Yesterday was an amazing and exhausting day. Last week I called my neighbor to ask him a bunch of dumb questions (“So, how exactly does scalding work?”) and he offered to come over and bring all his equipment and help us. Well, he and his wife and their soon-to-be-sixteen son (“Hog killin’ means a day off school!”) showed up, and they were the best teachers ever! I am pretty accustomed to figuring this stuff out for myself, which has gotten me through butchering chickens, deer, goats and sheep, along with many other activities, but having these guys show us the way through our first hog killing was hugely helpful.
The day was crisp and bright and relatively cool, and there were so many good friends here helping—it was a party, and a lot of fun, even with the long day of hard work and the undercurrent of death and all that goes along with that. I have a much clearer understanding of the role these kind of events played in a community.
Warning: somewhat graphic photos follow.
This weekend is the pig roast and farm olympics. We’re butchering both pigs Friday morning, cooking one of them Saturday afternoon/night and eating Sunday starting at noon. (I’m hauling the second pig to the butcher Friday afternoon). The events Sunday include (but are not limited to) races and contests, cornstalk rag doll making, indian corn necklaces, a cake walk (and a cupcake walk for the little kids), a farm fashion show/contest, and produce judging (especially parsley). And, maybe most exciting, we’ve rented a Deluxe Model portable toilet from Jethro’s Jonnies. Tell me this is not gonna be a good time!
Anybody who’d like to come, email me (moonmeadow at yahoo dot com) and I’ll give you directions!
Hey—I actually got nominated for an award! Surprisingly, it was not for the “Blogger you’d most like to see naked” category, but whatever. So, go vote!
Yesterday was hay day, and we were very, very lucky this year. Trying to buy hay around here has been pretty scary this summer, due to the exceptional drought we’re in, but a neighbor cut and baled the hay across the road from our house and sold it to us, out of the field for $1.50 per bale. So we and a couple of friends picked up 216 bales and stacked it in the barn loft yesterday. With luck it should be enough for the winter, though I may buy a couple of round rolls for sheep and pigs, too.
The island was lovely this year. We got down there just before Gabrielle did, which made for just a little excitement. Actually we went down a day early; if we’d gone the next day we would’ve been stuck on the mainland, since they closed the ferries that day! The weather was perfect the whole week and we came back rested and ready to swing into fall action here on the farm (at least that’s what I keep telling myself).
