Pigs need their vitamins too!

This morning I was walking out to “Little Lady” our Berkshire pig with a nice bowl of morning goodies…cracked eggs, leftover cabbage, green beans and the harvest scraps from yesterday for her and she was spinning her 360s in excitement but she had to wait! She has been happily tilling her pen (and eating some dirt for her vitamins and minerals of course) and had built all the dirt up right outside the gate and I could not open it!! So there I was digging her out. She had basically tried to dig to China like all the pigs do. The last batch were harvested just in time….all four walls had been undermined and were ready to go down and we were doing temporary fixes until they were harvested. This weekend Michael will take the whole pen down, tractor away all the tilled dirt and fill it back in and rebuild the pen for the next guys to hopefully not succeed in making it to China!! The good news is Michael will tractor all that beautifully tilled dirt and all the manure from Filet’s corral (she has done some tilling herself with her “bull” action) and build the next tiered bed out front. I could get used to this tractor idea!! Too bad it does not fit in the greenhouses! We are adding a "roasting pig" choice for your large summer gatherings, but I definitely need notice on this so please let me know if you are thinking about it all. We are going to review our tree order for this next year this weekend too since it is not going into next year (but is due this week) and we want to maximize it. The cherries will take up to five years to produce on the rootstock we are choosing for soil and the apples almost as long. Sweet cherries and Gravenstein, Empire, Spitzenburg and Winesap apples are definitely on the list!! I am dreaming of a U pick addition in five years!!

Have a wonderful day and thank you again for all your support!!

California Small Farm Conference

The California Small Farm Conference was fantastic as always. It gives me time to rejuvenate, reflect and expand my knowledge!! I took the Soils Farm Tour because it featured orchards!! Yes we are adding 150 to 200 trees this year and I was so grateful to the farmers that took time out of their busy schedule to do this for us. I went to the Poultry and Beef session and learned they are using ultrasound to ensure the grass fed beef has marbled enough...up to 36 months and the software tells them how much more time on pasture, and I now know the pasture formula that I can duplicate in dry form!! Agritourism was a great source of knowledge for the future!! Grant information galore!! So much to say, but my head is still spinning I will share more in the near future! On the business front there are two lamb shares left. This will be it until August. I know I am looking forward to my lamb stew for St. Patrick's Day this weekend.....we always have to have a good dinner to honor our heritage, but mine obviously includes a good dose of Kentucky blood of Cherokee Indian....that is the only way I can explain my addiction to being connected to the land and the animals. Speaking of some of that blood line...the picture is of one of my beautiful daughters...this is the youngest Meghan showing off our proud achievement of celery. Lots more coming along with a whole heap of produce this year!! Thank you for all your support through my growing pains!!