Hildegard and the Skunk Tail

What are the odds...

Missing the cut on getting into the earlier post by only a few short hours, Hildy vanished for an hour or so this afternoon. We called and called for her and were getting our coats on to go look for her at the VFW -- a favorite haunt of hers when she's on the lam -- when she turned up.

Now, whenever Hildy disappears she usually returns with some sort of treasure and it's generally someone else's trash. Today was a new one for us though. As we went outside to scold her for flying the coop -- so to speak, for, she doesn't actually reside in our coop -- we realized we had something new on our hands...

Here's what we encountered: a euphoric puppy delightedly playing with her favorite new toy... a skunk tail!

Hildegard

As our regular readers are well aware, this spring we added a dog to our bourgeoning menagerie and named her Hildegard. She comes from a local breeder that has cross-bred a few different traditional European guardian dog breeds and developed a sort of "Northwoods" Guardian Breed. These dogs are big enough to fend off wolves and coyotes and gentle enough to bond with livestock.

Little 10 Week Old Pup

Hildy, as we call her, has been for the most part a very happy addition to our farmstead. It's been great fun to have a furry little ball of affection 'assisting' in our projects: from harvesting rhubarb...

... to feeding the chickens.

Her best friends were far and away the pigs. Needless to say she was sad to see them go, though she hasn't seemed to mind getting pork drippings on her kibbles when we make pork roasts!

She has grown from a shy and utterly adorable little pup to a big, sprawling, hyper and bounding bundle of long-limbed energy. According to our calculations she is now around eight months old.

Scanning the Horizon for Predators

Her primary purpose on the farm, apart from being enjoyed by us, is guarding our pigs, turkeys, chickens and future livestock. Yesterday she bravely stood at the edge of the field barking at a crow that was munching on something a few hundred yards off... what a dog!

Off to see about a potential threat: the vicious and beguiling black bird

With the frigidity of Northern Wisconsin winter beginning to creep in, we had to build her a dog house. 

Naturally she had to inspect throughout the building process

Since she hates being confined we weren't sure how she would take to it, but when it gets below freezing she seems to love it.

Early morning wake-up call

In getting Hildy to 'bond' with our animals we were supposed to more or less ignore her so she could attach to them instead of us. We more or less utterly failed in that venture, but we're not entirely sure that we care, since she is very loving and a good companion.

Asking if we think maybe she should come inside for a visit

Fall Update

Greetings Friends of Magdalen Farm!

Wow-- it's been almost five weeks since our last post... far too long, we know. Since time for an extended update isn't currently unavailable and since you all seem to like our video efforts we decided to get creative and do a short video update.

We've taken a slew of pictures during our various projects over the past month, we just haven't had (or, I suppose, 'made' would be the better word) the time to put the post together. So, here's a pictorial smattering of what we've been up to.

Fresh Milk and Cream from Farmer Steve

Huntin' for Dry Oak

Carrying Dry Oak

Potato Plants Before Harvest

Potatoes Hardening Off

'Taters emerging from their perfect soil! 

'Taters Abound!

Neatly stacked and ready for storage in the root cellar

One of our harvests of tomatoes ready for saucing

A batch of fresh salsa

Canned Tomato Sauce 

Wild grapes

Wild grapes getting cooked into jam

Straining the grape remnants

Homemade grape jam

Homemade apple cider

Pumpkins!

Pumpkin elements: seeds for toasting and flesh for cooking

Steph loves these little guys! 

Our covered bed for fall gardening, including a lettuce blend 

Lettuce close-up! 

Hildy inspecting our work, while we frame out her house

Winter Chicken Care

As any faithful reader will know, the number of animals on the farm is slowly decreasing. This past summer bustled with animal activity - feeding, watering, occasionally chasing and riding - and the barnyard was filled with their noise - contented grunts, silly gobbles, stately crows. But as the cool weather came, so the animals left. By Monday morning all that will remain is a dog, a cat and 45 chickens. With the chilly fall air and recent frosts our thoughts and tasks have turned to preparing the place for winter. Of chief concern is the health and well-being of our chickens during the long winter months. It is no small difficulty for a hen, accustomed to ranging over the barnyard and field, eating bugs, grazing and soaking in sunshine, to be shut up in a coop for several months in the cold of winter and expected to produce an abundant supply of eggs. However, with a little research and planning we are confident of keeping our flock healthy and content during the frigid months ahead.

Space: Although the existing coop is delightful (an original structure to the farm), it is not big enough to house 45 birds over the winter. Thankfully, expanding the coop will be quite simple. The coop occupies the South-west corner of a large out building. Adjacent to the coop on the North is the pig pen, and running the full length of the building to the East is the stock barn. The three pens each have their own door and are not accessible to each other. However, a small chicken door cut into the interior wall of the coop would allow chickens to access one of the other pens. Our plan is to allow the chickens access to both the coop and the stock barn during winter.

Light: As mentioned, the coop is one of the original structures on the farm, built in the 1920's. The homesteaders, Chris Christiansen and his family, certainly knew what they were doing when they laid out plans for the farm. The coop is perfectly situated on the South side of the barnyard, with big windows to capture all available sunlight. Like humans, chickens also need sunlight for vitamin D. But an added need for sunlight is that a hen's egg production is based on the amount of light she is exposed to. As days got shorter egg production decreased. Of course, once electricity came to the farm the concern with shortened days disappeared, but the health and well-being of the chickens is still well served by the big, South-facing windows. Additionally, the South exposure helps to keep the coop warm, even in the cold of winter.

Feed: A well balanced diet is perhaps the most important part of keeping chickens healthy throughout the winter. Currently our chickens have access to the entire barnyard, where they feast upon bugs, grubs, worms, frogs, toads and any vegetation that catches their fancy. They also get a steady supply of high quality organic feed, fallen apples from our tree and green beans (the beans are left over from the field behind our house, planted by the farmer that rents the land. Although they were harvested a few weeks ago, a few plants still have beans on them and we've been picking buckets full every few days for the birds). Obviously, once winter arrives the bugs, grubs, worms, frogs, toads, vegetation and green beans will disappear from their diet. What to do? Cold weather crops! Thankfully many very nutritious crops can withstand frost and, with a cold-frame, even snow. The cold-frame is currently planted with crops primarily for the chickens - a wide variety of lettuce, cabbage and turnips. We also have several mammoth kale plants in the garden, that seem quite impervious to the frost and a pile of pumpkin and squash. Of course, the garden and cold-frame can only get us so far with the severe cold of our winters. But, greens will remain on the chickens menu, by means of seedlings and sprouts, started indoors under grow lights. We have stocked up on last years seeds and will be serving trays of broccoli, cabbage, alfalfa and bean sprouts along with spinach, lettuce and various other leafy greens come this February.

Spa: The final key to maintaining healthy, happy birds during winter months is to provide them with a full-service avian spa - which consists of nothing more than a sandbox. Chickens love to take dust-baths. It soothes their skin and prevents mites from finding a home. Plus, watching a hen kick up dirt into her feathers and roll in dust like a dog is perhaps one of the most enjoyable parts of keeping chickens.

No such thing as a free lunch

One of the intrigues of jumping into hobby farming from say living in a 600 square foot, second-story condo in Irving, Texas -- just as a hypothetical point of departure -- is that even if you're getting started on a pre-existing spread, there are going to be big costs. Luckily we had some funds saved up and luckily we're good at getting by and scrounging for materials on hand.

However, as the seasons change, which they are already very much in the process of doing up here where we've had two hard frosts already, new items come over the horizon that need to be purchased. As I mentioned, we're pretty good at getting by, but there's frugal and then there's foolhardy. Last winter I thought I was being frugal by shoveling our 40 yard long driveway and parking spots not to mention all the requisite paths that go along with heating with wood and keeping animals through the winter. This winter I would consider such a strategy folly and thus we are bound and determined to get a decent snow blower before the first snow fall.

Further, the farm we're renting has a great addition off one of the sides, which serves as our rec room, music room, sports and movie room, and library; however, this room gets no heat from the wood furnace which is attached to the central heating. It does have a gas stove, but, as all of you with gas furnaces know, heating with gas is expensive, so last winter the addition hovered between 40 and 45 degrees except when we wanted to watch a football game. This year we're going to buy a wood stove and install it in the gas one's stead. Since we're already gathering a lion's share of wood for the main furnace, an extra cord or two of small pieces to heat the addition and neighboring first floor rooms will be no problem whatsoever. I figure that at the price of gas, the wood stove will pay for itself in one or two years easily.

Snowblowers and wood stoves, we're not clever enough to make from odds and ends on hand, but here are a few pictures of handy and 'free' remedies we've put to use in the past year.

Two small pallets + One large pallet = sweet wood rack! 

Old utility poles = heavy duty fence posts

Old deck boards = lumber for raised garden beds

Olds screens, deck boards, hinges,
and steel roofing = chicken tractor

Old ductwork = cones for chicken bleeder

Ductwork, deck boards and sheet metal = chicken bleeder

Huge old plastic bin = meat bird transport vehicle

Old horse trailer wall = pig-loading ramp

The Last Last Ride of El Guapo

Nothing Like a Trunk full of Guap Guap to Lighten One's Spirits!

Retreat at Summer's End

This past week we were blessed with the opportunity to take a few days respite from the constancy of farm life and relax on the beautiful southern shore of Lake Superior in Bayfield, Wisonsin. Bayfield, like Mackinaw Island or Door County, is a typical midwestern vacation destination: a beautiful spot on the Great Lakes, artsy antique stores, some used book stores, good eating, and fairly small crowds. In other words, it has what most midwestern families are looking for: good food and scenery and peace enough to enjoy it with loved ones.

Leaving the farm in the competent hands of some kindly friends of the family -- who we are delighted to learn enjoyed a 'farm getaway' -- we left late Tuesday morning and got back shortly after noon on Friday.

The view from our patio.

Wednesday, after a hearty breakfast at the Egg Toss, we spent the day visiting shops, local farms and a regional fish hatchery. My biggest interest in the shopping was looking for a book on the early Jesuit missionaries in the region. While I never found a comprehensive edition -- perhaps it doesn't exist... -- I did get a long and scholarly account of Fr. Jacques Marquette, S.J.'s life. I've only finished the first few chapters, but may put up a post on my blog later on this summer about this and the other religious biographies I've recently read.

Thursday we ate a light breakfast on the mainland at Big Water Cafe, before booking passage on the ferry to Madeline Island. The ferry, reminiscent of the ferry trips to Mackinaw in my youth, was a thrill. It's only around 2 miles (or twenty minutes) from dock to dock, but it was a thrill nonetheless.

Once on the island we dithered a bit as to what to do, tired as we were from walking after a few days of taking it easy. So I decided to take charge and declared that we would rent mopeds on which to scoot around the island. At 13 miles long and several wide, Madeline Island is far too large to traverse on foot, and while bikes were another option, on a warm day it just didn't sound very appealing. So we stopped by Motion to Go, got a quick tutorial, strapped on our remarkably attractive bike helmets and hit the road!

Thanks to our trusty steeds, we were able to visit Big Bay State Park and tour the rest of the island in style!

Stephanie onboard ship.

The happy couple aboard ship.

Looking out on one of the 22 Apostle Islands.

A view of Bayfield from the ferry.

Big Bay State Park

Big Bay State Park

We spent Thursday evening on the deck of the Pier Plaza Restaurant, enjoying a delicious supper and the beautiful scene as the boats all came in and docked for the night.

On our way out of town on Friday morning we stopped by another farm to look for fresh berries and get ideas for lovely Magdalen Farm; the three farms we stopped by were all lovely and served to re-inspire and reinvigorate us at the end of a long season.

Thanks so much again to our farm-sitters, the Lundgren family, Trish and Charlie! We returned convinced that little getaways like this need to happen more often!

This little piggy went to market...

This morning, after many lessons learned in the El Guapo debacle, we successfully delivered two more pigs to the butcher.

Things went rather uneventfully, except for one precious little anecdote.

As I dressed this morning, I was sorrowed to realize that my jeans were dirty and that I would have to don my work khakis, which have a sizable tear across the left knee.

As I reported in my post on loading El Guapo, the only way that works in getting a scared and angry hog up a ramp he has no wish to climb is to get as low as one can, firmly place both knees in his rump, and push like one's life (or at least one's long-desired bacon consumption) depends on it. (Real farmers out there, please enjoy a hearty laugh at our expense and then send us an email detailing a reasonable way of doing this.) Well, as I was saying, I was donning my torn khakis when at one point this morning as I was muscling Ned toward the ramp I detected a strange sensation on my leg. That's right, you guessed it, our little friend was pooping directly through the hole in my knee and into my pant leg. Luckily I realized it before too much had stormed the breach; nevertheless, one would be correct in saying that any pig poop in one's pants is too much pig poop in one's pants.

Having realized the error of my wardrobe choice and the no-holds-barred approach our adversary was taking, we renewed our zeal and manhandled the swine into the truck.

Then, after Lucky uttered a terrible grunt we muscled Lucky up the ramp as well.  I can assure you, there wasn't a smellier duo ambling across Polk County this morning than the two of us!

Sadly, we only managed one small pic on Steph's cheap cell phone. Here's Neddy, taking one last breath of clean, fresh Wisconsin air before heading in to meet his sausage maker!

Bye Neddy! (Lucky napping on the floor to his right)

A Veritable Horn of Plenty

These days our garden is simply bursting with produce: carrots, cucumbers, beets, cabbages, kale, leeks and onions -- not to mention our first tomatoes are finally ripening. The corn is starting to form it's ears and our potato plants seem to have withstood the worst of a vicious siege put on by the potato bugs.

This morning Steph spent 20 minutes in the garden while I was doing an interview and when I came into the kitchen this is the sight that greeted me!

The Morning's Cornucopia

Thanks to Ken and Kathy Wegrzyn for the beautiful basket to collect produce in! And, Deo gratias for a bountiful harvest thus far!

The Last Ride(s) of El Guapo

There are a great many things that any pig farmer must know; we're coming to realize how few of these we started out with. Nevertheless, as of this morning we are bona fide, successful hog-farmers, having gotten our first hog -- El Guapo -- up to Daeffler's Fine Meats in Fredric, WI.

El Guapo was a fine pig, the biggest of our four by plenty. He was red and chubby; a Duroc by breeding, a Hurtubise by fate. He weighed in somewhere around 240 to 280 lbs according to our best estimates and was a happy hog all of his days. That is, until this morning...

Yesterday evening we backed the truck up to the cement ledge at the high point of the pig pen, found materials for a ramp and a hog-guide and, trusting in our innate farming know-how, thought that we'd be in good shape to get Guappy loaded up in about a half hour on Monday morning and on to our 7 a.m. drop off at the butcher.

Ready for action

When one is accustomed to getting up between 7 and 7:30 in the morning, 5:55 a.m. comes rather early -- especially when the hideous shrieks of the alarm clock double as a call to arms in the treacherous warfare of loading a hog into a pick-up truck. Nevertheless, we happy farmers ambled over to the pig pen around 6:10, reminded ourselves of our well-laid plans, and got to work. We went into the building, isolated our prize-hog, and got him locked in the confinement of the feeding area. Then we went out and armed ourselves: Steph wielding a small PVC tube for 'motivation' and I a spare door for guidance purposes.

What came next will surely strike the seasoned farmer as a ludicrous parody. But, to other ignorant suburbanites, like myself, it may sound like a good plan. And yet, what we know now is that in loading a hog into a trailer or the back of a pick-up, you want a sturdy chute leading directly from door to door. What we relied upon instead of such an apparatus was the docility and good-nature of our beloved pig. Big mistake.

We loosed the beast: I guided with my door; Steph goaded with her impromptu whip; El Guapo seemed to comply. We grinned, believing that we, indeed, were naturals. Guappy approached the ramp and pawed at it. We tried to guide him into the truck. Then, a sight that was to occur a great number of times unfolded: we pushed, the pig pushed harder and he escaped. Each escape was more disastrous than the last. On approximately attempt number seven, Stephanie sustained a jammed thumb.

A few attempts later -- with many splashes in the wallow and innumerable poops and pees in between -- El Guapo made his move. We had him pinned against the building, ready to guide him toward the truck again when he turned and made a dash for daylight through Steph's legs. Now, at 5' 4" you wouldn't think hurdling a pig would be too difficult for a former collegiate track runner, but El Guapo was no ordinary pig. His girth and height made this feat impossible. 

It ought be interjected that, by this point, the proceedings had become something of an ordeal and patience was beginning to wear thin. 

As I was saying, the feat was regrettably impossible. As she lept, he lunged. And all-of-a-sudden, my wife was riding Guappy backwards and, needless-to-say, bare-back across the pig pen. She clung to him valiantly, but his course was charted and his intent malicious. He bucked her lose after roughly 25 feet into the poop end of the pen, where, thanks to torrential downpours in recent days, the sloppy poop was some four to eight inches deep. In one last show of balance, poise and grit, Steph landed with her feet on the fence rail, and hands on the rocks -- narrowly averting the disaster of a most unpleasant face plant.

Having returned from a quick wash up in a nearby five gallon bucket, we redoubled our efforts and started using our brains. We pounded a few fence posts in and positioned a heavy duty pallet and a solid oak door to form a chute. Then we called on the beast one last time. Steph manned the guiding door and I the whip, and with my knees in his rump I pushed the mighty hog into the truck at last. We hastily removed the ramp and guides and closed the tailgate. Predictably, El Guapo stood in the truck grunting placidly, as if nothing had happened, munching on a bit of the sawdust bedding.

The ride and delivery were uneventful, apart from one last Guapo gift... When Steph opened the hatch to the topper to make sure Guappy had survived the trip alright a big poop came flying off the hatch. One last crappy booby trap for our efforts, as if to say, "that was a good trick, too -- eh!?!?"

Thanks, Guap Guap!

His sumptuous pork products will be ready for pick-up in about two weeks when his hams and bacon are smoked. We look forward to tasting the fruit of our labors and remembering our hog bite after delicious bite! We will be selling pork throughout the fall. Be sure to contact us with all of your porcine needs!

This is a shot of the pigs when we picked them up less than four months ago, shivering and scared in the back of the truck.

Lucky, Dusty, El Guapo (the red one) and Ned

Here's El Guapo loaded up and ready for his last ride.

This, is our sorry attempt at a ramp and chute. We'll be better prepared next time!