The Case of The Missing Pigs - Part 1

It's 1:40AM, and I'm up because of a phone call.  "This is Renee at security  You probably don't want to hear this, but the pigs are in the road."  What!?  It's our 4 little orphan pigs (orphan because their mom died after she gave birth to them so the farmers raised them) and the Large Black gilt that we bought a couple months ago now.  I have searched high and low for these little buggers, but to no avail.  So, I'll keep you posted on the status of...The Case of The Missing Pigs. 

Also, wandering around the fields in the dark makes me want to get a dog even more than I already want a dog.  

What's Your Hurricane Story?

Last night Hurricane Sandy hit.  And I mean hit.  August of 2011 Hurricane Irene hit, but that was a much different storm.  With Irene, there just water.  So much water.  But with Sandy (at least where I live) it was wind.  We got rain, but no flooding in my town unlike the neighboring towns.  Wind like I have never felt before.  It was frightening.

Monday started with us putting the animals undercover.  The 45 cows we have were all going to go in the coverall.  But there was not enough room for the 112 ewes.  Previously I  discussed with my boss of putting the ewes in his green houses - 4 houses with 28 sheep each.  But Monday came and so did the weather report - winds 60mph or more.  Those little green houses with the plastic covering were NOT going to hold up during this storm.  Plan B came into play.  An empty building where construction is being done.  After permission from the CEO, the 112 ewes went into a future school building.  

We put plastic all over the walls, and with help from the residents at the farm, put a ton of nice bedding down.  I wanted to stay here for the hurricane!









The sheep were a little on the confused side..."Where the heck are we!? Why are we here!?" 










It was a good thing that we changed where we were going to put the sheep.  Because at about 4 o'clock, this is what we found:

 This was one of the green houses we were going to use...And this was before the storm really hit.

We put the the cows in the coverall.  They were a little tight.  We'll have to figure out exactly how we'll do this for the winter, but it's a good thing that they won't be in there for 24 hours a day.

Then Lakes and I went home at about 6 o'clock.  We didn't get home in time to take showers though.  The power was already out.  So we hung out by candlelight, then went back when the sun set to close the chickens in for the night.  The storm was really coming in now.  The wind and the rain.  When we pulled up to the field where the chickens were Lakes and I just stopped and looked at each other - one of the chicken coops had been pushed about 60 feet from where we had left it that morning.  We ran outside and found that most of the chickens hadn't even gone into the coop.  They all took cover underneath the coops.  We moved quick, catching all these chickens and getting them inside while getting soaked.  We could barely hear each other with the wind, and at times could barely move because of the wind.  We then ran to the stone wall that was near the field and loaded the truck with the largest rocks we could carry.  We chalked the tires of each of the 4 coops, each thinking how lucky that the wheels of the coop that did roll away turned so it didn't crash into the road.  After feeling like we did all we could for the layers, we checked the other animals.  The chicks were ok but I wasn't sure if their polyhouse was going to make it through the night.  The cows were good, and the ewes were perfect.  So we went home.  I had a pretty restless night, unable to sleep because of the wind and imagining that the roof was going to blow off the chicks' housing, the chicken coops were going to flip over, and all the bacon I'm holding in my freezer was going to spoil because the power was out. (It's a lot of bacon!)

I got up and went into work with my flashlight, desperate so see how my animals were.  On my way in I saw this:

You know how many times I went up and down this road during the storm!?  These trees have GOT to come down!  They are all dead anyway.

The pigs survived, I wasn't worried about them.  The chicks were safe!  Their house stayed together.  And the layers were just fine.  Here's picture of where the house was and where it ended up:

 The spot towards the right of the picture, where there is hay on the ground, was where the coop was.  The spot where the yellow coop is in the picture, is where the coop ended up.  And these are not just your backyard chicken coops!  They are heavy.

In the end, the animals were all safe and happy, the sheep having the best deal for the night.  It rained throughout the day today but the wind died down.  I am so grateful that we were so lucky, and thinking so much of the neighboring towns and states that were hit much harder.  It was an adventure all right.  There was one point last night I looked at Lakes and said, "Is this really happening right now?"  It didn't feel real, and I'm happy that the weight in my stomach I had all last night is gone.  

And the sheep were so happy to get our of the weird smelling building and on to fresh grass too.

 

Devons

I'm going to change it up tonight and instead of doing my TGIF post, I'm going to talk about Devon cattle.  

Most of you know that my heart lies with dairy cows.  But then I met a Devon cow when I came to my new farm, and slowly my heart went out to this beef breed.  They are beautiful little cows.  And they are small, meaning they don't take forever to grow and still build up a good amount of meat on their bones.  This helps them do extordinary on pasture.  They were made for it!  Coming from England, they are said to come directly from the prehistoric version of the cow.  Devons came to America in 1623, where they were once dual-purpose (used for both milk and beef).  But then with breeding, two variations of the breed came about, the Devon used for beef and the Milking Devon used for the obvious reason.  Another reason why I love them so - they are one of the most docile beef cows.  

So this week,  Cabbage Hill Farm in Mount Kisco, NY called us up and said they had 3 cows and 2 calves they wanted to donate to us.  I took a beautiful drive down through the Hudson Valley and picked up the most beautiful cows ever!  I'm so excited about them, and now begins my path of a complete Devon herd.  We are now up to 8 cows and 3 heifers.  Who needs these Chianina/Angus cows that are very unfriendly!?  Not me!  Take a look at these cows and you'll feel the same way.

The 3 cows

 Cute calf!! A little steer.

 We lucked out and got a heifer!  Woo woo!

Momma and son!

Community Supported Brewery...Say What!?

I am a beer person.  I love going out and trying new beers, supporting the local craft brews around the area.  I saw this and I thought it was such a cool idea.  We all heard of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) right?  You pay money, buy a share and get tons of fresh, yummy veggies and meat through the summer/year.  But this guy in Vermont (Go Vermont!) decided to start a CSB, or Community Supported Brewery.  People pay $200 for a share and get a different beer every month for a year.  That sounds AWESOME.  And the whole time you are supporting local agriculture!  This is another addition to my list on why I should move back to Vermont.  Take a look at the link for the full video.

Courtesy of WCAX.com

Jericho brewer wants you to drink your share: More and more people want to know where their food comes from. Whether it's knowing your butcher or local farmers. But what about your brewer?

 

Myths Busted!

I found this really interesting article about GMOs.  I thought that most of what I read was true, but to come to find out, it's not!  Read up and be prepared for your next argument about GMOs.

Top Five Myths Of Genetically Modified Seeds, Busted

by Dan Charles

October 18, 201211:51 AM

courtesy of NPR

 

 

Having just stepped into the shouting match over patents on genetically engineered crops, there are a few small things that I, too, would like to get off my chest.

I say small things. I'm not talking about today's big hot issues: Whether genetically modified organisms — GMOs — should be labeled, or cause cancer in rats, or might improve the lives of poor farmers in Africa; none of that.

This is about something simple: Seeds of GMOs. Various myths have grown up around these seeds. Like most myths, they are inspired by reality. But they've wandered off into the world of fiction.

Myth 1: Seeds from GMOs are sterile.
No, they'll germinate and grow just like any other plant. This idea presumably has its roots in a real genetic modification (dubbed the Terminator Gene by anti-biotech activists) that can make a plant produce sterile seeds. Monsanto owns the patent on this technique, but has promised not to use it.

Now, biotech companies — and Monsanto in particular — do seem to wish that this idea were true. They do their best to keep farmers from replanting the offspring from GMOs. But they do this because, in fact, those seeds will multiply.

Myth 2: Monsanto will sue you for growing their patented GMOs if traces of those GMOs entered your fields through wind-blown pollen.

This is the idea that I see most often. A group of organic farmers, in fact, recently sued Monsanto, asserting that GMOs might contaminate their crops and then Monsanto might accuse them of patent infringement. The farmers couldn't cite a single instance in which this had happened, though, and the judge dismissed the case.
The idea, however, is inspired by a real-world event. Back in 1999, Monsanto sued a Canadian canola farmer, Percy Schmeiser, for growing the company's Roundup-tolerant canola without paying any royalty or "technology fee." Schmeiser had never bought seeds from Monsanto, so those canola plants clearly came from somewhere else. But where?

Canola pollen can move for miles, carried by insects or the wind. Schmeiser testified that this must have been the cause, or GMO canola might have blown into his field from a passing truck. Monsanto said that this was implausible, because their tests showed that about 95 percent of Schmeiser's canola contained Monsanto's Roundup resistance gene, and it's impossible to get such high levels through stray pollen or scattered seeds. However, there's lots of confusion about these tests. Other samples, tested by other people, showed lower concentrations of Roundup resistance — but still over 50 percent of the crop.

Schmeiser had an explanation. As an experiment, he'd actually sprayed Roundup on about three acres of the field that was closest to a neighbor's Roundup Ready canola. Many plants survived the spraying, showing that they contained Monsanto's resistance gene — and when Schmeiser's hired hand harvested the field, months later, he kept seed from that part of the field and used it for planting the next year.
This convinced the judge that Schmeiser intentionally planted Roundup Ready canola. Schmeiser appealed. The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that Schmeiser had violated Monsanto's patent, but had obtained no benefit by doing so, so he didn't owe Monsanto any money. (For more details on all this, you can read the judge's decision. Schmeiser's site contains other documents.)

So why is this a myth? It's certainly true that Monsanto has been going after farmers whom the company suspects of using GMO seeds without paying royalties. And there are plenty of cases — including Schmeiser's — in which the company has overreached, engaged in raw intimidation, and made accusations that turned out not to be backed up by evidence.

But as far as I can tell, Monsanto has never sued anybody over trace amounts of GMOs that were introduced into fields simply through cross-pollination. (The company asserts, in fact, that it will pay to remove any of its GMOs from fields where they don't belong.) If you know of any case where this actually happened, please let me know.

Myth 3: Any contamination with GMOs makes organic food non-organic.
The organic rules prohibit the "use" of genetic modification in organic agriculture. But if pollen blows from genetically modified corn into your organic cornfield and pollinates a few kernels, you aren't "using" it — at least according to the USDA's interpretation of those rules. In fact, a lot of the organic corn that's fed to organically raised chickens or pigs, does contain some level of GMOs.
That said, organic producers typically do try to minimize the presence of GMOs, because their customers don't want them. It's usually not too hard to keep contamination to a very low level. But there are crops — specifically canola and corn — in which it's extremely difficult to eliminate it entirely.

Myth 4: Before Monsanto got in the way, farmers typically saved their seeds and re-used them.
By the time Monsanto got into the seed business, most farmers in the U.S. and Europe were already relying on seed that they bought every year from older seed companies. This is especially true of corn farmers, who've been growing almost exclusively commercial hybrids for more than half a century. (If you re-plant seeds from hybrids, you get a mixture of inferior varieties.) But even soybean and cotton farmers who don't grow hybrids were moving in that direction.

This shift started with the rise of commercial seed companies, not the advent of genetic engineering. But Monsanto and GMOs certainly accelerated the trend drastically.

Myth 5: Most seeds these days are genetically modified.
Actually, surprisingly few are. Here's the full list of food crops for which you can find GMO varieties: Corn, soybeans, cotton (for oil), canola (also a source of oil), squash, and papaya. You could also include sugar beets, which aren't eaten directly, but refined into sugar. There's also GMO alfalfa, but that goes to feed animals, not for sprouts that people eat. That leaves quite a lot of your garden untouched.
GMO versions of tomatoes, potatoes, and rice have been created and approved by government regulators, but they aren't commercially available.

Go Eagles!

I may be a little biased, but I could not agree more with Green Mountain College's (home of the Eagles) decision.  

Knowing where your food comes from is so important.  Food can travel around the world, through conditions that destroy the quality and the life-time of it.  And so much money is spent on fuel to get that food to places.  It's beautiful knowing exactly how that cow, pig, chicken, rabbit, etc... was born, how it was raised, how it was treated, when it died, where it was slaughtered and butchered.  How it was transported back to the farm, and who is eating it.  I remember talking to a woman and her two girls one day.  The girls were asking the difference between a Hereford calf and a Holstein calf.  I explained that the Hereford calf is raised for meat, and while a Holstein calf can be eaten, they are raised for producing milk that you buy in the stores.  The girls took the news surprisingly well, and were even interested in what I was saying.  Their mother on the other hand, seemed to be in shock that I would even say anything like that.  "But they live long, happy lives right?" looking sternly at me.  "Yes, they do," I said.  And then I watched them drive away in their SUV.  I could only imagine they were heading to the grocery store to buy some meat for dinner that came from across the country, from a cow that never ate anything except corn and walked on concrete his entire life.  

It's frustrating for me to read that people are really upset that Green Mountain College decided to cull their oxen, because one of them broke his ankle while doing his job - plowing.  Oxen are paired and trained at a young, young age.  Months old.  You cannot pair one oxen with another when they are older, because they would not know how to work with each other.  So, unfortunately the partner would not be able to do his job either.   And Green Mountain College's goal is sustainability.  All the meat will be going right back to their own cafeteria.  Yes the oxen have names.  But all those students know how fair they were treated.  These animals, though loved, are not pets, and were raised to have a job.  Not having a job to do will only torture them.  And speaking from experience with oxen who are not worked, become dangerous.   

Despite Protest, College Plans To Slaughter, Serve Farm's Beloved Oxen 

TGIF

I know, my TGIF post on a Saturday again. Actually it's Sunday now.

How Am I Trusting?

I'm trusting my feelings this week. My weekend has taken my back to my old farm and it's wonderful to be around dear friends again. The thought had crossed my mind: Why did I leave again? It's great to visit people, but I still trust my feeling that it was time to stop fighting and for me to move on.

How Am I Grateful?

I am grateful for the comfortable feeling that I have being back at my old farm, because of the peace that I have made with myself and the three and a half years I was there. I haven't completely shown my face in the community, but I'm comfortable with it being known that I'm visiting and if I run into people then that's great. And I'm comfortable not making a big deal about being here.

How Am I Inspired?

I am inspired by my close friends who have supported me and are clearly happy for me. The friends at my old farm have really seen me struggle, but they have supported me in my decision to leave and grow. I hope I can be just as supportive of them as they have been of me.

How Am I Practicing Faith?

Being back at my old farm makes me a little sad. I miss the community, I miss what I did as part of my job, I miss dairy cows. But I remind myself that I am exactly where I'm suppose to be right now, at this present moment.

Animal Movement

Moving animals is difficult. You have to not only know, but understand, how they move. You have to anticipate how they could react at every corner. You have to always be thinking at least one step ahead of them. I know how to move cows like the back of my hand. Moving sheep has been an steep learning experience (keep them together! If you loose one, you could be done for it). And fortunately with pigs, if you just hold off on a meal they'll follow the food wherever. Patience is the key. The moment you lose your patience, all is lost.

Another thing, as I learned today with Chatty and Peru, is that animals really don't like what is not familiar to them. We were separating a group of 18 feeder pigs today. These are the ones that'll eventually go to market. There were two groups, and they were just too far apart in size to be together. The little ones were getting beat up and not getting enough food. To move them we took a large hog panel and just kind of cornered the little ones out. But as you can tell by the picture, they so desperately wanted to stay where it was familiar. It's was pretty comical. Eventually we were able to get them separated, and they little ones were very happy to be on some green grass, to eat freely without bitten ears, and to grow into piggies that we'll one day eat (Thanks!!)

Inventive

I'm very proud of myself.  Organizing a lot of animals is hard.  Who to breed when, who has shown a heat so you can breed them, who has had what difficulty in the past, who has even had what in the past.  When they had their last vaccination, are the babies even covered by the vaccination?  Then there's the meat side of things - when will this animal be ready to go to market? Will we have enough animals to send in 2013? 2014? 2015!?  It doesn't help that I came into this job with hardly any records.  Mostly no records...  Anyway, there's a lot.  But I made the coolest thing on Sunday and finished it today.  A breeding wheel!

  
It's hard to see here.  But the center spins.  Most of the pigs are up on that board (minus one), and it gives me a huge visual on where each pig is in their reproduction cycle.  They make these for cows, but for the life of me I couldn't find anything for pigs.  It's a little complicated because pigs have 2 litters a year, but as long as you know how to read it, it serves the purpose.

I wonder what other ideas I have hidden up my sleeve?

From Field Hockey, to Rugby, to...Arm Wrestling?

Most of you know, I am an athlete.  So, what do you say?  Should I take up the newest sport in town?


For Lady Arm Wrestlers, It's Brawn Or Bust

by Brad Horn

October 14, 2012

The universe of great theatrical sports is rather small. There's roller derby and wrestling, but that's about as far as it goes.
But there's a new addition to this little corner of the sports world: women's arm wrestling. Jayme Dyer didn't know what to expect when she signed up for her first event in Durham, N.C., two years ago.
The sport seems to combine all the right ingredients — promising empowering, women-centered bawdiness that raises money for good causes. Not to mention some suggestive outfits.
"The first time I competed in arm wrestling, I had no idea what I was doing," says Dyer, a woman in her mid-20s with short brown hair and a slight physique. "And I won."
"I won the first round. I won the second round. And I almost won the championship round," she says. "I was like, 'Holy cow, if this is how well I can do when I haven't even been training, then man, I gotta start lifting weights."
Sitting on a bed in a Charlottesville, Va., hotel room, you'd have no idea by looking at her that she was about to make a transformation into a lingerie-clad burlesque entertainer. She looks more like the person she is during her day-job: a genetics researcher at Duke University.
"It's theatrical, and it's crazy, and wild, and really, really fun," she says.

Enlarge Brad Horn for NPR Jayme Dyer, aka "Ze Dirty Butcher," waits backstage before her match.

Dyer represented Durham at the very first national championships of the Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers — or CLAW — held in Charlottesville this summer. The competition, dubbed SuperCLAW, brought together eight women from around the nation for a DIY sport that's spreading from coast to coast — and may soon have leagues in Europe and South America.
Dyer's character is an invention named "Ze Dirty Butcher" — someone who wanted to be a burlesque dancer but couldn't make the cut. Dyer had a professional hair and make-up treatment before the bout, including a liberal splattering of fake blood on her minimally-clad body. For a woman who only wears makeup a few times a year, it was a dramatic transformation.
There are a range of women who compete — some with a better chance of winning than others. Dyer knew that with her slight stature she didn't have great odds for glory, but for her it was more about raising money for women's charities than taking home the title.
She grew up with a single mom in Colorado Springs, Co. At 16, she was removed from her home after witnessing her mom's suicide attempt. Her mother was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
"I felt like Pig-Pen," the shabby boy from the Peanuts comics, Dyer says. "I remember walking around with this cloud of dirt. I remember walking to work and thinking that everyone driving by could see this stain on my soul. And I had to survive either by shutting down or by looking at it. And I looked at it."
Ze Dirty Butcher, she says, is a big part of her growth.
"I want to be happy. I want to be more relaxed. Letting go is not easy for me whatsoever. I think the costume helps with it. I put on this costume, I put on this different character, and Jayme doesn't have to let go anymore. Because, it's 'Ze Dirty Butcher' and that's what she does."
Dyer wrestled two different women, and eventually lost to a bruiser of a woman who ended up taking home the crown.
Standing outside in front of the historic theater after the bout, she didn't look like she'd suffered defeat. In fact, she beamed.
"I didn't win the championship, I knew I wouldn't," Dyer said. "But the crowd loved me."
It was late, but the downtown pedestrian arcade was still full with the late-night crowd. Many people made double-takes at Dyer in her heels and red lingerie.
"What I love about women's arm wrestling is that it's about women being strong. And in our culture, what makes a woman sexy is being really skinny – and skinny women aren't strong," she said. "These arm wrestling events have women go up on stage and flex their muscles, and the crowd goes wild."

 

TGI...S?

I know!  It's Saturday and I didn't get a chance to do my TGIF posting.  My friend, Mitten, is in town (she's from Michigan, the Mitten state). So here's my posting!

How Am I Trusting?

I'm trusting my limits.  And I'm learning that I actually have more limits then I thought.  This mostly comes with my job.  It's hard working 6 days a week, 10 to 12 hour days.  But I am doing it, though sometimes a little begrudgingly.  And I have a steep learning curve here.  I've never worked with sheep, I haven't really worked in a strict beef or pork operation.  I know what I know, and I know what I don't, and what I don't I am patient with myself and learn about them.

How Am I Grateful?

I'm grateful this week for good friends who I can always call and talk too.  This week (and most weeks) I'm grateful for The Monster Librarian.  Our friendship only goes back a few years, and we have had our downs, but without those downs we won't be nearly as close as we are today.  We talk multiple times a week, and it's wonderful having a person who's going through the same things as you - moving to a new place, becoming a manager of a dream job, and the difficult task of working on yourself.  If only we weren't a state apart, which compared to where I grew up in New England, we're like 8 states apart.

How Am I Inspired?

This week I'm inspired by forgiveness.  It's a powerful tool that you can keep in your toolbelt, as one of my rugby coaches says.  Feeling at peace with what has happened in your life, feeling at peace with someone who has hurt you, or feeling at peace with not living up to your own expectations takes a lot of weight off your shoulders.  It's a hard, long road to get there and it takes practice, but it's worth it.

How Am I Practicing My Faith?

Pretty much everyday with my job.  There are many things out of my control - like when I'm suppose to be moving into a new house (then I can finally have my cat!), trying to get two days off a week, gaining the trust of people around me.  It's frustrating, but I just refocus my energy in what I can do.  I know I can do my job, that's the only thing I can control.  So I put my energy in that and soon everything else will follow.   

Dorpers!

Today was exciting!  We got a handsome new ram.  He's beautiful!  A little spunky, if you are comparing him to Uggs and Guinness, our two old Romney rams that we have.  The coolest thing about Dorpers, and the main reason why I got them, is because they are hair sheep.  This means that they shed their coat, instead of your typical sheep where you have to sheer the wool.  Yay! No sheering!  Well, in a couple generations anyway.  

Dorpers are meat sheep, and produce a tasty, lean meat under pretty tough conditions.  Bred in South Africa, they are really tough sheep (most sheep are known for being pretty fragile).  The Dorpers are a little more worm resistant, produce lambs that gain weight fast, and are fertile little buggers.  Most sheep you can only breed once a year, but this sheep you can breed twice a year if you were organized enough.  There are two varities - the Dorper (who has a black head) and the White Dorper, who has a white head, making them all white.  

Take a look at the pictures!  

 

Alligators?

I found this article on NPR.  This chicken farmer got alligators to eat dead chickens.  Read on.  

Plucky Former Poultry Farmer Goes Wild For Gators

by Philip Graitcer

October 8, 2012

Just outside of Camilla, Ga. — about four hours southwest of Atlanta — up a dirt road called Alligator Lane, is one of the largest alligator farms in the country.

"We've got about 20 chicken houses, and we've got about 100,000 alligators on the farm," says owner, Mark Glass.

That's right, 100,000 alligators and they are in big demand in Europe's high fashion industry.
Right now, it's hatching season.

"Actually there's one of them on the floor running around now," Glass says, as a black and yellow striped alligator, about 5 inches long from head to tail, scurries across the floor. Glass picks him up.  "Yeah, that's one that just hatched, that's him barking," he says. "And they will bite as soon as they hatch."

Glass started out as a chicken farmer. He bought a few alligators to help dispose of dead chickens because burning and burying the birds was getting too expensive. But Glass soon learned that taking care of alligators cost money, too — they needed a lot of attention and they are ate more than just dead chickens.

Glass began raising alligators commercially, for their hides and meat.

At first, he kept them in an outdoor pond, but that almost had near disastrous results. Once, after releasing about 750 alligators into the pond, he took a closer look at the fence.

"I finally went and picked up an alligator and carried him to the fence and set him down, he walked right through the fence, and I was like 'Oh no, these alligators aren't as big as I thought they were,'" he says. "We had to quickly get all the hardware stores in town to open up, we bought all the chicken wire that existed. We didn't lose but one or two."

But it's quiet on this alligator farm — no slapping of tails, no splashing, no Crocodile Dundee. The alligators spend their entire lives indoors in barns where everything is controlled, including food, climate and water temperature.

They spend their lives in semi-darkness, so they won't be too aggressive, because when they fight, it's bad for business.

"The industry we are selling the alligator hides into, the Louis Vuittons, the Hermes, the Gucci, Prada, Chanels, they want perfect premium skins. No scars, no blemishes, no scratches," he says.

It's hard to imagine that these prehistoric-looking reptiles, swimming around in a smelly pond on a South Georgia farm, may one day grace the arms of the world's beautiful people.

"We grow them to somewhere between 3 1/2- to 6-feet long," Glass says. "The small hides are 3 1/2- to 4-foot and they go into the watch strap market for the high end watches, the 5 1/2- to six-footers go into the women's handbag market."

Glass never imagined himself as an alligator farmer. But he should have had a premonition: 20 years ago, he proposed to his wife at a Florida vacation spot called Alligator Point.

Courtesy of NPR http://www.npr.org/2012/10/08/162514260/plucky-former-poultry-farmer-goes-wild-for-gators

Forgiveness

I found this and thought it was beautiful.  Forgiving yourself is so essential your lifetime.  We all make mistakes, we all don't like ourselves at one time or another.  But hanging on to that anger, hurt, sadness, fear, shame, guilt, doesn't allow you to move on. 

"Today I recognize my past does not dictate my future, and I am now free to be who I always wished I could be."

 

TGIF

Happy Friday!

How Am I Trusting?

I'm trusting people who are honest this week.  Honesty is the most important aspect of a human being for me.  And I tend to loose a lot of respect for people who are not honest.  And I feel like in order to be honest with others you have to be honest with yourself.  And if you can't be honest with yourself, then how are you living your life?  

Anyway, today I helped a coworker (I'll call him Deere because he always wears a John Deere hat) talk to our boss about how our boss reacted to him today in front of everyone.  I was shocked to witness this behavior by our boss, and jumped in the cut him off from beating Deere with words.  I talked to Deere later today and encouraged him to talk to our boss about how that made him feel.  Deere did, and our boss appreciated it and apologized.  

How Am I Grateful?

I'm grateful for honesty (there might be a theme here this week).  Last night Lakes and I went out.  It was WONDERFUL.  We both had so much fun.  Lakes and I have worked together for 3 years now, and have formed a very lovely relationship.  We are able to work together well, be grumpy around each other and not take offense, tell each other how we are feeling that day, and then go out and have fun and not think about work.  Last night when we went out, we promised that we'd always be honest with each other about how we are feeling about our job and our feelings about how each of us is handling our job.  It feels good knowing that we are going to continue our honest relationship.

How Am I Inspired?

By honesty!  How I feel when I'm honest with another person and with myself, is such a wonderful feeling.  Separating it from the reason why I am being honest, I'm always happy that I am honest.  Because like I said, if I'm not honest then how am I living my life?

How Am I Practicing Faith?

Don't mistake that I'm rude or negative in my honesty.  I practice empathy in my honesty - that's important.  Even though honesty is one of the most difficult things to do, I have faith that I am doing the right thing when I'm honest.  

  

Sullivan County Oysters

Our 14 little piglets had to get the old castration and the first iron shot on Wednesday.  The operation went surprisingly smooth.  We had to move their momma, Diana, into another pen, then we just grabbed the piglets and went far away.  When I first got to this job, I had to castrate piglets that were 3 months old.  Talk about HORRIBLE.  But, 7 males handled themselves well.  Some screaming and one bite landing on Lakes' forearm and that was it. 

Then we went back to Diana...

She apparently wasn't as happy as we thought.  We locked her in her original pen and quickly tossed the piglets back in.  She didn't really want anything to do with us yesterday, but was better with me today when I went to say hello.

One nice thing that we discovered about Diana is that Diana is the Roman Goddess of the Hunt, Goddess of the Moon, and also the Goddess of Birthing.  How fitting!

"When Pigs Attack"

This story so sad.  Momma Craig told me about this today so had to see if it was true.  A poor man in Oregon went out to feed his pigs and was found later dead by his family.  This article talks more about incidents when farm animals did hurt or kill their owners.  It's hard to remember sometimes, that these mostly docile-looking creatures can do serious damage. (Courtesy of Slate.com) 
 

Pig Bites Man

How often do livestock deliberately kill farmers?

By Brian Palmer

Updated Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012, at 11:40 AM ET

An Oregon farmer was eaten by his hogs on Wednesday. The 70-year-old Vietnam veteran had gone to feed the animals in the morning, and his family found his dentures and scattered remains in the hog pen several hours later. Authorities are trying to determine whether the pigs deliberately killed the man. Do livestock intentionally kill their owners?

Yes. Cattle kill approximately 22 Americans per year nationwide, and the animals deliberately attack their victims in 75 percent of those cases, according to a 2009 study. About one-third of bovine killers have a history of aggressive behavior. Swine likely kill fewer people than cattle do, but there are no reliable data on this question. The CDC’s mortality statistics group together all mammal attacks apart from those perpetrated by rodents, dogs, and humans. The death count in the mammal-attack category averages about 73 per year, including cattle-related mortalities.

There are, however, plenty of anecdotes suggesting that swine are willing and able to kill humans. British pigs seem to have a particularly aggressive streak. In 2006, a 650-pound swine pinned a Welsh farmer to a tractor and bit him until the victim’s wife scared the attacker off with a water hose. The same year, a pig foraging in England’s New Forest—a hunting ground where farmers pasture their swine—caused a horse to throw its rider, then mauled the prone woman.

Livestock display an alarming ability to coordinate their attacks. A herd of cattle circles up to confront a perceived threat, with their backsides in the center of the circle and their heads lowered. They may even paw the ground, like a bull facing a matador. Of the 21 cattle-related fatalities in the Plains states between 2003 and 2008, five involved multiple animals swarming the farmer. Pigs are also known to attack cooperatively. In 2007, a sow in Norfolk, England knocked a farmer off his feet, enabling the other pigs to bite the man.

If confronted by an agitated pig or cow, back away and get behind a barrier such as a tree. It also helps to carry a large stick as a weapon and to make yourself appear larger.

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