December 9, 2012

OK, we think we've finally figured her out, then she gets out again.  Yes, we're talking about the black and white striped pig.  She can get out anywhere and anytime.  We've just about had it with her.  We really think we've found the last little, itty bitty place she could possibly be getting out of.....we think.  Time will tell!

Otherwise, we're having fun here on the farm.  The days have been very mild so far this November and December.  We finally had rain, after the driest month on record.  The cave crickets have invaded our house during this drought - not a great thing:

Not a pleasant thing to greet you when you walk in the door - that's for sure.  The good thing  - they don't bite, the bad thing - they multiply like crazy in the crawl space under your house.  Now we know who lives downstairs!

Olivia and I tried something new this year - we did a table at the Come Home For Christmas in Rocky Mount on Friday night.  It was an interesting experience.  The weather again was mild and for that we were very grateful.  We were not prepared with lights which was frustrating sitting in the dark trying to sell honey, jam and yarn!  We ended up doing pretty well actually, with about 4,000 people attending the event.  Don't know if we'll do it again.  This coming Saturday is the Holiday Market at the farm market area.  We'll try again - this time in the daytime with light!

The worse news - we lost our wonderful collie Thursday night.  He was hit by a car and lost his back end function.  We had to put him down and buried him by the pond.  It was one of the most difficult times here on the farm.  He had to have been the greatest dog ever.  He was the most beautiful, friendly, helpful friend anyone could have. He came to greet me every time I drove in the driveway and I greeted him with a kiss!   We are all going to miss him so very much.

 

Now, for the big problem:  something happened with our water conditioner and did not allow the water from the spring to be pumped up to our house on Thursday and friday.  We bypassed the conditioner and now have water, but the plumber is coming Monday to help us figure out what to do.  The water conditioner, which we have to have with the spring, is probably just too old to function properly anymore.  We're going to have another big bill to deal with!

 

 

December 1, 2012

Well, our second year here on the farm has almost been completed - and what an adventure it has been.  We continue to thank the Lord for all his blessings, especially when we look out at our beautiful farm He has given us. 

Today we continue with fall chores and continue getting ready for winter, although it is in the 60's and sunny!  We are once again moving the pigs - to a bigger area now, enclosing the whole one side of the fence.  Hopefully they'll be happy with more to forage in and have fun in.  We continue to feed them pork maker or livestock feed, along with plenty of pumpkins to devour and a treat of acorns ever once in a while.  They chew the acorns like candy. 

Our orchard got some revitalization today as we trimmed the damson plum trees that have sprouted from the original two trunks we had to take down last fall.  We trimmed them to one lovely trunk and hopefully will find some way to prevent all the succors that take away the energy.  We had to take away the last large apple tree that was taken down further by the wind storm this past summer.  Now we have a lovely pile of apple wood to smoke a very large organic turkey we got from Four Corner's Farm.  I'm thinking of preparing it for New Year's this year because we didn't have Thanksgiving here as usual and we'll have our duck for Christmas dinner.

We continue also to chop up wood so it fits in the stove box.  It can be pretty big, but some need to be done.  David is doing a great job getting a pile ready for me for this week.

We're concerned about our hay.  There's not much to eat in the pasture but the llamas and sheep are not interested in our hay at all.  The problem is it took us so long to find someone to make our hay for us in square bales, then we had to wait for them to be done with their hay before making our hay and of course the weather would not cooperate.  The hay was baled much too late I think.  We may have to plead some better hay from our neighbor.  We'll see.  In the meantime I'm using the hay to feed the rabbits - they love it and we're making a hay bale hut for the pigs!

Our farm market is done for the season, but I have alot of personal orders still every week for honey or fresh greens.  I have homemade soap orders to fill too.  We just made some more this week and will continue as we're doing a table at the big Christmas celebration downtown next Friday.  I'm trying infused hone also - jalapeno, cinnamon and rosemary.  I need to make some boxwood wreaths also to sell.  We have so much wisteria vines for bases and boxwood for the greens.