Farm Life

There is never a dull moment on the farm. Yesterday, the weather forecast was for rain, ending early, then clear through the day into tonight. My brother and his buddy were coming to finish the back fence along our property line. They got here, the back was flooded, so they came in to eat some lunch and fence in the paddock behind the barn instead. While they were inside, it started sleeting, then snowing. So much for fencing.

I was still able to butcher the six chickens, assembly line style, in the sleet and snow. That was not fun. But, now I have six more chickens for the freezer. Jackson is a great helper with butchering. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about having him as a helper, but he seems fine with it. He asks so many interesting questions, our conversations end up somewhere between a biology lesson and a philosophical discussion about life and death. He is extremely interested in “the guts”. Last night as we were cleaning the chickens, we dissected all of the organs so he could see what is inside. Then, he asked about which parts we eat and which we don’t. He wanted to eat the hearts, so after cleaning two of the birds, we sliced the hearts and fried them in butter. He loving brought one of up to his sister. After he finished eating them he asked me if he had two hearts now, or if that heart had simply melted into his.

Amazing.

I was also able to make a batch of soap, here is the recipe:

• 36 oz (1020 g) coconut oil
• 36 oz (1020 g) vegetable shortening
• 24 oz (396 g) olive oil OR sunflower oil
• 15 oz (426 g) lye
• 33 oz (936 g) well water
• 3 tbsp essential oil

1. Add water to lye, allow to cool.
2. Melt coconut oil and vegetable shortening over low heat, shut off once melted.
3. Measure olive oil and essential oils into one container, set aside.
4. Once lye is clear and less than 140F, add to melted oils and olive oil mix.
5. Use stick blender to trace, about 45 seconds.
6. Pour into greased molds-fills five 1lb molds.
7. Remove after about 12-16 hours, cut, cure for one month.

The only problem was in my choice of essential oil. I used sweet orange oil and clove bud oil, but the clove oil made the soap trace VERY quickly and it was a race to get it into the molds. The soap will be fine, just a little bumpy.

Today was a beautiful March day, so we moved the pigs to their new home. They had been in a 16′ x 16′ paddock in our backyard. That was fine during the winter and when they were little, but now that they are bigger they need more space. We moved them to a 32′ x 48′ space over where we plan to put the garden. They will eat all of the grass off, turn the soil, and fertilize. In one month, we will move them again, then one more time, so that at the end of three months they will have turned our entire 50′ x 100′ garden and converted all of that grass into lovely ham and bacon. Then we will get more pigs to live next to our garden eating all of the weeds and such and the cycle will start again. The pigs are one of the best farm animals, converting inedible foodstuffs and grass into the most lovely meat. We let them roam around while we were moving their paddock and they had a blast exploring and playing with the kids. It will be hard to take them to the butcher this summer, but no one ever said that farm life was easy.