Spring preparations

It has been too long since we have posted (as my lovely daughter is quick to point out) and there has been some good progress going on around the farm. For over a year now, we have been wanting to get some pigs. As Mary Susan pointed out, we obtained some pigs about a month ago. Since then they have really gone to work.

Pigs
We had heard and read that pigs are efficient at turning up ground that you want to convert into a garden. Not really knowing what to expect, we were surprised and pleased at just how efficient they are. We set up a garden spot about 12' wide and 80' long and we used 3 strands of electric fence wire to create the pig pen. In the picture shown at right, the pigs have been at work for just a few days. As you can see, we are using a spare dog house we had for temporary housing that they are rapidly outgrowing. These guys are heavy eaters and we are going through feed fairly fast. Here's an approximation of the feed recipe we're currently using:

• 24 lbs Ground Corn
• 2 Cups Fish Meal
• 1 Cup Dried Molasses
• 1/2 Cup Kelp Meal
• 1 Cup D.E.
• 1/2 Cup Salt

I get the corn at a local feed store and they call it "crushings". It also includes a bit of wheat and oats. We mix the feed in 5 gallon buckets and add water to create a slop. Of course, the hogs also get some of the table scraps. For anyone (like me) interested in details, here's a better picture of the electric fence. It's important that the fence be adjustable so that you can raise the wire as the pigs root up the dirt. They will eventually ground out the wiring so we are checking the fence daily and adjusting as necessary.

Here's a picture of the first garden spot after quite a bit of work with the tiller and the rock removal crew. We'll be turning in about 500 lbs of calcitic lime and all the composted horse manure we can fetch into each of the new garden spots. We'll also be installing a greenhouse on one end of this first garden spot. A neighbor had some PVC hoops that he wasn't using anymore, so all we have to supply is some bracing and the greenhouse film.

Another part of garden preparation has been starting the seed we hope to plant. This is an area of gardening where we have tried and failed before. Hopefully this time will better. Laura and I built these seedtables as a mini greenhouse. We've made our own seedblocks using 2.5" PVC forms we constructed from materials we found in the basement. The recipe for the seedblocks is really simple:

• 1/3 Peat
• 1/3 Compost
• 1/3 Garden Soil

We mixed this up as well as possible and sifted it through a 1/4" wire grid basket to remove the sticks and rocks. We added water to the mixture until it just starts to squeeze out between your fingers when you form a ball in you hand. We look forward to seeing if this experiment bears fruit.

Keith