The pig Equasion

My pig project is over! After approx six months and $600 I have reached some conclusions about the proper raising of the backyard pig.
Fencing - A sturdy fence and a well-placed electric wire is necessary. We experienced too much heartbreak as a result of only a sturdy fence and no electric wire at first, and awoke many a morning to find that the pigs had rooted up my precious sheep pasture. If you can, place their house somewhere in the middle of their pen, and then fence the perimeter in electric wire approx 8 in high. Then, keep watch that they haven't rooted up grass and mud or other debris and shorted out the fence. You need a fairly strong pulse as well, as I have heard of many a pig that backs up about ten feet, starts squealing and rams the electric fence.

Feed - They eat allot! I have read about the theory of giving a pig as much as she will eat, but they appear to be bottomless pits, so this seems like a very expensive approach. I gave mine approx 5# a day/pig of a mix of all-breed grain and pig grower until the last couple of months or so and then I gave them maybe twice that. Next time we do pigs, we will buy a couple of tons of grain in advance. We didn't seem to be able to find any "free food" in the form of restaurant scraps or dairy scraps to give them, but I'm looking forward to the days of owning a dairy cow, and utilizing the excess milk for the piggys.

Water - Pigs like to rearrange their furniture, so you must tie up your water bucket. I thought it was cute how they would pile up all the buckets and detritus from their field into one area and push up all the bedding in their house all comfy/cozy. One day, they even decided to root up all the floorboards in their house, but they did set them nicely to one side - neat and tidy! I guess I got a bit off subject here, but in reference to their water: they drink allot, and their bucket must be tied to something to prevent it from being carted off.

Having learned a few lessons, we will raise pigs again next year. We have a wonderful garden area fertilized and turned over, and homegrown pork in the freezer - a pretty good deal.

Lambs

We have lambs for purchase! We have one lamb available now and several more in the fall. These are homegrown, pastured raised - no hormones, no antibiotics. Email goldenspirefarms@gmail.com to reserve. (we can have them butchered for you if you would like, or send to your favorite). mmmmm tasty lamb!

What a cute baby!

Needle Felting Fun

Here are some pictures of our recent Famgirrls Diva's gathering at the yarn shop in Clatskanie. It was lots of fun - chatting, eating yummy food, and discovering our inner "felt diva". :)

We made critters, and flat "landscape art".
An apple a day...

Twins!

Our last ewe lambed this morning, and we were blessed with twin ewe lambs. We had three sets of twins and one single lamb this year.This little ewe lamb is 1/2 Romney and 1/2 Kathadin. (above)

These twins are 3/4 kathadin and 1/4 Romney. I think they will have wool typical of the Kathadin, which will shed naturally in the spring.

Project Shroom: Phase 1

Our goal is to grow medicinal and culinary mushrooms on a small commercial scale. Of course we are faced with our usual obstacles - no money and little experience, but that hasn't stopped us before! :) This year we are growing shiitake, using alder logs in a natural environment, which should produce fruit every six months. From this we should gain experience, an idea of market and costs, and some way yummy shrooms!

We began phase one - collecting logs on Saturday, March 6th.

The men are falling trees at Rick and Lindah's. We are looking for logs with a diameter of 4-6 inches. That allows the mycelium to more quickly takeover the logs.
Everyone helps!

Even Baby helps!
Here are the logs, cut in approx four foot sections waiting for the new home. We gathered 83 logs.

Placing logs near the creek bed.
The logs are stacked and will "cure" for one month, before we begin Phase 2: inoculation.

Thank you - Ted and Laurita, Billy, Neil, Rick and Lindah!!!

Mama Pacas

Thanks to some good friends and a bit of "rodeo work", my two pregnant alpacas arrived home yesterday! Roobee is a bit wild gal, having survived Canadian quarantine and we anticipated some problems, but it actually went rather well. I will post some pictures soon.

Today begins phase 1 of our Mushroom endeavor, so check back Monday to see how our log procurement went.