Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[Denim Deb]

Well, I saw a pole cat waddling thru a field on my way home from the farm today. But, I REFUSE to try and get one for you!

 

[Wannabefree]

IF it ever come down to it, I could get my own, no shortage around here

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww - It sounds so much worse when you put it that way!

 

[Wannabefree]

Glad I could be of service

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Today is a new day. I spent some time this morning thanking God for all the blessings in my life. I mourned a little bit for the bad ending one of the pigs had and then started my day.

We had a cold front rip through here a little while ago, but I got things battened down before it hit. All I really needed to do was cover the chicken tractor with a tarp. I wanted to be sure the little guys didn't get frostbite. Temps dropped about 20 degrees in just a few minutes. There were some pretty strong gusts and some heavy rain - for about 5 minutes. Its still going to be dreary and overcast for most of the day but - whaddya gonna do? I'm gonna take this as a sign that I should relax today.

I'm going to have to spend some time cleaning more out of the freezers. We're getting so much meat off the pigsters that I'm gonna need every available inch of freezer space. I hope that my neighbor will take some pork as payment for his work. We touched on the subject a couple days ago and he said he might take a "little bit of sausage." Uh no - he needs to take a LOT!

DH asked me if I was still thinking about raising pigs and I'm not real sure I want to. I like pigs a lot, but until I get my numbers of goats down I don't need to take on any more permanent residents. It worked really well just getting the two piglets in the fall and raising them over the winter. It does put me at the mercy of the prices people sell piglets for - but it's probably still cheaper than feeding breeders year round.

I need to streamline my operation around here and get rid of some goats and probably some horses. Not that I'll ever do it - but I neeed to, lol.

It's really time to concentrate on the gardens. I should be able to get a lot done over the next week or so. Maybe by the time spring break is over I'll be almost finished planting. I do have blossoms on my peas! Perhaps I'll actually get a decent harvest. Usually it gets hot so fast around here that the peas burn up before they give me much, but hey, even a few peas is better than none!

Hope everyone has a great Sunday!

 

[Wannabefree]

It's supposed to be a beautiful week here, hoping to get my garden going good too, or at least well on it's way! Have agreat day sis

 

[Denim Deb]

Hope you get some good weather and some good peas! Did you ever try a fall planting?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I wanted to, but I had no room in my garden! It was full of igs, lol. I guess I coulda put some in the smaller garden, but I had it pretty full of grens and cabbage and stuff. This fall for sure!

 

[pinkfox]

about to help witht he feed bill getting the piglets in the spring and butcehrign late fall...youll have much more home grown produce available to raise the on during the summer months than the winter...and it eems easier to find pigs in the spring here at least.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I did miss out on having much garden produce for the pigs by having fall pigs instead of spring pigs. The problem here is the heat and humidity. Trying to raise pigs when the temps are 100+ and the heat index is above 110 for months is very hard on them! In this area of Texas fall pigs do seem to do better. But, the trade off is just as you say - not a lot of garden goodies for them. However, when I put them into the garden area this past fall - they had weeks and weeks worth of leftover 'stuff' that they cleaned up for me. I will say that I think my pigsters were spoiled. They enjoyed their milk and eggs so much that they pretty well ignored garden goodies when they were offered. They enjoyed natural grazing and playing in the pond, but weren't too fond of veggies. I think they were spoiled....!!

Had ribs again tonight....yummy!!!!!

OH... the hogshead cheese was darn good stuff. Had it on crackers with sirachi sauce.