Strange Things Part Two

We have had a few interesting and somewhat strange things occur around here in the past week or so, and I thought it might be entertaining to document them here.

First off, on the daily rounds the kids do to check for eggs, Miss Claire found something unusual I had previously only read about. A most unusual egg....without a shell. I knew that one of our girls (a newer hen) was laying thin-shelled eggs, but this is the first time I saw one without any shell whatsoever. Of course we had to take pictures!

It is a sign of a calcium deficiency in the bird, which is usually an easy fix by adding oyster shell to their diet. Our problem? These girls free-range through the yard, so she should be getting enough calcium naturally. We also aren't positive which exact bird it is, because they roam freely, although I have narrowed it down to a likely suspect (the little Barred Rock my son likes to hold). So, I may have to try something a little different, like a container of yogurt (and hope that Miss shell-less egg layer actually eats it!). If it continues, then very likely she is destined for freezer camp.

The kiddos were utterly fascinated by it, and wanted to keep holding the extra-fragile egg. After a day or so of taking photos, careful cradling, and attempts to peer into it with a flashlight , I fed it to the pigs. Who promptly gobbled up the snack and wanted more. Typical little piggies!!

Next, was the unusual fruit occurrence.  What do you do when your husband brings you a fruit that is quite literally making its' own foam? Why, take pictures of course!! I know they could be more cleverly placed, but I was not feeling terribly creative at the moment.

Several weeks ago ( and by several I really mean almost two months) I picked up some kiwi fruit from the grocery store. Several were still quite hard, so I kept them in the fruit basket so they could ripen a little faster by staying with the apples. They even took a journey to our house for a week and back, as I kept forgetting about them. Back into their little basket, I again completely forgot about them. Until dear husband found one that was bubbling away, fermenting itself in its' own hairy little skin.

Oops. I'm happy it didn't get all mouldy at least. I think the birds (chickens, etc) were quite happy when I tossed it in the yard for them to eat. Maybe a little too happy...

Berkshire Pigs

The pigs have arrived! Well, actually, we drove about 200 miles to meet the woman we were picking them up from.

They are a heritage breed called Berkshire (I will put in some links when my lazy butt gets around to it).

I have to say (which freaks me out a little), just looking at them, I see meat. It is totally unlike the goats or a cow, where I have to imagine where different cuts come from. The pigs are just so muscular, it is really obvious. And it makes me salivate just thinking of the Bacon and ham and chops we will eventually have from their progeny. Yum.

We talked about getting pigs for quite a while, before actually doing it. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I feel about raising them. The plan is to have these two girls (gilts, or young female pigs) and a boy (eventually our boar), and breed hem. Their offspring we would raise for meat or for sale, or both. Since they are unrelated, it is easier to do our own breeding, as well as crossbreeding for any specific traits we want. The thing is, some of these breeds seem to get just HUGE. We went to see a breeder a few months ago, and their pigs were really intimidating in size. I know I will probably get used to them, since we see them every day, but the size and sheer weight and muscle behind them is, well, intimidating. Plus, they are smart. Even if they are the intelligence of your average 4-5 year old, that is pretty clever! I guess it is a good thing we have opposable thumbs, and they don't. I believe it also makes a huge difference in how you treat your animals. I like to think that we treat ours pretty well, and treat them with kindness.

So now we have expanded our little self-sustainable farm (eventually!!) A little bit more. Hopefully one day soon we will have our land to go with it!

Frustration

At any single point in my day, I often have three or four blog posts running through my head. You would think that with all that brain activity going on, I would actually post more often. Yet I don't. Why? I suppose a certain amount of procrastination, combined with bad timing and probably a bit of laziness too. Plus, a certain amount of not wanting to put words out there that I don't want existing on the interwebs for all time.

I think the frustration for me comes from the procrastination and bad timing most of all. I have been trying to figure out for some time now, why exactly I put things off until the last minute. Any number of tasks I could accomplish in the day. However they often escape me, and I am left with the maddening feeling that I COULD have accomplished something today if only I had the time to. Frustrating, isn't it. I know that having two highly active little people in my life means that I actually get far less done than I would have before having children. I am ok with that. I would just like to figure out how to beat this putting off until another day aspect of it all.....

Thoughts

     The ashes of my fire consumed
  Wasting as I wait
          For something I can only smell
   At the back of my throat
                       Like a long lost child
I search with clouds of thread
          Wanting to remember the taste

Snakes and Crawfish

We were working at the landshare today, trying to get more seeds planted and the field flood irrigation going. I know, it is WAY late for planting out doors around here, but since we only recently came up with this agreement, it is what we have to work with. Hopefully something useful will actually grow, and it can be a positive experience!

Anyways, while planting with the kiddos, we saw some interesting things. First was a small garter snake I caught. It was about 18 inches long, and was slithering through the waterways we have made to irrigate the field we are working in. I am really surprised I even caught it, it was moving so fast. I wanted to get a picture, but I left my camera in the truck so it wouldn't get ruined in my pocket. The kids held it for a little while, and were quite pleased to see it there.

Second was the strangest and most unexpected. A Crawfish. In the middle of a field, in the middle of the desert! Our best guess is that it came from a lake about 15-20 miles away, and was carried through the irrigation canals to our little plot of land. Poor little critter was already dead, but I'm sure his nutrients will only help the soil in the area. Thank you, little Crawfish, for such an unexpected surprise!

Farmer Brown

I have had this post running through my head for several weeks now, and figured I should get it written down before long. It is funny how the little decisions you make along your life path can lead you to a totally unexpected place. When I was growing up, my great grandmother, Omi, used to grow her own veggies, make her own sausage, medicines, and liquor. She was born of the Volga Germans, and brought her daughter and grandchildren to this country in he 1950's. She was one tough lady (and quite crazy), but she lived a remarkable life. I wish she were alive today, because she would have been such a tremendous source of knowledge! Sadly, she died when I was in my 20's, before I was fully on this path of being self-sufficient. But I will always carry the memory of sitting in her kitchen, smelling her fabulous foods, eating her amazing desserts, and drinking her very potent cough syrups as long as I live. She planted a seed, which eventually terminated into where and what I am today.

When I was in middle and high school, there was a boy nicknamed "Farmer Brown." He was a small fellow then, quiet and pretty unassuming. Yet he had a passion for growing things. We were never really friends, but were among the same group of kids who had gone to school together since elementary school, so we knew each other well enough. I remember he once came to my house (I think he had a crush on me at the time, but I could always be wrong), and he gave me a gift of some of the peanuts he had grown. It seemed so surreal at the time, this boy farmer living in the middle of suburban Florida, with a penchant for growing crops in high school. Oh well, he is probably a corporate attorney or accountant by now. But I wanted to say thank you, Farmer Brown, for your peanuts and your strangeness way back then. I'm not sure it influenced this path I am on, but you were on my mind as part of a greater strangeness as to how one decision or piece of information can lead you on a different path than our ever expected. I really want my own farm and homestead in the woods. And I'm sorry for any teasing I did towards you. Apparently the gods have a sense of humor.

Land Shares and Homesteading

I found a great article on Homegrown.org recently that really highlighted for me the problems we (as a family as well as a society) are facing right now. I'll try to pull up a link, because I think it is important to share it. Essentially, we have been trying to figure out a way to buy property so we can homestead on it, without really having any extra money to put towards it. We DO already own a house, a decent enough one in the suburbs, but in a town we don't want to live in. With no room to breathe and space to call our own. We could sell the house, but would then be homeless, without the excellent credit needed these days to get another mortgage. But if we sold it, we might have enough to put towards the property we want. A conundrum for certain. Here is a link to the article. I think you will find it interesting.

One idea we had to resolve our dilemma was to put out essentially a wanted ad for a farm or land that someone had that wasn't currently using it. Does that make sense? We are farmers without land, looking for a farm without a farmer. I did a lot of digging around the interwebs, and discovered some promising programs for people like us, but there is no quick fix. We were hoping to find someone that had land we could use to grow some crops for the animals and veggies for ourselves and the land owner to share. This way we all benefit - their land gets used creatively and sustainably, and we get the experience and products of our labor. It has been variously called a land share or garden share, and is a great way to bring people together for their mutual benefit.

And in a roundabout way, we may have actually found someone to land share with us. We are currently working out the details, but I am pretty hopeful we will get something going in the next week. If I can find some other folks to form a co-op to help us out and work the land as a larger collective, it will be even better. This will hopefully (fingers crossed) be a good intermediate step for us while we figure out the monetary issues for funding our own homestead in the hills.