Going Solar

Alex started installing these panels a couple weeks ago. He got the racks and microinverters up on a Saturday afternoon, and then continued with the wiring. We used the Enphase microinverters for the grid tie in system, that way we don't have to worry about batteries or anything.

This past Sunday, we had friends and family come down to help get the panels up to the roof and installed. A special shout out to Nathan, Aaron, dad, Danny, and Nick! Thanks for all your help! My mom came down too and helped me cook lunch for our hard workers (thanks mom!).

We got a great kit from Anapode solar that came with the racking, solar panels, and Enphase microinverters. It is a 3kwatt system, 12 solar panels. Alex did a lot of looking around before he went with this kit. Our electrician is coming tomorrow to inspect it, then Ameren will come install the net metering system. After that we can send all the paperwork to Ameren for our rebate. They will give us $2/watt. And then when it comes time to do our taxes we'll get money back from the government too. The system will have cost us almost nothing when all is said and done.

Our neighbor up the road also installed solar panels. We went and talked to him and his wife a couple weeks ago about the process. It has gone really smoothly for them, they just got their rebate check from Ameren.

After we get our rebate we'll be ready for round 2. We want to put them over the garage roof too!

Farm Piglets!

Upon feeding the animals this morning, we discovered that big pink had her piglets! Mom and babies look like they are doing really well. There are eight for this first time momma. Two of them are spotted, the rest are pink.

They were hiding out in the wall of the house, so we added more straw so they would come out and still be nice and warm.

They're so little and they have huge ears! I love finding piglets in the morning!

It's been so long!

Well, a lot has been happening at Sweet Pig Farm, but our laptop was out of commission. Our hard drive got burned up. We finally replaced it! I tried to post a few things from my smartphone, but I was not able to load pictures (which was very frustrating).

The orchard is completely planted. We have lost a couple of the paw paw trees, but most of the others seem to be doing pretty well. We're still waiting for the granny smith trees to come to life. I have some hope left, because the pecan trees just woke up a few weeks ago. We shall see.

We've got the garden pretty much completely planted. It seem there is always more to ad, and Alex still has some peppers that were started inside that need to be planted.

We also planted a mini garden in 3 big wood boxes that Alex got. Its small enough to fence in, so the animals don't bother it. It's really coming along!

There are peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers in these boxes.

The grape vines have really taken off this spring too. We've added a second row to them, and still have some room for more rows (maybe next year and the year after).

The blueberries are coming in nicely. There is some sort of bug that keeps getting them, but they are managing to produce berries!

We have a pregnant feeder pig. She's getting bigger and bigger. I'm not sure when she got pregnant. We took her boyfriend to the butcher a few weeks ago. It is really tasty meat. Yes, we love our pet pigs, but we still love to eat pork. We were raising these 2 pink pigs for that purpose. If this female is a good mother, we will probably keep her and breed her with the male red wattle hog that we brought home in the fall.

She's getting there.

We also bought a shorter electric net fence for the mini pigs. We talked about building a permanent fence around the field behind the barn for them, but this was much more cost effective. They've really been enjoying access to the grass.

 Perry and Drake are always talking!

Perry and Big D did really well with it. Pinky and Drake took a little time to get used to it. Poor things go running across the field when they get shocked. Today is Perry and Big D's day to get the field; tomorrow will be Pinky and Drake's day.

We sold all of our mini piglets! These two little cuties went to their new home last night. I'm glad they both went together. They're lucky little piggies.

They were both little boys. We called the one on the right "Freckles" because of the spots on his nose.

The Garden

The garden is going. Alex started the tomatoes and peppers some time ago, and now we're planting. In the front we planted tomatoes, sugar snap peas, romaine lettuce, spinach, carrots, zucchini, green beans, cantalope and watermelon. We've also got oats and corn growing for the pigs. We also started a smaller scale garden in the back with tomatoes and cucumber. Peppers will be added soon. It was 90 out there today, so i put out the mini pigs' kiddie pools! Haven't seen them swimming today, but they looked excited!

Burgess Order is In

The rest of our trees came in last week. Alex was able to plant them on Sunday. So for now, our fruit/nut orchard is complete. We do still have room for more, if we want to add to it later. He also tilled up the garden I'm working on in the driveway circle.

We've been working on getting our island ready for the kitchen. We bought a small cabinet we found on sale at the end of summer, and its been in the garage. We bought a nice piece of wood to use for the counter top and Alex stained it this weekend as well. (Alex did all the work on the farm this weekend because I had to work.) All that is left is attaching the counter top and painting it once we get it in the house.

I did some gardening on Friday and Monday. Today its a little wet and rainy. I dug up the weeds in the garden and planted my daylillies. I can't wait til they pop up. All my lillies from last year popped up and have already multiplied! I need to get some bushes for the driveway circle garden.
We also finally updated our mailbox, so I will have to do some landscaping up there to make it extra pretty.

Just enjoying a quiet, rainy day today. :)

Pond in Progress

Sunday we worked on the pond. We've got this big dip in the back of our property that we're working on clearing out to make it. Last summer Alex and his friends cut this enormous tree down. At the time we didn't have a way to get it out of there. We got the big pieces out of the hole, using the tractor and our scoop. We were able to load them up the hill and then rolled the logs up a ramp into the back of the truck. It was exhausting.

This is the pond after moving the big logs. Its hard to capture the dip here.

These were the biggest logs we've moved yet!

Big D Piglets

On March 28, Big D had her piglets. She had 7 this time. I think there are at least 3 girls. They are solid black, but some have her pink nose.

This past Sunday was beautiful outside. I tried to take pictures of all our pigs enjoying it. I'm working on getting good shots of the piglets.

 Perry and Drake seemed to be having some bonding time while the mommas were feeding their babies.

 The pinks were laying in the sun a lot, but they wouldn't let me get a picture of that.

 Everyone is up and about.

 Wils loves the sun.

Della enjoying the grass.