Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

I have a new friend. Mentioned her on another thread.

Not only are we bartering milk and tortillas - we are bartering skills. I'm going to teach her to milk in hopes that her husband will let her have a goat (I've got one I'll give her) and she's going to teach me to make corn tortillas. I've made flour tortillas, but for some reason I can't make good corn tortillas. Hoping to change that soon.

Also, she has a peach tree that flourishes in our climate and she has one or two small ones that she's going to share with me. I'm giving her rosemary and stevia starts. Thankfully, she's bi-lingual and maybe, just maybe I can learn another skill from her! I know a lot of Spanish words - I just don't know how to string them all together into a real sentence. Some phrases - yes. A whole paragraph - no! DH is pretty good at languages - he has a natural affinity for them that I am lacking. (Don't tell him I said that, lol)

Bought some sturdy feed troughs for the girl pigs yesterday. I usually feed them out of those black rubber pans that are very sturdy and last forever - except the girls push them all around. I like to be able to pour their feed over the fence so that I don't have to go into their pens....but they never leave them by the fence. So, problem solved now.

Boy piggers found a spot in the fence that I neglected to shore up and hoped they wouldn't find. They found it....They were out of their pen and into the girls pen yesterday. So, I'll be moving them back this weekend. Its become a battle of wits and I hate to lose to a critter, lol!

 

[NH Homesteader]

How cool! Super helpful to have good neighbors!

What did you get for feed troughs? My husband made one, it works well for 1-2 pigs but we have 3 piglets that will be needing one. I'm sick of climbing their fence to get in and find their rubber food dish that they keep relocating. All of my pants have tears in them from trying to step over the fence. Those hog panels...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/157642/homemade-flour-tortillas/

There are lots of variations of flour tortilla recipes on the net...but the one I use is similar to the one posted above. I haven't made them myself in a long time, but they're not hard.

What did you get for feed troughs?

I should have called them feeders instead of troughs. I bought some thick, hard plastic feeders that came with clips to hang them on the fence. They're not really deep or square, more kind of roundish. I know that's hard to visualize, but they look like they will be easy for the hogs to use. I'm afraid a deep square one would be hard for them to get down into very well. The ones I bought are about a foot long. They had longer ones, but I thought these would do for the two girls. If I remember, I'll try to get some pics.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yes! Good thing I will have lard soon!

My pigs are so darn destructive. We'll 3/5 of them are. The 3 are from the same mother and she's a crazy pig herself. The other 2 are pretty mellow. I'm probably stuck with my rubber dishes!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Got a couple things accomplished this weekend. Finally got the boars in their pen, and the girl piggies in their pen and nobody is going nowhere now! Except for when I let the boars into the garden spot and they root it up for me. They are so easy to move and will come when called. I love my AGH's. I need to talk to my neighbor about butchering one. DH and I can do it, but why not pay this industrious, hard-working neighbor of mine to do the deed, gut, skin and quarter for me? I'll do the cutting and packaging after that and all will be well! Just waiting for a cold front and for him to tag out on deer so he'll have a free weekend, lol. I'm sure he would welcome some nice fat piggy parts to mix in with his deer meat and make sausage. Love my neighbors!

I also got a couple of the younger does wormed and treated for coccidia. Just a few of these girls are problem children that I'm getting tired of dealing with. I told my DH the other day that I'm a really bad farm manager because I'm a softie. Instead of culling my problem children I'm bound and determined to save them all, lol. But the time is coming when I will need to make my practices more efficient. Can't spend this kind of money on critter feed after we retire... sheesh!

Now that the weather is a little cooler I was able to get some help from DH on setting up the farrowing pen. Usually I do most of the outside stuff during the summer because for whatever reason - hot weather makes his blood sugar drop like a rock. I'd rather do the work myself than to have to worry about him crashing and burning and then not only do I have all the work to do - I have to take care of him too.

But, yesterday I let him man the tractor because he loves it - and it's a little easier on his body. We pulled up a section of the sow pen to re-arrange the fencing so they can have access to half of the red-shed for farrowing. Used the tractor to pull up some t-posts and the big section of panel that had grown into the dirt and then used it again to push the t-posts back into the ground. Sooooooooo much easier than doing it by hand! All I have left to do is hang a gate and it'll be done.

Only one major glitch with letting DH drive the tractor. He's not quite as 'careful' as I am. I coulda said he's a man and he runs around with his head... oh nevermind, lol. But, the area we were working in is rather narrow and with the mower on the back and the FE Loader on the front it's quite a squeeze to get the tractor in some places. All of this is said to lead up to the fact that DH RAN INTO THE BARN WITH THE FRONT END LOADER! GRRRRRRRRR! Thankfully for him, he's still alive. Not that he hit the barn hard enough to kill himself - but thankfully I didn't just go ahead and kill him, lol! My cute red shed now has a nice crease in the wall. OMG...

Now - having done all that work the silly sow will probably farrow outside. If the weather is nice I'm ok with that. The pen she is in has round bales in it and they are covered with a big tarp. There's a great place between two of the bales that if I were a pig, I'd probably wanna have babies right there. If she does - that's ok. But, since she's not due until November, and it could be colder, she has the option of using the barn. In fact, if it's cold she won't have the option - she'll be locked IN the barn.

Still haven't bred any does... need to get that done. The does I'm milking have been lactating for 6-7 months now and the milk supply is dwindling a little bit. I need to set down and decide my pairings. Gonna put that on my "to-do" list right now.

Happy Columbus Day, ya'll!

 

[baymule]

I can so identify with your tractor busting DH. Mine took out the gate post with the flatbed trailer.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yep...whatcha gonna do with 'em? Mine was so surprised that I didn't really even fuss at him. I did tell him that was his one "freebie."

Secretly, I was just grateful that it wasn't ME that hit it, lol! Sheesh!

 

[lcertuche]

Whenever I have inflammation anywhere I drink green smoothies. It is amazing for arthritis and I would imagine it helping a yanked toenail.

In my ninja blender cup I will use about a half cup frozen berries (usually blueberries) turmeric powder, a slice or two of ginger, cinnamon, maybe a splash of vanilla, and shove in a couple of big leaves of kale, or spinach then fill it to within an inch or two to the top of the cup with something liquid like water, green tea or juice. I don't add sweeteners because I'm not big on sweets but if I fix it for one of the kids I will add sugar or honey. Blend until the fruit and greens are ground up well. It is kind of a chunky smoothie and most people don't care for it but it will keep the aches and pains away.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Sounds delicious - thanks! I have a bunch of blueberries in the freezer too.

 

[baymule]

I mix turmeric with coconut oil to make a paste and take a tablespoon each day.