Movin' over....

Hey there!  I've moved my blog over to Burbiculture.com.  Please come join me over there.  It is a relaunch of sorts....

Hope to add some cool stuff over the next few weeks to make it more interactive.  Would love to hear from you.  Let me know what you think, give me some suggestions and tell me what you want to see more or less of.

Also, please share, comment, forward, like, link or whatever.  Thanks!

Getting a little help!

Hello!  It's been a while.  Nothing like being a slacker for a whole year and a half.  

Truthfully we took a break for a few months.   The goats and guineas found new homes and the chickens and pigs got processed.  We kept the garden going but had no animals for about 6 months.  

In late March we brought home 8 baby chicks (layers) - one went to it's place of rest after a very well intentioned but strong hug from our middle grandson.  

A few weeks later be brought home 13 meat birds.  As you can see on the video, they've caught up in size with the layers.  

I'll be posting more about them soon.  

Love having help around here.  Especially from the young ones.  Wish I had kept the video going a little longer so I could have captured more of the comments.  The things they say....  *cute *innocent *funny

Head butting

This is Thelma.  

As you can see, she is a bit perturbed.  She is currently in "time out" for head butting the glass on our french doors. 

I've been trying to explain that she will continue to be put back in her pen if she can not accept the fact that she is not an inside goat and quit head butting the doors.  

                                                        Apparently I'm not getting through.  

8 weeks

Change happens quickly!  The cute little piglets are now 8 weeks old and weigh about 40lbs. a piece.  That's a lot of swine in our back yard!  Good thing they have plenty of room.  Despite having lots of space it is already time to move them to fresh ground.  Seems that what 2 full grown pigs can do in a month is nothing compared to what a mama pig and her 11 piglets can do in a week!

Swine sibblings

Phew! What's that smell?

Well, we've learned a lesson I hope you never have to learn.  It's a stinky one called "boar taint".

What is it?  Here is Wikipedia's explanation.

Boar taint is the offensive odour or taste that can be evident during the cooking or eating of pork or pork products derived from non-castrated male pigs once they reach puberty. It is only found in a small minority of pigs and can be found in both males and females as the chemicals that cause the smell are produced in the intestines as well as the testes.

Thankfully it is not harmful and apparently there are soaking methods to take the smell out of the meat, but it is a pain in the neck and I'm not sure how effective it is.  (Ever tried to mask the gamey smell of venison?)  I can't tell you how disappointing it was to cook up that first batch of pork chops when we got our pig back from the processor only to discover that strange but unforgettable odor.  And to top it off, we had guests for dinner that night!   The last two pigs we processed gave us delicious meat to consume and share and I was excited about cooking.  You should have seen me trying to scramble out of that one!  

So here is the take away.  If you process a male pig, make sure you do it before the pig has reached sexual maturity (don't ask me how you are suppose to know when that is because I have no clue) ~ or make sure the pig has been "fixed".   

Expensive lesson learned. 

Having a little attitude!

3 and 1/2 week old piglet