on the farm

ah, onions are coming up big now, greens are going strong, & lots of things are getting ready to go in the ground. seems like spring has indeed sprung here on the ol farm.

so the redneck barbarians who lived here before us left little trash dumps for us to dig up and haul away. a couple of them have some interesting junk: i'm guessing we'll reuse or recycle about a third of what's there. thankfully, none of this nonsense is near where we are growing food. it'll take a week or so to clean up the mess they left behind.

buddy, our 250 lb potbelly pig, seems a touch unhappy. his tusks are growing out, and he has a mohawk - that's the good news. he does like to be fed, so feeding time sees him grunting away with satisfaction. i built him a new trough yesterday and that seems to enhance the experience for him. i've heard that pigs are inherently clean beasts. i wouldn't say that applies to buddy, exactly, since he does like a good waller now and again. but it might be true in a general sense. he responds well to a good brush down, especially on the flanks. but who doesn't?

our chicken house is going through major renovation. a student from new college, piper, is out here a few times a week and is helping us get our chicken and rabbit systems going. we aim to get 8 hens, a rooster, and at least 2 rabbits for our vermiculture (worms). we got 1000 red wigglers in the mail last month and have started them. they make twice as many of themselves in a month, with adequate vittles & space.

we're both working hard teaching, but coming home to our lil farm is really the life. peace.