New life...here I come.

So, thats done. Made it through my last night as an RN (if all goes as planned). My final nightshift was exactly like the last M*A*S*H* episode. We were terribly busy, admits coming from all corners of the earth. Helicopters landing on the roof, in the parking lot, on the break room table bringing in hundreds of needy , bleeding patients. There was so much life saving going on there was no time for the sad goodbyes we were all dreading. All I got was a message of love and support carved into a lucious Red Velvet cake baked by some kind soul and oh yeah,  a eerie visit by some crazy tattooed chick with hypnotizing RED lips. Breaking up is hard to do.

Apparently, I am not yet ready to talk about it seriously. maybe tomorrow

Leaping off the Lap of Luxury

Keith and I are not rich but we are not poor either. We are in fact smack dab in the middle of Middle Class. Very soon this will dramatically change as I leave the stable world of nursing for the unstable world of full time sustainable farming. In a matter of 3 days our joint income will drop by 60 %. WHAT DID YOU SAY ? Yes, it is true 60%. This will include my salary and all the benefits that came with my RN job. ARE YOU INSANE ? you might further inquire. Why yes, yes we are.  You'd have to be to give up the guarantee of good money and great benefits like free teeth cleaning, in exchange for no quarantee of any income what so ever. But thats us, just a couple of wild and crazy kids going for a Blues Brother joyride, seatbelts OFF.

Its been a dream of mine.

The dream of being totally self supporting. The dream of setting all our own hours all the time. (Except for picking up Allana at 2:30 and seeing Aunt Bernie at 4:00 and being at mass at 7:30 , other than THAT...)The dream to make a living the way we choose, by farming  and for me a little writing too. OK a lot of writing. Maybe in between the farming, or about the farming or while farming, not sure how to mash it all together yet. Actually, I have a pretty good idea how I will mash it together...with bangers. One can never go wrong with bangers and mash. Here is a great recipe  http://southernirish.com/bangers-and-mash.  But I digress.

It is all very exciting and very worrisome. Its so easy to have faith when your life is good, not so easy when you are faced with the unknown, but how will we ever know if we do not try ? We know we won't starve, we have enough burger alone to keep us going until 2013, but utility companies have never been ones for taking beef patties in exchange for electricity. Thus we will be cutting back WAY WAY back in all areas. Thats OK, neither Keith or I came from Daddy Warbucks. We were both raised by hard working lower class folks who knew how to make a jar of mayo and a pound of bulk bologna go along way.

So here we go. Prayers are appreciated.

NaNo WriMo Time

                                                                           

Yes, believe it or not it is that time of year again. NaNo WriMo time..(National Novel Writing Month) The group is an informal one comprised of writers and wanna be writers of all ages over 13. Their goal is to chide, encourage, push, and/or threaten you into writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Those 30 days are always in November of each year. Last year I took a week off from farm and nurse work to play NaNo WriMo for the first time. For the first 7 days of November 2009 I did not clean house, or answer phones. I did not cook or do laundry. I did not print invoices or deliver hog heads. I did not babysit or animal tend. Instead my sole activities were to sleep, eat and write.  My husband...good man.

I did not reach the 50,000 words that month but over the next year I did and soon my first novel will be sent out to its first group of hand selected editors.

So here I am on the cusp of another Novemeber and another NaNo WriMo contest. Anyone can play just go to  http://www.nanowrimo.org/   Now what shall I write about this year ? A burning love story between a weirdly tall show jumper from Ireland and his infatuation with the young American nurse ? Or maybe a murder mystery which takes place late at night on the edge of the sea and invloves a tractor , a man and his dingy ? Or perhaps a comedy about a lonely middle aged woman and her invisible friend ,Bill.

I CANNOT WAIT for Novemeber 1st !

Lets Make a Squeal !!

We have a winner ! Ham roast roll please.....a woman named Shannon who emailed me her guess of 10 piglets born Oct 26. Second place goes to Joy Dassow of rural Chatsworth who guessed 9 on Oct 26 and for good measure added a time of 3:18 pm. Third place was Stacey Scholte of Beecher who also guessed 9 born on Oct. 26 but no time. I will contact all winners to arrange prize distribution.

So here's the story ...of a huge sow lady....

It was a dark , and stormy night , windy too, not as windy as it is right now but still pretty windy. Windy enough that when Keith yelled through the kitchen door last night "We got babies !" I wasn't sure if it was him or just another odd Roe Conn report. (Just google WLS radio and be done with it)

I shut off the stove burners,  ironically I was making my speciality meatloaf covered with bacon, and rushed to my husbands side with my bosom heaving. (I've always wanted to write that, now that I have, I know I will never write that phrase again). "Take me....to her " I demanded.

We navigated our way over electric fences, in the pitch black nonetheless, and out to Miss Debbies private hog hotel. She had just birthed babe number seven but something was wrong. (dada,da,daaaaaa). Red Wattle Wonder was not breathing. Wait, was that a little gasp ?!  "Grab it Keith " I demanded . "Shake it " I demanded. See a trend here ?  He did. It moved a little. He rubbed it some more. It let out a tiny mouse squeak. He tossed it one handed, high into the air,  flipping it like a pancake, head over tail ....naaaaaa, he just rubbed it a little harder. It did then let out a loud squeal and mamma sow gave Keith the evil pig eye. He gently rolled it into the pile of other newborns and it started fighting for a nipple alongside with all its siblings. Peer pressure begins very early in the world of swine.

We left Deb alone, checked on her before bed and total newborns were 11 ! One dead and by the looks of it did not look like it has been born alive. So 10 new little fullbred Red Wattle hogs born on a beautiful Fall evening. What a great way to start a week.

A watched pig never boils

No babies yet but Deb is "nesting " keep those guesses coming !

Crystal Blue Pigsuasion

Will you look at that ? Its contest time again. This season its Miss Debbie we are watching. Registered full bred RedWattle age 2 and 1/2 she was mated with Mad Max (another registered full bred Red Wattle) four months ago. He was  all of  10 months old at the time. Deb is due any day.

The prize at stake is a beautiful Holiday Ham. Around 6 pounds of tasty meat perfect for your Thanksgiving or Christmas party. It will serve 8-10 depending on what kind of pigs are in YOUR family. Approximate South Pork Ranch value is $25 and it must be picked up on our farm. No, it will not come from Deb or her offspring, its from a pig you people did not even know. Relax already.

To enter just send your guess (date of birth and number of piglets.) If there are any ties the ham will go the the guess that arrives soonest. To help with your guessing, the average Red Wattle litter size is 8, Deb's last litter was 9 and old pigfarmers say sows will have as many piglest as they have teats. Deb has 12 teats, 6 on each side.

You can send your best bet via email opies99@gmail.com  or by making a comment on this blog. Yes. If you want to drive out here and feel her belly or swing a nail back and forth over her tummy you can. You people will do anything for free meat won't you ?!? Freikazoids.

Manure relocation program

We have always believed that physical work is good for the body, the brain and the soul. We are those odd kind of parents who required their children to actually help around the farm being as they ate the food we produced. But we never put them to work too early or had them do tasks that were unsafe or beyond their years.( Except of course when mamma was off the farm. seems a few hard and fast rules were waived in my absence.) And then along came  grandson Wesley...

Yeah, his legs were a little short for the pedals but that was easily fixed with a wood block nailed to his shoe. The little tyke worked last evening and several hours this evening as well to spread 20 loads of manure. Some of that excrement had not seen the light of day since it first saw the light of day when it left Mrs O'Malleys cow. But Wesley just dug right through it, loaded it into the manure spreader and then drove the spreader across our fields adding important nutrients to our pastures With some kids you really have to preach and cajole when it comes to working hard and earning their own way. Not Wesley. He just gets it.

In fact he is such an upstanding little dude he admitted his Uncle Kyle may have helped a tiny bit.

Seriously now. Farms are unsafe places. Kids are risktakers. Take the time to explain the dangers of machinery and livestock and supervise young children closely. Here is a great article. After reading it I found a few more things WE could be doing better. How about you ? http://www.hobbyfarms.com/images/pdfs/farm-safety-checklist.pdf