The piglets aren't piglets anymore! Flo Jo, Herkimer, and Crysta have grown so much in the past month! They love their outdoor pen so much better than being in the chicken coup.
We were able to transport them out into their new pen a few weeks ago by throwing some cracked corn in the back of Dora's dog crate, and shutting them in. We then loaded the crate onto our garden cart and wheeled them right into their new pen. It was the smoothest transition we could have imagined... when they emerged from their crate they immediately put their noses to the soil, rooting around in pig heaven. Before we knew it they were covered in mud and running around playing tag in their yard. They are the happiest pigs I have ever seen.
One of my favorite things to do is to come up to the side of their pen (which is 20x50), yell "Come on guys!" and start running for the other end of their pen. When they hear that they all come bursting out of their little tarped in shelter and chase me down to the other end.
It took a little bit for the pigs to figure out that they could trust me, but now we have really comfortable interactions.... this is my sister Andrea rubbing Flo Jo's tummy!
In other news, Ben has baby chicks! We don't have any good pictures of them since they are under a red heat lamp, but once they get a little bigger I promise to post some.
They are black australorps. There are 25 of them.
We're still removing rocks daily... many of them are too heavy for us to move ourselves...
So the tractor does a good amount of the work for us. Thank goodness.
Our CSA has been going for three weeks now. Honestly I have to admit that we have far less produce than I had planned. From the rain and cold in May to a lack of experience in planning the season out, the first shares we've put out have been smaller than I had hoped.
But our shareholders have been tremendously supportive and are looking forward, as are we, to the green beans, squash, tomatoes, potatoes, etc. For now though, we are enjoying plentiful amounts of salad turnips and greens! These turnips can be pink or white and they can be eaten raw. The white ones are a little spicier than the pink ones, and both have delicious greens. I'm trying to get the town of Randolph addicted to them because they are an early, quick root vegetable that's as easy to grow as it is tasty. So far our CSA seems to like them and the Randolph Farm Stand even bought a few bunches from us last week! Such excitement!
This picture is one that Ben took of me a couple weekends ago. He thought the world needed to see what farmer Claire wears for Sunday chores... Sometimes it just feels better to be out in the field in my pajamas...
Now I'll leave you with some more pictures from the farm and a promise to do a better job of keeping you posted! Enjoy!
