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”
Tag Archives: pigs
Some homesteading skills are more fun than others
Before we even started homesteading, I had a handwoven basketful of homesteader skills already under my hand-tooled leather belt. Not only did I make soap, but I made it out of tallow and lard that I rendered myself, and I made jams, sauces, and marinades out of the fruits and vegetables I grew myself. LongContinue reading “Some homesteading skills are more fun than others”
Spring on the farm
It’s spring, so of course there’s so much going on at Bellfern Homestead, and I’m too tired to organize it all into an interesting and themed narrative. This is going to be a casserole-style blog post: take what you have, mix it all together, add cheese, and hope it holds together. We’ve got over a hundred chickensContinue reading “Spring on the farm”
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”
101 Uses for Pallets on the Homestead: #1-3
When purchasing the farm 7 months ago, we inherited a lot of stuff. From outbuildings to questionable lumber, from electric fencing to old roofing, from drainage problems to really smelly compost. Now, Paul Wheaton says, “If it stinks, you are doing it wrong.” And my experience says that is true. I spent summers growing up in theContinue reading “101 Uses for Pallets on the Homestead: #1-3”
Food for thought: antibiotics vs. organic meat
We had a pig scare today. Big Boy stopped eating last night, and he laid down to sleep while the other 3 (Tugboat, The Corporal, and Number Two) fought over dinner. He’s a pig, so dinner should be the absolute best part of every day. Something was wrong. I went to bed feeling anxious, butContinue reading “Food for thought: antibiotics vs. organic meat”
Farm Dogs and the Learning Curve
When I was a teaching assistant in grad school, I found that success was made up of a series of small failures. The program director liked to encourage these missteps as just part of the learning curve. Couldn’t understand a word of Roland Barthes? Congratulations, you’re in the learning curve. Spent all night grading studentContinue reading “Farm Dogs and the Learning Curve”
When homesteading sucks
There’s no way to ease into this, so I’ll just dive right in. On Saturday, I noticed that one of our new piglets was pooping spaghetti. Now I’ll back up. We got our first two American Guinea Hogs via Craigslist, because of course we did. When I emailed the seller, she responded quickly and saidContinue reading “When homesteading sucks”
Bellfern Homestead 