Friday 27 September 2013

Weekend Reading


"Farm City - The Education of an Urban Farmer" by Novella Capenter was EXACTLY what I needed to read.

If you've been reading this space for a while, you may have noticed that I have taken a significant break from posting my once-traditional Friday "Weekend Reading" posts.  I love to read.  I try  to read novels.  Sometimes I succeed. Mostly I don't.  Well-meaning friends pass along these "wonderful" books for me to read, and I start them, and enjoy them for a chapter or 3, then I put them down ... and down they stay.  Unless it's a novel I can learn something from.  I don't mean history or geography.  I like geography.  History is a bit meh for me as I prefer to live in the present and not-so-distant-future.

So this book was so perfect for me. Right now.  Basically, this apartment-dweller decides to squat on some land next to her rented space and first construct a garden, very quickly adding poultry that will eventually be consumed.  (Unfortunately, not all are consumed by the author.  I'll spare you the details - you'll just have to read it.)  Then she decides to raise a couple of hogs and this, for me, is where it got interesting.  

I was reading this book when I was knee-deep in the middle of raising our 2 pigs, by very similar methods as the author.  I laughed at her follies (which were not so different from my own) and gave a nod to her observations and comments about raising her pigs in the manner she chose.  Finally!  I felt like there was someone out there doing what I was doing.

Now, I'm sure there are LOTS of people doing what I'm doing.  I just don't know any of them, and they definitely don't run in my social circles.  Most unfortunate, this, as my frustrations and exhausted ramblings about the amount of food pigs can consume, and how much decent food people will throw into the garbage mostly fell on sympathetic ears who really had no idea how commited we were to raising our pigs.

If you choose to read "Farm City", I'm sure you'll enjoy it, even if you never raise hogs or know anyone who does.  It's an eye-opener, let me tell ya.

Monday 23 September 2013

Harvesting, Defined

To Harvest (v): To glean or collect or gather, usually pertaining to fruits, vegetables, grains.

We were told late last year of an abandoned apple orchard in our neighborhood, so this year we decided to harvest some apples for ourselves.  The children thoroughly enjoyed running in the overgrown space, admiring the trees with shoots sticking out every-which-way, with kid-sized apples at their height.




And they happen to be MacIntoshes, my personal favourite.


We gathered a full bag or 2, some to eat, some to process into applesauce, and some to give to some very generous friends ...


Hmmm.  Process.  Applesauce.  Two words that bring me to the second part of this post.

Applesauce goes very well with pork.  If you remember, we raised two pigs this summer.  (I certainly will not forget anytime soon, if EVER.).  The friends who recieved our gift of apples gave us a generous gift as well -- their time and knowledge and skills -- to process our pigs.

It strikes me the various words we use to describe this: Harvest. Process.  Dispatch. Slaughter. Kill.

Really.  It's murder.  There was nothing wrong with the pigs -- they were perfectly healthy -- perfectly happy.  And we ended their lives so we could eat healthy meat.  Although this is why we raised them, and we fed them as well as we were set up to do, kept them healthy, comfortable -- it still does not make me rest easy that we ultimately murdered these animals.  Granted, they are by far  my least favourite critter I have EVER raised, I still do not take their death lightly.  It was over so quickly, so cleanly, so humanely, however, I'm not sure we will ever do this again. I was witness to the entire process.  I felt that I owed them that much. They deserved respect, in life and in death, whether I enjoyed their piggishness or not.

Thank you to our friends.  And Thanks to the pigs.

Friday 6 September 2013

And that was Summer



Really.  September already.  I feel like this, the Summer of 2013, has gone by in a blur.   Gorgeous weather for sure, and lots to do... So Much to Do.  Too Much.

My poor garden is so overgrown and crazy-wild, I'm slightly embarrassed by it.  I've totally neglected it for most -- if not all -- summer.  Other than watering it on occassion.  If it weren't for all the volunteer plants this year, I'm not sure I'd have much in there to speak of.  Half the potato plants and ALL the tomatoes grew all by themselves, with no help from me.  The chard and New Zealand spinach are out of control.  My lettuces are bolting all over the place.  Thankfully, some things like the carrots and beets don't really care if I pay any attention to them.  They are almost happier if I don't.  I did manage to harvest the garlic at the end of July, but it's still sitting, drying, with old dirt caking the huge bulbs waiting for a good scrubbing and to be put in the basement.

Thankfully the fruit trees don't need much attention.


Really, the only saving grace of it all is that nothing is really going to go to waste.  Sure, I'm not going to be harvesting or preserving as much for us as I would like, but the pigs and chickens will get several good feasts from everything I pull out of there.

So why did everything get so crazy??  I have 2 answers for that: pigs and unexpected chickens.  The pigs we have managed to feed almost for free if you don't count the time and money spent on gas gathering everything for them: greens and other produce from a local grocery store (a lot of it organic), expired bread and milk from a bakery and another grocery store.  Then we cook almost all their food, other than soft fruits and melon-y things.  Three HUGE meals a day.   They are getting big, but not fat, so I think it's a good thing.  The proof, I guess, will be in the... um... "pudding" ... so to speak.


And the chickens?  Yikes.  I was so proud of myself, having planned the 2 hatches of buff orpingtons, marans, and ameraucanas so precisely so as to have the hens laying by September at the latest.  And then came the gift of Salmon Faverolles and Mille Fleur D'uccles.  Two breeds I personally DID NOT plan on having this year -- or any time in the near future for that matter.  But, they were a gift for my bird-loving daughter from a very generous lady.  They hatched in mid-July and won't lay anything till at least January.  I did sell a couple Mille Fleurs and 6 Faverolles, but still.  I'm STILL raising chicks.  And one of the little "millies" has a severe cross-beak, so requires extra attention.  I can pass a lot of that extra care on to the Daughter, since they were given to her.  And the Fav's -- we ended up with 3 pullets and 1cockerel so that's nice, if we choose to breed them.  At this point, I would just like to concentrate on the marans and ameraucanas.  



Sigh.  Lots to do still.

I'm taking notes already for next year, mostly of what NOT to do.  Like no hatching birds after May, for starters.