Learning to Put 2 & 2 Together...

     So- it's been a crazy week and a half around the Martin household! We are both finishing up finals and, with them, our last semester or true college classes. We are both really excited to be so close to finishing college and graduating in May, but it is so hard to stay motivated! With that said, our latest endeavor began during finals week...

WELDING!!!

     Yep. It's the one thing my husband doesn't know how to do (you think I'm kidding). So I made a deal with Hubz- he could buy a welder if he would build me a chicken tractor. That's what I like to call a win-win. :]

     But wait wait wait, "What the heck is a chicken tractor?!?" you say? Only the most awesome invention since sliced bread- and little did I know, an idea that is about as old... and no, it's not what you think! My first thoughts were, "Chickens used as a tractor? Huh?"...

     And then

 this crazy picture popped into my head! 

     But no, basically it's much less ridiculous than the name implies. It's just a mobile chicken coop... and it's coming along nicely! Hubz is a fast learner. He's been using scrap metal we found around the farm and he's already got the frame almost finished. We have our last finals tomorrow and Hubz is going to stop and pick up some chicken wire and probably a new cut off wheel for his angle grinder (totally just learned what that was called) at his favorite store on his way home tomorrow. I can't wait to go to the chicken sale! "]

If You Give a Bull a Biscuit...

     Hello! I'm Leah. I've been planning on starting my own blog for some time now and, well, ta-dah! I'm finally entering my last semester of college and I will have a little more time to manage a blog. I'll be posting here about our farm adventures and any other odds and ends we run into along the way! With that in mind, I have a first post to share! :]

     I am currently interested in getting into pigs. I know I sound crazy. We've never raised pigs before, well, with the exception of pot belly pigs just for the fun of it, but I was too young to be aware of the finances of the situation. I've been reading and researching about the ups and downs of pig rearing on other farming blogs and in articles. From the information I've gathered, the two biggest money-eating aspects are a) pig food and b) butchering costs. Since we won't be attempting DIY butchering on our first go-around, the area I'm attempting to cut costs in is pig food.

     One local feed store offers 50 lb bags of feed for about $10 per bag, an amazing price, but the less money spent- the better. So, to make a long story short, I've been calling around local businesses asking for free out-of-date bread or practically free out-of-date bread. Yesterday- SUCCESS! Given- we don't have the pigs yet, but I wanted to see how much free bread we were talking about before buying pigs and getting in over our heads here... and let me just say it was not disappointing! We only took about half of what was offered and it easily filled over half of our 50 gallon drum! If this source stays available, it will significantly cut our costs in pig feed. For now, Bull is pleased! 

 

-Leah