This Little Piggie

From time to time, special guest authors will contribute articles to Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

Today's guest is my New Mexico friend Barb. Barb is raising a couple of pigs this year and has agreed to share her experiences with us.  

Living with Pigs!

Yes we live with pigs, not the human kind!

This is our first attempt in raising pigs.  We have bought 2 pigs, one female and one male.  

We bought them on May 5^th and they were 40 days old.  The male was castrated about 4 days before that.  I won’t go into how they castrate them but I know why he is more frightened of humans than the female and I can’t really blame him. 

However we brought them home on a Monday night in a dog crate in the back of the car. I would not suggest that but our truck is broken down and we had to have the windows down all the way home.

We had the stall in the barn all ready for them before we went for them. When I went to take them out of the dog crate I got the scare of my life the male actually tried to bite me and growled so I left them for a while to let them get used to their new surroundings.  They did not come out of the crate so I had to tip it up for them to come out.  Of course they ran into the corner where I had the heat lamp set up. We had shavings and everything for them so they were very cozy.

I made them some mash that consists of hog feed and water since they are so young.  My husband made a 55 gallon barrel with water in it with a metal nipple on it for them to drink from as hogs will knock over their water all the time.  Presently they have both a water bucket and the barrel to drink from as they as still too little to knock over their water.

They next day I stayed in the stall most of the day with them just doing things and having them get used to me.  Little by little they have come around.  I can now pet them and feed them food from my hands and they climb on me. 

They are now 46 days old and can go out in their outside pen also, we made the pen with cattle panels and buried them 6 inches in the ground as hogs like to borrow underneath so hopefully that will keep them. 

I have made a mud hole for them and put sunscreen on them in the morning so they don’t get sunburned.  They can be outside or in their stall out of the sun.

They have grown so much in the 1^st 6 days we have had them I am told they grown 1.5 pounds a day.  The one thing I have found interesting about them is when they sleep they really sleep.  I went in one morning and they were sound asleep and I petted them and they didn’t move but they were breathing.  I was very worried that something was wrong with them but they were fine.   

It will be hard for me when the time comes for them to go to slaughter but I know that is why we got them and just to know that they will have a wonderful life while they are with us.

I will update next month on their progress.

Sprouts

The baby peeps are huge!  

And cute!  

But, meanwhile back at the ranch...

My experiment with sprouting sunflower seeds for the Team was mostly a success. The seeds sprouted nicely.  

But as far as the Team is concerned, the jury is still out on how yummy the sprouts are. They love sunflower seeds but are now disconcerted by the things growing out of them. They try to separate sprout from seed and only eat the seed part. Hopefully, they'll get it figured out. 

(UPDATE: they eventually ate all of the sprouts. So I guess they decided it tasted "yummy".

Sprouting is a very efficient way to grow food for the Team. One pound of sunflower seeds yields two to three pounds of sprouts in about a week. Not a bad return!

I use this old tub that used to have a mineral supplement for the horses as my sprouting container.  

Soak the seeds overnight, then drain off the water.  

Cover the wet seeds with something...newspaper or a lid. Then check it every few days to see if it's looking dry. If so, add enough water to keep the seeds moist but not so much water that the seeds are floating.

When the sprouts are about an inch long you can feed them to the chickens. 

Or, you can uncover them and put them in a sunny place for another few days. This will allow the sprouts to grow bigger and get green. 

If temperatures are chilly, the seeds take a lot longer to sprout. Be patient! 

One note of caution, I have heard that some sunflower seed has been treated with something that prevents sprouting. I think that's the variety used in bird feeders. Just to be certain, read the bag before you buy any that you intend to sprout.

Have you tried sprouting seeds to feed to your flock? What seeds? How did it turn out?

Let's Get Growing!

Whew!  Busy couple of days here. I'm almost afraid to jinx it by saying it, but I think spring is here.

Some wildflowers are blooming.

The hummingbirds are back. Haven't been able to catch them in a photo, though.

Last year on May 1, the hummingbirds were probably regretting being here. Poor things had to weather a late-season blizzard.

Things are sprouting in the garden.

Garlic

Red onions

Spinach

Lettuce

Kale

Garlic Chives

Iris

Hollyhocks

Peony

Johnny Jump Ups

And of course these.....

It's about four weeks until the last spring frost, and time to start planting.  This weekend, I put in parsnips, tatsoi, carrots,  radishes, green onions, and beets plus more lettuce and spinach.

The gardening method I use, Square Foot Gardening, allows you to plant almost unbelievable amounts in very small spaces. It's because the soilless mix that's used instead of dirt is chock full of nutrients and you do not plant in rows.

This is one of my beds with the square foot grid as a planting guide.

For example, in one square foot of garden space, you plant 16 carrots. Here's a square foot ready for carrot seeds.

One square foot will grow 9 parsnips. Or 9 beets.  I know what you're thinking...that's way too crowded. Trust me. It's not. Square Foot Gardening is a proven method and the plant density is for real!  

If you are curious about Square Foot Gardening, here is a link to the official website.

Square Foot Gardening


Click here for the "Cliff Notes" summary of what Square Foot Gardening is all about.

What is Square Foot Gardening?

A simple internet search will provide many more informative sites, too.  If you have a four foot by four foot space to build a raised garden bed, you will be able to grow more veggies in it than you ever thought possible!

Here is my indoor sprouting operation. 

There are odd reflections in the photo because I'm using foil to reflect the grow lights.

I've planted yellow pear tomatoes, Romanesco broccoli, mini red bell peppers, sage, dill, oregano, basil, cilantro, and St. John's Wort.  These will all go outside in the garden around the middle of May, which is after the danger of any frosts.

At the beginning of May, I'll do the main outdoor planting which will include two kinds of sweet corn, eggplant, two more types of tomato, cucumbers, plus a variety of herbs, beans and squash.

Between now and then I need to build trellises for the beans and squash (trying squash vertically this year) and finish the drip irrigation system.   

Tonight, the forecast is for rain. Not snow. Hooray! First time in 2014 that the precipitation will fall as a liquid and not snow!

How is your garden coming along? I'd love it if you'd share photos! Be sure to tell us where you are located.

Inspiration

My ideas for blog posts usually come about just by writing about the things we are doing here at Crossed Sabers. Life here is generally busy, so inspiration is all around me.

This past week was unusual, since it was fairly quiet at the ranch with nothing much going on. No projects. Nothing interesting happened.  No 'blog fodder' to be found.  I fell asleep last night while wracking my poor ol' brain for a good idea.

When I got up this morning, inspiration was falling from the sky. 

Here's some "inspiration". 

And over here, too.

"Inspiration" everywhere.  Up over my boots in some places!

It's April 14. Most of the country is enjoying spring weather with flowers blooming and leaves coming out on the trees.

                           

                    Here are my spring flowers.

      There are pansies under all that snow. Poor things!

In Washington, D.C., the cherry blossoms are in full swing.

                                

Here....not so much.

And the vegetable garden...

There is kale, lettuce and spinach sprouting inside the hoop house. Don't worry. It's fine in there.

                         

Now don't go feeling too sorry for us. We've been under an extreme drought for the last few years, so any moisture at all, even this much of it, is a welcome sight.

This however, is not so welcome a sight. Pain in the butt is more like it.  <Sigh> Hate cleaning off the truck!

Happy Spring, y'all!