annie

i turned 27 this summer. and a week or two before my birthday i realized all i really wanted was another sweet piggy in my life. this time around, mitchel suggested that i find one that i could use as a sow. the stars seemed to align and i found a pure bred berkshire gilt for a good price. better yet, the gal who was selling happened to be a customer of mine from the garden center. when i first went out to pick out my little lady, i instantly fell in love with the runt {apparently i have a soft spot for runts}. ruby had been bottled fed and was tiny compared to her siblings. she acted more like a dog than a pig when i first met her. i wanted her. unfortunately some health problems arose over the next few weeks and i made the decision to pick a different gilt. avocado had health problems from the first month i had her til the end and dona knew that. she wanted to make sure i had a healthy gilt knowing that i plan to breed her. once they were fully weened, i went back to pick out another. i picked up hope from home and had her help me. it was quite the adventure. once i picked out annie and grabbed her, wrangled 40 lbs of pure muscle from the back of the half acre property and than managed to settle her down enough to transport her in the truck.... hope was nervous that she had to manage her in the 'tote' all the way from mapleton to orem, we were pleasantly surprised that the ride back went smoothly. it took me a few days to finally come up with her name, annie, and a perfect name for her. i adore her and she is nothing but full of sass! 

Farm life: Miss Avocado

Once again I'm amazed at how much I love the farm life. When I have time to hang out back with Avocado, I'll let her out to run around and dig in the dirt. The chickens love when she roots right next to their pen and get the occasional grass flying their way. She especially loves rolling around in the dirt where she roots. The best part is she'll let me walk right up to her and scratch and love on her. As i relay my stories to Mitch, he asks me if I'll be able to send her to the butcher like Einstein. Avocado is definitely friendly than her brother, and as harsh as it may sound to a lot of people, she was bought and raised with that as the end. I'm learning that this is the ideal for all meat animals. And the life my pigs are living are far better than the standard factory farm. Until miss avocado reaches ideal market weight, we are going to have a fabulous time hanging out together at work, as she gets to run around and root in the earth.

On Valentine's day we were able to pick up our meet from Einstein. there was a wonderful sense of accomplishment. He wasn't as large as we thought, his dead weight was 113. Mom and I split a half giving us about 25 lbs each and we let Chase buy the other half. Mitch was impressed by the packaging and has even eaten some {and for anyone who knows my sweet hubby knows what an accomplishment this is. he's a 'city' boy and doesn't want to associate his dinner with a face}. He even mentioned we should do a cow after seeing the packaging..... 

.......I ran with that idea and have a calf on the way now.

Farm life: the next step

friday was the day the first time homesteader dreads. einstein had reached market weight and was bullying avocado away from food. it was time to send him to the butcher. i knew when i got home from vacation and had talked to my mom that i couldn't put it off much longer. originally i had hoped to send them together but when i went back to work it was obvious that it was time. i was amazed that einstein nearly doubled in size in  the ten days i was away. i made arrangements with chase and friday would be the day for transport. 

friday morning i spent the morning tending to items at home and headed into work around 9:30-ish. visiting the pigs and loving on them. unfortunately my day quickly turned into a rough one. i found one of our goats had passed away during the night and than to send off my first pig.... this is the life i want to live. raising and growing my own food. it just happened to be a double whammy for me that day. i had help hauling princess out of her pen, so here daughters didn't have to deal with it until we could take care of it. then it was time to wrangle einstein and make the 'trek' to the trailer. 

i understand that not everyone can process this part of life. for me as i take on homesteading it is a valuable lesson learned. as i loved on him and roped his hock, it was important to me to verbally tell him thank you. he was raised for this purpose and i felt it important to thank him. we managed to load him into he horse trailer far easier than anticipated. then he was on his way. 

for now it's just me and miss avocado. 

farm girl

winter hasn't chilled my desire for farm life at all. i look forward to braving the icy path out to the pigs everyday. they enjoy the occasional veggie treats i bring from home, they are eating the whole corn that we've shelled from our corn maze, pumpkins and squash and they enjoy the extra eggs from the hens. you would think that winter would slow the ladies down laying... granted they are young pullets who just started their laying years. i'm getting on average a dozen a day between the new ladies on my bantams. my little emma bantam has gone broody over the last week and is tending to two eggs. she is sharing broody responsibilities with another little lady and i am itching to let them hatch fertile eggs. perhaps in february i'll see if i can find some day old chicks for them to mother. i'm told it's less expensive than shipping fertile eggs and more reliable, plus you swap the eggs out and give the ladies some babies. my heart just bursts at the thought of baby chicks running around with my little bantams. before christmas i discovered the pigs had some intestinal worms {gross} and ordered some de-wormer.... i finally got around to wrangling them down with chase and giving them their shots last week. next round of pigs, i'm determined to do it when they are younger and easier to handle. not that i 'enjoy' learning how to administer shots for livestock, but i'm proud to learn something new and know i can take care of things. this round was less traumatic for chase.... i'm better with a needle. speaking of shots, it's time to give jake and cezar their vaccines and rabies shots. we discovered it's less traumatic for them at home than dragging them to the vet. plus it is less expensive. i've learned a lot over the last five months. i'm still researching and trying to decide which meat company i will trust with the pigs this spring. hopefully in march they will be ready size wise... einstein will be for sure. little miss avocado is half his size right now. i'm hopeful with the de-wormer that she will start putting more weight on in the next month or two. granted it's male vs female and males reach market size quicker. it will be bittersweet when the time comes, but i will be proud to have taken this full circle and know where my meat comes from. 

snowballs and pigs

my phone is rapidly filling up with pictures of my piggies.

i took the boys with me for the last sunday feeding of mr wellington on the 10th.

gratefully my two little snowballs really took to the cow and seem to like the pigs

i can totally imagine morning farm chores with them running around with me.

farm life: pigs

over the last two weeks i've been paying close attention to miss avocado.

i have ruled out colic and figured out the reason her tummy is so tight is due to holding her weight forward in attempts to keep it off her back legs. her joints are inflamed and tender. i have been using essential oils in hopes of keeping the swelling down and minimizing pain. additionally i have been feeding them comfrey leaves. with  the help of a guy from the permies forum pointing me in the direction of bacterial infections, i spent a lot of time searching through possible causes. the one that fit her symptoms the best i could tell was rickets.

yesterday, julie clifford, a neighbor down the road stopped in the store. i recalled she mentioned raising pigs once and i chatted her up. she has been raising pigs for 4 years now and i asked if she would be willing to look at avocado with me. after looking at her, she suggested we see if the build up around her joints might be puss. we had a needle on hand from tending to a sick goat last year, so we gave it a go with miss avocado. no puss. julie highly recommended i call a vet since i haven't seen any improvements. i called a large animal vet she uses. leaving a message for the vet, i was grateful when he called me back shortly. explaining what avocado's condition was, he said it was a bacterial infection especially since it was affecting multiple joints. we discussed antibiotics that i could use since she is being raised for meat. the one he suggested was by prescription and i asked him if he could fill it for me. an hour later i drove down to springville to pick it up.

originally i was hoping to raise them antibiotic free, but considering the pain she has been in and with no improvements on the horizon i wanted to make sure she was comfortable and healthy. i can't even imagine the discomfort she would continue being in as she grew and put on weight. being in charge of these pigs welfare and being a steward over them, i'm quickly learning it is important to take care of them in every aspect.

with the help of chase, i was able to give her the antibiotic. have you ever heard the term 'screaming like a stuck pig'?? well that phrase has actual meaning to me now. it was a mini adventure and with the squirming of her and pulling the needle out mid-injection i learned 2 valuable lessons. 1) leave the needle, because i almost stuck chase in that moment. 2) giving shots to dogs is dramatically smoother than giving them to pigs....
gratefully neither chase or i ended up with a needle in us. miss avocado had to been given the shot twice. her injection site was bruised when i went back later yesterday evening to check on her. with a bucket of watermelons and asian pears i went to sit with both of them and try to make friends.

julie was telling me how important it is to handle them and love on them. you want your pigs familiar to your touch and interaction with you. miss avocado has been warming up to me over the last two weeks and enjoys a good ear scratch. however, einstein hasn't warmed up to me quite yet. with a fresh batch of straw for their pen, i sat down with them and hand feed them the asian pears. this is probably been one of my favorite moments yet with them.

farm life --> learning about pigs

yesterday one of our employees, chase, pointed out that avocado wasn't feeling too well.
i was wondering if she had issues with her legs or hips before hand since she always prefers to be laying down.
whenever she stands up she seems to drop down fairly quickly, unless she is busy eating her meals.
good news is that she walks just fine and an added plus is she poops and pees normally.
we are wondering if she has colic because she hunches up as if she is in pain and when feeling her stomach it's super tight compared to einstein.
i spent a lot of time searching the internet for info but became frustrated because i couldn't find anything helpful.
this morning i registered with a forum, hoping others who have raised pigs can give suggestions.

wellington on the other hand is thriving.
he is 4 weeks old and is eating hay in addition to his bottles and is starting to eat a little bit of grain.
i still love tending to him everyday and love watching him grow and see his personality.
when i walk out to give him his bottle i call out - baby boy...
and he pops his head out the window and wags his tail.
the boys even enjoy seeing him on sundays when they come with for his feedings.
i'm surprised they aren't more scared of him.
cezar usually barks at horses and cows when we take walks.
maybe this is the beginning of their love of farm animals... ;)
i can always hope.

einstein and avocado

i seem to have a continual script running through my mind the last couple of weeks.
between endless hours at work, managing tasks at home, the urge to be creative, the endless to-do list that continually compounds....  and all the other minor thoughts that run through my mind....
i'm having trouble balancing everything.
last week was especially challenging for me.

marriage is a wonderful blessing.
simply put -- there is always someone on your team.
unfortunately i feel as though it was one of the weeks where we were looking out for ourselves and didn't team up to take on the world.
it happens.
maybe in my exhaustion and selfishness i wasn't aware of something that mitch was dealing with,
or i was simply focused on myself and needed all the attention on me.
for whatever the case... it was a challenge.
and those seem to be the times that a good cry and a verbal vomit are a necessity.



on a completely different note --
i picked up my pigs on monday.
they are a york and hampshire cross.
boy and girl - einstein and avocado.
14 weeks old and rather shy so far.
these darling little pigs smell like old people and salty play dough.
i adore avocado's speckled bum and her timid way.
einstein is quite the little man.

a few things i've learned about pigs --
1) they are not soft like dogs or calves....
2) they are a solid animal... not one meant to be snuggled
3) so far they are not in love with human interaction.... {which will make it easier to raise for dinner}
4) again - they smell like old people and salty play dough and their poops look like my doggy poops.
5) they absolutely love tomatoes.

once again i'm grateful for a grandpa who is allowing me to try on the farm girl boots.
i'm loving every minute of it {so far}

getting my feet wet

hopefully there comes a moment in your life where you think all of a sudden "i finally feel like a fish in water" everything thing seems to come together and you finally feel like you've found your place, calling or something along those lines.

this week i was able to say that.

for pumpkinland i was able to make friends with a neighbor and managed to borrow a baby calf for the month. i'm tickled pink with excitement. he's a little holstein calf, a week old and i get to bottle feed him until he can be weened and fed grain and hay. never in a million years would i have thought the farm life was for me. gratefully, i have a generous grandpa who indulges me and is letting me try on the farm girl boots.