Pearce Pastures: Where did I go?

[Southern by choice]

Hi Pearce!

Same here.. I have hardly been on since April.
Glad things are moving along with the new land and place!

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Things are picking up pace here. After fighting for a few months with the county, I got the permit to build my new barn. It was really getting ridiculous but it is all good and construction should be starting right now actually. I will take pics as it progresses.

In other news---I SOLD MY HOUSE! We didn't use a realtor so it was an adventure in itself trying to navigate how to legally do this. I made a web page, advertised on Zillow, put a sign in the yard and we had quite a bit of interest. We had three showing in two weeks and the third showing was it. Such a sweet couple and they are excited to start their own little farm. My son is going to hatch them some chicks to put in the barn to get them started.

Since the new home won't begin construction until spring, we are moving into my parents' basement (boy does that sound and feel weird). It is plenty spacious for our family of five and has a separate bathroom, laundry and we will set up a mini kitchen down there, keeping our daily lives a bit to ourselves so we are not stepping on each others toes. It is a bit overwhelming though and I hope my mother and I can manage to not kill each other I am blessed to have such great parents and so close by---it is just that she and I are alike and it is probably going to make for a few tense moments I bet.

In other farm news, we processed two meat goats this weekend and a few roosters. The freezer is loaded for the winter! I took in our pig last week too but I am not so sure I will be able to eat it for awhile. That was just an awful experience. It was our first time with pigs and will be our last. Not that I loved her or even liked her, but that girl had so much personality and LOVED us to pieces. She was terrified when we tried to walk her onto that trailer and just wanted me to pet her and comfort her. Then getting off the trailer at the butcher, she was "talking" to me and just wanted me by her side. I seriously cried. Now, I can clean a fish, put goats and chickens in the freezer, and it doesn't get to me. But with an animal that is smarter than my dog, it messed me up and I wasn't even the one doing the killing and cleaning. Not doing that again.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I feel you on that Pearce...we butchered some pigs last spring and it was HARD.

No shame in getting your pork in packages instead of on the hoof.

 

[BrownSheep]

That's what I'm afraid of when I eventually get a pig. My dad won't let us raise goats because they remind him to much of dogs to comfortably eat.

 

[babsbag]

Pearce, I guess I am glad that my pigs didn't like me and I didn't like them. I was really afraid of them for the last few months I had them so was glad when they left. Thankfully they didn't talk to me or even want me to touch them.

It seems that the goats I identify as "freezer fodder" are always the friendliest.

Good news on the house selling. DH and I lived with my mom for almost a year while we built our home. No children on the ground, but I did get pregnant while living there. My DH was hooking up the plumbing in the master bathroom while I was in labor.

 

[OneFineAcre]

You know my wife used to work with pigs, and I read her what you said.
She said you should have gotten a barrow instead of a gilt. Girls are a lot smarter, probably no big surprise there.

 

[babsbag]

Mine were barrows and while they learned the normal feed related routines I didn't find them particularly smart, no more than my goats or dogs. I think I touched them twice the entire time I owned them. We were very "unbounded". Plus there were two of them, that might have made a difference.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I wondered if gender mattered too, not just with her personality but with growth rates. Kind of wonder if a boy would have been better for both but still don't want to do it again. The neighbor two blocks down raises pigs and we can just buy from him


Grabbed a pic of my boys yesterday. Louie is getting so big and is entering that teenager phase (aka barking at the air, humping Charlie, and sometimes chasing baby goats until Charlie whomps him). They love each other so much and are really a good team, especially as young as Louie is. Today, a friend popped by with her German Shepherd. As soon as the boys saw the other dog, the gave their best BACK OFF deep barks while Louie took the goats inside and Charlie stayed out in front as offense just in case. Not that it was any actual danger given there were two fences between them but nice to see them working together.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

The new barn is done. Well kind of. Now we are going be working hard on putting up pens so we can move the animals in.

 

[jodief100]

Barn looks nice! I am sooo jealous.