December 3, 2022 - Day 6

Saturdays are kind of my down day - kind of. I feed the pigs 'n poultry in the morning and then that's it. Today was a little different because we needed to replace the "roof" on the pig shelter so that the stall would be dry. 

The tarps that I picked up at Harbor Freight were for pig shelters. Big Momma and Big Daddy's shelter was done. It was the easy one, the one I could do by myself. Plus it gave me a little bit of time with our breeding pair. They are SUPER sweet. A little love starved maybe, but sweet. They like to rub their heads on my leg and me being 5'3" they could easily just knock me over!

Anyway - after I went to my friend's holiday bazaar we worked on getting the 12' x 20' tarp on the old parking structure. Yeah, I don't remember the previous tarp we purchased being that big, but it must have been. 

Once we got the tarp mostly on the roof, it was time to start coming up with a game plan. I'm getting better with being off the ground, but I did have some trepidation at the beginning - Tom wanted me to toss is drill up to him (I was on a ladder he was on the roof), but I didn't feel that I could actually do it. That drill is heavy! So I sucked it up and tossed it as far as I could and it got close. That's a win for me! Then the strips of wood that would hold the tarp down around the edges. Once we started getting things going Tom figured out that he had made a mistake and we had to re-group. Which is good, because if he went much further then it would have been a real problem. 

In the end we were able to get the tarp in place and secured. In my past life, I would have wanted the tarp to be perfect. Like stretched out and smoothed and looking nice. Fortunately, I'm not like that so much anymore. 

As you can see in the pic the tarp isn't as smoothed out as it could be, but let's be honest, who really cares? 

If we can get the boys to go in there at night instead of sleeping on the wood chip pile that would make me happy. We are planning to get a bale of straw to spread out in there before the weekend is over. That should help make this space feel more "homey."

It only took a couple of years for us to realize that we didn't need a tall door to keep a momma and her piglets locked in the stall. Notice how we used plastic to cover the window. It's ugly, but effective. 

The rear of the pig house isn't as visually pleasing, but I don't care and neither do the pigs. The reality is, I want to a least fix the portion where the planks came down. Another note, this structure is so old I'm surprised that it is still standing! One of the goals is to get it fixed up and use it for storage. How about that garbage bag that is stapled over the window?! It does the job and the pigs won't know the difference!

December 2, 2022 - Day 5

Another busy day away from the farm for me. Actually it wasn't all bad, just ran errands to what seems like all corners of the county. Got my sewing machine back, stopped at Harbor Freight for tarps. Picked up more pig food and then to Freddy's to get miscellaneous items. 

The afternoon consisted of grinding up a pork shoulder for breakfast sausage and then outside to take care of getting a tarp on a shelter that is in Big Momma & Big Daddy's area. Then of course taking care of the critters. 

This post will be short because I am tired and I'm out of words. For now.

December 1, 2022 - Day 4

It's DECEMBER?! Man! This year went fast!

Okay, now that I am 4 days into posting here - I just wanted to put this out there. This is basically my daily diary. So if you are not interested in my babbling about this, that and the other thing no worries...don't feel compelled to come back. I promise as we move away from the holiday season, I'll have more time to dedicate to doing all things farm. 

So, yesterday was another running around day. Found a place to drop off my sewing machine for service. A place that is more than 10 miles from our home. Generally I choose places that are close to home. I just don't like to be away from home. Call me a hermit.

The last time I took my machine in for service was nearly 10 years ago. So I was still working and sewing wasn't a high priority activity. However now that I am retired I have more time to set aside to sit down and sew a little bit. I LOVE IT! Anyway, the previous place I took machine to is so much closer, BUT also the wait time is more than a week :( This new place, while not close to home, is FAST! She had very good reviews and I will be heading out in a little while to go pick it up! Oh yeah, my sewing room will be whole again!

Before going home I dropped by Walmart to pick up a couple of items and then met a friend of mine at our church food pantry so she could shop.

The one thing that did happen yesterday that I never expect is that a gentleman left a note for us. Basically he wants to buy a boar. If I didn't have plans for the four boys that are currently wandering around our farm I would totally sell him one of the brothers, Bill or Ted. The former Farm Manager, Mr. Windswept, went and texted him a very curt message telling him that we didn't have anyone available. 

OH COME ON!

After telling him that he stepped into my farm manager role, I told him that I would contact the guy. This is how we get people interested in American Guinea Hogs and OUR hogs. So, we'll see what happens...

Have a great day!!

November 30, 2022 - Day 3

This day was filled with all sorts of non-farm activities. Well, the normal feeding/watering the critters is an everyday thing so there's that. I set aside time today to visit with my former co-worker(s) at the fire station, help at the food pantry and run errands. Nothing terribly exciting, but it was my day.

My visit with my former supervisor was nice. I hadn't stop by the station for almost a year. Although, we did get together once for lunch. I think we might have to do that again. Anyway, we have been keeping up with each other via text or email, but my visits to the station just didn't fit into the schedule most days. While I was there I got to visit with the Chief, one of the Assistant Chiefs and one of the Paramedics who is on light duty due to being pregnant with her 2nd child. It was a nice visit and I miss seeing my friends there, but I am very happy with my decision to retire early. 

After leaving the fire station I be-bopped over to the church food pantry to help restock the shelves/refrigerators/freezers with food items. It has been very pleasant working in the pantry - now that one person who thought they were in charge is no longer helping out. 

With the food pantry stocked up again I went to the grocery store to pick up a couple of things to restock our own pantry/kitchen. I'm very annoyed since my hens have pretty much quit laying eggs and I have had to buy eggs. At the store. No bueno. Actually the hens lay an egg now and again, but when I go to retrieve it, I find that they have pecked a hole in the egg. Super no bueno. 

Now, here's how the evening chores went. Everything was going just fine, but the hens were being totally stupid and either were still hanging out with the pigs or refusing to go into their houses. The youngest cockerel & pullet (Aquila & Priscilla) both did not have an interest to go into their house. Seems that the tray of food that I gave them in the morning was a big fat problem. You would have thought that it was going to jump out at them. I ended up removing that and the Cockerel decided to go in, but his partner was not convinced and kept running around. To top things off, while trying to get another hen into the coop, Joody (mom to A & P) escaped from the coop and just started running around all over the place. I let her get her ya-ya's out and went around to gather up the bowls from the pigs. After a few more minutes it was dark enough and Joody was getting extremely anxious to get back into the coop. Aquila finally went into his house, Joody was in the coop - now it was time to get Priscilla. After a few minutes of trying to get her to go into ANY house I gave up. By that time Tom was home (!) and I had him help me get the last hen to go in. All I can hope is that tonight will not be a repeat of last night. 

Oh, the pigs weren't helpful, but that's too much to tell and I don't want to revisit their shenanigans.

We are back into the typical Pacific NW weather now. There has been quite a bit of rain this week and it's cold enough for some sleet mixed with rain. I don't mind the rain, but when it is so cold, I'm not a fan. I just have to continue on since the critters won't feed themselves. The garden cart had a good amount of water in it from all the rain overnight. 

Hoping that the pigs 'n poultry behave tonight.