Saturday, September 1, 2012

Butchering Day is Tomorrow

Tomorrow is pig butchering day. He has gotten out of his pen twice this week. He is just too big to keep in now. It is past time for him to go. I know my brother is coming to help us out anyway. It is going to be quite a job this time as this pig is so much bigger and I believe it is supposed to be hot and sunny instead of overcast and raining like last time. The high is supposed to be 90 F with 75% humidity. ( Today the weather says it is only 85 F but I think they lie as it is terribly hot out there. )
I, of course, am sick--my throat, hoarse, will likely lose my voice like usual but I do have some antibiotics to take (that I bought online). I do well for quite a while, then I get tired, dizzy and just not feeling good. I also took some sinus medicine which seems to be helping a bit. I'll live, I'm sure.
This morning we went shopping (no pig feed to buy! Yeah!) and I did get a nice sage plant at the flea market. The sage plants I started here in the back yard only grew a couple of inches. The one I got at the flea market is nice and big and only cost me $1.50. I will plant it down in the garden where it will get more sun than it would in the back yard.
Got home and fed the animals. I had the mama duck and her baby penned in the duck house after she lost the first duckling. I felt that the duckling was a good enough size now that it would be ok, so I let her and the duckling go into the pen. Then I wondered if I could put the other 4 ducklings that I hatched in with her. Their pen was getting to small and messy for them. The mama duck seems not to mind them in the pen with her and her duckling. She is not exactly adopting them but she isn't attacking them either which is good enough for me. I'm am pleased that they all have so much more room now and that the ducklings I hatched will now have an adult duck to learn from. I think it makes a difference.
Took a rest and just now got down to the garden. I picked some beans and more peppers. I had hoped to see some little cucumbers starting. There is a whole lot of blossoms on the plant but none of them seem to be the female blossoms that will make the cucumbers.
I have had some of the lettuce start to sprout in the hanging baskets but for some reason every time it rains they seem to die off again. I really don't know why this is. I did use bagged soil.
There really isn't anything else to tell you all. Sorry no pictures today. I just don't feel like going through the whole process of putting pictures on here. I will try to get some good pictures of the butchering tomorrow.

11 comments:

  1. Hope you feel better soon, Becky... being sick with a big job ahead of you is NO fun :(

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    1. Sometimes you just have to put it aside and do what you gotta do.

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  2. I don`t know where you find the time for all this. Get well soon I am a fellow sufferer of sinusitis it`s not good

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    1. It got better when I got an air purifier and humidifier but I need a new filter for the purifier and I am so lazy about keeping water in the humidifier. I don't have these things at work though and when I get there it starts with the sneezing, running etc. I would love to have it get better for good but after so many years now, I just don't believe it is possible.

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  3. It's a shame you couldn't have cooler weather for butchering. Hope you're better soon.

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    1. It is definitely a shame it is not cooler but it just doesn't work that way here. For some reason the farms here still breed for spring births which means we butcher in the heat. I guess they don't think it is necessary to wait since most people take theirs off to be butchered instead of doing it in their back yard.

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  4. you know it is the same way with trying to grow fruit trees..here in the south everyone buys and plants those fruit trees in the spring and when i was a girl growing up in the midwest we all knew it was better to plant new fruit trees in the autumn. and you are right about the butchering..i dont know anyone here in northeast mississippi that does their own butchering-they send everything to the meat locker plant including their deer and their chickens...seems kind of silly to me to do so. of course, back in the day my dad and his brothers would all get together on one farm twice a year and butcher beef, sheep, chickens, ducks and anything else that happened to be needing it..lol, one year they did a goat and the goat meat did not get labeled...we called that goat mystery meat for a good while before we remembered that it was in fact goat meat. i have had allergy/cold all summer...seems i am always sniffling or sneezing..i need a vacation in a dry climate for awhile to get over it for good. :)

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    1. Yup, it would be so much better to get the fruit trees in the fall here when we have a lot more rain (usually our summers are dry-this year seems to be an exception)but the stores mostly have them here in the spring too although I think our feed store had a few trees last fall. I will have to watch for them this year.

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  5. Oink! Becky! I mean, Hi! Your pig stories are humorous to me! I would love to have a pig, but the hubs doesn't want one, yet. Maybe after the goat, I can talk him into one! He actually wants to get a goat now! Yay! Sorry you're battling the sinus junk! Hope you feel better in the morning! Got to get photos of the butchering for us! Take care! Blessings from Bama!

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    1. I think Phil though the pigs would be easier, lol. Maybe I can talk him into a goat next year instead.

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  6. I hope you feel better! May your hog harvest go quickly and smoothly - for everyone!

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