This is the lane from the house to the gravel road. We are looking East.
On the right which is the South side is the sweetcorn with the Maize up behind it. You can see how tall the maize (field corn) is when you see my tractor in front of it. 
Also look at how much sweetcorn the animals have eaten so far. We still have plenty left which is a wonderful feeling.
On the South side of the lane is the hay paddock. After the rain the other day it has sprung into action and is growing beautifully.
We can expect a third cut in three or four weeks especially if it warms up.
And here is Mama, we have not seen her on the pages for a while. Yesterday my truck driver neighbour took the big lambs (and Mia) in to the little abbatoir. The meat we have produced this week goes to feed four families. Early Christmas presents. Giving good meat to families with wee children and the elderly, and the hard working fills me with such satisfaction. And our own families freezers are almost completely empty, I have four packages of ground beef right at the bottom, we have been eating a lot of omelettes lately.
When I went out yesterday evening after dinner to feed out the last of the days sweetcorn stalks I saw a whole rabble of little brown bodies out grazing with Mama right down the back of Daisy’s Field. The piglets were out and eating grass as fast as they could before they were discovered. By the time I had driven the tractor up from the field calling to them, then carried the sweetcorn to their pen they were all back in there squeaking with excitement. There is nothing they like more than to Run helter skelter when they hear the tractor coming.
I have closed their inside gate, so I can fill the hole in. I have to admit that I did not expect them to burrow like rabbits UNDER the fence!
This lovely face is my only little gilt (girl) piglet. She and one of her brothers have been sold to a nice man (one of my American builders) with four children who is in the process of buying his own little farmhouse with a barn and buildings. He spent so much time out here this summer that he wants to begin his own little farmy. So she and her brother will be his first large animals. In September his house sale goes through and he will come for his pigs and a few chickens. I told him never grow pigs without chickens, they are a perfect match.
Three of the other piglets have very surprisingly been bought by friends who want to raise them for meat right here on the farm. (In fact I could have sold them twice over.) Although this is a lot of extra work for me, I am thrilled that people are recognising that real farm raised animals are healthier, more sustainable and worth the effort. It is hard to describe really. I love feeding people good food. I am also a little proud knowing that these men see me as a farmer now and are confident enough to ask me to raise food for them. They recognise the rightness of visiting an old fashioned farm as a part of the cycle of their own family food gathering. There is a place for us.
Sheila lays at the gate and waits for the kitchen door to slam. Then she begins a low hullo grunt, waiting for me to start work. I can hear her now, telling Ton that it is time. She is late.
Although a vet does not have the time to come out to visit a bad tempered sow, I have been in discussions. Charlotte is eating with gusto, drinking, peeing and pooping. She smells good and is not kicking at herself or exhibiting any symptoms of pain or fever. She has had the homeopathic remedies in her water since she was weaned from the piglets and is putting her weight back on fast. Her nose is cool and her eyes and skin are clear. So rest assured that she is not sick. She will stay in the back pen for another few weeks to hopefully calm down then I am going to try to put her and Sheila together again. At the moment she is ramming the side of her pen and barking at The Bobby who is grazing next to her pen. I can hear the tin sides of her windbreak banging from her angry snout. You will remember that she came back from the Swine Herds place angry and it has gone on from there. When you think about it this has been a progressive aggression. It has not come out of the blue. But she will settle down after her breakfast, and I will fill her wallow up again and she can have a nice sleep in the mud. I am very tempted by the bottle of beer a day idea!
Minty and Meadow. The easiest animals on the property.
Good morning. The sun is up and I hear yawns and creaks coming from the verandah as the dogs and cats align themselves into their accustomed morning places waiting for their breakfasts.
I have nothing to do today but farm and preserve and cook. This is my favourite kind of day. I am late. I must hurry.
You all have a lovely day too.
your friend on the farm, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
61 responses to “Long Shots, giggly piglets and bottles of beer.”
Hmmm. I was just thinking about that beer, and remembering my horse days and how some horses, particularly those that had tempers, really enjoyed the beer and it did have a calming effect. I wonder truly if that might help Charlotte? Perhaps she’d see it both as a kindness and a treat, plus the feel-good buzz afterwards. A positive routine she could look forward to, not that she doesn’t already have lots of positives in her routine. You are such a great farmer, Celi, and deserving of any and all nods to that effect.
Plus if it is Guinness it will contain iron and give her a boost. When I was pregnant I was told by doctor to drink a glass of Guinness a day! But that was in the good old days when beer wasn’t frowned on so much LOL
I was told that a glass of stout a day when breast feeding was good for the milk! fantastic!! it was too, i swear! c
I always enjoy reading about your farm life and the satisfaction your receive from the hard work.
I hope you are compiling all your blog posts for your book!
It is a lovely day.
I don’t know a single person who works anywhere near as hard as you do, Cecilia, nor anyone who deserves the satisfaction and reward of such efforts. I am astounded that you are willing to take on even more work by raising the pigs you’ve sold. Just incredible.
I’m very sorry about Mia, but you made the right decision. I am wondering about Tilly. Is she still about? (Her picture graces my dining room table…among others of your vast broods.)
Oh yes Tilly is hanging about with Mama. She is a quiet wee girl that one and will be a lovely healthy ewe when she grows up i think.. c
It sounds like a good day for you. Those pigs are so silly. It’s good to see Mama and the girls.
Oh, I’m so glad about Tilly. (Matilda, right?)
yes, she is a Matilda… doing really well.. c
I too was going to ask why ‘a must to have pigs and chickens together’ thanks for the reply to ‘misswhiplash’, now I know. I learn so much about farm life from your posts, I do not always leave a comment but I do read the posts.
This is all so rich and satisfying. Your dream is coming true, and it’s great that local people are wanting to have good healthy meat; also that you are inspiring others to create their own farmies. This is how change happens, from the grass roots. It’s very encouraging.
You are so busy, Celi! The farm is humming, and the industry is evident all the way across and continent and an ocean. Glad the piglets are going to be around on the farmy for longe; it seems to me a very nice place for a pig to live.
Hope Charlotte cheers up soon.
You are so insightful I am sure you realise, but your efforts and little farmy are paying forward in so many ways, feeding those who need it, inspiring would be farmers, and educating and inspiring those of us who enjoy the ‘old fashioned’ idea of good, clean food. And you write so well too! Thank you.
Mama looks so young with less wool!
I haven’t read the comments, and am a city mouse indeed; but you said charlotte came back from her time with the whatsamacallit and was angry; ppost traumatic pig syndrome; was she mated; might not have been good? love your post; stay wonderful
Yes she must have had a hard time,she definitely got in a fight with him, she just does not like other pigs. c
Hi Celi, I don’t think anyone has yet recommended Rescue Remedy for the aggressive Charlotte? Or maybe that is what you meant by homeopathics. It is certainly worth a try — it’s homeopathic stress relief for animals, avail. on Amazon. It is known to work. Best of luck with this big challenge!
Not only is your builder inspired by life on the The Kingdom of Farm your influence has touched us as well. We need your advice, Celi. It’s about meat chickens. How long do you feed these birds before they become dinner?? A large chicken coop here on the dairy farm will be divided and given a separate run for these birds. Virginia
This is the first time I have grown them but my research tells me to fatten them slowly and give them piles of greens. I am expecting it to take me about ten weeks, from woe to go. I have heard them taking only 6 weeks but that seems crazy. mine are already getting feathers though. They will do very well in your coop, and later you can leave the door open so they can get into the fields for a rummage .. they will come back at night to sleep. What an exciting development. What kind of birds are you thinking of getting.. c
Now that is still in the research stage Celi. We’ve just taken delivery of two of this fat meat chickens from a farmer friend and now we are inspired to “grow” out own. XX V.
You should too, just imagine all the scraps from the kitchen and weeds from the garden that you can turn back into tasty roasts, what a thought.
The good and the bad . . . so Mia and the Murphies have departed and omelettes may be on the menus but a few times a week: it must break your heart just a tad every time that happens . . . as you say four families will benefit . . .Hope every hope that Char comes ‘good’ – was kind’of hoping you might be able to reverse the gilt sale, but that is hardly something possible under the circumstances . . . From right across the globe I am willing that wonderful hay paddock to grow: the third cut as large or larger than the last and you would be home and hosed . . . pleasant evening, Miss C 😀 !
I want some farm-raised salmon. 😉