Hello! It’s been awhile, did you miss us? As always it’s been busy, that said with today being the equinox and a distinct hint of old man winter in the air, things are slowing down. For the rest of you in the Northern Hemisphere we’ll notice rapidly shortening daylight hours, as the earth seemingly goes to sleep.
Traditionally the equinox is a time to celebrate and prepare, and that’s what we’ve been doing on the farm. We’ve been harvesting, storing, and preserving. This years bounty includes pumpkins, raspberries, plums, pears, apples and more. Fall traditions also included butchering, to decrease the winter feed requirements and fill the larders. We are blessed to work with a mobile butcher who can come to the farm and dispatch animals who’ve been bought as wholes or halves, and then bring them to his shop to finish the cutting. The beautiful part of this is the animals never have to load a trailer and really don’t even have a bad moment, one minute they’re enjoying their lush pastures they’ve lived their entire lives in and in the next they are dead. We firmly believe that by removing the stress of hauling and waiting for their turn at a unfamiliar abattoir the end product is a healthier meat for everyone involved.
Non-traditionally for this time of year our Kune Kune gilt, Patsy Swine finally had her babies, we estimated she was due about 3 weeks ago… so we were a little concerned. Fortunately she had a healthy litter of 9 piglets and is being a fabulous mother.
Until next time, Happy Growing!
ABC acres crew.
