Tuesday was a rough day for Gertrude. First time mama-pig, with a litter of 10 piglets. She had a long pre-labor on Sunday into Monday. 6 hours of labor to produce the first piglet on Monday, then 3 hours more to bring out the rest of them. Then they were nursing all night. She was… Continue reading A Rough Day for Gertrude.
Month: September 2026
Buckwheat, Triangles and Homeschool
Late August, the garden is gathering for its final burst of activity before the dark period. This is the most massive and vigorous stand of buckwheat we have ever grown. And the bees seem to be doing their job. I just hope we can get it ripened and harvested before the rains comes on hard… Continue reading Buckwheat, Triangles and Homeschool
Canning Peaches, on a Sunday
We ordinarily try to avoid making Sunday a canning day, but when you have 65 Lbs of peaches sitting in boxes in the garage, you can't let them sit too long. They don't keep, especially when they are picked by over-zealous kids who have a tendency to drop them into the box, rather than gently… Continue reading Canning Peaches, on a Sunday
A Harrowing Farrowing
Yesterday was a long and stressful day. At 4:30 Gertrude had still not had any piglets. First time gilts can sometimes go a day or two longer than the 114 days gestation time, so we weren't too worried, but we decided to move our school to the farm instead of staying at home, just to… Continue reading A Harrowing Farrowing
First Batch!
This is our first batch of home-brewed blackberry wine and mead. Bottled, labeled, ready to go down into the "wine cellar" for aging. By wine cellar, we mean the space under the air conditioning duct in the garage, at least until we get a space set up in the basement in the farm. Some of… Continue reading First Batch!