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”
That is sad about the bees. There are so many things that can kill or hurt them nowadays, thanks to the movements of humans – varroa, nosema, tracheal mites, EFB, AFB and plain old persistent rain or freezing temperatures to name a few. Wish you better luck with the rest of your livestock.
Now they are words I’ve always wanted to use in a sentence…..” just going for a drive to pick up some pig semen”…..yep, life is good on the Farmy. Boo has that lovely soft still eye as he gazes at Poppy, a calendar shot for sure.
Celi, will you also have some boar urine to splash around Poppy’s nose? I know that sounds weird, but we learned this from Youtube when getting read to AI our sows, and it was confirmed by the man in Iowa that we bought the boar semen from. Also, he sent 3 tubes of semen so we could do it for 3 days in a row. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well!!!
No I did not get the boar scent, but I do have a wee boar.
Of course! I forgot all about Tima! Having him on the outskirts of the procedure may help! xo
Hurray for the melt! Today we saw GROUND for the first time in SO long. By this afternoon I was digging trenches with our handy new ice axe. I’m hoping to keep at least part of our paddocks dry! Glad to hear the geese are on their way. The ravens and the crows arrived yesterday. What a ruckus they’re making out there trying to establish their territory. It’s happening – spring is really about to arrive. Congrats for making it through another wicked winter! Hugs from the ‘north’.
Your views and pics of them are something else. Wide, wide skies. Sorry news about the bees… but you will still get lots of local insect life and wild bees? Just not the honey. I know nothing about bees by the way. Poppy’s smile is wonderful, as is the pic of her as a wee one with Boo. Hope the AI is timely and productive. Nice you have Gracie visiting and helping – you’ll have fun catching up. Love the coo line up. I enjoyed the shot of their behinds (yesterday maybe, or the day before).
Lovely to see Gracie there and all ready and willing to muck in! You have agonized over the bees enough: obviously the Prairie life is simply too much for them . . . so now ‘we’ look forwards to the goats and turkeys and more chickies and perhaps even piglets . . . just do be careful on that ice, both of you 🙂 !
I had visions of myself as one of those women who was at one with the bees. How wrong I was. Between our horrendous winters, bears and the fact I didn’t want to get stung, it was not a success. After losing hives 3 years in a row, I sold all my equipment to a man who had kept bees for years, and just needed a gentle push to do it again.
I hope Poppy has piglets if only for Nanny Boo’s sake. I know nothing about pigs but It would be lovely if Poppy shared her babies with Boo.
I’m so looking forward to pictures of babies again. I miss that. All your animals look happy. Sorry about your bees
Holy moly, look at those bobbies! They are looking positively beefy! (haha!) Like teenage linebackers on the high school football team.
Holy Moly! I say that all the time!! wise minds, etc.. c
Oh. So sad about the bees.
Ha! No, I don’t remember Poppy’s baby pictures! Sorry to hear the bees didn’t survive. The calves do look hale and hearty. Had to chuckle at Poppy standing still. She is one busy girl.
Loving the last photo – oh so CUTE 🙂
Celi- you might get a kick out of this from the Daily Show- I went to high school with the interviewer, Beth. x
oh right the link! http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/jn0xft/swine-song
OK. I HAD NO IDEA and was hoping to stay that way.. goodness! c