This is exactly how we are walking now. Slipping on the ice hidden under the slopping water and slapping and splashing about. Nice though. Huge puddles everywhere. Everything is sloppy wet – because it is warm. By afternoon most of the ice was slush and our work pants were wet to the knees. Gracie fit into one of my pairs of overalls, jammed her feet into gumboots and immediately went to work. We worked without gloves. Oh the joy of it!
Much to Poppy’s delight she is showing signs of coming into heat. So this morning semen is being collected from a very virile looking Hereford boar (I do not know how they collect the semenfrom a boar and frankly do not care to know) an hours drive from here and today John will drive over to collect two straws of handsome pig semen. A task he never saw himself doing when he was growing up listening to Bob Dylan and dreaming of the big city.
So this afternoon my friend, who knows about pigs, will come over and if Poppy is in Standing Heat we will breed her both tonight and tomorrow morning. Standing Heat means you can put both hands on her back from behind and push as hard as you can and she will not budge. And she will stand to be bred. Poppy standing still for anything will be something to see!
Sad news. I opened the bee hives yesterday afternoon and there were only a few bees there and they are long dead. Dried up dead. I remember last summer they were slow to thrive. Such a disappointment. Ah well. I have given bee-keeping a really good crack. Time to close this one down though. I will no longer be keeping bees. Such a shame. But sometimes trying again and again and again and failing means it is not to be. Time to move on. 
One thing I am getting right (touch wood) is raising these calves. They are looking great.
I hope you have a lovely day. Fingers crossed that Poppy does not go past her fertile moment before we get her bred. Do you remember her when she was this big?
Love your friend on the farm,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
72 responses to “Slip, Slop, Slap, Splash”
Rather planned or not, it always seems as if the farmy knows well what will work…bees not so much, but goats and turkeys on the way. Best with Poppy. What a very small window to be successful in breeding a pig, perhaps if you give her a flower and whisper in her ear first she will be more accommodating to the process…of course promise her a lovely pig treat after as well 😉
She is banging on the gate as I write, trying to lift it off its hinges I think! Hope we are in time! c
Oh Poppy! How amazing it is to see her as wee Poppy! Hopefully all will go well with the “procedure”. 🙂 Too bad about the bees but now that means you can concentrate on something else, right? 🙂
Sorry to hear about the bees. I’ll be pulling for Poppy and successful AI. Calves are looking great!
I think they are too, though Daisy’s bobby is such a leggy thing, those dairy steers always are.. c
Bummer about the bees. I had so hoped you find success this time around. Bees are such an important part of farming. Although, being next door to the corn and soybean fields may have contributed to their demise. Farmers use so many pesticides and those pesticides are killing the bee population. I wonder if we could raise bees here in our little town? Maybe I should look into that 🙂
I hope you find much success breeding Poppy.
Look into it Deb, you can have the new supers I have not even used yet! c
I LOVE your snow shots. ( I’ve said this before ) It reminds me of Rothko, but very much yours. And very real.
Also, don’choo love how “straw” means ” a container for carrying semen? ” So simple a word, but the possibilities are profound!
Exactly.. I wonder why they call them straws and not vials.. maybe vial sounds so sinister. c
Pixie Stick might be more appropriate.
Fancy straw, sugar inside 😉
Horrors!! Can I afford a Rothko do you think or do we have to do a gallery heist. c
no need. you got something there in those snowfields. can’t wait for the springfieldsl
You are making me lonesome for the prairie this AM with that landscape shot. Beautiful.
I’m sorry to hear about the bees. Listening to Bob Dylan and dreaming of life in the big city, how many of us had the same dream?
Oh dear, sorry about the bees. I remember reading somewhere, that it was pretty expected to buy new bees every year for a bee keeper. I wonder where I read that. Must have a look for that book. Speaking off, just finished reading The Bucolic Plague, by Josh (double name one of the Beekman boys) It was entertaining and I enjoyed the candid peek into their city slickers turned farmers life, but in one instance he was walking on the slip sliding, wet, slush over ice in his suit and slipped and fell into a slush puddle and had to get to a business meeting! He could have used your brilliant wadding overalls. (No idea why I’m telling you this…lol)
you are telling me that because if we really WERE sitting down with a cup of tea and chatting that is exactly the way our meandering conversation would go.. and such a treat that would be!.. c
Oh my gosh I pity him. I was out there today, step, slide, step, slide, retrieving the horses and donkey for their pedicures all the time thinking how very unhappy I’d be if I fell in that stinky slop and I was wearing my grubs. (Barn clothes). However, it hit 50*F so I’m telling myself, I will embrace this slip slidy smelly mud!
Oh gosh Sherry, sounds like an adventure! 😀 I used to figure skate so actually love slip sliding away…but not in my finest business garb.
I’m so sorry about the bees. Like you, when these disappointments happen often enough, I see it as a sign to move on. You gave it your best, as did the bees. And doesn’t Poppy look happy? I loved your thought-provoking words this morning… the lull between the last of wicked winter, and the softening towards spring. We have a slow rain and drizzle today, birds singing and Canadian Geese honking above headed north. I love the noise of the woodlands in the spring… so busy with chatter.
Those honking geese, i think we live on some kind of dividing line they fly back and forth, north then south, south then north until it gets properly warm.. I love the sound of them and how they just appear so close overhead. .. and you know about me and birds.. I just duck automatically.. c
Birdy, birdy, flying high, dropped some whitewash in my eye. But I’m a big girl and did not cry, I’m just glad that elephants don’t fly!
Oh I am so sorry about your bees! Wish you were closer you could come and get some of the hundreds my little dish of sugar water seemed to attract! I have had to move the dish further down the garden as me and the animals were getting dive bombed by bees on the deck all day yesterday. Hope they find where I have put it now. Cleaned the Green House out yesterday and I am now ready to start some seeds – can’t wait to get dirt under my nails – they are looking too clean! Even got a bit of sun burn on my face yesterday, it feels a bit tight this morning. Loads of rain though forecast for rest of week. Oh well at least it is rain and not snow or ice.
Keeping bees always sounds such a romantic pastime but the reality seems much more fraught. Finding a beekeeper who’d like to keep some hives in the fields seems a better way for us – on the next door farm they grow borage which is always popular with bees.
Have fun with Poppy – the most wondrous thing we found with AI was the corkscrew catheter.
Borage is a huge attraction for bees, we grow hundreds of them every year just for them..no honey is a shame however with the huge number of flowers we have it will be interesting to see what the wild bee population is like.. morning anne
I love that contented smile on that lovely pig!
Linda ★★
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer
For a good laugh YouTube has a video called Screaming Goats. Maybe I’ve mentioned this before. Might cheer you up over the bees loss.
And a special thank-you for that baby Poppy and Boo photo. Soooo cute. Much luck with her. (Now I have to look up borage. Not the same, I guess, as forage.)
I am so sorry about the bees. I thought the Russian variety might have made a go of it.
Good luck with Poppy. Sorry to hear of your bees. Such a shame when you lose a hive ..