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It’s Thursday November 2nd and it has been an eventful week. We have been  busy trying to get ready for fall. The garden was harvested for the last time. It was a great time as we all pitched in to help but also a little sad knowing that harvest time has come to an end.

The eventful week I mentioned started about 3 a.m. Monday morning when we woke up to an awful smell. I’m not talking “babies got a poopie” here. I’m talking about face-plant in the pillow and try to breathe without gagging. You guessed it. – a skunk had managed to get under the house and turn our nice, warm home into its home. And boy was he was reeking! Even better, since there was no way to get him out until dark without making matters worse, we just had to put up with the smell all day. It was a wonderful time.

Finally, when the sun started going down and we had come to a stopping point on harvest and garden clean up, we herded the kids inside and as soon as we walked in the door that pungent smell hit us again. It was a great reminder that my day was not over. So, I let Kassy and kids get washed up while I went back out to seal up any holes that a skunk could get in or out of – except one. I wanted his only way out to lead right into a trap.

And, since skunks are nocturnal, I knew it was only a matter of time until he would make his way out to start scavenging for the night. So, just outside the hole, I set up a live trap baited with candy. I covered it with a tarp so I could approach it and not get sprayed once the unwitting skunk followed the goodie trail into the waiting cage. Then, with it all set up, I proceeded inside to join the family for dinner. Did I mention the less-than-deliciously thick odor permeating the entire house? It was motivating. So motivating I went back outside to add a little extra bait just to make sure that a greedy skunk would find his way into the trap.

It was then as I walked out the door I caught the slight movement and realized that God had blessed our efforts. The skunk was caught!  Praise God! With the tarp covering the cage I was able to pick up the cage and move the skunk without him seeing me which would likely cause him to spray. Slowly and carefully I relocated him to his final destination and we began airing out the house. Fortunately the weather is warming up for a bit.

Tuesday evening we let the kids dress up and took them to a local church’s Fall Harvest Celebration. We took the time to make sure the kids new it was Reformation Day and what happened in 1517. You can follow the link to get the full information but it is a very important date in history and we should all know about it. The kids had a great time as they got candy and hotdogs which are typically not on our approved food choices. Plus, they had games and a hay ride.

Today we continued cleaning up the garden area. We got all the t-posts/trellises and tomato cages put up into the barn to store over winter. After getting that out of the way, we got the tractor out to spread some wood chips and also to try and get rid of a couple stumps. We have been slowly working on them the past few years as it was all that’s left from an old overgrown fence line. The stumps are small but connected with old fence which makes them difficult. Today Maryam and I were successful. The stumps are gone and now we can truly begin the backyard play/entertainment area for the family we have been talking about.

Well, till next time. Get in the Dirt & Get Growing!!!

Kyle – a bearded farmer

Today is Thursday October 19th and it has been a busy week. God has truly blessed me with a wonderful life. It is busy and crazy but I couldn’t imagine anything else. Since we talked last we have added a couple new members to the family. Daisy the milk cow and her calf Poppy(bull). Our friend Mark who we use to get raw milk from text me about buying her because he is recovering from knee replacement and doesn’t think he will be able to start milking again. So we now we own a milk cow. A whole new adventure and set of chores.

We are excited about the prospect of truly fresh hand milked milk from here on the farm but it has been kind of busy so for now we have let Poppy get the milk. We plan to calf share, meaning we will stall both Mom and baby at night where they can see each other but not let Poppy drink. This way we can milk first thing in the morning and let Poppy get the rest of the days milk production. This will hopefully make it easier on us only having to milk once a day. On those days we can’t milk we can let Poppy get all the milk.  Other additional chores is feeding of hay, adding sawdust and woodchips for deep bedding daily, and we bring her and poppy out for a few hours a day and tie them up on fresh pasture but we we eventually work out a rotational grazing plan with them using electric fence.

On another note, our sow Penelope came into heat on Tuesday so we called Shaffer’s Goldrush and order a couple doses of baby juice as my wife calls it. Our sow is a mix of Large Black and Berkshire. We decided to add Landrace to see if we could get a little more length and quicker grow out. We plan to keep working on our breed till we have the New Norm Farm pig that does best here at the farm on pasture and continues to give great tasting pork. We gave the first dose yesterday and she stood fine but it was mine and her first time at the process. She still showed signs of being in heat today so we tried to give a second dose but she would not stand. We hope that the first dose gets the job done. They recommend to give one dose then 12 hours later another dose just to be sure. If the first dose took, we should get piglets around February 10th. As the pig gestation period is three months, three weeks and three days, for a total of 114 days(it can vary). We should ween about eight weeks after that and have little pigs to sell. We should know in 21 days because that is when she will either go into heat or not.

We are also trying to prep for winter time which means getting the garden cleaned up. We trying to spread 12 inches deep of wood chips over the orchard and part of the garden area for a back to eden style garden/orchard. The part we were able to make 30” wide rows we will try to clean them up and cover them with a heavy tarp. That way it will be ready to go come spring. Also on the winter prep project is making an outdoor heat exchange. With the cool air moving in, my time is running out fast.

Well till next time. Get in the Dirt & Get Growing!!!

Kyle – a bearded farmer