Browse by Tag: pigs

In Praise of Tamworths

We had some snowy arrivals this week. It seems both goats & pigs were waiting until the wintery snow came back to bring their little ones into the world.  Perhaps they are winter lovers, perhaps calming the world was help, perhaps that barometric pressure change…or just luck.  But the birthing has begun, with more to […]

Goodbyes, Pregnancies, Worms and more

A few photos from the Farm this week:   We said goodbye to three goats, with gratitude for their service on the farm.     Confirmed that both sows are indeed pregnant!  Piglets due end of April & mid-May!                     Treated the Hens to some red wigglers […]

Ode to January

Oh, January how I love thee.  A brand new year and the demands of the growing season seem so far away!  So many possibilities for house projects, cooking experiments, rest, relaxation..oh and of course that backlog of important personal, administrative, and planning projects that have been pushed aside for more urgent demands.  Oh, how I […]

Praise the Lard…

And the pasture-raised pigs that provide it! We have been celebrating lard lately, after making some fresh batches and coming into the season of more time for cooking and baking.  And the bounty of sweet potatoes has one farmer craving a deep fryer so we could make sweet potato fries in our lard. With the prompt […]

Goodbyes are Rarely Easy

Goodbyes are rarely easy in life and on the farm is no different.  Unexpected ones are usually the worst. This week the farm had one of those, as one of our sows somehow developed a gastric ulcer and died on Sunday.       Jemima Puddle Duck, of Beatrix Potter fame, was a lovely Tamworth […]

A Line in the Sod

While Jemima Puddle Duck has been busy rearing Snø, Snell and Isobar, Ramona Quimby and Amelia Bedilia, our other two sows, have been renovating the northeast pasture. Prior to the nor’easter we expanded them through the inner perimeter fence that is usually our crop insurance from their incredible snout-plows. We told them of our intent […]

Rainy Days and Roots

Really it was rainy day prep with livestock moves — when farmers hear Nor’easter, we pay attention.  Wet, cold and windy….not the best for our pastured livestock, especially tough on the goats, but we have made sure they all have good shelter, plenty of hay as a buffer and thanks to harvest and gleaning they are […]

Head over Heels

Last Sunday morning started on some grim notes. Weasel struck again and we found ourselves composting headless chickens. Current score = weasel(s) 30, farmers nil. But moments later one of the young pigs plopped into the water bin trying to cool off. The bin was on a sloping landscape and with its squirming to maintain […]

Moving Parts

Celsius and Farenheit, along with mom Amelia moved out to pasture to join the other pigs this week Not only are the animals on the move this week as they always are, but the farmers are too. With Laura and Mari off to a family graduation (of part-time farmer nephew Noah), the rest of the […]

Ramona and the Rains

The beauty of piglets came back to us this week.  After a changing of the guard in the winter of 2013 and a year of raising three beautiful breeding gilts (young female pigs) from the Whalen’s Green Mountain Heritage Farm in Chelsea, Ramona Quimby was the first to deliver a beautiful litter of piglets. She […]