The Piglet Who Could

If this is your first time to my blog...Welcome ! If this isn't well then once again you have my sincerest apologies for anything I might say or do that is over the edge. It's a long standing habit of mine.

For your first timers...the rest of you just use that handy scroll down thingy on your rat, I mean mouse, whatever. I've only had one pot of coffee, be kind. I am doing the (sing along, its good for you) Getting to know you, getting to know all about you, blog because I am participating in Farm Festival Friday on The Renegade Farmer.  Yes, I am aware it is Thursday. But my editor Zan asked that I do it today and I heart her so I am doing it today. May I continue ?

Its a wonderful way to promote your own farm oriented blog. And by "farm" you'll be happy to know the definition is quite broad. Read all about it here. http://www.therenegadefarmer.com/2011/10/renegade-farm-festival-fridays.html

I am 52, and work full time farming with my husband Keith. Mother to 4 and Yaya to 3. We and the bank, own a small certified organic dairy, beef and pork farm. We sell raw milk, beef and pork carcasses and meat by the cut in our farm store in order to make ends meet. Our customer base includes a few restaurants, a few grocery stores, over a hundred raw milk customers and even more individuals who visit our farm store. I also write part time and make soap when I need a manure break.

I used to be an RN, retiring last year from that gig after 25 years of pure joy working with physicians who still thought I should give them my seat whenever they entered the nurses station. I never budged.

Our farm is for sale.

WHAT ?!?! Yes, life is good and we are ready for something even better, even smaller. You can read about it here http://certifiedorganicfarm.blogspot.com/

Now lets get back to important stuff like Gimpy the Piglet. I blogged about her awhile back. Born with a deformed back leg we worried about her ability to keep up, her ability to support the weight of her rapidly growing body and we worried about her comfort level.

We're strange farmers that way. Our animals are (primarily) raised for meat but we feel strongly they need to have good lives until that last walk (trailer trip) down the Green Mile. So we've been watching Gimpy for signs that she should be a roaster hog instead of a whole hog carcass.

Yesterday I watched her hang with her mother Spot

Spot, mama pig and 6 week old babies

Spot, in the middle of the ring, is weighing in around 600 pounds and our official 'Guard Pig." She actually barks, sort of, when something isn't right on the farm. You have to see and hear it to believe it. From day one she has treated baby Gimpy as if there was nothing wrong. As good a mom as Forrest Gump had. And since Gimpy was never told she was handicapped, she never acted the part.

Here she is running like the wind

Add Caption (Stop telling me to add a caption. If I wanted to I would have)

Finally she stops long enough for me to capture a picture of her affected back leg. She rests her weight on it when standing and keeps it elevated when running. In the 6 weeks I have known her I have never heard her complain. She does not ask for special privileges and my offer to build a ramp for easier access into her hutch was declined. She is a bit of a hero here on South Pork Ranch.

RAW MILK UPDATE

Today South Pork Ranch starts advertising their raw milk in the local newspaper.
 We refuse to be afraid of our own government.
Refuse.
Get those coins ready for bail money.

Gladiator !!

Yup, that's how I feel right now. As happy as Liz Taylor the night she announced the Golden Globe Awards for Gladiator. Lately my posts have been laden with despondency. melancholia, dolefulness (yes, I had to look those up) so it is high time I shared some good news.

Met with our realtor yesterday regarding our farm listing. No, it has not yet been sold. Yes it is still for sale. There is no real good (or bad) news with that announcement I just thought I'd throw it in there. I am going to take things into my own hands though and strap one of those big sandwich signs on my torso and strut around the county.

I will be naked underneath

I expect it will be no time at all before someone will make a decent offer on the farm just to ensure our very quick departure. In other news, I am now the proud owner of my 100th follower ! I'll keep her name private since she did not know I was running a contest (in my head, where most of my contests are run) nor did she know she would win a prize. As soon as I can convince her I am not just an ordinary blog stalker, I am an extreme blog stalker, I'll gain her trust, obtain her address and send her a modest prize.

Speaking of The Post, I finished wrapping up a little item going to place called Trelawnyd. Don't you love a mystery ?  Actually I do not. I prefer chic lit that is on the edgy side, that's if I had to pick a genre but who wants to be pigeonholed ? The GK's had a good time looking up this far away place. It was nice to spend the day doing pleasant things rather than the usual piglet evisceration activities.

What's that ? How is the writing going ? Well, thank you for asking. Every night this week while Keith did the outside chores I hid away in my library-slash-kids room-writing-studio. It was his idea, due in fact to fatigue on his part from hearing me whine about not having time to write. I am happy to announce much was accomplished in way of the rewrite of my first novel and much still needs to be done. But I am on a roll and determined to have ready for an agent by Christmas. If you are keeping track (really WHY would you?) this is my 5th goal regarding the completion of this novel.

Blog news. I did decide to venture forth with the syndication of my blog on http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1189/084/Has_anyone_seen_my_Buffer_Zone.html  They will  automatically pick up each post from this blog and broadcast who knows where. My posts will be in their self sufficiency section which not coincidentally is the topic of my article for today's Renegade Farmer Issue. (Two paragraphs down please) You might think I am doing this just for attention and recognition. Well comrade, you are correct. Seriously, to write well I must keep writing. Paid, unpaid, right now I am open to all experiences that will help me craft my hone.

More blog news. I voluntarily committed myself to  http://nablowrimo.blogspot.com/  The task at hand is to post on your blog every single day for the month of October. (light goes on huh ?) This will be my 8th post in 8 days. Criteria met, so far. Just another way to keep writing while at the same time meeting a deadline.

Finally, The Renegade Farmer is up and running again. A fantastic farm oriented e-zine the editor Zan Asha has done a fabulous job of shifting it all over to Blogger. I will be posting articles on Saturdays and am determined NOT to repeat what I have written here. So far I am 1/1. My article about self-sufficiency is here http://www.therenegadefarmer.com/  If you get a moment to pop over there and make a comment I know Zan would appreciate it. Be sure to read up on all the other fine writers/farmers as well.

                               Say goodnight Gracie.

Dirty Women

Did a rare and unusual thing this past weekend, we left home. Packed up our bags (except for the one with all our toiletries which was packed but left ever so inconveniently right there in front of the toaster) and the Gk's, bribed number two son to do chores for 24 hrs and went north...then west...then north.

We landed in the bustling berg of Geneseo, Illinois, home of the painted pig on every corner,  where I met famous woman of a dirty nature. Namely Miss Effie and Miss Amanda and Miss Tammy as well as Miss Tamara and my editor Miss Zan of The Renegade Farmer. Lots of very busy woman who once had corporate jobs or factory jobs or ordinary jobs and now had jobs that were much harder as they were all either cooking and gardening and teaching and bee keeping and soaping and blogging and bow making and doll crafting and spinning and weaving and owning construction businesses and homemaking and child caring and oh my...they were doing it all while being their own bosses at the same time and hopefully making ends meet with self generated income.

And before I go one step farther. Do you know how to tell a really busy self sufficient woman ? Well by her uniform of course. It looks something like this:

Miss Amanda (middle) discussing the pros and cons of Leghorn chicks with Miss Tammy
 and Miss Effie whose real name is Cathy

a beautiful heavy duty grape themed apron and a fabulous pair of equally sturdy chore boots. Anyone can look good in heels, it takes a special gal to look good in rubber Wellies. What a day it was. Keith sat in on Miss Zan's beekeeping class while I toured our host's (Amanda) property and chatted it up with the other dirty gals (this is a definition related to our outdoor work, not our moral status.)

The highlight of the tour was this extraordinary building. I fantasized about it being a writers hideout  complete with padlocked doors but apparently it is meant instead to smoke meats on the top level

                                  
                              and store roots attached to veggies, on the bottom level.

Testosterone man Jason and husband to Amanda, HAND DUG the entire root cellar portion of the building, WHY ? Because he could that's why. Its the same reason my own husband carries new born, 100 pound  calves through the fields and up to the barn when he could drive the truck or tractor out to rescue them in bad weather. Because he can.

And they say women are illogical.

After our dirty women gab fest, and sharing of marketing ideas, product production, business plans etc ...etc...we promised to get together more often . Even if, in the case of Zan Asha, it would mean a trip to New York city where this ultra creative woman cares for 7 bee hives on her roof top. Not only is she the Queen Bee of her urban neighborhood she also creates special fairy dolls and kittenfish. Yes, kitten fish. I love her website for the music as much as for the creativity. Listen for yourselves http://vagabondcreations.blogspot.com/   Oh yeah, she also edits the Renegade Farmer E-Zine.

Zan is the tall, youthful one on the left. I'm the un-tall, been around the block
backwards more than once on a two wheeled tricycle, one on the right.

I think  my next road trip (as a warm up to NY) will be to Miss Effies U-Pick Flower Farm owned and run by Cathy Lafrenze, and featured in Midwest Living not so long ago.This hardy chick and I hit it off right away. We're both on the edgy side, the edgy MATURE side. And we both admitted neither of us care about our hair anymore or housework. We do however care about how our barns appear to the general public. Check out her entrepreneur style right here right now
http://www.misseffiesflowers.com/

Cool huh ? What was that ? You have tiny ones at home and can't possibly start your own business ? Don't be throwing those words around Miss Amanda,  an accomplished soaper and the founder of http://www.mymommyscreations.com/   My GK Allana went nuts when she saw what was available to dress up little girls hair and could not be torn away from the turtle bow she brought home with her that day. She wore it up until bath time last night and put it right back in her hair for school this am. The best thing about that bow ? Yes its real cute, but best of all...IT STAYS IN THE KIDS HAIR !!

In addition, her prices are a real steal for the quality of hair bow you are getting. Order now before she too gets discovered by Parent magazine or someone else who will buy her company for the 1/2 million it is worth.

So there it was, my "restful" weekend with hard working woman. I left to go on a mini-vacation and came back with great ideas for making an even better living with homemade, home raised, home loved,  products.

Lucky me.

                                

Support your local farmer...BUY SOMETHING

This may come as a bit of a surprise to some of you (those who are reading this blog for the very first time) but you should know; I'm opinionated.

I take no responsibility for this personality flaw. My father was opinionated and my mother was opinionated. My fathers father was opinionated and my mothers father was a rotten guy who never valued his family or cared to provide for them. HIS opinion never mattered. But I regress.

You could say I was  blessed in the opinion department. You could but I wouldn't. A few weeks ago The Renegade Farmer agreed to print my opinion on a regular basis. But of course they don't really know me and they still have plenty of time to change their minds.

Don't bother clicking on the picture as I can't get the link
to work that way. Just one more personal impairment on my part.
I am adept at making soap out of pig fat though.

In the meantime, I am grateful for this writing opportunity. If interested in reading this weeks article just click here http://therenegadefarmer.com/   There is a spot for comments at the end of my article if you feel so inclined.

Many thanks.