Tonight begins the dark half of the year: Winter. I go back and forth between dreading it and welcoming it.
ED has decided she’s too old to trick-or-treat, but Bernard is still willing, so we’re going to go prowl around Hot Springs in a pack with the D*’s.
Sunday we went to SAFF, and, using all our collective family willpower, we did not bring home a single animal. Though I admit I was enormously tempted by the gorgeous Wensleydale sheep.
The pigs are settling in a bit—they’re not quite as wild as they were when we brought them home. At least they’ll eat with me watching now. Around here this kind of pig is called a “Russian” pig. They seem rather primitive, and like a wild boar type creature. They’re smaller than other breeds, and gain weight more slowly, but seem very hardy. However I can’t find any information on them in books or online—-any of you know anything about them? I’ll try to get close enough to post a decent picture of them later.
Yesterday was the wedding of friends, a big community event that we’ve all been planning for and looking forward to, and it was lovely. Especially since I made the cakes, and the wedding itself meant it was time to relax and party! Here are some cake photos. This is the bride’s cake, which was lemon yellow cake filled with lemon curd and frosted with lemon buttercream. Amy did the decorating, which, as usual for her, was gorgeous and elegant.
After a week of trying to coordinate schedules with DH so that we could carry the piggies home in the back of his truck, I finally gave up and just took the Subaru over there. My friend (and the pig owner) had this nifty crate, and I have to say, there was no smell or mess in the car at all. Carrying sheep is way funkier!
Is anybody else having a hard time with blogger? I have been struggling with photos lately, and yesterday I couldn’t post at all!
Yesterday DH and I went to Tractor Supply and bought four hog panels. Today we’re going to a friend’s house to pick up a couple of little pigs. They’re going to get moved around the garden area in their 16′x16′ hog panel “pig tractor”. I will take pictures (and hopefully be able to post them).
The girls and I went to look at the pigs Friday, and I have to say they’re odd little critters! We’re accustomed to a pretty wide range of livestock, but we found ourselves fascinated with the pigs. They’re some sort of Russian breed, and they’re smaller and wilder than a lot of the pigs we usually see. They’re black and brown, covered with hair, and they have the energy of little wild woodland creatures. This should be interesting!
So, freak that I am, lately I’ve been stressing over whether or not Rosemary really is pregnant. At this late stage in the goats I can see changes almost daily, but Rosemary is staying bafflingly the same. So I keep telling DH to quit telling everybody that she’s “definitely bred”, just so if she’s not we can save a little face.
Last night our neighbor dropped by, and DH told him of my doubts (I might’ve kept that information to myself) and the neighbor looked at me incredulously, all but making little circles by his head with his forefinger to indicate my craziness, so now I’m trying to keep my anxiety to myself. Poor mentally unstable me.
Yesterday we had a frost and today it’s 26°. I resist it so hard, (which never seems to do much good!), but finally it’s a relief. Now I can clean out the sprawling garden and plant some things that I haven’t had room for, like the flat of leeks that’s waiting patiently, or a whole bed of poppies for spring. I also need to find some garlic and get it in the ground—I’m guessing I’m a little late for ordering it, so I’ll probably just plant some from the grocery store or Earth Fare.
Yesterday, in spite of the frost, I was able to harvest all my hot peppers that I’d procrastinated picking until the last minute. I spent hours roasting and freezing green chiles, and I have a batch of red chiles in the dehydrator for chile powder. Now I have to deal with the millions of jalapenos. I had fantasized about making chipotles with the red ones, but smoking’s not really my thing, and I don’t know when DH is going to have time. I do want to pickle the green ones, though, and I still have tons of chocolate and sweet banana peppers to freeze.
Also on today’s agenda: go buy a couple of bushels of potatoes from a neighbor (he’s digging them today); go buy a sample load of hay from another neighbor, and arrange for delivery of more if we (or more accurately, the goats) like it; and go to still another neighbor’s and buy a couple of pigs, or at least have a look at them and then come home and talk DH into it.
And last, but not least, go to Dad’s for dinner tonight.
A lovely, busy fall day.
