I like to call it the Pig Jig

A lot has happened lately but I've let myself get caught up in my work and haven't stopped by here to update. And while there's so much to say, I just don't have it in me to write it all out. Lucky for me, pictures and videos exist!

We moved the pigs into their pastured area and this is how they felt about it:

Don't worry, this video was a first attempt. I will have a better version up when I get around to it...

We've also been digging in the garden. We got in all kinds of leafy greens, beets, radishes and carrots a while back. A second round of those and some strawberries, peas and asparagus. (I've also transplanted the eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers as well as planting the basil and beans since I drafted this.)

Here's our first spring garden bed. We did raised beds this year with straw in the aisles to prevent weeds and spinach on the sides to prevent erosion. So far, it's looking great.

 

I think the actual plant pictures are better though:

Deer Tongue Lettuce

Mixed Spring and Italian Greens

Seeded Simpson Lettuce

Baby Spinach

Grown Spinach

View of Wonderful Texture   ; )

Baby Carrot!

               

We also already planted our cover crop on our "resting" bed. I took pictures a little later than this entry suggests, but doesn't it look cute now?

 

And because we all know by now that I love closeups: 

My secret garden guards are watching you.

Aaaaaand, we got our meat chickens and guinea hens:

Guinea Keets

Meat Chicks:

Meat Chick stares you down

Curious Meat Chicks

Hungry, Hungry Meat Chicks?

We're Officially in Hog Heaven!

Ok, technically, they're not big enough to be called hogs yet, but you get the drift.

We bought four: Tocino, Prosciutto, Salchicha, and Pancetta. But before you tell me I'm a sadist for naming them that, know that if I don't call them by some type of food product name, I will never be able to follow through when it comes to the end...and I simply can't have four 400+ lb. sows running around next year.

That being said, they are adorable. Just look at them!

Here's the piggies in my truck. That's a pig panel I bent up and tied together at the corner. They were all snuggled up in the straw and loving it!



After the first day, we decided they were having a little trouble adjusting to their new home, so to entice their appetites, we brought them each a little chunk of apple core and 1/4 of a scrambled egg. Boy did that ever work! It took some goading on my part at first but by the end they were checking my hand for any and all scraps. (This got a little scarier when I ran out of food, haha. No one tried to bite, but I've heard that if you feed them by hand too much they associate your hand with food and, well, you know where that story goes...) But, all went well, the piggies feasted happily after that.

More pictures!

But to anyone who might stumble upon this in search of answers about setting up pigs, here is what went into my setup here in southeast PA:


Housing:
-Currently, they are in an 11' x 12' stall in our barn. Eventually they will be moving to a Port-a-Hut (~$300) so they can be moved more readily around the pasture.

Food:
-We bought a one panel hog feeder for the four of them. They're fighting over it a little bit today (now that they figured out where it is) but I'm hoping that settles down. (The lid needs to be strapped open the first couple days so they get used to where it is, then you can let them figure out how to work it.)

Water:
-We used a generic nipple waterer. (They bite down on a stick and the water comes out.) We had to get a metal pipe to attach the nipple to (because if it were directly connected to the hose, they may very well destroy the hose). This pipe is fitted with two nylon fittings. One reduces the size of the hole, the other goes from threaded to hose-fitted. On top of the hose fitting, I put a sawed off hose and a metal pipe clamp. Remember that if you're connecting threaded tubing for water, put the teflon tape around the threads to protect against leaks.  (Can you tell this is where I struggled most?)

Fencing:
-We are using electric fencing. Right now, it lines the edges of the stall so that they get used to how it works. According to my research, pigs are one of the few animals that will try to plow through the fence (depending on where they get zapped) rather than back away. So, to teach them the proper way to deal with the fence, a hard wall needs to be on the other side for a while so they learn that the can't plow through it and must back away from it. So far, it's been working well. Ask me again once they're in the field, haha.

Bedding:
-We are using straw.

Heat:
-We have a heat lamp about 3' up. It could probably be lowered. I'm going to work on that. (The high today is 45°F.)

Remembering Season 1 on the Farm

I am starting a blog to document the exciting goings on that occur at Rogue Fox Farm. It is officially the beginning of our second season here, but let's quickly recap last season:

We were a suburban family trying to learn the ropes of a farm. Given that, I'd say we did pretty darn well. We had a few disease issues - early blight with the tomatoes, some nematode issue with the rutabagas and possibly fusarium something or other with the okra...but I'm still not sure about that one. That being said, we got a ton of produce out of our 'little' garden. We grew a number of things including tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, squash, eggplant, okra, peppers, beans, rutabagas, lettuce, kale, swiss chard, etc.

We also tried our hand at animals...the easiest animals available: laying hens. We built their coop and raised them from chicks. There were 19 hens, 1 rooster. The fox, over the course of the winter, got 2 hens from us and we got the rooster (he had begun to get aggressive).  More to come on that.

And because pictures are much  more entertaining than words will ever be:

Gardens

Here you can see our lower garden through three stages. The dots correlate to the same plants in different stages. Red are the tomatoes (note the fence they're growing on disappear), Yellow are beans, and Blue is the okra.

 

Here's the middle garden. We only got one picture of it that season...I was lazy. And nevermind the Spanish labels.

  

While we're on the topic of gardens, why not show you our beautiful produce?

Produce

 We got quantity alright!

 

And variety...

 

And quality (usually, haha)

 

 We also got eggs for the first time. Cute ones at that. They are brown, blue green, cream and occasionally pinkish.

  

Chickens

They start out cute.

We made them a little halfway house to live in before the coop was finished.

And finally...there was a chicken coop built with love. LOTS of love.

Here's the montage of the creation and its residents in their full grown stage.