Here you go.. finished picture of the front area we've been working on. Right to left..raised beds, white car that will soon be gone, newly cleared area (smoke is the last fire!!), if you look close you can see 3 piles of pallets and 3 of straw which will be farrowing shelters for the pigs which are in the picture on the far left. There is a fence there but it's hard to see in the picture. The house is just out of the picture to the left.
Well, Papa and I feel like we've accomplished something BIG this spring. What with clearing the trees from the 1/3 acre in the front, moving the shed; trucks and STUFF, cleaning up firewood and burning the junk we're about done in!! But it is finished!! We cut down the last of the trees by the raised beds and cleaned up that mess one day. Moved the firewood, we now have more firewood in our stack then we used last winter :) BONUS!, off the area and stacked some on the edges, got the kids helping to pick up branches (they get paid with freezies :) and burned the LAST pile in the front!! Moved some straw and pallets into the area for our new employees farrowing areas, built a fence around it and moved in the PIGS!! Our 3 gilts are going to farrow in about 3 weeks and we wanted them up front where we could see them. We also LOVE the job they do with tilling the earth and digging up sticks, roots and rocks. Which are then easier to take out.
The pigs were SUPER easy to move and Papa had to move pretty quick to keep in front of them. He had a bucket of slops and they KNEW it and WANTED it. They are so funny!! They have such personalities and we always enjoy their quirks. They've since settled right in and BEG food and drink off anyone who comes on the yard! They remind me of bad mannered dogs at a picnic! But louder. We wanted a fence to keep the piglets in as well as a visual barrier for those people who drive up into the yard so we took one of our big long orange and black electric chicken netting fences and put it around the corner of the pen by the house, 2 wires keep the pigs in around the other 3/4 of the pen as we aren't worried about the piglets going that direction.
While we had the bobcat here this weekend Papa burnt our old fallen down picnic table that collapsed last chicken butchering day, moved the smoke teepee out of my yard! and off the garden area, moved the 3 compost piles that were also in the garden area next to the house, moved a TON of firewood, stirred the compost into the peat moss/manure mixer beside the driveway and filled my raised beds the rest of the way!! Papa also moved Jake (a yellow IHC flatbed) out of the old pig pen behind the barn and into a hole in the trees in the new area. Jake got tucked into the spot where we took out a couple of dead pine several years ago and beside the last adult living pine tree on our place. We like our neighbors but we don't need to see them and I'm pretty sure they feel the same way! It is amazing how different the whole place looks now!! It looks like it's had a major face lift!! Neither Papa or I can believe how much BIGGER this new area makes our place feel. It's only 1/3 of an acre but the difference is huge. When you only have 5 acres 1/3 of an acre is noticeable.
Earlier this spring Papa and I measured out our 5 acres with a really long measuring tape we use for building and found the 'acre' marks. So we know that from the front road to about where the barrels of sand used to be (or right at the corner of the driveway) is an acre. Then from there to the back of the chicken barn is an acre, then from the back of the chicken barn to the front of the lagoon is an acre. Then the front of the lagoon to the cross road is another acre and the rest is an acre and a bit. SO that means that with a few exceptions we are FINISHED cutting down trees in the first 3 acres of our 5 acre place. We got Bindy, our 1st cow in October 2008. We started clearing trees that next spring. Which means in 2 years we have cleared 3 acres pretty much by hand!! We did use the bobcat to haul 5 meter chunks of firewood beside the firewood stack and to pile some junk to burn in the front area.
We are not quite finished clearing. There is both sides of the lagoon to clean up and we are planning on clearing up the pond area completely. We plan on leaving a band of black spruce between the lagoon and the pond for wind reasons but it will need a bit of ground clean up as the black spruce does fall over quite a bit and the pigs have been through it a couple of times. But these projects can wait. The pond area will be the easiest part as it is all small poplar trees and just needs to be cut and burned, and we may get to that this year yet.. but right now there are other things that need doing :) Like hutches for the pigs to farrow in and our new milking set up which both need to be DONE by mid May.
We have a bit of raking, seeding and watering to do in the front which is next on the list. But as I told Papa I have lifted my LAST piece of firewood, unless it's nicely dried for the inside fire, until little Mr. Jesse makes his appearance!! I'd heard that you could pull a groin muscle easily during pregnancy but I'd never actually pulled one before.. NOT fun!! Papa agreed that this was probably a good idea. Another bonus of the spring work is that I've gained very little weight this pregnancy even these last few weeks when many people gain a lot!! I'm just hoping I can keep it up for these last 8 weeks :) Now if only I could get Papa to milk for me full time and not just the weekends.. though I'll take the weekend and be happy.. for now :)
My folks came over for a hot dog roast recently and brought dessert. It was a bit chilly outside and we moved inside for dessert.. strawberries and chocolate sauce!!
