I'm so excited that the garden is really starting to grow now that summer is officially here. Jeff and the boys were able to put up 4 different cattle panel trellises for me. I think I'll grow cucumbers and maybe cantaloupes on them. We will see. Every year the biggest problem I have with the garden is weeds. I hate them with a passion. But I also don't use any weed killer around the garden because I just feel like it's potentially so harmful to not only the plants but also the pollinators. What does that mean? I pull weeds by hand constantly. I'm not sure of a better solution right now. If you have one, I'd love to hear about it!
And, we're still on piglet watch. Bertha has yet to have babies so I'm starting to become a little concerned. Either we were way off on the farrowing date, or she has had them and did the same this time that she did last time. We won't discuss that, but I really hope that's not what happened. I have had a few questions about feed for the hogs. First of all, if you're wanting a lot of hogs, it would really be great for you to get in with a restaurant or some place that has food waste. If they would collect, it for you to come pick up that would be amazing. They eat A LOT. We haven't been that lucky. We get their feed from a local feed store that mills it themselves. But we also supplement with bread from a bakery outlet. We got a good load of bread about every week for $14. We give each hog two loaves in addition to their food. It seems to help them get full.
We do have another very pregnant farm animal. Georgia, our original Savanna goat is very pregnant. She likes to get up on the cable spools and just sit in the sun. Her belly is getting very round. I absolutely love baby goats. They are the cutest farm animal, in my opinion. We're not 100% sure when she may be due. She'd had two kids before and she's also had only 1. If she's just pregnant with 1 then she should kid at any time. But if she is pregnant with 2 she still has a little while. We could buy an ultrasound machine to look and see if what all is going on inside her belly, but we've just decided to try to be hands off during pregnancy if at all possible. She already doesn't like having her nails trimmed so I can just imagine how much she'd hate being still for an ultrasound. Those are two of her previous babies behind her in this picture.
I hope you have a great week!
Be Blessed; Not Stressed