Blind Hog and Acorn

Blind Hog and Acorn have been busy busy- composting, gardening, lighting, welding ... Even if it means eating a big lunch then falling promptly to sleep for 90 minutes... Garden is in the process of being planted, kidding has about ended. Had to make a run for conduit so acorn could have hoops to support the floating row covers for the bed she planted today. Morels have begun to pop out, Sam the Farm Dog has a new backpack. Listen in and see what else has been going on...

Of course, when you check the air in one tire you automatically want to check the air in ALL the tires, right? Well, maybe wrong- especially if you are checking air in fluid-filled tires and the valve has corroded. Acorn found this out the hard way and long story short, a tractor tire valve had to be replaced, STAT! Good news is that all went fine, except for the 38 miles out and back but it was a lovely late afternoon. Busy week on the farm; selling goats, stringing out grazing areas in...

Acorn is incubating all sorts of ideas to make farm dollars, literally and figuratively. 14 goose eggs are in an incubator, and 2 doz chicken eggs to go into the other. Pending goat and heifer sales, let the good times roll! Blind Hog continues progress working on the wall sculpture commission, so that is also most excellent. Lacking only 5 more goats to kid, "piss or get off the pot!" Acorn is getting a bit tired of waiting on the stragglers, but stragglers they are. These girls must have...

First day of spring on the farm and how cold was it??? 23F!!! Crazy! Good news is that it will be warmer next couple weeks, so that will be helpful for the new baby goats- up to 41 total now- is a field of popping white kidlets out in the field. Blind Hog and Acorn have been doing the usual chores, setting out hay, counting the kids. Even started back on that sculpture friends Glen and Becky desire. Acorn could not help giving Blind Hog a hard time about "studio help..." Pasture rotation...

Acorn has been dusting off her caprine midwifery skills, Blind Hog has been Master Electrician. As of now, 21 kids on the ground! Bottle kids are cute, but not desired. They wrap around your ankles worse than cats. A set of 3 lb twins born- will see if they will pull on through. Is almost time to give them another bit of colostrum- they cannot stand yet to nurse, so any assistance now will help them down the road. Ethel the Goose has begun to lay- using her older eggs for baked goods....

Let the pigeons fly! 2021 Kidding, Round 2 has begun! Old Fawn, 10 yrs old popped out twins. What more did Blind Hog and Acorn get up to this week? The usual chores, plus plumbing and electric repairs. Weather is nice, but it turned out all the crazies in the Big City. Lawdy- all the wrecks, all the people. Shopping is not a delight but something to be done in the early weekday mornings- not on a Sunny Saturday afternoon!

The sap run was short and sweet! Acorn figures it was actually a false run, brought on by the Polar Vortex. Two weeks of below freezing temps forced the sap back down, and when the temps warmed up, up came the sap. Good enough for two quarts total of finished syrup. Impressive, especially if you think of the 40:1 sap to syrup ratio! Goats in the dairy barn are all kidded out, now is kidding time for the commercial and Spanish goats. The old goat barn has been prepped, all good to go. Acorn...

The Polar Vortex is winding down, cold air receding and temps actually creeping above freezing. Hot Damn! Blind Hog and Acorn have continued to soldier on- feeding the livestock, waiting for baby goats- expected and unexpected. Fortunate for running water and electricity, however plans are in the works for "yet more farm improvements..." There is always room to make things run better, smoother, and to be prepared for outages of one sort or another. Good news about the increased...

The polar vortex is upon the farm. Single digit highs, minus "whatevers"at night. And snow... And gusting north winds... And yes, dairy kids being born! Blind Hog and Acorn have been trying their best to deal with electrical resistance, amperage, wattage calculations. Working on electric lines from the house to the dairy barn, at midnight, in the 5F cold is a great way to kick off Valentine's Day... Good news is that (knock wood) they have everything under control. (knock wood...

Oy! Blind Hog and Acorn have readied the farm for the upcoming hard, deep freeze. One day might have highs in the single digits and lows? Minus whatever... Been there, done that- they know what they need to do. Of course, the dairy goats might go into labor next week when the vortex settles in- let's hope not! Blind Hog has been Mr Electrician, wiring in the new receptacles for the welder and plasma cutter. Acorn has been busy doing other stuffs, including kidding pen set-up and...

Blind Hog and Acorn have been busy- doing this and that... Hay out for the herds, unpacking stuffs from 15-20 years ago, going through old papers, rewiring the shops for the new welder and plasma cutter, taking down old light fixtures and putting in LED flood bulbs. Going in a gazillion different directions, but slowly but surely, things are being accomplished. Acorn is ready to get welding! Of course, it has been raining. Flood or drought. Welcome to the Ozarks. Acorn made Blind Hog some...

Blind Hog and Acorn took their show to the road, literally, as they recorded the podcast while driving to the big city. They had their sights set on a portable air compressor that would be big enough to use with the new plasma cutter, and Lowe's JUST happened to have one 45% off, PLUS and additional 10% off with military discount. SWEET! Yup, the farmers purchased a new wire feed welder that uses flux core wire, no cover gas needed, so they can both begin welding all kinds of project and...

Winter chores mean feeding hay, bringing in firewood and baking yummy treats. How about some Icelandic gingersnaps and a big batch of elderberry fire cider? And that rooster we processed? 3 meals and 7 pints of chicken stock. All from one bird. Excellent! Check out the website for more details and links to the recipes.

Blind Hog and Acorn have enough to do on the farm. Selling some goats, whipping up dogfood for Sam and blueberry-pumpkin muffins for the farmers- the recipe of the week. Ozarks geology means goats must have selenium booster shots to avoid white muscle disease. Vaccinated half the adults, the other 24 will be done soon as I prefer 4-6 weeks before kidding. Fixed the washing machine- replaced the drain hose and drain pump. YouTube videos to the rescue. $65 in parts, but 4 hrs in very...

Blind Hog and the Acorn had a very nice holiday: usual farm chores, goats getting stuck in things, machinery to be fixed, hay to be set out. You know, all the typical things that go on regardless of holidays... Acorn has some new plans for Season 2 of Blind Hog and Acorn. Dare we mention the m-word? (merch!) Starting a new feature of weekly recipes from SteelMeadow Farm. This week's installment are Farmhouse Brownies- they are freakin' easy and so gooooood. You can find the recipe link on...

Just a little farming done this week, as in Bonehead is still alive and doing much better, but also art and telescope magic. Blind Hog has a commission for a wall sculpture. He has a lovely piece that he is cutting in half, making a free standing sculpture into a wall mounted piece. So far, so good. The saw blade was awesome. Cut the stainless steel plate like butter. Acorn is going out at sunset to view the planetary conjunction. Jupiter with its moons and Saturn with its rings. Such fun....

Blind Hog and Acorn enjoyed a lovely week of record high temperatures, got lots of outdoor chores done in the process. Sticks and limbs picked up, auto mechanic skills honed, experiments in the kitchen with tepache and homemade dog food (score a loss and a win). Also, find out why you should never by chickens in the dark- you won't know what you paid for until the light of (the next) day... Ha! Acorn goes into detail about meningeal worms. Seems old Bonehead has contracted them. Bonehead...

Blind Hog and Acorn checked the Old Farmers' Almanac and today is the optimal day for weaning livestock, with the least amount of stress and fuss. It was also a most unusually nice afternoon, so it was hard to pass up an opportunity to sit in the sun for a bit. Turkey stock canned, experimental turkey pastrami a success, calves separated, goats combined- does not sound like a busy week but you know what? Even a couple farmers can have a nice slow week for a change!

Thanksgiving has come and gone, Blind Hog and Acorn took advantage of some nice days to get YET MORE CHORES done. Wood got split, food got cooked, and we ate ate ate. Badger came and spent the night, said it was her ideal Thanksgiving. Nice and quiet, something we have in abundance here at SteelMeadow. Check out the pictures under "Episodes" on the website.

Another rainy Saturday, two in a row? Crazy! Just in time too as Blind Hog and Acorn finished off with the new ditch at the old goat barn. Drain laid, gravel dumped and cross drive trench dug/piped/filled. Done! AND, water is officially draining out of the pipe. Blind Hog and Acorn went to the Big City and shopped as if they don't want to go back for a couple months- they might not want to! Staples were purchased; pantry and larder are groaning. All is good, especially in the mincemeat...