Another hard day in the office...

[Stonehead]

Well, it's been a hard week trying to get the last of the fencing finished, the pigs moved, the old pen dug up and last of the potatoes on (the soil is only just warm enough now).

But today was even harder. The pigs went into the new pen easily enough and I wheeled the rotavator (a 9hp BCS) out to turn the old one over.

The only problem is that the ground is rock hard. If anyone tells you pigs are good at turning the soil over - don't believe them.

In first gear and with the engine throttled back, the rotavator was still bouncing off the soil so I decided to try a fork and shovel (my new Azada has yet to arrive).

No joy. In fact, I even bent the tines of my best gardening fork.

So, it was over the crowbar and mattock to break the ground up for the rotavator. Now, I'm a bit of a digging enthusiast, but with 400m of hard ground to break up you can see why I still hadn't finished at 6.30pm, why I'm currently savouring a chilled ginger beer and why I plan to collapse into bed in about five minutes.

Oh, and I'll be out there at 5.45am tomorrow as it's going to take at least another full day's work before I can get the last of the potatoes in. Ah, the joys of good, hard work!

Stonehead

PS The OH got what I consider to be the worst job - stone collecting! She took away about 20 barrow loads and barely made an impact. Now you know why this place is called Stonehead Croft!

[Stonehead]

The OH has just earned serious brownie points - she slipped out while I was online and has just plonked a large bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of me! Probably doesn't sound like much, but ice-cream is a very, very rare treat around here and after such a hard day it's absolutely brilliant.

I think I'll keep her on - at least until the work is finished!

Stonehead

[Wombat]

Nice!

Nev

[Lou8]

Oh you definitely deserve your chocolate ice cream.

Sounds like you two make a good team.

[Stonehead]

Well, it was another hard day yesterday. We started at 6am and went at it with crowbar, mattock and forks. The soil is rich in organic matter, but it's very compacted and, in places, is thick with pine tree roots.

If you stick the crowbar in and lever, you get vast slabs of compacted earth breaking away. These then have to be smashed apart with the mattock and then fork to get them down to a size the rotavator can handle. The mattock also gets a workout chopping out roots, while our pick also made an appearance to get some large stones out.

By 2pm, we'd broken up enough of an area to get the rotavator in but it was was still hard going. I had it throttled down in first, but it was bump steering all over the place because of all the hard lumps of earth.

We called it quits at 7.30pm and then went inside for a quick dinner before bottling ginger beer until 10.30pm. The OH is back at work today, so I'm on my own today as I try to get through more of it.

Does anyone else still want to try their hand at self-sufficiency?

Stonehead

PS We can't wait for the boys to get a bit bigger and start doing the work for us!

[Stonehead]

And for the people who wonder if we're planting the potatoes too late - not only did it take until last week for the ground temperature to rise to 7C and stay there for three consecutive days, but we also had a hard frost this morning (-3C). Last year, we had frosts until early May.

Stonehead

[Boots]

Hi Stoney,
Sounds like you folks are putting in some big days. You are a right little Titan. Sounds great though, there is nothing better than coming to the end of a day buggered, and feeling you have accomplished stuff that you can see all around you.

I am not sure if its a breed thing. I used to chat with a pig breeder down south who had black pigs and she said hers didn't dig either. I have only ever had Landraces and Great Whites, but I have had to train them to plough.

When they are young and still in pens (our pens are earth based) I hide things during cleanup. Corn, spuds, grain, apples, whatever ends up in the bucket really... and I always scatter-feed my pigs, so they have to rummage for it.

I have noticed if I don't do it during the first couple of months, they hardly turn the surface when they get older and just wait to be hand fed. Those that are encouraged to plough spend all day digging about looking for surprises and once they come out into the big pens they just party. Not sure if it might be worth a try? It sure makes a huge difference when you can just run a pig through a pen to plough for the last rotation! Saves a heap of back aches.

[ina]

Maybe the soil has just been too dry and therefore too hard for the pigs? There's not been much rain recently (after the snow).

I haven't started getting my potatoes out yet, either. Only saw the first farmers busy on their tattie fields a week ago, so I reckon I'm not late yet! Groundfrost here, too.

[Stonehead]

Maybe the soil has just been too dry and therefore too hard for the pigs? There's not been much rain recently (after the snow).

I haven't started getting my potatoes out yet, either. Only saw the first farmers busy on their tattie fields a week ago, so I reckon I'm not late yet! Groundfrost here, too.

Yes, very dry but I also think the pigs are fussy about where they dig. There are three big craters (like the Somme) but everywhere else they've merely skimmed off the top inch of turf.

Stonehead

[ina]

There are three big craters (like the Somme)

Hhmm. Plant holes for trees? There must be a use for craters...

[albert onglebod]

Good work Stonehead!
I hope you carry on with your days at the office thread, I like hearing how everyone is doing.