Filed under: November 2014 | Tags: chores, Compost, horses, Small Farming, soil, winter
Hoss and Knight ready for bed
November 9, 2014
It’s that time of year. The horse pasture is finally depleted. The horses will now eat and sleep indoors. Their paddock will be just a place to enjoy the sunshine and romp playfully. My chores double at this time, but my horses make it worth it. I enjoy that time in the evening when they are in clean stalls, happily munching their hay. It is very peaceful to me. It calms my very soul.
I get a wheelbarrow a day of straw enriched manure from each horse. This is the foundation for our farms fertility. The straw and manure get mixed with soiled bedding from the other animals and stored to heat and rot. The compost feeds the soil. The soil, eventually feeds us. The cycle of life can be seen in the simple job of keeping pens and stable clean and bedded.
Our borrowed boar went home yesterday. He jumped into the trailer as if he knew more ladies were waiting for him at home. My gilts are gestating comfortably, as we wait for the coming piglets. This morning, another new calf was born. I am glad he came before the coming weeks looming storm. It sounds like winter will blow in by the end of the week.
We have been swamped by rain over the last week, but we are going to try to pick corn Monday and Tuesday. The ends and edges have been picked for a couple of weeks. The horses and corn picker should be able to travel and turn without knocking down any corn. Now, if we can just navigate the mud!
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