Then & Now #8
This post is part of a monthly series, Then & Now, that uses photos to show the development and changes taking place on the farm.
August is one of those months where there is so much going on you don’t have a spare minute to take it all in, and before you know it the month is over. Wow! Rotational grazing is in full swing, sows are poppin’ out piglets here there and everywhere, the rain rains hard and the sun shines hard and the garden turns into a wild jungle….
August is when summer really figures out how to be summer and all cylinders are firing in concert. Just try to keep up, if you can!
August 2020
Early days and eco-infrastructure starting to take shape…
We installed a rainwater harvesting setup to capture water off the back roof of the house. The house is on (nearly) the highest point on the property. The idea is to gravity-feed rainwater to the vegetable gardens, chicken/duck house, and livestock water tanks in the pastures below.
Under-deck rainwater storage system.
I didn’t have a lot of height to work with so I opted for this type of water tank, ordinarily designed for use in full-sized pickup truck beds. Not the cheapest option but it (just barely) fit into the space available. Later I expanded the storage by adding two additional tanks under the porch and plumbing them together in series.
In August 2020 I also completed the install of the first iteration of the self-flushing mini-duckpond.
If we get a big enough rainstorm rain water flows into the pond and over-tops the siphon, kicking off a flushing episode.
I liked the aesthetics of this curvy pond shape, but in the end it wasn’t really rigid enough to be practical. I later swapped it out for a more boring oval but thicker-walled sturdier stock tank.
I also played around with a few different siphon designs, and settled on a simple U-siphon made from 2-inch PVC. Here’s a short youtube vid that shows the current system, more or less:
I also have to give a shout-out to early days in the chicken shed with my favorite rooster, who we named Lenny Kravitz for obvious reasons.
Lenny and the guineas, great band name up for grabs…
Another key bit of eco-infrastructure that has come in clutch and for very little cost - shade sails!
The back of our house faces nearly due-east. That means we get heavy morning-to-midday sun insolation. This is great in winter for passive heating of the house. In summer it heats the house up way too much and makes the back deck unbearable. So - shade sails, voila! - pleasant deck ambience and less heat stress on the house.
Our young critters loved the warm late summer evenings of August 2020 for posing for glamour shots.
Possum
Alabama
Clarice
and of course Miss Millie Vanilli, what a damn princess…
Last but not least, after his surgery and confinement in the sheep ICU Forrest is back with the gang in the pasture and holdin his own!
August 2021
Big adventures unfolded in August 2021 in two main categories: sheep and goats go on a rotational grazing safari, and pastured pigs have babies!
The Winnebagoat was an instant hit with the flock.
Vernon scopes out the new digs.
Flaura and the girls enjoying the shade.
Lil Miranda approves.
Alabama - maybe not the smartest goat ever - finds a shady spot underneath.
Vernon: “Hey Flaura, did you hear about some fresh grass over there?”
Finnegan: “Did Vernon say something about fresh grass?!?!?!”
Moh (always chill): “It’s over here guys.”
Finnegan: “I’m all about it!”
Emerald: “Calm down, boys.”
Even the roosters are getting in on the vanlife influencer bandwagon.
Meanwhile, down in the woods the piggos are exploring their new territory…
A new mama gets moved into her new digs and straight off heads for the hot tub.
Hungry little piggies!
and…now they’re in a milk-coma…
Nighty-night lil piggos…
August 2022
Well, August must be piglet month.
Here’s a short vid clip showing part of our typical evening routine going down to feed the pigs.
In addition to new piglets, August 2022 was an eventful month!
Our friend Matthieu taught us the traditional Nigerian method for processing goat.
Goat rack-of-ribs.
The brains are a delicacy.
On a work trip to central Mexico I also got to tour an amazing agroecology project called Via Organica. I wrote about my visit and shared some video clips here.
One of the ideas I got from Via Organica is to cultivate giant agave plants and ferment them to make a super nutrient-dense silage for sheep and goats. I am going to find cultivars of agave that will grow in North Carolina and try this out. Don’t be surprised if you visit Magpie Hollow in a few years and see these huge alien plants growing!
After seeing your roosters, I have to share one of my very favorite book titles https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/234262.Extra_Extraordinary_Chickens . You could probably write the sequel!