Mystery Intruder

It gets dark around 4:30 PM.  By early Wednesday evening this week something had ransacked everything on the front porch.  In Alabama it is usual to find old inside furniture, a refrigerator (working and non-working), a complete stuffed deer, half a motorcycle, a rusted out grill and a rocking chair on a front porch.  In this case the front porch is equally messy, being full of galvanized trash cans full of livestock feed and some empty feed bags.  Something had knocked a few things over and eaten some old rolled oats that had spilled.  

The Great Pyrenees was nowhere to be found.  This was quite concerning.  Anything big enough to take out a Great Pyrenees and eat raw oatmeal was something not to be fooled with.  At this point the police show up.  Apparently something had tripped the alarm over two hours ago.  It is reassuring to know that the police are only a monitored alarm phone call away.  Seriously, it would have taken Special Forces less time to have relieved the besieged consulate in Benghazi.  So now the plot thickens. 

Some crashing and banging outside solved the mystery.  Trudy, one of the American Guinea Hog sows had managed to escape from the newly hog paneled pig paddock.   It looks like she had lifted the gate and squeezed underneath. Banging around on the front page must have caused the inside dogs to go wild and trigger the vibration sensors on the windows.  Mystery solved: no swamp creature or alien.  So, Trudy was led off to one of the feedlots in the old garden for a few days while I could fix the gate. 

Trudy in disgrace - a few days in the feedlot

The other part of the mystery - where was Wynn - the Great Pyrenees?  She was attempting to "herd" Trudy.  

Boudreaux the boar is enjoying some solo while the missus is away.  He, of course, is too fat and lazy to escape.

One Year In

The last post on the blog was back on July 4^th.  Already it is Thanksgiving.  Where did the time go?!  Well, the weeks and months in between have been the proverbial hive of activity.  As a result, much has changed on the farm. 

From a livestock perspective, two litters of guinea hog piglets have expanded the porcine population.  Trudy had another litter and Bitsy had her first where she farrowed 9 piglets with 8 of them surviving.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 were taken to the butchers in September.  Collectively they weighed 620 lbs and produced over 450 lbs of pork.  This necessitated purchasing another freezer!  Despite the many hours invested in building the guinea fowl a big coop the guinea flock quickly began roosting in the trees and have never looked back since.  Despite living wild, only two or three birds were lost to predators.

Guinea fowl up in the trees.

This morning three piglets were delivered to their new owners.

New additions to the farm include a pair of Blue American Geese (a medium-large heritage variety) and some American/Sebastopol crosses.  The geese were brought in as plan C to keep the grass and weeds under control in the orchard following the lack of success experienced with the chickens (plan A) and goats (plan B).  The chicken flock has grown significantly and the Orpingtons on the top field have been integrated into the poop coop for efficiency purposes.

American Geese

White Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks were brought in as chicks earlier in the year.

The orchard was finally completely fenced with 4x2 wire using wooden posts and T-posts with a number of gates including a farm gate (I finally got the “hang” of the fencing thing).  The fence has helped tremendously.  The ducks and chickens now have two fences separating them from predators.  The fence also means the geese can roam across the orchard (and no further) and the goats can roam outside their pen without eating all the fruit trees.

Fencing seems to be never ending.  Hanging hog panel with number 2 son today.

The garden has undergone the most radical transformation.  The current garden is only 1/6 the size of the original.  Keeping a large garden is definitely labor intensive.  The new smaller area is making use of raised beds and mulch to keep the weeds under control.  Goats, pigs and chickens are occupying the rest of the area that used to be the garden.

In the midst of all the activity going on the one year anniversary in September slipped by without really noticing it.  So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, now is a good time to look back on the whole Hereward Farm venture.  Clearly there is much to be grateful for; the opportunity to live a long standing dream for one.  A little over a year in and the farm is up and running.  So far it has proved to be an interesting roller coaster ride.  On the cost side, countless hours of physical and mental labor have been invested and the learning curve was (and still is!) steep.  Significant financial capital has also been invested.  On the benefit side, witnessing first hand the natural cycle of life with the land and the animals is a priceless experience.  The early mornings and hard physical labor are actually quite fulfilling ("fun" would be pushing it a bit).  Most of all, however, the knowledge, skills and experiences gained so far are considered important assets for an uncertain future. 

A Busy Month

A lot has happened since the last post back in May.  June was an exceptionally busy month with a lot going on professionally and on the farm.  A consulting trip to Switzerland and a new job made a naturally busy time even busier.  In June we added a trio of Nigerian Dwarf goats, Speckled Sussex hens, and a Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog.  So, this meant building a fenced in area in the wood for the goats and a new coop and run for the Speckled Sussex.  The pigs got a new paddock with a new shelter and the guinea fowl got a new coop.

 

 

From the left, Jasmine, Rosie and Dandy

The Speckled Sussex Coop

A Speckled Sussex pullet in the feeder

 Wynn, the Great Pyrenees, resting in the partially built guinea fowl coop

The garden has exploded with both crops and unfortunately weeds.  The constraints of time were really noticeable in the garden and the recent record heat wave with 100 plus degree weather compounded matters.   Despite the insult, the garden and orchard have continued to be bountiful although some of the crops planted later in the season did not do well during the heat.  The lessons for next year – smaller garden, raised beds, more mulch, and automate the watering as much as possible.

The Hungry Gap

In the Anglo-Saxon calendar Lammas Day (hlaf-maesse, or loaf-mass) was the day when the first bread using the current year’s grains could be made.  Lammas Day fell on August 1^st and the weeks preceding this day was known as the “hungry gap” – the time between the last of the stored food from the prior year and the new harvest.  Such a life is clearly unknown to us in the modern West – anxiously watching the weather and hoping the new harvest can be successfully brought in while the available food is dwindling or already exhausted.  No fast food places or supermarkets…  Just hunger.

Since Hereward Farm is located in the hot and humid southeast United States, a far cry from the cool temperate maritime climate of the British Isles, the growing season here starts sooner.   It is not yet June and already over the last few weeks the garden has been producing veggies of all types.  While it is still early days, a trip to the garden to dig up some vegetables is now more common than a trip to the grocery store. Also on the farm there are many wild fruits with the orchard just about to come online, the chickens are laying more than the Secret Service in Central America and the freezers are full of pork from the first two pigs harvested.  There was not the Lammas Day-like formality, in fact, I can’t remember the first day this happened, but during the last few weeks it is not uncommon to have entire meals that have come from the farm – including dessert! 

Photo 1.  Two carrots engaged in a tender embrace - Or is it one carrot giving us the finger?

While this is a far cry from being totally self-sufficient, it is an encouraging milestone and a welcome sign that the many hundreds of hours of hard work invested are beginning to pay off.  It is also a sign that literally anyone in this country is able to grow some of their own food with a little planning, determination and hard work.  Our modern global system has eradicated the hungry gap for much of the West, yet in the process we have now become dependent upon global supply chains, cheap fossil fuels and unsustainable farming practices to feed ourselves.  For the most part we have lost the knowledge and skills to grow our own food.  Today only a fraction of our population has the knowledge and experience of growing food by sustainable methods.  If our system goes down, even partially, expect the mother of all hungry gaps. 

Taking Liberties

The animals around the farm never cease to amuse.  Here are a few pictures taken over the last few weeks that can only be described as "taking liberties".

Here the silhouette is just visible of a Canada goose that decided to build its nest on roof of the barn.  They say location is everything but I am not convinced this is a good idea.  How do the goslings get down?  On false step and they are manna from heaven for the pigs on either side.  It has been there a few weeks and is mostly on the nest while its mate hangs around the area.  The goose does occasionally fly off and return - the sound of a large goose landing on the tin roof of a barn is unnerving to say the least!

Around the barn there are cats, pigs and geese that interact with each other amicably.  The barn cats wander through the pig paddocks with total immunity while they themselves leave the geese and piglets alone.  While the pigs leave the cats alone, the following pictures show how the cats may be pushing things a little too far.

Here a cat is drinking from the pigs’ water trough.

Here a cat relaxes in the pigs’ feed trough.

Next, Thing 1 and 2 have got loose and are about to start eating the front yard.  Heidi unsuccessfully attempts to herd them back down to the barn.

The ultimate in taking liberties is the next picture.  Here Boudreax, the American Guinea Hog boar, finally get’s on the job with Trudy and the piglet feels this is a good time for a quick meal.  Well, they say AGHs are very easy going!