BEEN A REALLY LONG TIME! We are back. Two kids, many home improvement projects, and hundreds of pigs later, we got things handled and want to get back to sharing.

• No more pet pig breeding..... We heard too many sad stories from bad owners. Thanks to the good owners out there. Some pigs found some great homes.
• Smaller flock of hens. Keeping 6 just for ourselves, easy.  If we have extras, friends and family first get them first
• Feeders / finishers or butcher pigs just 2 or 3 a year. One for us and friends. A big herd just wasn't worth the work for us.
• One set of breeding pigs, one litter a year. Its been hard to sell the guinea hogs (AGH). Most people want something that grows fast. We had 3 breeders and over 40 pigs summer of 2017, it wasn't worth it. Check out the stages of growth of the pigs - Pig video
• Started work on the pond. Clearing the land first. Working on it here and there - Me in the skid steer (video)
• Fire wood, going through a ton. Got a wood furnace (video) or should I say modified one. 
• Got a wood splitter. Amazing deal got a few videos of it - log splitter
• Even went "green" with a cordless 40V chainsaw. Got solar, so why not - Log Cutting
• Still working on fencing. About 40% done. Side, front, and some of the field. 
• How can I forget? A MINI TRUCK found one with a bad engine then by some crazy luck found a working engine. Been crazy useful and fun. 

More videos to come. Projects included.... homemade brass hammer, casting metal, and of course the PIGS!!

Great Way to Cut up Logs

Check out our latest YouTube video for a great way to cut up your logs.
Here at Sweet Pig Farm we are working on clearing away lots of trees to make room for an orchard and pasture for our animals. We have discovered this awesome way to save us time and energy to cut up the logs.

Cutting Up Logs

We are able to cut down and cut up a tree in 30 minutes to an hour (depending on size) with just us two.

Indoor Starter Greenhouse

We're getting ready for a busy spring. We got our vegetable garden started by planting some tomatoes, husk cherries, and peppers inside.

We're trying something a little different this year. We've made a mini greenhouse to put in our bay window.

We used a clear under the bed storage container to make our greenhouse.
We took toilet paper rolls and cut them in half and then filled them with potting soil. Then planted our seeds.

This should help cut down on watering and keep our plants warmer. We only set our heater for 60* and when we're home heat it the rest of the way with our wood burning stove.

We labeled the outside with what we've planted where and when with a dry erase marker.

We saved plenty of room for more. We've ordered some more seeds today, including more varieties of tomatoes. I would like to try growing some yellow potatoes and sweet potatoes, but we need to get those soon to get them started. I've also ordered some butternut squash and spaghetti squash. I'm going to be busy making lots of dishes with all of our produce to freeze and eat over winter.... that's the plan anyway!

Mini Piglet Blowing Bubbles

One of Della's piglets started doing the cutest thing. She would blow bubbles in her water bowl. We think Uncle Wilson taught her, but she put her own spin on it! Check it out! Its really cute.

See Video Here :)

Blowing bubbles

Baby girl with her momma

Out with the Old, In with the New - Flooring that is

For the last 3 weekends and during the week after work we've been working on tearing up carpet and laying ceramic tiles in our living room/ dining room. It has turned out absolutely beautiful!
We found a really pretty sand glazed tile from a discount home improvement store in Missouri, Hoods. We purchased all of our other supplies (grout, mortar, underlayment) from Lowes.

We went with the sand glaze ceramic tile because it had a really great texture to it, which is perfect for our piggies. We certainly didn't want to get something that they would be sliding around on.

We pulled up the old carpet and removed the baseboards and all the tack board and nails in the floor.

Under the spots in the carpet where the pigs like to go potty we painted the floor with Kilz primer to seal out any unwanted smells.

For our underlayment we used HardyBoard. We put down floor and tile mortar by Mapei and troweled it out, followed by HardyBoard and lots of screws to seal the HardyBoard down. After the mortar had set, we could start tiling.

We used Mapei ceramic tile mortar, troweled it out and placed the tiles down. We used 1/4 in spacers in between each tile.

We're still finishing up the grouting. The main area of the rooms are finished, we just have a small area in a walkway to finish. For the grout we chose a grey color to match the tiles. I also figured the grey would show little wear or dirt in the future and be easier to keep clean than a lighter color. We used Mapei grout as well.

I will have to post pictures of the finished project, but here are a few near completion. This is prior to grouting, you can still see our spacers in the floor.

This is exactly the coloring of tile I was hoping to find. It really goes great with our wall colors and other decor.

Della likes the new floor, and of course the wood burning stove is her favorite place to relax.

We're finishing up the grouting and need to get some new baseboards to put up. Alex is talking about making some out of cedar, which would be really pretty and help keep bugs away.

We did one room at a time. I'm so glad that the furniture is back in the living room. After we get the baseboards up we can put the dining room all back together.

Pinky's Piglets

Pinky had another litter of piglets! They were born overnight Saturday. They are all looking healthy and strong. Pinky looks really good too. We'll have to keep a close eye on her weight to make sure she stays healthy. Our mommas always lose too much weight after they have their litters.
Here are some pictures!

I always forget how small they are when they are first born.

I'm really excited about the one with the most pink. He is really handsome. We've never gotten that coloration from her before.

Animal Bedding

Check out our YouTube video on animal bedding!
Animal Bedding
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afy_VnXVU94


Hay, straw, and other bedding is getting expensive. Some people forget to use the things at hand. Where we live we have tons of oaks surrounding us. Instead of mowing the leaves and mulching them up, we rake them up and save them for the pigs. We will be making a leaf baler soon for the tractor!