I enjoyed reading your explanation, Tim. Thanks.

I can't help wondering if there are young people, high school students, 4H members, who would like to earn a little money helping to keep an eye on sows so it didn't require such constant vigilance by the owner. But I suppose many of those who are interested in doing that are already working on their own family farms.

Katie wrote:......I can't help wondering if there are young people, high school students, 4H members, who would like to earn a little money helping to keep an eye on sows..........

Well Katie, it goes back to that genetic defect. If they have the desire to take care of my pigs, they are probably already raising their own, for 4H or FFA, or they are already working steady part time for a bigger operation. Even before the PEDv outbreak, pig diseases were something to be concerned with. Biosecurity is suddenly something that even the smallest operation can't afford to neglect. If they have been around other pigs, I don't want them here. If they have been around ours, I don't want them going someplace else.

We could probably make it work, we just need more customers. My wife wasn't in my life the first time around, I did it all by myself (with dad). The workload would be easier with her to lean on, but I also have more reasons to get away now.

We have a good thing going right now, hopefully my buddy doesn't get burned out and sell his sows......... if that happens, we and our customers are screwed. I don't even want to think about that.

Tim

Tim:

On behalf of all here, I want to thank you for giving us an unfiltered window onto what life on a working farm in 2014 is really like - not a TV cooking-show view, or our urban farmers-market view. MUCH appreciated. I think I can also say that we all really dig your photos. Great stuff.

Thanks Tim! Great explanation and I guess it answered a "burning" question for a few more folks then just myself. I knew there had to be a lot more behind the scenes information.

Continued success with the way you are doing things!!

Best regards.

Wednesday update. The pigs are enjoying the cooler weather. They are pushing 200 pounds now, they should be just about right for the delivery date of Sept 8th.



Denise's compost pile garden has outgrown itself. I have as much manure on the big garden as I can get, while it's growing, so I had to start a new pile for compost.



The green beans are about done in the garden, so that'll open up some space in a week or so. We usually have more open space in the garden to spread on, this year, with the nice weather and new strawberry patch, we filled it all up.

Speaking of strawberries, last weekends rain really gave them a shot of growth.



I'm always amazed that you can water and water and water, and the plants will just stay alive. You get one nice rain shower, and the plants will grow and thrive like they were hit with fertilizer.

The soybeans are doing well. They are up to my thighs, I got wet from the dew, wading into them to take this picture.



They are starting to fill with blossoms



The popcorn in the garden is about a foot over my head and all tassled out. Most of the stalks have 2 or three ears so we should have a good crop. This is our first time growing it in the garden, I think I may have gotten a little over zealous with the size of the patch. We might be wrapping up ears of popcorn for Christmas this year.



The late sweetcorn I planted is starting to tassel out too. It is only about waist high. I doubt if it'll amount to anything. The dry weather hit that right at the wrong time. Oh well, sometimes that gamble pays off and you get to eat sweetcorn longer than anybody else, sometimes mother nature spits in your eye.

The late crop is to the left in the picture



Our corn stealing coons didn't come back last night. I set some traps, baited with marshmallows, out for them. I checked them last night about midnight and had a kitten in one. I let him go and reset the trap, this morning they were still empty and we didn't have anymore corn theft.



The coon didn't get all the good ears, we had some for dinner yesterday. If I had to list the great joys of life, someplace in the top 20 would be eating sweetcorn, that was picked within 20 minutes of hitting the plate. It almost makes me giggle like a little girl.

sundevilpeg wrote:...... I want to thank you for giving us an unfiltered window onto what life on a working farm in 2014 is really like .........

I don't know if I would call us a real working farm, but you are very welcome. I would like to thank all of you, for following along and not making me feel like I'm wasting my time. I was a little leary, when I signed up, that I would wade into a whole pack of animal rights activists or anti GMO/big agriculture folks. If you are out there, I appreciate the respect I've been given, and I hope I haven't offended anyone as I try to sway your views.

It actually makes what we do a little more fun, knowing people are impressed with what we consider everyday life.

Thanks for playing along.....

Tim

Fun for us too. Here's a pic of my harvest today for some additional eye candy

Fennel, celery, beans (4 kinds), peas, tomatoes (6 varieties), cukes (2 types), trombetta d'alba squash, 2 kinds of tomatillos, candy and red onions, ping tung eggplant, shishitos, poblanos and ground cherries.

Wow Jen, you are getting more variety than we are. I need a balcony!!

boudreaulicious wrote:Fun for us too. Here's a pic of my harvest today for some additional eye candy

Fennel, celery, beans (4 kinds), peas, tomatoes (6 varieties), cukes (2 types), trombetta d'alba squash, 2 kinds of tomatillos, candy and red onions, ping tung eggplant, shishitos, poblanos and ground cherries.

Jen:

Can you identify the small purple tomatoes nestled in the curve of the squash? They look similar to a type we got from Baker Creek (Tomato Blue Berries). Because of their unusual coloration I'm having a hard time determining if they're "ready".

Thanks for your pics--they continue to make me drool.

Yup--same ones Bean. I've been looking for blush on the bottom and if they have a little give when I squeeze them. So far, once they have that, I don't see any change when they're on the sill with the others for a couple of days so I have been eating them. Tasty!

Freezer Pig wrote:Wow Jen, you are getting more variety than we are. I need a balcony!!

We should do a home swap! I bet your pigs are easier to take care of than my menagerie (3 dogs and a guinea pig)!!!

boudreaulicious wrote:....... I bet your pigs are easier to take care of than my menagerie (3 dogs and a guinea pig)....

Right up until you have to load them........ It's a little harder than opening the back door on the trailer and saying "whoozdagoodboywantstagoforaride?" and stepping out of the way while they jump in. Once they are on the trailer, they decide they like it so much, they don't want to get back out.

Ever tried to move 275 pounds of high speed, low drag animal, that wants nothing more than to be exactly NOT where you want him to be?

Oh yeah, then there's the 1,000 lbs of feed that needs put in the feeder every 2 1/2 weeks. Carrying 75 lb bags, stepping over a 34 in high fence, then dumping into a chest high feeder. Here's a hint: it helps to have a 35" inseam.

Three times a week, you get to pitch 2 heaping loads of manure/wet straw into a wheelbarrow, push it 100 yards to the garden or 50 yds to the compost pile and dump it.

All this gets done, rain or shine, hot or cold, sick or healthy.

Did I mention working on a waterer or feeder, while thirsty or hungry pigs are chewing on you, because they want to drink or eat??

Ever try to explain to somebody why they can't have 50 porkchops and the rest ino bacon out of a half a hog??

If you are lucky, that one new customer, on this batch of hogs, will back out the week before they are ready to go in. If you aren't lucky, the processor will call you two days after the carcass is on the hook, and ask you what you want to do with the half, because that customer doesn't want it now......... and it needs to be cut.... today.......

Baling in straw in the heat.... thawing waterers in the cold. Flat tires on wagons and trailers......
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

I ain't trading any of that, ^^^ up there ^^^, if it means I have to live in town.



Tim

Yeah...I ain't got nothin' on that level. Though my 15 year old chow did go Cujo on the small (MEAN) dog tonight drawing blood from both of them. Because we had chicken for dinner. And SO is trying to separate them with a dining room chair until I can make it over from the far side of the room. Good times.

But the view from the deck is very relaxing too--not fields as far as the eye can see--but still nice

And you'd be surprised how quickly someone on here might snap up that hog half if you posted it.

boudreaulicious wrote:And you'd be surprised how quickly someone on here might snap up that hog half if you posted it.

You're like that little devil on my shoulder, trying to talk me into something.

Do it....
I know you said you didn't come here to sell us pigs......
Just try it....
Just once.....
It's only a half a pig......
Do it.....
Nobody will remember what you said.....
Just try it once.....
Come on....
Do it....

LOL ~ You crack me up.

I've been called worse

As much as LTH has helped me eat well in Chicago, I have to say that this is my favorite thread of all. Thanks, FP.

Just out of curiosity Freezer Pig...
what does a whole pig or a half go for?

Matt wrote:As much as LTH has helped me eat well in Chicago, I have to say that this is my favorite thread of all. Thanks, FP.

Ditto

I'm sure many LTH board members would like to meet Mr. & Mrs. Freezer Pig. I would encourage you to consider attending our annual pot luck picnic on Sunday, September 14. i know it's a bit of a long haul for you but I wouldn't be surprised if you could find a guest room w/ one of our members--you're welcome to stay in our basement apartment, but I suspect, in it's current state, you'd be more comfortable bedding down in your barn. Nonetheless I can promise a great day of merriment and quality victuals at the picnic. Just sayin'...

zoid wrote:Just out of curiosity Freezer Pig...
what does a whole pig or a half go for?

We don't go by the open market price you hear on the radio. We take our actual costs (feeder pigs, feed, straw), add in our profit/head (it is the amount we decided we needed to clear, no matter what. It's the same for every batch of pigs we do).

We divide that amount by the total pounds of all the pigs, hanging on the rail. That gives us the price per pound,. The processor tells us what each persons half or whole weighs, and that's what we bill.

Last batch was a little heavier than usual, they averaged about 200 lbs/head, (carcass weight). Our price was $1.36/lb for the pig.

The processor charges $45/head for slaughter, then 48 cents/lb (hanging weight) for processing. If you want bacon and/or hams cured, they charge extra for that too.

So if you got a whole hog from us (200lbs), last Fall, you would've written us a check for $272 for a whole pig.

If you just got straight cuts and sausage, no curing or smoking, you'd have written the processor a check for $141 for slaughter and processing.

So, if I did the math right (this is where I need my bookkeeper wife), you'll have spent $413 and you'll be taking home about 170 +/- pounds of frozen, cut and packaged to your spec's, fresh off the farm pork.

That all works out to $2.42/lb, for a whole pig, delivered, processed, packaged & frozen, and they will help you load it in your vehicle. All you have to do is write a check to us, for the pig, and pay the processor for their work, when you pick up your meat.

Half a pig would be half that amount... still $2.42/lb, but half of all the weight/cuts you'd get from a whole. By the way, they split the half from head to tail, you don't get to pick front half or back half........ trust me, we've been asked.

Hope that answers your question in 10,000 words or less.

bean wrote:.....I'm sure many LTH board members would like to meet Mr. & Mrs. Freezer Pig. I would encourage you to consider attending our annual pot luck picnic on Sunday, September 14......

Sounds like fun, Thanks for the invite, I'd like to put a face to everybody's online personality too. We will be tied up that weekend, since the pigs are going in the weekend before, we'll be selling sausage at church (Hey, you get to learn about FRB in my next post!!). Maybe next year we can work something out. My wife's brother and his familly live in Lake Zurich, so Chicago isn't a completely foreign land to us. We get over there a couple times a year.

Maybe next year.....

Time to hit the sack, we just got done picking, shucking, boiling, cutting, packaging & freezing sweetcorn from the garden. The pots and pans are washed and I'm about wiped out. It sucks right now, but next winter, we'll forget about it when we are eating real sweetcorn......

Tim

Freezer Pig wrote:... Chicago isn't a completely foreign land to us. We get over there a couple times a year.

Next time you do, if you want to, I am sure that we could do an ad hoc meal meet up. You let us know, and we'll work it out!

Monday surprise update.......

We have a late nest of Swallows



This nest was built the first year we put pigs in, and had the barn opened up for most of the year. It has been used every year since, until this year. We had pairs build two new nests this year and last years new nest was used again, but this one sat empty. I noticed a pair spending more time over the pigs for the last week, I just thought they were after the easy meal of flies, this time of year. This morning I saw two little heads poking over the rim.

I don't know if it's a second clutch, or the pair is late getting back. Maybe it is a widowed pair that got together and decided there was time for a quick family. Hopefully it's a sign that we'll have a nice long Fall, and Winter won't start early. It's about time for the rest of the Swallows to gather up and fly south for the winter, I hope these little guys are big enough to make the trip. Our barn has done it's part this year to repopulate their numbers this year.



The sweet corn patch is about played out. We've been cutting and feeding an armload of stalks to the pigs every morning.



They don't get much, if any, nutritional value out of it, but they like the variety. Since they don't digest roughage like cattle, they just chew up the stalks to get the juice out, then spit out what's left.

This is a stalk of corn after a pig works it over



Last picture, the stray cat's kittens are growing. She has them weaned now, and we almost never see her anymore. Hopefully she found someplace else to live. The kittens spend most of their time on the porch, but we've been trying to get them back to the barn. This one has always been a little more adventurous than the rest. He was helping do chores this morning.



That's it, bigger update in a few days.

Tim

It's an uneventful week around here, so this will be a lackluster update. Other than canning the last of the green beans and freezing the last of the sweetcorn, it's been slow.

Monday morning, A friend of mine was pulling ears, doing his annual corn yield estimation. He runs around to all his fields and pulls a half dozen ears from each. He counts the number of kernals around the ear and the number lengthways. He has a magic formula he uses to guess his total yield. He kept texting me pictures of nice ears and bad ears, until I got curious about the popcorn patch. I just walked in and grabbed a random ear to see if it was filled to the end....... it is



All the kernals that will be on the ear are there now, they'll just get bigger as the season goes on, assuming we keep getting rain



I said in last weeks update, the rain really perked up the new strawberries. This week, almost every plant has shot runners



..... and for all you eagle eyed gardeners, yes I pulled the weed, right after I took the picture.

Last picture of the week was on the camera, so I'll share. Yesterdays dinner (you probably call it lunch), scrapple and fresh picked sweetcorn..... not something you see everyday



That's it, I'll try to do better next week. We are getting close to canning tomato sauce, that'll be an event to share.

Tim

You need to do this with the scrapple :

Is that coming off a grill going onto a biscuit?? I don't know if ours will hold up to grilling. I'll try anything once.

Grilled on a cast iron pan, then onto sushi rice topped with egg (I think--Laikom?)--it was wrapped with a piece of Nori after that. I think I ate about 10 of them!!!

Ya know, we cook/eat/try a lot of different things. I don't think I ever remember having scrapple anytime other than breakfast, and there was always an egg next to it, and maybe some fried taters. That's whay I took the picture the other day next to the corn, I wanted to send it to my bro in law to show we were expanding our horizons..... now this, scrapple ala sushi.

What's next, chitlins & caviar??

... cat's and dogs, living together......

I'll try it, but I think Nori is going to be hard to find in our little corner of paradise.

Tim

If you promise to try this (I'll send you the full recipe if Matt will give it to me ) and take pics, I'll send you the Nori

.....<<<< rant on >>>>>.......

OK, I'll try this again. This morning, during a much needed rain, our internet service cut out, and I lost the update I was posting.

Just as a PSA, and since I told the guy on the phone I would let everybody know how happy I was with their service, I highly reccomend Dish Network internet service.... especially if you only want to use the internet when the sun is shining or you can see stars in the night sky. There is nothing like hoping to get a radar picture of a storm coming across the county, only to lose your service just as the first few raindrops hit your satellite dish.

Rest assured, if your Dish TV is still giving you a picture, the people on The Weather Channel are standing right in front of NW Ohio, while pointing at Chicago to tell me what just happened, and pointing the other way at Cleveland, letting them know they are about to die.

Our contract is up in December, I'm ready for winter, if it means I can get rid of this wonderful service. I'm not sure what I'll go with, but I can tell you how many seconds after my contract is up, that Dish will continue to be my internet provider.

....... <<<<<<<<< rant off >>>>>>>>>..........

Sunday was our anniversary, after church, we stopped at a local Mexican Resturant for dinner. You can tell it's authentic, because the bill comes to your table, written in spanish, and added by hand. I guess we got charged for what we ordered. The food was good and the price was reasonable, so we'll just assume everything was right. If they are happy, we are happy.

The anniversary celebration lasted until we got home and changed clothes, we had cabbage heads that needed taken care off.









Three to four weeks until kraut..... and I don't even like it that much. I'm forcing myself though, one of these days, it'll be my favorite.

I picked up hog feed today, after the mill closed, since it was raining earlier. This is what 1,000 lbs of feed looks like in the back of the truck.....



This is what it looks like in the feeder;



The kittens have finally moved off the porch, back to the barn. Hopefully, they'll start mousing to supplement their cat food intake.

Gathering around the bowl, for a free meal.....while I work, unloading feed.....



Stripe, talking to the pigs, through the gate



He was running around inside the pen, by the time I got done unloading feed. At least they are smart enough to stay out from under vehicles and away from pigs. They are just wild enough to be pretty good cats. I hope they are natural born killers.

I think that's it.

Thanks for looking.......

Tim

Hopefully the problems with LTH are fixed and the forum will stay online for good. I was starting to get the yips from not being able to check in on things. Thanks to everybody that works in the shadows, who keep things running smoothly, and especially when things aren't so smooth.


Not much is changing around here, the days are getting shorter and things are starting to mature and ripen, as Fall edges closer. We got a much needed 2" of rain Monday. Within a 20 mile radius, there was anywhere from .2" to 6.25", I'm very happy with what we got. With the cooler weather, it'll last for a while if it needs to.

I'll start in the bean field. The plants are almost waist high with lots of pods. Mondays rain should make them set some more pods, and there should be enough moisture to fill them. Looks like a bumper crop for sybeans..... barring any disasters.



Pods



I tried to get a selfie to show the height, sorry about the camera string. You can get the idea though. I'm 6' 2", so the beans are running about 36" to 40", that's some pretty good growth.



The garden is starting to thin out. We've been cutting sweetcorn stalks, from the first patch, and feeding it to the pigs. The late patch, that started setting ears when it was less than waist high, looks like it might make something. I had given up on it, but I think we'll get some fresh corn this weekend.

There are some pretty nice ears out there, for no bigger than the stalks are



Last picture(s) is the squash, trying to escape the garden





I think that's all for today. We are canning tomato sauce this weekend. We plant a few tomatoes in the garden, just for eating fresh. We discovered it's easier to buy a few bushels, all at once, from a neighbor and have one big day of canning. It's miserable, while the 12 hour ordeal is going on, but it's a one time mess. When we used to can our own, we'd fool around over the course of a month, every few days, getting a couple quarts.

Denise's mom & dad are coming for the weekend, to help. We are shooting for 40 - 50 qts, that should get us all through til next year. I'll try to get some pictures and post them, after I'm rested up.

TTFN

Tim

Saturday, 10 am, started out with three bushels of tomatoes.....



Taking a quick dip in the old wash tub, before coring/cutting



First pan hits the stove



More pans of maters cooking down



Quick trip through the power sieve



Juice in the big pot, cooking down into sauce, on the turkey cooker in the garage



Canners going full tilt, in the end. Seven quarts at a time for 40 minutes





At the stroke of midnight, the last canner was emptied. 55 quarts in 14 hours........



....... one more beer and it's time for a shower and bed. I think I sat down for about a half hour total all day.

I'll forget about all this, next winter, when I go to the basement for a jar of sauce, in the middle of a blizzard.

Tim