And then my friend R found us some pigs. We have families to feed and one of them is hers. And she is a local with a huge network. She heard back from an old friend and she said come get them tomorrow. Tomorrow is reorganizing day at her hog facility apparently.
It will be smelly. I don’t look forward to it but I can feel good about bringing these pigs out of there.
So. We will be driving over later this morning to collect 5 25 pound pigs. They come out of a commercial breeding house so the only thing I know for sure is that they will have never seen sun and will probably be white so I will put them in the trailer park enclosure.
R got it ready while I was away. And it has a lot of shade.
Hay
Loaded and stacked. And that is just the first cut!
The West side of the barn loft is now cleared for the next cut. Whew.
Calves
The calves spent an afternoon out in the field with the Aunties. They were very calm and cruisy which is exactly right. I got a great video for The Tenners of me bringing them in because I need them back up at the barn for nighttime’s. They need to be very familiar with their surroundings (and tight as a herd) before they spend the night in the great outdoors – plus too much green too quick is hard on a ruminant.
I have used the gate chain to allow only the calves to get into the back room in the barn so they stay together with the Aunties but get to eat their own feed.
They need to keep eating dry hay to balance the new green fodder.
Ducks and Chickens and Turkeys
All present and …
Correct.
Soon we will create bigger spaces for these little fluff balls and get better photos. The weather is heating up so we won’t need heat lamps for part of the day anymore.
It will be in the nineties today – but it is summer. I am just glad we got the hay in.
The skies were different last evening. Scattered. Flippant.
There was rain in the forecast. But it went North.
Here is the promised photo of the compost heap. I will turn it in two weeks.
It is HUGE. And already very hot in the middle.
The compost heap would have liked rain but there you are. It will be an interesting summer.
And now. Up I get. As usual I am writing to you in the early morning from my bed with a hot cup of tea!
Today will be another fast moving day!
Take care. Talk soon.
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
21 responses to “Turning Up The Heat”
How fantastic …and those Plonkers will really appreciate having a nice home on the Farmy!
Their rooms are high with weeds too so it will be nice and cool under there.
They’ll love that!
Things are moving along on the farm. It takes a lot of planning as well as hard work to make a farm work. I didn’t give my dad enough credit when I was growing up. Can you send me an email at darlene dot foster at telus dot net. I don’t have any other way to get a hold of you. xo
absolutely. My email is celima.g.7@gmail.com – it will be lovely to hear from you!
Wonderful sky shots!
yes! I was entranced!!
Why am I not surprised at all that you go from no pigs to now having two sources of pigs! I am laughing as I look at the picture of Wai, always seeming to be grumpy with that crinkled up face, his chickens for his main source of company because they do not steal his food. Is he saying “oh miss C….what HAVE you done now to my farm…?”
The final sunset photo over the compost is stunning.
the chicks DO steal his food. I think he loves all the company – he is most annoyed when he forgets where his new door is. He keeps going to the old door which is shut with calves behind it. Poor fellow. He has Alzheimer’s I think!
Thankfully the chicks are not as obvious to him as Tima the Tank with her aggressive superiority 🙂 Maybe a future project will be a Wai Wai only space where he can hear the world go by, a few chickens can wander in and out but he can have security in an unchanging space…
But he love to come up to the house and wait for his breakfast. I could never enclose him.
I can understand that.
Oh, how I long for a huge compost pile like yours! 🙂 We have a fair sized one, of course, but the bigger the better! In fact that’s how we make soil here to replentish our raised beds, which is so necessary to do here in the mountainous, rocky Ozarks.
Are you still gardening / with your new found freedom from goats. Is it getting hot down there?
Your animals must be so happy:)
I think so. There is no anxiety as I walk about.
What direction are the wind turbines beyond the calves in the pasture?
They are to the North. Chicago is that way too!
90s would be a heat advisory here. We’re not used to those temperatures. It sounds like you are very busy with the animals. Love the fuzzy ducklings! You take beautiful photos. The sunset is so colorful. (or is it sunrise?)
That was a sunset! 90’s is just summer here. Not too bad.
Ah that last pic is just lovely …