It's not uncommon for one of us to be overheard remarking, "this would be good for the blog". However, it seems I posted only once in 2014, and not much more in 2013. This makes for perhaps the world's worst blog. In fact, just because I have a blog account doesn't make this a blog without regular postings. And so, in 2015 I resolve (again) to post regularly. Weekly, to be precise.
Part of my hesitation has been time, but the other half of my hesitation has been feeling egocentric. I fear appearing like a know-it-all or show off. But one reason we got into farming was to preserve the quickly dying knowledge and skills of farming and to pass this on. Our blog is one way to pass on our successes and failures to those with a range of knowledge and interest in increasing self-sufficiency. It is in this vein of passing on our farming trials that I resume the blog.
I'll start with a year in review (or the past 6 months) in pictures:
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| Calvin grinding our field corn to make cornmeal |
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| Cheese waxed before aging in our cheese cave (aka storm cellar) |
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| A win-win: we got a breeding pair of pigs, a heritage breed known as American Guinea Hogs. This small breed of pigs eats grass, including Bermuda grass and its roots, allowing us to clear a patch of ground for our garden expansion. And soon they will be breeding age, giving us pork in the future! Mmmm BACON! |
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| Johnny & Stan build a water tower for the tank that holds water from our solar well. This gravity-fed operation now has more water pressure. |
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| Johnny and friends Dave, Mike, and Russell make fire with the world's largest bow-drill! |
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| We made FIRE!!! |
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| We hired our neighbor to hay our pasture to feed our animals for winter. They payment is he takes majority of the hay, but leaving us plenty for our goats and the pigs too. Yes, these pigs eat hay. |
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| The orchard |
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| Thanks to our friends Emily & Michael at Three Springs Farm, we added some blueberry bushes this year. |
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| Strawberries and asparagus were also new in 2014. |
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| We added a new goat paddock in the pasture with excellent grazing, but the goats feel a bit anxious without their shepherd, and look for her at the gate. |
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| To our farrier's delight, we traded Atticus to a neighbor for some round bales of hay. Karen misses him, but he kept trying to kill her goats. |
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| Half bushel baskets of potatoes |
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| Unlikely friends. |
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