The End of May

I cannot believe it is almost June.  The spring melted quickly away in all the rain.  We were sequestered inside because of it.  While it made me feel a bit batty at the times, what else was I going to do with three kids and an infant anyway?  I am not brave and outgoing when I have a baby.  I hunker down.

This past week Jamey had a day off so he took baby duty so I could give our kids their achievement tests.  While I sat with them during test time I was able to order their books for next year and get my paperwork together to submit to the local school superintendent. Except for a little bit of work I'd like each of the kids to do this summer, we are calling school done for the year.

We've had enough hot, muggy days to make it feel as if summer is here.  The sun shines and the lack of rain is glorious.  The baby is taking real, two- and three-hour naps in the afternoon which is freeing me up to work on weeding the garden and flower beds.  It feels so good to be doing normal things like weeding.  And weeding adds a whole new purpose when you get to feed them to your pigs.

Last year, the girls and I picked blueberries at a local, organic blueberry farm.  We had gone early and were the only ones there for awhile.  I was able to pick side by side with the owner and she graciously answered some of my pressing blueberry-growing questions.  In the past, we have netted our bushes to keep the birds away but at their farm, they had wire strung over the rows with sections of reflective tape tied to the wires which moved in the wind and made a lovely rustling sound.  I decided to order some and try it this year.  I also put some of it on stakes in our strawberry patch.  So far, it seems to be working with the strawberries but the blueberries aren't ripe enough yet to know.  When I went out to snap a picture for you I found this...

Is she turning her head away because she's blinded by the tape or is she calling her friends to tell them that there's no net this year?  In the picture the tape looks white, but it is a very shiny, prism-y, silver.

Our first CSA box comes this week!  While we're not planting much this year for preserving, we are planting a few things to eat fresh.  And then there's all that garden space that you can't just leave bare otherwise the weeds will take over and drop seeds for next year's garden. We are using landscaping plastic to help keep weeds down in the sections we aren't using.  

We're actually amazed our garden looks as good as it does.  It's strange how when you're overwhelmed it seems impossible to imagine having time again for anything.  But it comes.  

Just like the sun.

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Bacon, Part 2

Last year, a friend of ours turned the side meat from Princess into bacon for us.  This year, after finding a good deal on a grill/smoker, we were able to make our own.

First, about the grill/smoker.  We've never actually owned a grill before.  We've always just used our fire pit with a grill grate on top.  Now that we seem to be routinely having pigs butchered, Jamey started looking into purchasing one that could also smoke meat.  The Big Green Egg is a popular brand but they are also quite expensive. We were lucky to find a similar style ceramic grill (by Vision Grills, similar to this one) at a discount store in our area.  It has several small nicks in the ceramic that makes it imperfect but does not effect how it functions. 

Our friend generously shared his bacon rub recipe with us.

The sides were thawed and the dry rub applied to the meat.  It is very important that the rub to meat ratio is correct in order for the bacon to turn out well.

Next, Jamey placed the bacon on wooden slats in a fridge (we have a small, spare fridge we were given by friends that we plug in when needed) for two weeks.

It was then smoked on our grill/smoker at a dome temperature of 250 degrees until the internal temperature of the meat was 150 degrees.  This took about 3-4 hours for our sides. We used hickory as our smoking wood.

Are you drooling yet?

Once cooled, Jamey sliced the bacon and packaged it for the freezer.

We hope to try other pork cuts in our new grill/smoker.  Any recommendations?

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Bacon, Part 1

Possibly their last group picture (this is the most sentimental I'm going to get).

It was February and it was time. Two pigs needed butchering- the large male (Spock) and a female who we were raising for a neighbor.  It had been so easy to lure Princess onto the trailer at butchering time last year.  We were hoping for similar luck this time.

Jamey had asked a friend to come assist.  And, bless his heart, he came.  Sam was in charge of picture-taking and videoing since I was inside with the baby.  At one point, Sam came in and I asked, "They have them loaded already?" to which Sam replied, "Um, no.  Can't you hear them squealing?"  I opened a window and yes, indeed, I could hear squealing and quite a ruckus going on in the barn.

Tactic #1 was to drive the trailer into the pig yard and lure them onto it with kitchen scraps and feed.  This did not work.

Tactic #2 was to get them into the barn and funnel them down this hallway and toward the open door you see below.  The trailer had been backed up flush to the open door, so when the pigs stepped out the door, they'd step onto the trailer.  Seems like it should work, right?

The pigs did not like this tactic either.  Jamey and our friend tried using boards to herd them out the door (by making the space smaller) but they simply pushed pass the boards.  They tried the bucket method.  A pig who has a bucket placed over their head will back up to get their head out.  The idea is that you can back them up in the direction you want them to go.  This eventually worked but it took a long time.  They'd get one on the trailer and as they tried to back the other one into it, the one on the trailer would push past and into the barn once again.  We used up all our kitchen scraps and feed.  They were not having it.  Finally, they decided to transport one at a time.

At one point, 420-pound Spock shot under Jamey's legs heaving him up into the air.  It was sort-of a miracle that neither of them got hurt.  Oh, except for a sore foot.  Spock stepped on Jamey's foot.  "Take that", he thought.

During all of this, Turk was a mess.  He had to be put on a leash. He didn't like that these pigs were wrestling with and squealing at his owner.  Eventually, he had to be brought inside with me but he just cried and barked at the door.  He spent some time in his crate that evening until he could finally calm down and relished cuddling with Jamey on the couch after it was all over.

It wasn't in the initial plans but we ended up buying a grill/smoker so we could learn to process some of the meat ourselves.  Stay tuned for Bacon, Part 2, and be glad you don't have to heard pigs on a trailer today.  Unless you do.  In that case...good luck. Pin It

Life Flows On

Four out of the six colonies survived the winter which we find pretty miraculous.  We will harvest honey this year.  We've already lost (and captured!) a swarm- more on that to come.

Easter pies- sour cherry and blueberry 

swine decimation 

Two of the culprits.  The other two are no more.  Stay tuned for more on this- we made our own bacon.

 

The adoration goes both ways.

guarding his yard (from squirrels, that is)

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October Pigs

Our pigs aren't quite "ready" yet.  And while we didn't expect them to be ready just yet, we had been noticing that they are taking a little longer to bulk up than Princess did last year.  This is largely because, for the majority of the summer, they have been pasture fed with some organic vegetable farm waste on the side.

black noses from eating the walnuts by the bucket-full 

But now that they've mostly exhausted their quarter acre, we're giving them feed as well as some greens and turnips Jamey grew especially for them in our side garden (taking the place of some of our corn, zucchini, etc.),

the pig garden- greens and turnips to supplement their grainy diet

They're also snacking on copious amounts of chestnuts that have been falling from the two huge chestnut trees in their yard.  Yes, they eat the painfully spiny chestnut armor as well. You should see them take off and run after a newly fallen chestnut.  They love them. And they still get leftovers from the farm occasionally.

Just to see how far they've come, we measured them the other day (the same way we did when we first got them).  Spock, the largest of the four, now weighs 184 pounds (up from 65 when we first got him).  We didn't "weigh" Martha and Blondie when we got them but now they're about 130 and 113. And Little Wesley?  He started out at 16 pounds with us and is now 67 pounds.  When we butchered Princess last year she was 325 pounds.  We have a ways to go.

We'll likely butcher two in early winter and over-winter the other two, possibly letting them graze again next summer.  We've decided that two pigs are a better number for pasturing in the area we have set aside as pig yard.

But here's the thing.  There is some disagreement among the family as to who should get butchered now and who is held off until later.  Yes, we all understand they will ALL be butchered sometime. That's not it. There's pig drama, you see.  The sisters, particularly one of them, are/is downright nasty to Little Wesley and we can't help but wonder if that's partially why he's still so small.  Spock has never been mean to Wesley (that we've seen).  In fact, he's known to stick up for him and has even let him stand under his legs to eat so he's protected from the naughty girls.

Some of us think the girls should be butchered first.  Spock and Wesley could hunker down together in the barn this winter and keep good company as they always had and no one would try to bully Wesley from his meals (see how lovely they get along above).  Well, I imagine you gather which I prefer.  The other grown-up in the family thinks otherwise but his logic is so foreign to me that I don't even remember what it is.

I'll keep you posted.  In the meantime, if you want to learn more about pigs and the pig industry, Pig Tales, is an excellent resource I've enjoyed reading.  And, if you ever get a chance to visit Polyface Farms, please do so.  Jamey and I stood watching his pigs for almost an hour this past summer on a little trip we took.  His pigs and his whole operation is inspiring and impressive. Pin It

Closing Summer

Where did the summer go?  It went into our hearts, our memories, our muscles, and bones.  It became another layer of who we are and what we hold dear.  Thank you, God, for summers.

Cousin camp...

(with these water balloons)

A week of rest on the lake...

Our school room in summer...

Volunteer by the back door...

Summer evening quiet...

Garden bounty...

Applesauce making...

Growing pigs...

Non-laying duck boarders...

Honey bees that might have a chance this winter...

Fresh paint in kitchen and bath...

Young apple trees that are finally producing (but only one...apple)...

Four ropes in a tree are always better than one...

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