A tomato plant (the classic annual veggie) typically ripens from seed to fruit in 6-8 months in the PNW. They’re an intensive plant that requires seeding as early as February, babying the seedlings with heat and light, then transplanting to the ground and covering with plastic to protect from cool nights (which stunt their growth),Continue reading “American Guinea Hogs: the perennial pork”
Category Archives: American Guinea Hogs
Making Mistakes: Life and Death on the Homestead
After Hypatia (a.k.a. Honeybunny, a.k.a. Mommabear) farrowed her first litter of piglets on St. Patrick’s Day, we gave her some time alone with her new family, separated from the rest of the herd. After about 5 weeks, we integrated momma and babes with the other two adult pigs, Alexander Hamilton and Eliza, which went smoothly.Continue reading “Making Mistakes: Life and Death on the Homestead”
Home butchering the homestead pig
At the beginning of September, over the course of 3 very long days, we butchered our first pig on the farm. I’ve been struggling to write this story because I couldn’t think of a way to make it engaging or funny. But Josh helpfully pointed out that wit and narrative aren’t always necessary. Until 70Continue reading “Home butchering the homestead pig”
Growing up as farmers and processing our own pork
“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly first.” -Joel Salatin Whenever Josh and I tell someone that we live on a farm, the polite followup question is inevitably “what do you raise?” I think most people are hoping we’ll say tomatoes, but “pork and chicken,” is what we say. “Raised on grass, organic feed,Continue reading “Growing up as farmers and processing our own pork”
Big day in pigletville
The piglets are 10 days old today. They’ve grown a lot since their birthday, and they’re beginning to fill out. Honeybunny continues to be an excellent momma. We’re so impressed with her. Today was was a big day for the piglets. They had 3 big milestones: Most of them ventured out of the farrowing hutContinue reading “Big day in pigletville”
It’s a boy! And a boy, and a boy, and a boy, and a girl, and a boy, and a boy, and a girl, and a boy, and a girl
Shortly after it became apparent that Hypatia was going to become the matriarch pig of Bellfern Homestead instead of Eliza as intended, her name morphed into Honeybunny. Hypatia seemed an appropriate name for a creature too smart for her earthly form who was destined for an unfortunate end, but Honeybunny seems more fitting for a mistress. PigsContinue reading “It’s a boy! And a boy, and a boy, and a boy, and a girl, and a boy, and a boy, and a girl, and a boy, and a girl”
Pork: the other red meat
In the 1970s, a short-term study was conducted, whereby a small group of people was fed a limited high-fat diet, and an increase in blood cholesterol was observed. Before any long-term studies could be conducted, nutrition science, a relatively new field, took that news and ran with it. Official “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” were announced, proposingContinue reading “Pork: the other red meat”
Makin’ Bacon
Josh and I grew up in the Midwest–me in Illinois, him in Ohio and Iowa. At some point in our childhoods, we both came across the game “Pig Mania,” and it’s not because it was a virally popular game at any point in history, not even in the Midwest. It’s a dice rolling game, except that the diceContinue reading “Makin’ Bacon”
Shoulder Season Hog Keeping
Back in the day, pigs used to be let loose in the nearby woods to forage and fend for themselves all year, then harvested in the fall/winter. They were referred to as “mortgage lifters” due to the low input to high output qualities. Our woods are far away and there’s a creek in there withContinue reading “Shoulder Season Hog Keeping”
Oh my scrapple, we’re homesteading now
My friend John used to live on a blueberry farm. He loves to tell the story of the day his truck got stuck in the infamous mud of the Pacific Northwest, and his neighbor, who lived on a hill that looked down on John’s property, watched the scene with amusement for a good 20 minutes beforeContinue reading “Oh my scrapple, we’re homesteading now”
Bellfern Homestead 