Back on the Homestead!

Tags

canning, cherry pie filling, chickens, cornish cross, duroc, homestead, homesteading, pastured pork, pigs, sweet cherries

I’m back at Sparrow Hill and all is right with the world.

I got back last Sunday evening and immediately got to work the next morning.  I had ordered 15 cornish cross chicks to be picked up on Wednesday morning, and they needed a brooder.  Will saved the day by building this beauty:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGmwBs7pwq1/?taken-by=sparrowhill2016

Picked up the chicks Wednesday morning, and they love their new home.  They’re cute and fuzzy.  Must keep reminding myself that I’ll be eating them in seven to eight weeks.  Now to start construction on the chicken tractor . . .

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGsA5StJwj8/?taken-by=sparrowhill2016

Then Wednesday evening after Will was done work, I packed up Liam and a picnic supper, and we headed out to our friend Sheldon’s farm to pick up our pigs.

Sheldon bought the Duroc pigs earlier in May, and he graciously agreed to get three for us and take care of them until I was back in town.

They are two months old, and about the size of a medium dog.  We brought them home in dog kennels in the back of the truck.

The stayed in the barn for the first couple of days, and then Will caught them one by one and hauled them into the corral on the north side of the barn.  Man, can they squeal!  They are so much happier in the pasture!  They run around in the tall grass, and dig, and chase each other.  In the barn, they just huddled in the corner and slept all day.

Will and I had agreed that he would take care of them, but I just can’t help myself.  I want to take care of them.  I know I’ll be eating them in several months, and I’ll probably get very attached, but I don’t care.  I’m a grown-up; I’ll deal with it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGuBaTQJwoE/?taken-by=sparrowhill2016

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Our first pigs came home today!

A post shared by Will brooks (@1willbrooks) on Jun 15, 2016 at 9:04pm PDT

Liam’s a big fan of the pigs as well.  He’s not allowed in the corral, but he loves to peek at them through a small hole in the gate.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGzuxivJwlm/?taken-by=sparrowhill2016

I canned cherry pie filling today.  The fruit truck has returned to the Farmers’ Market, and the sweet cherries are here.  Unfortunately, the sour cherry trees across the street from our old house were cut down to make way for new school portables, so I don’t know where I’m going to get sour cherries from this year.  But at least I got sweet cherries!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BG2N4NVpwtY/?taken-by=sparrowhill2016

I am so happy to be home again.  Happy to be back to sunny mornings, like this:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGo2AswpwmH/?taken-by=sparrowhill2016

And beautiful sunsets, like this:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGvVjiPpwg1/?taken-by=sparrowhill2016