If you remember, we went there this last winter. (see http://threedaughtersfarm.com/wp/?p=3784) This time I was back for a fermenting class taught by Kelley Suggs (see her business page at http://www.lithewellnesssolutions.com/ ) which was fun, though I have done aspects of much of it before. I did learn I can use our large slow cooker to make yogurt in, in bulk, which is cool, learned how to do small batch fermenting in medium to large canning jars for everyday eating, and I bought a scoby from her for making kombusha tea which I have not done before.
Then I went outside, where Claire, Phoebe, and their kids already were, and I played with the food.
They have a milk cow, which seemed to genuinely enjoy the attentions of the kids. Though my kids understood the theory of milking a cow, actually getting down there and doing it was a first for them.
Cow didn’t mind at all.
I went wandering and winding my way through the fields and pastures. Up until recently, much of it had been under water. This is evident by spotty germination of some crops in the fields, but the rain has been a boon for hay production.
When you have the animals they have, and do it all yourself when it comes to feeding them, and don’t do the soy meal bit, you need a lot of high quality hay, and so far they have a few hundred round bales saved up for winter, with a good number to go. Jer and his mom were running the rake and baler while we were out there, adding to the mountain.
One of their boars came out of his mud hole just long enough to look at me, and then went right back to join his friend. At 500# plus I did not just walk up to these guys to scratch them behind the ears.
These guys liked the attention though, and are not as big or bigger than me, so no real chance of argument about where we fit on the food chain.
Katrina got a shot of me playing with water and the bacon.
Here is one giving himself a back scratch on the side of a cornstalk bale.
When not immersed in water or mud, they dig into the shredded corn stalks to escape the sun. In winter it is much the same, but then it is insulation from the cold.
They do not leave the water in the barrels you fill for them. It is tipped over, mixed with soil, and then laid in. Or they lay in and collapse the barrels. Whatever gets the job done apparently.
The pigs make their own watering holes. Their feet seal up the bottoms, and they pack in the sides with their snouts. All it needs then is some attention from the hose and instant piggy mud bath.
And right before we left, Claire and Phoebe had to awaken the kittens, which had passed out from exhaustion after hours of being kid’s toys, for me to get photos of them.
