with a holiday that brings presents but I believe many things can be done to amplify a holiday.  Kids are easily swayed with cookies and crafts. :)

I am by no means an organized mommy, so doing simple things like crafts and cooking with the kids is NOT a part of my everyday life (some mommies have this skill).  I do my best though.... even if it brings on false labor pains in the act. :)

Hoping everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and takes time to truly give thanks!

The Rewards of Work (Pig Meat in the Freezer)

Kudos to my husband for his hard work this past year.  Because of such, we've harvested some great things we are VERY THANKFUL for.

Because he built a chicken coop...

We've had fresh eggs all summer.

Because he chopped wood...

We can stay toasty warm for alot less money.

Because he worked hard this spring and built a fence....

We have close to 300 pounds of pasture raised pork in our freezer!  Woohoo!  Fills up our 14 cu ft. freezer pretty well.  Mainly because they gave us all the fat back (in the left basket), feet, lard, shanks, hocks and neck bones along with the meat.

More about that pork.... picking it up was like Christmas day.  I was soooo excited.  Our farm raised meat and less trips to the grocery store.

This is how a pork chop is supposed to look, like a steak!

Those interested in costs and if there is a cost savings for raising your own, heres a quick price break down-

The details are a little more complex than the chart above reflects but this shows a decent summary and average.
So far we have eaten some sweet italian sausage and pork chops and the taste is noticeably better than your our typical store bought pork.  The quality of how it was cut does contribute to this along with the freshness and animals diet.  Needless to say we are happy for our harvest.

Hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving!

Other pig related posts:
Farewell pigs (talks about how we fed them)
The Big Pig Post (details of their progress and raising them)

Filling Trim Holes, Windows and Tape

We are slowly making progress towards our goal of completely finishing the dining room.  This week we are filling those little brad nail holes in the window trim.

You gotta do what you gotta do-

Progress list so far:

Fill and sand holes in trim - in progress

Paint window trim white

Paint window frames black-

Put up baseboard trim

Fill, sand and paint baseboard trim

Sand off stain on walkthrough boards (or are we replacing?)

Put up trim around walkthrough

Fill, sand and paint walkthrough trim

Make and install stair banister

Paint and install heater end plate

Make blinds or curtains - possibly have fabric choice!

It would be nice to have the windows complete and painted before the holidays but house updates will not be a priority in the coming weeks.
Did you notice the fake grills on the window?  Those are made of electrical tape and were helping us visualize what style grill to get on the newly ordered bay window.  What are your all's thoughts on these two styles?  4 pane grill or 6 pane grill?

The 6 pane grill looks better from the outside of the house since its more colonial.  I kind of like the 4 pane because it looks more 'open'.  For the bay window we went with a 4 pane grill on the two small side windows but that would match with any grill we go with on these full size windows.

Where you even able to see the windows through the tree stationed on our table?  This is our Giving Thanks Tree (not near as pretty as the inspiration, thanks Tori for sharing the idea with me).

We started it last night and each of us are adding a leaf each day with something we are thankful for written on it.  Can you guess whose this is?

I'm finding it to be a good activity for our almost 3yo who didn't fully understand thankful when we explained what it meant.  So this has helped him understand and even voice it.  While eating lunch today and looking at the tree he told me he was thankful for me (so sweet, made my day).... but then he threw his scrambled eggs in the floor.  He maybe changed his mind after I disciplined him for doing so.

Last I wanted to share our mad efforts towards cleaning the yard after two high wind storms.  Last Saturday was a great workout and my super human strength mom arms continue to amaze me. :)  Other moms know what I am talking about.  Throwing logs across the yard....  no problem <enter Xena princess warrior scream>.

My 13 mo weighs more than these, and how many hours a day am I carrying her around.

I feel like we racked up enough pine needles, sticks and leaves to build shelters for a small village (MacGyver could totally do it).  Thankful we have an easement area we can dump on instead of having to bag all this mess.

Jonathan likes chopping wood.... and I like watching him :)

He looks mad at that log.

I hope to post more about our farm and winterizing sometime later.  I have herbs that are still surviving out in the garden and hens whose food is getting swiped in the night.  That stuff interests me... maybe I am the only one. :)