Last weekend down on the farm David and I set up a site for a new garden. We built a bamboo-post electric fence around it- an area about 25 by 50 feet- on Saturday, and then Sunday we moved the 3 pigs from their old pen into the garden site so that they would dig up the grass for us. Given all the trouble it was to get the fence wired correctly and and get the damn pigs into the area while fending off a swarm of horses, it may have been easier just to tear out the grass ourselves… But the pigs were so, so happy to have a new pen of fresh grass that it was worth it. I wasn’t able to get pictures or video of the chaos that ensued when the horses caught wind that we were leading the pigs to their new home with a big bucket of food, which sounded like a bucket of grain, but really, anything in a bucket makes the horses swarm. They’re like a pack of piranhas!
Anyway, hopefully by this weekend most of the grass will be gone and we can start planting veggies and cover crops. Pig poop is one of those manures (like cat, dog, or human manure) that you’re not supposed to use directly on edibles unless it’s super well aged and composted, so this season we will be planting edibles whose edible parts do not touch the ground (like corn), lots of clover cover crop, and things like kale and squash that we can feed to the pigs, chickens, and ducks (which arrived today in the mail!! We now own Ancona ducks!). We’re also going to start a couple things that won’t produce well until next season anyway, like strawberries, raspberries, and rhubarb.
So excited! After 3 years with our small yard in Seattle, this garden will be HUGE!!
- Several of the horsies help David fix the car battery
- “Yup, looks pretty corroded.”
- “So anyway, a buddy of mine down the street just got an old ’79 to fix up. I told him I’d help him with the harder stuff- give him some direction- you know.”
- “These new bag-stye tool boxes are definitely easier on the teeth.”
- “Careful… don’t mess it up now. Just cause you can unscrew something with those dextrous hands doesn’t mean you should.”
- The pig herding is about to start. Here’s David in front of the old pig pen, bucket of bait in hand.
- At first they were eager to come along. Maybe because we hadn’t fed them all day…
- …and this is the last picture before all hell broke loose. In 3 seconds the horses were upon us, the pigs had scattered every which way, the bucket of food was stolen, the pigs nearly got trampled…
- and then magically, the pigs were in, the horses were out, and there was calm.
- Both the horses and the chickens are jealous of the pigs. The grass is always greener…
- Munching grass in front of their temporary shelter, The Space Hut.
- David anchors the Space Hut.
- Yes! That’s what we want! Root root root!
- And lastly, this is Heather taking a lambnap with Olive Ewe.