Pigs, New Pets, and Panic Attacks

I disappeared for a while.  Life has been interesting.  This is as good a time as any to disclose that I am about twenty-two weeks pregnant.  It was a bit of a shock when we found out, but we are very excited to welcome another family member in May!  Speaking of new family members, we also adopted a dog.  He came with the name Seth, but we call him Seth-Dog.  He's a beautiful pointer mix and we adore him.  He has his quirks like any other member of this household, but he fits right in.  He was a four year old brought into the P.A.W.S. Animal Adoption Center in Camden.  They suspected that he had an owner that neglected him terribly by leaving him tied in the yard continually.  He was hairless, suffering from a skin rash they suspect was brought on by Seth-Dog repeatedly overheating during the hot summer months.  But he's healthy and happy now!  He has some anxiety issues, but so would any of us if we had been treated that way.

In addition to being a pregnant work-at-home mom to a toddler, winter is officially here.  Our road, which we maintain with the help of our only two neighbors, has been such fun during this spring-like winter.  Two loads of fill were laid down just as the first real storm of winter was rolling in yesterday afternoon.  Thank goodness we got it in just in time.

But the mild, then cold, then mild, then cold again weather hasn't been a complete curse.  It has given us time to build a small barn behind the house.  The hard work has been done.  Andrew build the frame with pine timbers he harvested this fall.  We needed to clear some trees to allow more sunlight to hit our solar panels during the short winter days and he made good use of what had to be cut down.  It's all about using what you have!  We might actually have to buy a few supplies to complete the project, though.  Our entire chicken coop only cost about $5, but we are more pressed for time and lower on materials for this project.  It should be done within a week or two and we are so excited!

The barn is going to be the new home to four piglets come April.  We try to focus on permaculture on our small farm.  We have land that needs to be cleared for garden beds and no one roots up land better than a hog.  We decided to spread the word to see how much interest there is in pasture-raised pork and people seem to really want it!  We decided that, as it's our first year with pigs, we did not want to raise more than four pigs.  After all, we will have a two year old and a newborn this summer.  We don't need to take on more than we can handle. So we are now accepting deposits on whole, half, or quarter pigs.  We'll be accepting deposits through April, but we expect the meat to all be spoken for well before then.  (If you are interested or have any questions, email us at frenchrdfarm@gmail.com).

We are also adding several hens to our flock this spring.  We eat a lot of eggs around here and we have also been selling out of eggs consistently.  There are so many additions coming this year!  If only we can hunker down and survive the winter, we have so much to look forward to.

I hope you're all having a beautiful winter.  To our Maine friends, get out there and make a snowman!  It's the perfect snow for forts and snowball fights.  Be well!