November was a blur

This past month seems like a blur. I am working lots at the tea shop, 4 to 5 days a week; that level of busy-ness will last probably until Christmas. Doing that, I'm not home as much, which means Orrin has a harder time getting things done on the farm, as he is also taking care of Oliver. Oliver has his days when he can be more independent, but much of the time he needs to be in the backpack on Orrin. And now that it's getting colder, he doesn't want to be out as much as he did. But still, Orrin is getting things done, bit by bit.

In the last month or so, he has put a lot of time and energy into fixing up the cow shed for winter, improving it from last years make-shift state. He created better walls to protect the animals from the weather, and he also added a protected area for the sheep as well as a protected alleyway that allows access for getting the hay into the two feeders. He's got the sheep enclosed in their side of the shed now, with an outdoor fenced area. He's put additional posts in the ground to expand the cows outside fenced area, as there are three cows this year instead of two, but he's still working on setting the railings in the place. The cows are using their side of it, but are contained by electric fence for the moment, except that Daisy the calf can still duck under it. She wanders around the house and greenhouse still looking for grass to eat, as she doesn't seem quite ready to settle on hay. Gigi doesn't seem to mind too much that Daisy wanders off, but every once in a while she calls out to her to remind her to come home once in a while.

We'd put a bunch of apples down in the basement hoping to store them for a couple of months, but with the warm fall the apples have continued to ripen and are no longer crisp. So we've made more apple butter and dried lots and lots more in the dehydrator. We will probably dry more, as we haven't used up all the apples yet from the bunch that are overripe. There is another bag of apples that we put down in the basement more recently, which have not gotten overly ripe yet, so we hope the average daytime temperatures have dropped enough to allow us to keep one bag of apples. It's so nice to munch on a good, crisp apple!

We have eggs! About two weeks ago, our laying hens started laying. These chickens were born around mid-May, and we had heard that it usually takes 5 to 7 months for chickens to start laying. We have 10 laying hens, but I think only one or two have started laying as we are just getting one new egg a day, sometimes two. The eggs are so cute – they are about half the size of a regular egg that you'd buy at the store. We find that these new eggs have stronger shells than the eggs that we occasionally get from our two old hens (who may be around 3 years old). We'd been wondering if the weak shells were a sign of not enough high-quality food in their diet (we feed them organic grain specifically for chickens, but they aren't getting any greens right now), but now that we are getting eggs from the younger chickens, it seems to be just because they are from old hens. Interestingly, the yolks in the baby eggs are just about the same size as the yolks from the larger eggs.

A wee egg next to a regular-sized one.

I'm starting to realize that my dear husband is a collector. When we lived in Sacramento, Orrin collected English roses. When we lived in BC and he was landscape gardening, he collected plants that he found unusual or interesting (not to mention that they were generally deer-resistant, as that is what was called for in Nanaimo). Now, on our farm in Nova Scotia, he is collecting livestock. Today, for instance, he brought home a Saanen dairy goat. We now have three cows, three sheep, two pigs, twelve chickens and a rooster, a dog, two cats, and now a goat! The nice thing about adding a goat is that this is one particular type of animal that Orrin has first-hand knowledge in raising, as he raised show goats in California when he first moved down there years ago.

We recently stumbled across a website that led us to realize that the reason our pigs weren't fattening up very quickly was because we were giving them all carbohydrates (apples and grain) and not enough protein. A great protein source for pigs is milk or whey. At first we thought we needed to run out and buy a milk cow, but that would be pretty expensive as well as giving us way more milk than we are prepared to deal with. We thought that maybe a goat would be a better choice to start - we could get comfortable with milking, it would be less expensive than a cow, and it would produce a small enough amount of milk that it could all go to the pigs. So that's why we now have a goat! I definitely want a dairy cow at some point, so we can learn how to make our own butter and cheese, but that will require much more time and energy than we have right now.

We found a new home for Charlie the black lab, and Orrin took him there today. His presence here seemed to keep the deer away from the garden over the summer, but when he slept right through a weasel attacking and killing four of our chickens, we realized he wasn't quite the guard dog we needed. That's when we got Zoe the maremma, who has shown already that she is very bright and alert to animals moving around nearby. We were a bit torn about it, but the reality is that we can't afford to feed two dogs if they aren't both working dogs, so decided we'd try to find a new place for Charlie. Sounds like his new place will be a better fit for him, as Orrin said his new owner let him right into the house (he was an outside dog at our place), and immediately gave him some treats (we gave him bones from our food, but didn't buy special treats for him). So long, Charlie!

And last but not least, I have started teaching a second weekly yoga class in Mahone Bay. I've only been doing it for a couple of weeks, so I will see if I get enough interest to continue, but I decided I was ready for a second class. I really look forward to having my own studio here someday, hopefully in the coming year, but for now I am glad to teach in town and continue to build up a base of students who enjoy my classes.

One of the other many things we have been doing - collecting firewood.
Here Oliver and I are hard at work,  he with his very own brand new wheelbarrow.

A Pig Becomes Pork, Part 2

In raising the pigs, our goal had been to get the biggest pig to 200 lbs, because that's a pretty standard weight to aim for prior to butchering. A local farmer had told us the way to estimate a pigs weight is to measure their torso right behind the front legs. When the tape measures 36”, the pig weighs about 100 lbs. Every inch beyond that is a gain of about 10 lbs. We only ever measured the largest pig, because we knew he would be the first to go. When we measured him at the end, we figured the pig was around 180 lbs because he measured about 44”. Not exactly accurate, when you're trying to measure a large, moving animal, but it is the only way we know of to get an estimate. And I'm glad it was even that big. We seemed challenged in finding enough food for them (and still are, I guess, since there are two left), but with grain and 45 lbs of apples going to the three of them each day, we didn't think it would still be so hard to get them to gain weight.

This morning we went over to the butchers house to wrap the pig as he cut it. He had skinned it, gutted it, and taken the head off, and the two sides were hanging on hooks. Each side weighed 60 lbs, for a total hanging weight of 120 lbs. Since we had estimated the pigs live weight at 180 lbs before he was killed, there was a loss of about 1/3. The butcher cut the sides with Orrin (holding Oliver) directing him as to which cuts we wanted and how thick. I put the cuts into plastic bags, and then we labeled them. We had it cut into bacon, chops, roasts and a little bit of ground. We know we have another pig to butcher, so we will probably get more ground pork then. The meat filled a little more than half of a large garbage can.

It is a bit of a transition to go from thinking about that animal as a pig, and now to think of it as meat. We had called him Whitey, because he had two white splotches on one side of his black hide. We had heard that it isn't generally a good idea to name your food, but we found it easier to call them each something different so that we could differentiate them when we talked about them. The other male pig we just called #2, because he was always smaller than Whitey (as well as the obvious Austin Powers reference...). And we had named the girl Isabel, thinking we'd keep her to breed her, although we still haven't decided about that, because she's probably barely over 100 lbs and can't be bred unless she's around 200 lbs.

We had pork chops for lunch, to see how they were. I think we were a little nervous beforehand, because we weren't sure what to expect. I mean, this was our first go at raising pigs, what if somehow we'd missed some important aspect of raising them, and the meat turned out terribly? Fortunately, that was not the case. The chops were very good, and we were relieved. Beforehand, we acknowledged and thanked the pig for providing us with that meat, and also acknowledged the part that we all played in bringing that food to the table. Orrin mostly feeds the animals (grain, and picking buckets of apples), as well as sets up the electric fencing and moves them to new areas once they've cleared an area of food – roots, plants, grass, etc., so he plays the largest role of the three of us. Oliver is with Orrin frequently for the feeding chores, either walking along or in the backpack, and he occasionally likes throwing apples in the pigs paddock for them. I feed them occasionally too, sometimes taking the kitchen compost to them, or helping to pick apples for them.

And now, we have loads of pork in the freezer, and our bellies will be happy.

A Pig Becomes Pork, Part 1

This morning, a neighborhood butcher came over to our farm and killed our largest pig. Orrin fed the pigs their grain, and while they were eating, the butcher shot the pig in the head to stun him, and then his son stepped in and immediately slit his throat. Pretty shocking. The pig lay there on the ground twitching for several minutes before he stopped moving, and then they loaded him up on their trailer and left. It was probably over in less than 10 minutes. The pig will hang for a few days, then we'll go over on Sunday to help wrap the pieces as the butcher carves the pig into the specific cuts of meat that we want.

We had explained to Oliver beforehand about what was to happen, and asked him if he wanted to be there. He said he did, so Oliver and I stood a little ways away to watch. It is really amazing to see the difference in a child's reaction in this situation, who is growing up around killing and butchering animals, versus me as a 37-year old watching it for the first time, with all the cultural stigma that I, and most of us, was raised with (mainly that you buy your meat from a grocery store wrapped in saran wrap on a styrofoam plate and don't need to know where it comes from, and that killing is done by “someone else”, or that you don't even have to think about something dying for you to eat). Growing up in Alaska, my dad did go out and hunt the occasional moose, but I was never with him when he killed them. I remember skinned moose hanging from the beams in the garage to cure (and thinking “ewwww, gross”), but that is the closest I got to participating in seeing where meat came from.

Oliver took it completely in stride, didn't seem grossed out at all, but asked questions throughout the day about it, as he processed what happened. I was definitely processing it too. My first thought was thinking about the pig being in pain. I'm sure he was, and that's hard to think about. I can console myself by thinking that it was only for a few minutes. I suppose that's better than the idea of an animal being in pain for hours or days, but pain for a few minutes is still pain. I can't really rationalize it away, and make it better. For a second I thought, “maybe I should be a vegetarian or vegan”, but I can't honestly do that. First of all, because it's important to me to be as local as possible in my food choices (and if I'm not eating meat than I'd have to eat faraway things like avocados for healthy fats, and soy for protein), and second of all because, well, I like to eat meat. We can – and are – raising pigs (and other animals) for meat in a compassionate way, giving them free range to root around in large paddocks, not crowding them in to small spaces or keeping them cooped up in a barn for most of their lives. We feed them organic grain and don't use any hormones or antibiotics. They are healthy during their lives, and as a result we are eating healthy meat. 

So at the end of the day, I am thankful for that pig, for he helped clear land here to start creating pasture, and he will put food on our table. That is honest, and I can live with that.

Harvest Tally 2011

Because you can take the girl out of the nerdy environment, but you can't take the nerd out of the girl, I made a spreadsheet of the harvest for the year.

And the big question is: how long through the winter/spring will this last us? I'll keep you posted.

Food made	Ingredients from Garden	Preservation technique	How many	Units	Comments
Deli Dills	Cucumbers, garlic	canning	3	quarts
Deli Dills	Cucumbers, garlic	canning	6	pints
Apple butter	Apples	canning	4	½ pints
Charred Tomato & Chile Salsa	Tomatoes, chilies, garlic	canning	9	pints	A total of 170 lb of tomatoes picked (not including what we picked and ate directly)
Crushed tomatoes	tomatoes	canning	12	quarts
Crushed tomatoes	tomatoes	canning	12	pints
Tomatoes, dried	tomatoes	dehydrator	5	large jars
Apples, dried	Apples	dehydrator	2.5	large jars
blackberries	blackberries	frozen	33	lbs
blueberries	purchased	frozen	30	lbs
peaches	a friends garden	frozen	17	lbs
ketchup	tomatoes, garlic	canning	2	pints
ketchup	tomatoes, garlic	canning	5	½ pints
garlic scape pesto	kale, garlic scapes	frozen	28	ice cube blocks
basil pesto	kale, basil, garlic	frozen	50	ice cube blocks
Garlic	garlic	storing	2	lbs	8 lbs was kept for seed
winter squash/pumpkins	winter squash/pumpkins	storing	220	lbs
	Black turtle beans	storing	4	cups
	yellow kinearly beans	storing			Still in the shell
	light red kidney beans	storing	2	cups
	basil leaves	frozen	1	large ziploc
Salsa verde	green tomatoes, chilies, garlic	frozen	28	cups
Salsa verde	green tomatoes, chilies, garlic	canning	10	pints	From 35 or 40 lbs of unripe tomatoes

Harvest Pictures

Some of our pumpkins and winter squash

The last of the basil, which I just threw into a large ziploc bag and froze.

Some of the unripe spaghetti squash (basket), and some small buttercup squash (floor).
The spaghetti squash have since ripened, which we are glad for - we weren't sure they would ripen if picked early.

Oliver with some fermenting cider and winter squash.

Lots of green tomatoes! I'm afraid some of them are rotting already, so I plan to make a
bunch of green salsa today or tomorrow to make use of them.

A full pantry of summer goodies! Canned and dried tomatoes, salsa, pickles, ketchup,
and apple butter.

And we're back to greens in the greenhouse. 

Harvest season wraps up

The harvest is pretty much finished now. Yesterday I pulled all the remaining tomatoes off the vine, and cut the plants down. I picked 15 lbs of ripe tomatoes and another 45 lbs of green tomatoes, which I laid on a table in the dining room to continue to ripen. The ripe tomatoes were sliced and put in the dehydrator. I also picked the last peppers and eggplants and cut down those plants as well. There were 6 eggplants and about 10 bell peppers. I made chile rellenos with the peppers for dinner last night. Not as spicy as using poblanos or anaheims, but still a good excuse for some fried, cheesy goodness. I had cut down the cucumber plants last week and had brought the remaining cucumbers into the house. The greenhouse looks so different now, without the tall tomato plants and cucumbers to fill the space. All that's left is clover that had been underplanted below the tomatoes, and the various types of greens that we've planted to feed us (and possibly to sell) over the winter. All in all, we picked and processed about 170 lbs of tomatoes this summer, not including the two or three that we picked and ate each day in salads. Not too shabby for a couple of ex-yuppies in our first year of farming!

The other day, as I was eating my cucumber and tomato salad for lunch, I realized that it was the last of its kind for this year. We ate a lot of salads like that this summer, and I never did get tired of them. It gives me something to look forward to for next summer.

Today, in the main garden, I picked the various pole beans, which will continue to dry in their pods in a bucket. We will transplant some of the kale and lettuce from the main garden into the greenhouse as well, to fill in the beds that I just cleared.

On Saturday we spent a good part of the day at a neighbors house, picking apples. They have three large apple trees that were loaded with apples, and so we helped pick one of the trees clean. The apples filled eight or nine 50 lb sacks, plus another full bag of damaged apples that we'll give to the pigs. We got to keep half the apples in exchange for them coming over and using the grinder and press. These apples are so tasty, way better than most of the apples on our property. Plus, they're good storage apples, so we can keep a sack in the basement for awhile, to snack on. It was a nice day, with our two families working together and our kids playing together. It made me feel like we're starting to build some community in our little neck of the woods.

It is also time to turn some pigs into pork. We hope to have one of the male pigs, the biggest, slaughtered and butchered in the next week or two, then plan to do the other male in about a month. We are still on the fence about whether or not to keep the female. She is not very big, so it seems a waste to kill her, but if we keep her over the winter then that means paying for grain to feed her. But if we keep her, we may also be able to breed her in the early spring, which would mean not having to buy new piglets. It's a dilemma.

Apple Juicing

Grinding apples

It's a family affair - my dad is helping, along with Oliver and Charlie the Dog.

Even the new pup, Zoe, is enjoying a tasty apple.

Cutie-pie Oliver.

After grinding, you fill the cheesecloth with some of the ground apples.

Add a second layer.

Then fill the second layer with more ground apples.

There are the two layers of apples, ready to be pressed.

The bucket is ready to be filled with juicy apple goodness.