New Projects and Progeny

I suppose now we’ve sunk into a monthly rhythm when it comes to blogging.  I’d still prefer a weekly post, but our energy levels and access the internet have not really been conducive to such an ambition.

"I'm on the paleolithic diet.  My yoga teacher just loves it and it's
great for the hams..."

One thing that has really kept us busy is the addition of 6 adorable pigs to the farm.  As a pilot program we purchased 6 weaned pigs in the end of July as a special anniversary gift to ourselves.  The pigs are being rapidly rotated through forest paddocks where they get to graze through the forest and scrub brush.   We’ve also been giving them vegetables from the organic growers at Bluehouse Farm and whey from Harley Farm.  These guys are so pampered and with such a raw/organic/high protein diet, I’d say they are truly Californian pigs!

We also got the turkeys on pasture this month. They are, of course, loving life and eating everything green in site.  We are raising 200 turkeys this year and it’s a big step up from the 70 we did last year.  The group mentality is quite powerful and we have to be careful not to place anything tempting by the fence or else a wave of turkeys will push its way through.  They are still quite small, but already we’ve had to give them a 300’ perimeter net and we are planning to expand that to a full quarter acre (450’ perimeter) in just a few days.  We are trying to drum up the demand to raise turkeys year-round, they are so great to have on the farm.

Lastly, ShaeLynn and I have the absolute pleasure to announce that we are going to be having our first child in April!  We are psyched, especially because we now know that in about 10 years we’ll be able to have another day off when the child is old enough to do all the chores!   One point that may be hard to explain in twenty years, though, is why I talked about pigs and turkeys first in this post.  I suppose once the child understands that his or her college fund was made possible by those animals, I think they’ll come around.  Frankly I’m just so excited and it’s been terribly hard to keep a lid on the news until Shae felt it was a good time to let everyone know.  I realize that there will be some people who I have been unable to get a hold of to tell them the good news over the phone (especially those now residing in Spain…hint!), but hopefully this will spur them to call me instead.

See you all in October!