Fall is right around the corner, the weather is cooling off, the garden is finishing up, and we're looking forward to some exciting changes. This year has been so jammed packed that it's nice for things to be slowing down a little. So much happened this year. We ended up with 7 feeder pigs from Dawn at the Fun E Farm. 4 went to the butcher. Their meat is absolutely delicious, and we are very thankful to them. The other three go next month. We raised and butchered a few batches of meat chickens. Our other chickens all started laying and we're now getting about 8-12 per day. We had one chicken get egg bound and a prolapsed "uterus". By some miracle (hence her name Miracle) we were able to nurse her back to health and 5 months later you can't tell her apart from the rest of the golden girls. The garden provided an abundance of produce (onions, garlic, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, and more) for our community. We were able to set up a little "stand" in the evenings and on weekends and sell to co-workers, family and friends.
Sadly, our friend Dawn, due to health reasons, is no longer going to be raising pigs. So, of course, we decided instead of finding a new breeder, why not breed our own. We bought Dawn's breeding boar, Boris, and two sows, Rosa and J'Quellen. Our goal is to breed each sow once a year so we can offer fresh pasture raised pork all year. We bred Rosa at the beginning of the month and are anxiously waiting to see if it took. If breeding was successful, we will be expecting our first litter of piglets around Christmas.
The other big addition this year has been a new pole barn. The majority of the pole barn is going to be Chris' wood shop. Caleb has a small space of his own (more info on that in a future post when he gets all his ducks in a row). And the front of the building will be a "Pork Shop" lol. We are beyond excited to be opening a small farm store. We will have freezers with pork and chicken (possibly adding beef from another local farmer). And we will be offering other rotating products produced on the farm including honey, jams, syrup, sweets, and crafts. It will be a dynamic store with different offers thru-out the year.
So much has happened this year, it has been a whirlwind of excitement. The farm is evolving and expanding. This winter will be a time to reflect and dial in our systems so things keep moving forward and running smooth next spring.
We've talked about leasing or buying land to raise some sheep (and/ or goats), but that will be a few years off. There is 80 acres of raw land behind us that is for sale. But land prices now are above what would be a wise investment. We hoped they might like to sell a few acres, but they turned us down. Maybe next year we'll approach them with an offer to lease the land. It could be a win-win, if we raise sheep they could graze around the solar farm to save them money. It would be a shame if they build a housing development and destroy all that wildlife habitat.
Σχόλια