From Spring to Fall, and almost Winter, our Bunnies enjoy their Buggies! Like Chicken Tractors, Bunny Buggies get moved regularly, usually daily, insuring our Bunnies get the best of care and have a new salad to dine on every day!
It also means the grass gets trimmed and naturally fertilized in the process. This leads to some of the thickest, richest, greenest, grass you can imagine!
Imagine, two years ago this garden was forested. Woodlands comprised mostly of Ash and Poplar. Using our Goats, Pigs, Chickens, and jokingly, sometimes Dogs, we’ve managed to make a Garden out of it. This year it’s going to be mostly Potatoes. It feels good to have it planted.
I’ll leave it be for a bit, then add in some companion plants. We interplant Bush Beans, Green and Yellow Beans, to help deter Potato Bugs. In two years here, and one in Clementsport, we’ve not had a Potato Bug. We’ve also not planted on the same ground two years in a row! So, this year will be the real test, having had at least part of this garden in potatoes last year. Will we have Potato Bugs? Time will Tell.
It’s been funny to watch Roscoe this year, He remembers last year, how I’d get after him if he walked on the rows! I think, watching Him lick his lips, that he might also remember the great tastes we got from the garden last year!
We’ve gone with as natural approach to the whole process as possible. Lara farrowed, gave birth to, eight healthy piglets on April 5, 2023 and that meant she went from being a Gilt to being a Sow. We did not use crates or cages to prevent her rolling on the piglets. Rather, we Wintered two smaller pigs with her. They were about a quarter to a third her size. I think it made her more conscious of not rolling on them, and in turn her piglets. It also helps that Lara, part through training, and a bigger part by her personality, is very calm and gentle. She’s made a beautiful Mother.
So, the piglets were born 25 days ago, and rather than pull them away from their Mom, we left them. We’ve noticed them eating hay at about a week old, and at day 17 we had them out on pasture with their Mom, Lara. Just an hour or so, increasing the length of time a little each day. Actually it was their Mom, Lara, that decided the length of time outside! She’d walk over and nudge the makeshift, pallet, gate when she wanted to go in!
Then, tonight, this is what I saw…
Actually, just moments before this video was shot, all of the Piglets were eating!
It’s been such an interesting and rewarding experience to work with Lara, and her piglets, and see how smart they are and see what a good job she’s done with them!