Only On the Farm

I can't turn my back for one minute.

No Freakin' Way!!!!

Ok....so I'm totally into eating non processed foods and being healthy and junk. ........And grammar.  But I'm also for sticking it to the man.....and English teachers.  In these economic times free food, is free food and if there is a shortage, food is food. Recently I've been wanting to stock my larder, but not having the economic fortitude it was merely a dream.  UNTIL...my friend Kelly told me about coupons.  I know, I know.  Who has the TIME or ENERGY to look through adds, clip, save, and keep updated stupid coupons.  Well somebody does.  And that somebody put it on her website, gives you the shopping list and a place to print out the coupons.  I tried it....and it works!!!

Can you guess how much I paid for this?  It's 4 boxes of spaghetti (two are whole wheat), 4 boxes of other pasta, 1 6pack of jello pudding, 1 6 pack of jello gelatin, 4 packs of jello temptations, 2 boxes of lean pockets, 2 packages of lunch meat, 4 banquet microwaveable fruit pies and a gallon of milk.  Go on...guess!!!  What did you get?  $40?  $25 on your lowest guess?  NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!!

$3.18

YES!  THREE DOLLARS AND EIGHTEEN CENTS!!!!

Most of it is going into the deep freeze or in the back of the pantry.  The kids are going to get things I NEVER buy them and they will be happy.  I'm getting my freezer and pantry full for next to nothing so I'm happy.  Free is free is free.

If you would like to give this a go and you live in Oklahoma, you can check it out at http://www.couponcloset.net/.  If you live elsewhere, I'm sure there is a website for your area.  This website gives you great info, but a lot of the deals are store specific and you may not have those stores where you live.

So while I'm generally opposed to processed food, I'm more into taking care of my family the best way I can.  We are planning for the future and stocking up is on the list.

Why I want American Guinea Hogs

A few months ago I did a post on why I wanted Dominique Chickens.  I'd like you know why I want American Guinea Hogs.  The reasons are quite similar.  This breed of hog, like the breed of chickens, is endangered.  It's a true American breed that is on the brink of extinction.  Why?  For the several of the same reasons.  They grow slow.  Commercial breeds grow fast.  So fast in fact that they have to be processed quite young because, like commercial chickens, their bodies can not handle the rapid growth and would die or be paralyzed from their weight.  A stressed animal produces stress hormones that stay in the meat.  They are small, but they produce great meat at just the right amount for the average family.   Their small size also contributes to the their ease of care.  And unlike other hogs, they are extremely docile and only the best tempered animals are bred.  Commercial pigs are kept in their own filth and small quarters.  They are fed fattening food.  Guinea hogs have retained the ability to forage for them selves on grasses and roots.  They will have fat, but their meat is not saturated with fat and stress hormones because they can live their lives more naturally than commercial breeds.  If you would like to know more about the AGH, you can visit http://www.americanguineahogassociation.org/ .

Introducing our AGH: Lois and Lana

I decided that naming them after Old Testament characters was a bit sacrilegious and the Lord of the Rings names were just too hard to say.  There are a lot of super heroes to draw from though, so it should be interesting!

Sick Chick

We counted chicks today.  We have exactly 60.  The hatchery gave me an extra Dominique, and extra Cornish X and an extra White Leghorn.  Everyone is doing fine and it amazing to see how the Cornish X are growing.  I swear I can actually SEE them growing.  There is one little Dominique that is not so well.  He's in the CCU (Chicken Care Unit).

He gets a hot water bag, and warmed up rice sock as well as a heat lamp.  We make sure he gets water every couple of hours and try to feed him, which he isnt' taking.  I called the hatchery and they gave me some instructions.  They said feed him honey with an eye dropper.

Here Chicky Chicky!!!

I'll keep you updated.  I'm afraid he hasn't formed right.  He has yet to open his eyes and he was literally stuck to the floor this morning with leakage from his "umbilical cord".  Poor chicky.

Mrs. Havens? I have a package for you.......

I didn't sleep well Sunday night.  My dreams were of chicks.  Soft fluffy chicks.  Cute little chicks that for some reason I could not keep contained or alive.  I dreamed this all night long.  So when the phone rang at 5am and the lady on the other end said "Mrs. Havens?  I have a package for you.  It seems to be chicks."  I wasn't sure if I was still dreaming.  Well I wasn't!  I drove up to the post office and picked up these little guys.

And this is what the drive home sounded like.



There were a ton of instructions to follow but I won't bore you with those.  The end product was this.

This is our expandable brooder made of old closet doors. 
And this is what our garage sounds like.....and will sound like for the next 4 weeks

I tried to get individual pictures from each breed.  Did you know it is increadably difficult to photograph chicks?  I"m just not good enough.  They turn into white blurs.  I did manage this one though.

There are two types of yellow chicks here.  One is a Cornish X.  They will grow fast and go to freezer camp in 6-8 weeks.  The  other yellow ones are White Legherns.  They will lay white eggs in 4 months or so.  Who wants eggs?

And then there are these.

These are my Dominiques!!!  Can't wait to see how they turn out.  See the brown one at the top of the picture but not in the bowl?  That was our free exotic chick.  It's Eythan's.  From what we can tell, it's a Dark Brahma.  Don't know anything about it, but it's "safe".  The kids are allowed to name it.  There is also a little peach chick in there.  It's a Buff Rock.  Charis choose it and it's also "safe".

Now if they will all stay contained and alive I'll know that I'm not dreaming anymore!

SOO-EY!!!!!!

Here come the pigs!!!

Let me tell you, yesterday was exciting!!!

We drove two hours to Okmulgee, OK to pick up two female American Guinea Hogs.  The breeders, Anthea and Wayne were very informative and helpful.  They showed us around their place and we met all their pigs (and goats, and dogs, and sheep.....).  Once we met everybody Anthea took us to our first pig, #11.  #11 was the last pig to come out of the hut.  She was very shy.  She is unique in that she has two front white socks.  Also her tail doesn't curl much.  When they grabbed her she hardly made a sound.  Then the torture came!!!  Anthea needed a blood sample and she had to scrape #11's ear.  THEN she had to put a tag in her ear.  It was basically a glorified earring.  #11 didn't like it and gave some squealing protest but it was over soon and she was put calmly into her crate to come home with us. 

Then......#24.  #24 is from a different mother.  I specifically requested that we not get an escape artist as some of the piglets were out when we got there so Anthea chose #24.  Had we only known.  She might not be an escape artist but she is a screamer!!!!  And spit-fire to boot.  She screamed and struggled so much the first time she was caught, Wayne dropped her on her head.  Of course she rebounded and went for more corn. He caught her again and she screamed and struggled so much, her very mild tempered mother got riled up and almost bit Wayne!!  A little feed though and she ignored the situation completely.  OH, #24....had we only known.  As calm as #11 had been, #24 was loud and wild.  With the help of bananas she got through her blood test and tagging.  We put her into her makeshift crate (a Rubbermaid tub with air holes in the lid and bungee cord ties).  She did NOT want to stay in.  We wound up having to put the bungee cord and two other tie downs on. SPIT-FIRE!

Then we made the two hour drive back.  #11 was quiet the whole way.  #24.....snorting, squealing and trying to pop the lid off her crate!  Once we got home, it was past sunset, but we still had a little light.  We let #11 out, but she stayed in her crate.  #24?  After about a second she jumped out and started running willy-nilly around the pen.  She ran into it, and tried to run under it, and at one point I thought she might try to run OVER the fence.  Of course a little pig feed calmed her right down....do we see a pattern here?  I finally dumped #11 out of her crate and she just stood there frozen like a statue.  It was the most curious thing.  I touched her, pushed her, called her and she just stood there like she was paralyzed.....until I put feed down for her.  Then she was back to being a normal pig.  Pigs will be pigs whenever food is available. 

After they got finished eating, we wanted to put them into their pig hut for the night.  The reason was two fold.  First, we didn't want them eaten by the mountain lion.  Second, if they escaped in the night, they would have quite a head start on us.  I walked over to #11, picked her up with not so much as a squeal (just a couple of grunts), put her into the hut, and there she stayed.  #24?  It is hard to describe the chaos which ensued.  There was much squealing, running, banging into fences, and falling and that was just me.  #24 was worse.  Finally....with a little food.....Jon was able to pounce on her.  At that point, even though we live a good 1/4 mile from our nearest neighbor, I was hoping the police weren't going to be called because of her squealing.  Jon tossed her in the hut and Eythan and I put the front door on, at which point I was summoned to a 4 year old on the porch who had had diarrhea in his pants.  At least it was on the porch.

Jon figured out an "ingenious" way to keep the door on the hut for the night.

This is #11 hanging back in the hut this morning

Here are the girls peeping out to get their first bite.

Cute piggy tails!

#11

#11 from top.  See her uncurly tail?

I didnt' get anymore pics because my camera went all weird, but I'm sure there will be more!


So here are our choices for names.  Of course our partners have the biggest say, but I'd like some opinions. The names also include the name for the male we are getting next week.

 Place your vote!

1.  #24 - Loise
     #11 - Lana
    Male - Clark

2.  #24 - Eowyn
     #11 - Arwen
    Male - Aragorn

3.  #24 - Leah
     #11 - Rachel
    Male - Jacob

Any suggestions?

Eaten by Mountain Lions?

NO!

We are definitely alive!!!!

The tracks have been verified by two forest rangers, and two game wardens as most definitely Mountain Lion!!!!  How intriguing...and terrifying.

It has been a crazy month.  I simply can not get on the computer to post anything.  We only have one and Jon is on it most of the time for work.  THEN I babysat in OKC for my friend for 3 days followed by a weekend of conference stuff.  THEN my mom had open heart surgery.  BUT, the farm has not been at a stand still.  There is some major progress into the world of self sustaining.

I've got seeds started for the garden.  I'm collecting chicken eggs to put in a borrowed incubator.  I have 50+ chicks heading my way on Monday.  I've started a Farm Partner program and will have a breeding trio of Guinea Hogs THIS weekend!!!  My sister gave us a truck.  There is much to be done though.

Garden tilled
Pig shelter to erect
brooder to build
chicken tractor to build
yard to be dusted with DE
plants to buy
more seeds to start

How fun is this!!!!!