Adventure time!!!!
Have you noticed that I love a good adventure??? I’m always down with trying something new, learning a new anything, worst case it’s not something I like or enjoy and we change course.
In our first year on the farm, we tried A LOT! And guess what? We’re not done. One of the more challenging parts of moving to a completely new area is what you want to do and what your community needs could be and most likely will be completely different. We no longer have the comfort of knowing lots of people and where to get things or how it works here. The learning curve has been steep to say the least. BUT, it’s okay, it’s good for us to be uncomfortable.
Did you see on facebook or instagram that we brought home two piglets yesterday? We drove a good ways down south, but first, swung into Buc-ees. Our Buc-ees opened right before Thanksgiving. We know that its got a wild following, yes their bathrooms are fantastic, so is their breakfast and best of all - the BEST price on diesel anywhere right now. Then we were on our way to go see some new parts of Alabama, we took a longer route so that we could drive through Tuscaloosa for the first time too!
All of this to give a little back story on our new adventure. Now you may say, good grief, this lady has so many things going on with so many animals, and you’re not wrong. A lot of it is figuring out where we fit and some of it are things I don’t ever want to farm without (ducks and Dixie & Kate).
To the back story! When I was in fourth grade a million years ago, aka 1994 or so, my parents signed me up for 4-H. By the way, that was the best thing ever. So, as a tiny person who had seen my Dad with pigs, I decided that was going to be my livestock project. I LOVED raising pigs. One of my favorite memories in going to a clinic with my Dad to a farm where we learned all the basics of piglet rearing - vaccinations, ear notching, tail docking and castration. I couldn’t have been more than 12. It was such a good day. That was also the day I became the designated castrator on the farm. Since we learned hands-on at this clinic, it gave me a lot more confidence in being able to take care of my animals through their whole life with me and stuck around in the deep places of my brain. As I got older and loved them even more, I spent my money earned on buying registered breeding stock. My favorite purchase came from the Oregon State Fair. I had walked around looking at the lots for sale, made my tentative picks, trying not to get my hopes up because anything can happen in an auction. I climbed up in the stands, knew how much money I had to spend and hoped no one knew how nervous I was. The gilt I wanted came into the ring, it became clear that I wasn’t the only one who wanted to take her home. It came down to just two of us at the end, and I prevailed .. and spent a bunch of money, haha. But, I got my girl. Rosie came home with me that day and was the highlight of my 9 year 4-H career. I was able to breed her, sell piglets and raise my market hogs for fair.
Now, lets flash forward to now, I’ve been out of 4-H more than twice as long as I was in it but the yearning to be connected to agriculture is still there, feeding the love of wanting to be and becoming a farmer. 4-H planted a great many dreams in that young mind of mine, I dreamed of vet school and a life of animals. I’m pretty excited to have at least one part of that and have declared I’m too old to go to college for 10+ years now. When Jastin and I started talking about pigs last year, we agreed that we weren’t quite ready. But this year, I had a solid plan .. almost. There’s a couple gaps in it, but I’ll pull them together. The biggest player in our decision to get the piglets now, is my previous knowledge, which gives us a little bit more confidence in adding them to our farm. Now, there are definitely some things that will be different, but learning is one of my favorite things, so I’m hoping I’m ready.
The goal with these two cuties is a little research and a lot of patience. The patience in loving them and helping them grow into the beautiful, mature pigs we know they’ll become. The second side is trying to begin a breeding program again. I’ve got some big goals that start with these two and can’t wait to see how it turns out. No matter the results, I know I’ll learn all along the way!
