May 31, 2020
May 29, 2020
All the lambs have finally been weaned. They aren't happy about it, but it's for their own good and crucial for the sake of my sanity. Now all of our sheep are on grass. No more hay until late fall. Yay!
The shiitakes are in full swing, no more of the prized "donkos", which are a product of cool nights and stressed out shiitakes. Every day we soak several logs and then set them out to "fruit" - It takes about a day of soaking and then a week of "pining" for them to finally produce the mushrooms. After the logs have fruited, they get restacked and then rest (so the mycelium can regrow) for 7 weeks before they get soaked and forced to fruit again. We have 7 stacks of 100 logs each (700 logs total). It's rhythmic, orderly and predictable- which is a welcomed relief from the chaos that comes naturally with raising animals.
May 22, 2020
Our sow "Baby Pig" had piglets. She was only a day overdue but was so enormous my brother suggested I wear safety glasses when I went near her, as I was clearly in danger of getting showered with piglet shrapnel when the time finally came. 7 healthy piglets, no explosion, no shrapnel....
The pastures at Hill-Stead are finally starting to grow, so we spend a lot of time each day setting up temporary fencing and moving the sheep between pastures. Claay our Border Collie is finally getting some "work" time after taking the last couple months off for lambing.
We built a walk in cooler by making an insulated room off our shop and installing a Coolbot and air conditioner. The cooler will be an enormous upgrade for storing eggs, shiitakes and all the produce we buy in each week from other farms.
May 15, 2020
We finally let the sheep out on fresh grass, after months of hauling and feeding them hay, we are almost as happy as they are to have them eating grass again. The bottle fed lambs are almost weaned, and then we just have to reacquaint them to the rest of the flock and teach them to act like sheep again.
And we were interviewed by NBC news.
May 8, 2020
We now have Anne's daughter, and son in law, and our 20 month old grandson living with us. - Just when we thought life couldn't get any more chaotic!
Having him tag along makes all our chores take twice as long, but a thousand times more wonderful.
Just when I had settled in for the evening, with an after dinner cup of coffee - he hands me my shoes and announces "sheep " - so out the door we go, to check on all the animals again.
May 1, 2020
We are expecting a couple of litters of piglets in May.
The sows are starting to show signs (we'll just leave it at that) of their expectations, so now is the time to separate them, and provide them with a nice shelter in which they can build their farrowing nests. Our sows definitely prefer to make their nest in an area "au naturel", if they feel too constricted they'll choose a spot out in the open with no protection at all.
The more the sow is confined, the more likely she is to accidently lay on her piglets and crush them. Most sows in this country are confined to "farrowing crates" . Designed so that the sows can't move around, and the piglets don't get crushed. I'd rather not have pigs.