Endangered Sticker Pig

This is our sticker pig. He began life as a piggy bank but has morphed into a sticker holding depot. It began when grocery stores began putting those little annoying stickers all over every piece of produce they sold. Used to be only on bananas, now they are all over everything. When washing the produce I used to make a pile of them along my sink. This was annoying my husband, so I put them on the ugly window pig by the sink. And so the sticker pig was born out of the need to keep the sink unclogged of stickers. This represents years of produce purchases from all over the world. Very sad to think about how we have used up so many resources to get produce year round from all over the world anytime we want it. That is an unsustainable way to live and eat. My goal is to let this pig become obsolete by growing my own produce instead.

Tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, potatoes, onions, apples and pears can all be grown by my own hands. And my fellow farmers with greenhouses can trade me for the tropical produce I might crave. This is sustainable and without all the annoying little stickers.

Riding Luna

Luna is the only rideable horse we have at the moment. Our 2 year olds are in training for this summer and our other mare is recovering from founder. And Luna is an easy keeper and gains weight fast if not ridden. So my husband rides her when he can. Yesterday at sunset he took around our country roads. She wears an English bridle as it is the only one we can find that fits her small face. She wears the cowboy martingales to keep her from popping her head up. She does this and can hit the rider in the face without them. Luna is very head strong and can get away from the rider. And the halter is still on for when my husband wants to dismount and visit with a neighbor, he can tie her up with the lead rope. Never tie a horse with the bridle and reins like in the cowboy movies. It does not work and the horse can take off and destroy a bridle, which Luna has done. I rode a well trained quarter horse once that would stay in place if you dropped the reins on the ground, Luna is not that horse.

Hatching Day

A friend gave us some bantam hens she no longer wanted. She said they are good broody hens and she was right. After 22 days of ownership, we have chicks hatching under these hens. I have 3 broody hens that are all about to hatch this week. I also have incubator chicks and ducks due to hatch in 2 weeks. Very exciting to have new life on the farm.

Donkey on our farm

Our neighbor bought his first guard donkey for his sheep farm. We are keeping his jenny (female donkey) for him until he has a flock to be guarded. She is now guarding our herd of oblivious mares and their babies. She is a sweet donkey and likes to be handled. And she might be in foal as well. So he is getting two for the price of one. She is a great guard and goes after predators without hesitation. I am learning to really like donkeys after having her around.