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Winter on the Farm

Fri, 2 Jan 2009 18:55:51 -0800

Well it has been a long hard cold snap here on the farm. We were hauling hot water and pig slop up the hill for the past several weeks. Today is the day that most of the heavy lifting comes to an end. The three little pigs that we got in may will be butchered today along with our calf Chester. They all had a good loving healthy life with us and we are sad to see them go in some ways, on the other hand it will be less work during the winter and help to feed our family for quit some time.

The pigs are partially shared with our neighbors and we will sell a few halves and keep some in our freezer. Nothing like a pork chop bar- b- que in the summer on the grill. These pigs will be tasty as they were fed excess milk and a wide variety of veggie leftovers from the garden in-addition to their rooting space in all theblackberries. and wild scrubs.

This year we had more animals then ever before. Some were experimental to see what it was like to raise and process others were the girls 4-H projects and others found us or decided to have babies. We had our first chicken and duck hatching in an incubator, a kitten litter, and Delilah our mama duck hatched 6 ducklings late in the year.

The girls kept track and at one point we had about 120 animals, not counting the worms We just took an inventory the other day and here is what we came up with.
1 cow
20 chickens in two different groups
5 goats soon to be 4
7 ducks
8 turkeys soon to be 3
3 rabbits
4 cats (2 barn & 2 house)
1 dog
1/2 horse, it’s a miniature
Thats about 50 or so....
wait stop the press! we have a new arrival of a little Buck to service our doe goats. This will mean that the numbers will start to go up again in the spring with lots of new critters.
Life on the farm is anything but boring!

Rosie in the snow

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:40:15 -0800

What a day in the snow we had! Fun for the whole family.
check out the album
Now the snow can melt and we welcome the sun back into our lives. All of the critters here on the farm are ready for it!

Thanksgiving From the Farm

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:51:07 -0800

It took months to prepare and moments to consume and days to work off. But it was all worth it.
This meal was prepared in or minds months in advance. By choosing what breed of turkey chicks to get to what grain to plant in the spring. This meal was almost entirely from the farm,
2 turkeys, 1 goose, 2 loves home made bread from grain that we grew, threshed, winnowed, and ground the day of the feast, 2 kinds of cheese from Buttercup milk, A big batch of Buttercup ice cream to go with all the berry and fruit pies for desert. Squash from the garden, mushrooms from the patch
Wine from the store this year but we have it in the casks for next year. Plenty of Friends and Family to aid in the festivities. It was a feast to remember. This is the way it use to be, and should be!
As we counted our blessings in this moment and refilled our glasses and attempted to solve the problems of the world, in the back of our minds we we were secretly planning for the next feast.

Stay tuned for more tales of happy eaters at Inspiration Farm feasts in entries to come.

Buttercup Greets the Piglets

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:13:00 -0700

Butter cup was very curious about the three new arrivals and barked at them like a dog. The piglets were undaunted.