Greetings from Vail, Arizona

[The Vail Benton's]

Perhaps you should reassure her that there is no charge for the fertilizer or pest control

 

[murphysranch]

Great story and so fun to read. Keep us posted on Pork Chop, the babycakers...

 

[TanksHill]

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

great story!

its seems like Mr Porkchop heard the rumor that "a snuggle and a cute look may save your bacon!"

oh no little piggy... thats not how it works at all.....

but i guess he wanted to be part of the herd!??!

 

[The Vail Benton's]

I think so, OFG, he seems awfully happy and content out there. It's a riot watching him haul a** around the pasture with the horses at feeding time. The only thing is that I worry he's going to get kicked in the head. I check on him several times throughout the day to make sure he hasn't wandered away. It drives me crazy the way he lays himself out all flat to sun himself, because I always think they finally killed him.

 

[The Vail Benton's]

I sold my Cochin Roo & 6 hens today, made enough to buy some bales of Bermuda for the horses, Alfalfa for the Goaties and feed for The Pork Chop. Good thing too, since DH's Tahoe needs a new battery - we had to jump start it twice today.

The Pork Chop went to visit his abandoned pen this afternoon to see if there was still food in the feeder. I closed the gate while he was busy rooting around and then I hid around the corner where I didn't think he would see me watching. I felt a bit like a peeping Tom but hey - it's MY pig. When he realized the gate was shut, he FREAKED and JUMPED the 3 1/2' fence like he was a steeplechaser. It was a really clean jump, too. I gave it a 10 despite the fact that his landing was not as graceful as his approach. DH was not impressed. I skipped the opportunity to tell him (again) that I thought the pen should be taller. What do I know anyway?
After seeing Pork Chops reaction to being locked in, I will not try to make him stay there anymore. He looked absolutey terrified, panicked, claustrophobic. Instead, I will try to raise something else in there... I wonder if it would hold a couple turkeys... can turkeys fly?

 

[TanksHill]

Pork chop cleared the 3 1/2 foot fence??? Wow, that is totally unexpected, isn't it??

Is there any problems with leaving him with the horses?

Congrat's so selling the birds. I love it when a plan comes together.

gina

 

[The Vail Benton's]

Hi Gina!
Yes, Pork Chop cleared the 3 1/2' fence. I have seen larger hogs actually climb over or push through, but I've never seen one jump like this. Evidently it is possible
We are just going to let him live with the horses and let him deny that he is a pig. He is getting big rather quickly and will soon be too large to squeeze through the pipe gate so he won't be able to get out anymore and call on the neighbors, & the horses don't care - not much, anyway.

 

[The Vail Benton's]

In the fall of '08 DH and I visited an orchard and picked apples & pears to make wine. I am told that it is a decent wine. But I'm not a wine drinker and felt a bit left out, for all the work I did picking the fruit on a hot Southern Arizona day in October, and then helping DH with the actual wine making process. Not that I minded helping, but not getting to enjoy the fruits of my labor kind of sucks. So I've done some reading and research on the vinegar making thing and I'm diving in.
I selected a recycled bottle of our home brew(as opposed to one of the new ones we bought and labled for the purpose of gift giving). I popped the cork and filled a clean quart mason jar. I threw in a bean thread pasta (in the form of a fettuccinni) for "food" ( as recommended on a blog I read somewhere) and then covered with gauze and secured that with a metal ring (if the metal ring thing is bad, I hope someone will tell me - the directions actually said to use a rubber band but I don't have one).
I am contemplating where to store the jar while it ferments or does whatever it's supposed to do, if anything at all. I'm thinking cool, dark place?
Yesterday I shredded potatoes, soaked them in an ascorbic acid solution and put them in my dehydrator. I wanted to put them in jars with a little dried bell pepper & dried onion for Potatoes O'Brian but despite the ascorbic acid solution, my potatoes turned an unightly color so while still edible, not pretty. That's okay. Not everything I try works out but the fact that I at least try makes me feel pretty good about being home instead of at work contributing to our financial well-being.

 

[TanksHill]

The apple vinegar sounds good. I thin Bee and Free would be the ones to ask I have never made any before.

I dehydrated potatoes once. I think all I used was lemon in the water. They turned out a light tan color. What kind of potatoes were you using?


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