Swine in the suburbs?

Back yard pigs.  Really?  Yes, really.  They've come with a few lessons.   Lesson one.  Containment is key.  Before you transfer pigs from their crate to their pen, make certain the electric fence is actually working.  Lesson two.   Need for speed. When you chase pigs, consider wearing shoes you can run in.  They are a lot faster than they look and believe it or not, they can also switch the direction they are running in on a dime.   Lesson three.  Artful luring techniques don't come naturally under pressure.  Pigs will come to food, but you have to get them to see it first.    Shaking a bucket with corn while yelling here piggy doesn't necessarily attract pigs that are on the loose.  Lesson four.  Never say never.  Early morning pig emergencies can cause you to do things you never thought you'd do - like go to Tractor Supply with your hair dripping wet and maybe your house slippers in a frantic attempt to figure out how to capture them. 


The idea of raising pigs that would grow up to be our food was not exactly on my hurry up and do list.  The idea of clean food was very appealing, but my worry was the pigs would become pets and then I would have to become a vegetarian.  I guess "was" is premature - we are still in the growing process.  This is how its gone so far...


We started by researching what was needed to raise pigs.  I had a ton of questions.  Could it be done in a small space?  What damage would they do to the area where they were kept? Would they smell?  Would they be noisy? How much would it cost to feed them?  How many pigs do you need to feed a family?   How would they actually get from back yard to dinner plate?  


It turns out pigs can be raised in a relatively small space.  Ours are in our back yard which is wooded.  They are contained by an electric fence and the size of their space is approximately 40' x 45'.   They are relatively quiet and while they do put off an odor, it isn't too strong.  Not much more than the odor of a dog.  They are not too expensive to feed.  They go through about a bag of feed a week in addition to our left overs.  (Confession:  I don't really cook that much so they don't get many leftovers.) I think we spoil ours.  We buy them their favorite pig feed.   Bet you didn't know they were discerning enough to have a favorite, did you?  They LOVE leftovers!  (Except for bananas and onions.  You could say our pigs are somewhat finicky.)  Also, it has been great to have the pigs eat and root up the underbrush in the woods.  We have to work hard to clear it and the pigs do it for free!  That said, if you are thinking of raising pigs in your back yard and you have a lawn you might want to give this some thought.  Oh and hey, did you know pigs bark?  That was news to me. When we go out to feed them they start jumping around and barking and running into each other.  It is so funny!  They make that snorting sound when they are eating.  I'm still amused every time I hear it. 


As to the emotional issues, I will let you know.  I can see them from my bedroom window and they are fun to watch.  My husband does almost all of the feeding. He likes to do it and I'm afraid of getting attached.  It actually may be too late for that.  We named them Pork and Chop so that I would constantly be reminded that we are raising them to be food.  When they've reached the size we want them to be, they will be taken to a processor.  My husband is planning on adding new little pigs when these are getting close to becoming food.  I hope I can handle it.  

Oink!

Are they cute, or what?  We may have gone off the deep end here, but look what we got!  Two little yorkshire/brookshire mix pigs.  Yes - they are in our back yard.  I'll share more of the story in my next post but for now, meet Pork and Chop.  

Skipping steps may have proven to be a bad idea....

Should have done this long ago, but just got around to it today.  Took a soil sample down to the Charleston County Clemson Extension to find out if the soil condition in the beds is as good as it can be for a successful garden.  You know what every gardening book you read tells you to do as a first step after you pick out your sunny spot, right?  Test the soil.
Well, somehow I figured we could probably get away with skipping that step.  After all, we had mixed some sandy soil with a truckload of "fines" that we had delivered from a friend's grind site and I knew we had a ton of very rich organic material (that even smelled organic)  ~ so I figured if it looked good,  and smelled good, it must be good.

(If you live in the Charleston area, the extension is on King St downtown.  Each sample tested costs $6.00.  You get the results by email within a couple of weeks.)

Well, I've come to discover that some of the plants are having issues.  This was not suppose to happen.  The basil has dark spots on it, the cilantro is turning orange and the lettuce has yellow leaves.

I'm hoping the soils test will reveal a simple solution.  Maybe it is something as simple as too much water since we've had a lot of rain - but whatever it turns out to be, it motivated me to get the soil tested. I'll be posting an update once I've been enlightened as to what is going on here.

Little helpers..

Got a little gardening help planting the okra seeds.  We may find bunches of them sprouting in interesting places.  This little helper got ahold of a handful of seeds that are currently not accounted for.

Planting okra seeds.  He insisted on wearing my gloves.  : )

Progress

Raised beds are finished and planting has begun.  So exciting!  I go out every morning to see if I can find anything new sprouting up.  It is such a miracle!

Each bed has its own watering system and we also have a spicket in the pathway to allow for hand watering if needed. Cool, eh?  Makes it so easy!  

We've got everything labeled with little white posts.  More important than you would think.  First of all, being a first go at this, not everything that sprouts out of the ground is recognizable - at least to me.  Second, it can help keep you from planting seeds on top of seeds ~ that is, if you place the posts when you plant.  Currently we have bell peppers planted on top of the potatoes.  Guess we will see which sprout first and then move them.   And hopefully potato sprouts look very different from bell pepper sprouts!

Well ~ let's get started. Raised bed vegetable garden.

Laying it out and making adjustments along the way.

Getting a some help from a little cowboy.

Measuring for the center walkway

Almost done building all the walls.

We've had a few people ask us about how we built our raised beds.  We would be a stretch since I didn't actually do any of the work.  My input in this was limited to sharing my wish list.  1- to have it raised to about knee height so there wouldn't be so much bending over.  2 - to have the ability to reach to the center of whatever space we created.  Ultimately this meant creating a path through the middle of the raised bed.  I love the result, but it meant a lot more work for my husband who actually built it.  

Our beds are in the front/side yard of our house.  Ideally I wanted them around back, but it turns out this was the sunny spot and as a bonus, it is right outside our kitchen window.  It is also a place where we have good drainage.  Honestly, the vegetables will get much better attention where they are since we walk by them when we come into the house and I see them every time I am in front of our kitchen sink.  

Finally filled and ready for planting