Farm Friday

It is definitely fall now. The leaves have turned red, gold, and orange, and many trees have lost their leaves. We fired up our wood heater on the first of the month and are glad to have it going, especially in the evenings and early morning.

Last week I forgot to mention a big farm task that we took care of. We harvested some fall hay from one of our fields. Bill had estimated that we would get 50 square bales from it; however, we ended up with almost three times that amount! We didn't have our neighbor's trailer so had to collect the bales using our pickup truck. It was the same day that we needed to attend the community meeting about Big Ag coming to the community to raise chickens so we rushed to get the hay in. Bill and I worked until about half an hour before we had to leave. A friend stayed with us so that he could attend the meeting and was able to help bring in the rest of the hay after the meeting. I fixed and served dinner when they took a break. They ended up working until almost 10 that night. 

I'm driving the truck towards some bales that need to be collected

Bill doing the heavy lifting

Bales waiting to be stored

We harvested the last of the herbs, eggplant, pepper, and cherry tomatoes before the cold killed them. We had two full-sized green tomatoes from a volunteer plant and I used them to make green tomato bread.

Two of the pigs were taken to the processor this week so we will have pork available soon. As a vegetarian, I'm conflicted about raising meat animals. I believe each person has to make the decision as to whether or not to consume animal products without pressure from others. However, I also think meat eaters need to know how the animals are raised and shouldn't turn a blind eye to the horrific conditions most live in. I feel we do our part to make sure those who want to eat meat can know that not only do we feed our pigs GMO-free and soy-free feed, we raise them on pasture, in a very humane way. If you eat meat, know where it comes from and agree to the circumstances - or don't eat it at all.

We didn't do deliveries this week as we're between the "baby" plants and the full-sized ones. Hopefully, we can resume deliveries next week. 

Have a great weekend!