Yesterday we planted out 100 cabbages in the cows garden. (There are 100 more in the glasshouse and 100 more to sow). Today fifty pepper plants of different varieties will follow – the peppers are not for the cows, they are for the Farmers Market market.
Roxanne is having trouble adjusting to the high protein pasture diet and has ended up with a runny bottom, (not unusual for Herefords) so she is in the concrete yards on dry food for a few days. The vet is coming to visit today so he will be looking at her horns. Plus look at Lady A (if he has time) and hopefully tell us if she really is pregnant or just in need of a brassiere. I will keep you informed.
This is Molly watching her babies. Above is from her side. The farrowing pen side. Below is from the Point of View of the piglets as they sleep in their creep. You can see the top of their light if you look to the left of the above shot.
Molly lies there for ages – just watching her babies and sharing a little warmth from the light. Every time she gets up she hits her forehead on the bar above her head. The bar keeps her from blocking the piglet entrance but the bar is a new addition to the farrowing pen and she cannot remember it is there.
The piglets were visited by the Pig Lady yesterday (castration day – we had five little boars) and she pronounced them all Little Porkers. They are mucking around with their solid food and drinking water. They really are putting on weight now which is just as well as Poppy looks like being bred and her first farrowing date is May 4th. I will need to wean these babies in ten days, move Molly down the back then bring Poppy in to the farrowing pen.
Molly giving birth a few weeks later than expected put the spanner in the works.
Last time I weaned her last brood at three weeks and they did very well. These ones will get three and a half weeks of mothers milk.
Having said that i will keep watch on Poppy – she may not be as close as I think.
It is 66F/18C as I write and windy.
I hope to cut hay in early May, so I am watching the weather hard looking for a week of sunshine.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
Weather Forecast –
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
51 responses to “100 cabbages”
300 cabbages! Wow! I would love to see some photos of your gardens sometime in late July – please? : )
Yes, when everything is growing – for sure.. c
Wow! That header feels like we just burst upon summer!!
All is green and bright flowers in Seattle, but the days are still scraggly upper 50s and low 60s with lots of rain and just enough sun to tease us.
The green and grass is a lovely portent of the coming seasons. So many cabbages but so many stomachs to fill and bodies to grow.
That’s a lot of cabbage. It would be interesting to taste, and see, all those different peppers. If only l lived near your local farmers market:)
So much planning, timing and weather watching for you. It’s the same here but not nearly as hectic or as much going on. How DO you manage?
It really is not hectic – everything is well planned. I like things to be in order then when something goes wrong it is easier to manage.. c
You will have a great amount of lovely cabbage for the pigs, the chickens, the cows and to sell….not to mention TO EAT!!!
I never have enough cabbages or tomatoes..
Oh Lordie – methinks I would be far too selfish to pass too much of that cabbage to the animals: think how well sauerkraut keeps and how probiotically healthy it is raw or cooked [what better juice than sauerkraut!!] . . . and then there is kimchi: so easy to make, so much fun to use and again a keeper 🙂 ! Mine moves so fast, make some almost every month and I have to BUY my cabbages 🙂 !
Wow – you have so much to keep track of!! ; o )
Oops – the comment below was meant for Celia. What I wanted to tell you is that I don’t like sauerkraut all that much – but I sure do like kimchi and I’m so impressed that you make it. Is yours as hot, hot, HOT as the Kimichi served in Korean restaurants?
Cecile: in Australia making one’s own kimchi is quite common and I have never made it or eaten it hot: the taste comes from the fermentation, radish, fish sauce or anchovy etc et al. The amount of gochugaru [chilli paste] one adds is truly up to you – remember in Korea it is eaten at ALL meals [breakfast included] and, as an addendum, with almost all dishes – and Korean food is very tasty but not hot . . . Sauerkraut: being Northern European-born I don’t think there is anyone who does not love sauerkraut soup or pork and sauerkraut 🙂 !
I do have to disagree with you about the ‘heat’ in kimchi. I’ve eaten Kimchi at Korean friend’s home – and also at authentic Korean restaurants in places such New York City and Boston – and believe me (and I don’t mind hot) after two bites… you just couldn’t eat anymore.
I’m wondering if the kimchi in Australia is prepared more to Australian tastes?? ; o )
Found this… “The typical kimchi made with chili peppers is quite spicy. But there are less spicy versions……” And you taught me something – I had no idea that Koreans will eat kimchi with every meal !! ; o )
Did your vet surgically disbudding your sweet heifer? That was the only option I had for the 3goats that I missed having disbudded the usual way, with a disbudding iron. I didn’t do it, as the flies have already come out. I don’t want maggoty heads! Molly is a good mama, glad her babies have turned into little chubbies!
We are very wary of flies too so he burned them off – it went very well. I do not want maggots in the brains!
You have soo much to keep track of animals, birthing, haying, starting seedlings for spring etc. etc. etc. etc. And we get to enjoy reading all about it!! ; o )
Not too busy yet – just steady.. c
There will be lots of “get back in shape after winter” slaw, won’t there? Yum.
Yum – indeed.. c