Piggies Day 4

I know this is going to sound kind of ridiculous, but they already look bigger!  Even Elaine said so.  They seem to be coming around a little bit, not because they're getting used to us, but I think they're just getting braver, so they don't hide as much.  I keep talking to Elaine about their impending fate, in an attempt to keep her grounded, but I know she's going to have trouble.  It's so strange when you think about how far removed we as Americans have become from our food, just in the last 100 years.  Human beings have been around for millenia, and food production was always the same up until the last century.

I was walking into work with a couple coworkers the other day and I had brought one of them a dozen eggs.  The other guy saw the eggs and said "I can't eat farm fresh eggs.  The flavor is just different enough that I can taste it.  It's not that it's a bad flavor, it's just that I know where they came from."  It's really sad that this guy is like that, but in reality, it's the American way.  The industrial food system of today has removed us from our food in a way that traditional food production actually disgusts people.  My hens are clean, happy, and fed locally grown layer mash that is milled just 20 minutes from our farm.  What is gross about that?  I think about the eggs that this guy eats, the eggs from the supermarket and that grosses me out!  Could you imagine living the way those hens live?

So here we are with our hens and our pigs, and I feel great about it.  It is conversations like that one that I believe will help Elaine overcome her issue with raising pigs.  Her responses are always spontaneous, and she gets exasperated with people who don't understand.  Now if only she could apply that to the reality of our farm.

Piggies, day 2

Well, they are definitely eating like pigs!  They like to dump their water bowl and drag it around.  I don't think they understand that that's why they're thirsty!  So, I finally filled the K9 feeder to try to fix the problem.  Hopefully they don't figure out how to tip that over, because that would be an awful mess.  They still don't care much for Bear, and almost tried to escape the pen through the rails to get away from him.  I hope that didn't give them any ideas!  My next challenge is to manage the stench.  I'm thinking that if I keep layering sawdust that will help.  They really like the straw, but I think the sawdust should fall below it, and keep the wet stuff dry.  That should take care of it.  Also, it should begin to compost which could add some heat to the pen!  We'll see what happens.  But either way, they look healthy, and I think they're adjusting.  Unfortunately, Elaine named them.  Project "get Elaine to be okay with raising pigs" just hit another hurdle!  If anyone is interested, she named them Hamlet and Honey.  She's ridiculous. 
- Jay

The Lavasseur Family Farm began on April 19, 2012, with the purchase of our little two acre property in Gansevoort, New York.  However, the concept began one year prior.  After watching Food, Inc. Elaine and I decided that the corrupt industrial food system of the United States was not suitable to be feeding our kids, and we made a plan to move away from it.  We began researching ways to buy healthy, natural food, and found the Saratoga Springs Farmers Market.  We also changed our search criteria regarding our eventual real estate purchase.  After about ten months of searching, we found our little gem on this Earth here in Gansevoort.  It was important to Elaine and I that the farm not just be a farm, but a home, and one that can keep us close to the things we love; civilization!  I don't know that we ever thought we would be farmers, nor do I think we woke up the day after watching Food, Inc. and planned we would end up this way, but here we are.  We are here to make the best of what we have, and what we can manage to create.  Our kids are the driving factor for this journey, and it's the best motivation you can have.
- Jay