Broken Ground Farm

There was a lot to get done today. Kids up and fed, Bible stories, calls to make, bread to bake, cleaning. We had to order groceries and Amazon. My tiny farmers needed appropriate gear. That means tall socks, boots, overalls. Lots of good stuff. And of course caring for the animals.

I went up with Sunshine Girl and Happy Boy to get the chickens going. I noticed that they coop was in straight on sun. We let them out them stretch and scratch. Then I decided that they needed to be moved. Lovey Boy helped me with the fence and we got them moved into some shade.

Velociraptor is not that bright and for several days has walked into the corner instead of into the coop. By the time I took this photo she was correcting her error.

I went back down the pigs to check them out and got some sweet photos of Hank.

This evening when C.N.R. got home and the rain stopped, we moved the pigs. They no longer reside in the garden. We moved them up closer to the chickens. We set up the new fencing before taking the old one down.

We bought more fence posts to be able to keep up a paddock and create a new one. We only ran 3 strands of wire this time instead of four. Before running wire we took the clippers and removed any large plant in the way. After running wire we ran the weed eater to clear grass and added more posts where the strands were still on the ground. We are going to look into fence that is netting rather than wire cord.

We got this handy dandy device at a local co-op. Makes the work go so much smoother and faster.

Here C.N.R. and I are working to roll up the wire from the old paddock. I would go ahead of him and loosen it from the posts and he would wind the wire up on the spool as he followed me. I learned that I have to keep tension on the wire as he winds it up or it makes a tangle. Life lesson the hard way. But it didn’t take too long to fix.

Left to right: Panzer, Bella, Me

Photo credit to Sunshine Girl.

Before we could get them completely set up tonight it started raining again. Better a small shower than scorching sun. The pigs sure didn’t mind it.

New paddock with plenty of grass, trees, and shade. Yes, we are working on a new wallow as well.

We sprinkled some food and are letting them do the work to make the wallow. This place should collect water and be nice and shady. Worth noting is that none of the pigs were ready to cross the fence line when it was down and off. C.B. was the first go over. Young and not as experienced. Once Oreo saw he made safely across she followed. Hank however was not about to cross that line. He is one well trained pig. Even with the coaxing of food he was not having it and trust me, he likes his food. Finally, I lifted the wires from the ground and let him walk under. He was good to go for that idea.

Hank, Ceebs (C.B.), and Oreo. Oreo seemed to want to be hand fed her apple scraps today. She either ignored or didn’t see what I put down and just stared at me and walked towards me. So she got hand fed. Spoiled piggy.

They seem to be happy and enjoying life in the new paddock. Sunshine Girl stayed out to help C.N.R. and I get them moved. She didn’t even go in when it rained. I think she is enjoying farm life too.

Some not-so-farm things I want to remember from this day. The boys playing. I love how they make up games. They were taking a smallish soft ball and throwing it on the wall. It would shoot back at them and they were trying to dodge and get out of the way. They said they had “3 lives” and each time they got hit they lost a life. They loved it.

We let Happy Boy open his gifts. Legos of various types and a geode breaking kit. He loved it. We had to go on the porch and bust a geode before bed.