We are on a temporary or permanent break from hogs here at Oak Post Ranch. Our last butcher date was January 25, 2012 and no more are scheduled for the year.
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As we have been hearing talk of prohibiting children from working on farms, this upcoming discussion may be interesting. ~Andrea
A FOOD CHAIN RADIO RELEASE FROM METROFARM.COMWhen the nation was young we raised children on farms and gave them chores to do. Now we raise children in cities and give them allowances to spend. This leads us to ask… What do children with chores learn in their growing up? This Saturday at 9am Pacific, the Food Chain Radio show with Michael Olson hosts Audrey Kohout from the K Ranch Creamery in Corsegold, California, and Nancy Vail from the Pie Ranch in Pescadero, California, for a conversation about farming, with children. Topics include the kinds of chores given farm children by their family; how giving children farm chores is justified with the spirit of child labor laws; and what children with farm chores learn that children with allowances can’t learn. Listen on your radio, computer or mobile device: Food Chain Radio A FOOD CHAIN RADIO RELEASE FROM METROFARM.COMSprouted seeds, or “sprouts” as they are commonly called, are truly the freshest of foods because they are, well, still living. Sprouts are also the frequent subjects of food contaminations, and thus lead us to ask… This Saturday at 9am Pacific, the Food Chain Radio show with Michael Olson hosts Ken Kimes from New Natives Farm for a conversation about food safety. (Food Chain Radio #740) Topics include why, ounce for ounce, sprouts provide more nutrients than any other natural food; why sprouts are frequently the subject of food contaminations; and whether living foods can be safe to eat. Listen on your radio, computer or IPOD: Food Chain Radio Starting Monday, August 29 and running 8 weeks…Everyone is welcome to commit to this challenge. Remember – it’s easier to stick to something when someone else is checking in on you. So sign up! Email the coordinator (ME!!) with your name and a personal number. Your weekly totals will be kept online HERE – follow this link for a chart to print out also!!!. Weekly totals need to be reported on the Monday following. Challenge Guidelines:Dietary Guidelines for Americans include much more than we will be pursuing. We have chosen the things we think are the hardest to obtain in our normal busy days. Water: 8 – 8oz. glasses of water are recommended. However – all liquids are included in the water recommendations. 6 glasses of water are all that are counted in this challenge. When you are exercising you will require more liquids to stay hydrated. Exercise: We are all at different levels of physical fitness, but we all need exercise. Any movement which results in breaking a sweat qualifies as exercise for this challenge. You be the judge. 30 minutes of continuous exercise counts. Every 15 minutes after that add up for extra points. Vegetables: 5 servings per day. A serving is a half cup. Sweets: You decide what sweets are. Overall this means no soda, no candy, or chocolate cake. (Loren asked). Yes, we take points off for sweets – even a “taste.” Lifestyle change: We all have something we wish we could change. It must be something which makes you healthier in mind, body and/or spirit. It may be to relax for 20 minutes per day. It may be to quit smoking or get up at 6:45 a.m. every day. IT MUST BE IMPORTANT TO YOU. You must define your lifestyle change when starting the challenge and commit to changing. If you complete all of these guidelines in a single day, you qualify for bonus points. Follow this link for the main page with a chart to print out!!!. ##
We had recent summer company. Gwen and Dan caught a few poses we rarely have here – me on the lense side of the camera:  Darryl and myself were caught walking the farm with a ripening barley field in the background.  Darryl climbed the fence and fed butcher pigs greens - weeds and anything within reach.  Piglets enjoy their treat of fresh greens. A FOOD CHAIN RADIO RELEASE FROM METROFARM.COMWith its roundup herbicide and roundup-ready genes, the Monsanto Corporation has made growing crops a lot easier. Some, however, say Monsanto’s technology has spawned a new pathogen that causes abortion rates of 20% to 45% in the animals that feed upon the crops. If true, we ask… What will the Monsanto Bug do to us? This Saturday at 9am Pacific, the Food Chain Radio show with Michael Olson hosts Professor Emeritus Dr. Don Huber from Purdue University, for a conversation about a newly-discovered– and as yet unnamed– glysophate pathogen. Monsanto has declined an invitation to participate. (Food Chain Radio #739) Topics include how we know the Monsanto Bug exists when Monsanto says it does not; what impact, if any, this pathogen has on the food chain of plants, animals and people; and why so few in authority want to consider these questions. A FOOD CHAIN RADIO RELEASE FROM METROFARM.COMSantayana tells us, Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. There is much in the history of food from which we can learn, and that history leads us to ask… What can beer, bread and change tell us about our future? This Saturday at 9am Pacific, Michael Olson’s Food Chain Radio hosts Thomas Sinclair, PhD, and Carol James Sinclair, authors of Bread, Beer & the Seeds of Change, for a conversation about what the distant past can tell us about our future. (Food Chain Radio #718) Topics include why humans made the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture; a look at the ancient agricultures of the Sumarians, Egyptians, Chinese, Bantus and Mayans; and what beer, bread and change can tell us about our future. Listen on your radio, computer or IPOD: Food Chain Radio
A FOOD CHAIN RADIO RELEASE FROM METROFARM.COMFarmers and consumers in the tiny, landlocked state of Vermont have initiated a petition drive to reject the Federal government’s Food Safety Modernization Act. This leads us to ask… What could be wrong with government safe food? This Saturday at 9am Pacific, Michael Olson’s Food Chain Radio hosts Jessica Bernier, Spokesperson for the Vermont Coalition for Food Sovereignty, for a conversation about Vermont’s fight for food independence. (Food Chain Radio #712) Topics include a taste of Vermont’s local foods; why the Coalition believes Vermont’s local foods are threatened by the government’s Food Safety Modernization Act; and whether the food loving people of tiny Vermont will be able to stand down the federal government’s new army of food safety regulators. Listen on your radio, computer or IPOD: Food Chain Radio  |
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Did you have a Royal day?
I’m grateful that I did not spend my day the way Royalty did yesterday. I got to do things none of them have ever done. In fact, I’m sure if the media heard what we were doing way over here in north central Minnesota, they would have kept watching the Royal festivities; trying to see what everyone was wearing, who talked to whom, who talked with their mouths full. You know, important stuff. No cares of the local food supply, the daily demands on hard-working men and women, or the mentality and drive of the next generation.
I was peacefully working my second job with the 1-year-old crying and pulling at my pant legs when Rodney (age 4) casually mentioned that Lighter, mighty loud protector of the homestead, chased all the pigs back in their pen.
“Pigs out?” I asked Rodney.
“Nope. Lighter put them all back in and shut the gate!” Rodney was proud.
And so I checked. No pigs to be seen. Rodney must have imagined it. We haven’t had pigs out at all this year. They seem to be content in their winter pens, with no green grass to be seen. Spring seems to bring out the gazelle in hogs as they gracefully leap over pens and seek out forage. But not this time. Back to work, I sat at my desk and stared at the real estate brochure coming together slowly before my eyes. Beautiful houses on lake properties, small city houses even the real estate agents didn’t want, and empty lots with untapped possibilities swam together as Darryl demanded my attention. I swooped him up and sat him in his kitchen throne for a bite to eat. A glance out the south window showed a herd of black hogs swiftly crossing the sunflower field toward destination “anywhere far, far from their pen.” So Rodney was right – pigs are out. Lighter needs a little more training.
Mighty homestead protector Lighter (pictured fall 2010, very dirty)
So we (myself, 1-year-old in the stroller, Rodney the gatekeeper, and the dog) called the hogs back home. That part was easy – they came to the sound of a feed pail and a little “suueeey suueeey.” Have you ever played that old nursery rhyme game about the Black Plague? You know, the one where you form a circle and take turns chasing each other around it? The pigs and I played for quite some time yesterday. I decided on a new pen for them, since the one they were in was in dire need of spring cleaning and they placed a pig-sized hole in the north wall. So a new pen it was. Unfortunately, the boar (and boy, does he look BIG up close!) noticed an air leak in the northeast corner, and made a pig-sized hole in the new pen. He was never convinced to try that again. He eventually put himself back in the original pen, where he was locked up alone! No more friends!
In my tennies (read good shoes), I slopped around the barns seeking out a decent hog panel to block the new hole. Armed with an 8 or 9 foot piece, I was able to plug the opening and fasten the panel with bits of wire and baler twine. Rodney helped me very enthusiastically – “I helped you, right Mom?” “I could hold this part all by myself, right Mom” and on. and on. and on. Rodney was actually quite a good helper – Lighter not so much so. She at least kept the pigs in the barnyard. They stopped in their tracks when she barked at them. That was better than chasing across the farm after every circle around the pen, but oh, would I appreciate a trained dog…
After my workout (one which I have not properly trained for in the past months) most of the hogs were in the new pen, happily eating their unscheduled morning snack. It was a beautiful day, 60 degrees or so and a light breeze. I appreciate living in the country with not another house in sight. I could hear cows bellering on the property to the south of ours. No media was around to notice that I hadn’t showered that day or that my tshirt didn’t match my mud? splattered shoes. No one was around to see how hard a 4-year-old can work and understand multi-step directions. But we know; and we are content.