- None. Well, none on the farm. It was an enforced day off because Leslie and Jeff were taking a first-aid course, and Ali (my only other ride to the farm) was sick.
- Chores. See below.
- Transplanted lots of tomatoes. Seeded melons.
- Lunch.
- Mixed the rest of the compost in the greenhouse into potting mix. Moved it all to the front (the heated portion) of the greenhouse. We had cleared a space the other day when we moved the brassicas outside. We now have a small area to store potting soil and a seeding area. See this diagram:
- We cleared out the unheated area of all the seeding stuff and then hosed the soil down in hopes of making a bit more workable.
- I sorted a few baskets of rutabaga into largish and smallish so that the largish ones could be sold in the farm store first.
Okay. This morning's chores came with the added excitement of helping Johann castrate the piglets. We began by separating the mother, Greta, from the piglets. We did this by luring her away with food. We enclosed her in a nearby pen, and Johann warned that she may get pretty violent once she realises that she can't get to her babies. Then we cornered the piglets in their pen and I kept them cornered whilst Johann did the dirty deed one piglet at a time. About half way through Greta escaped from her pen by busting the door open.
Suddenly both Johann and I were in a rather peculiar situation. It was if we were both stranded on an island with dangerous fish swarming the waters around us. The island was the piglet pen, of course, which we had locked ourselves into to protect us from the dangerous fish that was Greta. She was... livid? She was almost barking. Johann managed to maneuver out of the pen we were in and slowly force Greta back into her pen. I braced the door of the pen whilst Johann singlehandedly finished with the piglets.
2 comments:
Man, I'm glad you and the piglets had another barrier of protection against mama pig! I wonder what could have happened otherwise - mauled you? Or maybe mauled Johann while he commanded you to save yourself? Those sows are massive and fierce.
I'm not exactly sure what she would have done, though I got a preview. When Johann finally jumped out of our pen there was a moment where he was face to face with Greta. He kept his hands in front of him, and darted backwards a few steps when she charged him. But it seemed as if she was also frightened of him, because he was able to yell and wave her back into her pen, more or less.
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