My Thought on OCC Volunteering
Recently, my church youth group traveled to one of Operation Christmas Child’s shoebox packing facilities, where we volunteered to work SIX HOURS packaging shoeboxes. If you could guess, I wasn’t too ecstatic. But, I do like to help people, so I signed up.
An Unexpected Blog Post
It’s MONDAY!
I GOT MY POST OUT ON TIME!!!
So, on Friday, I ditched my little sister and parents to spend the night at my big brother DJ’s house. Ever since I heard Mom and DJ watching Lord of the Rings LOUDLY while I tried to sleep,
NaNoWriMo
So…I didn’t post on Monday…
I’m so sorry! Life just swallows me up. But hold me to it, people! One day I will have a regular schedule!
Dusts hands now that that’s over with, I shall get to the heart of my post. I’m feeling extremely comfortable as I type this, so I’d like you to feel like that as well. Change into your pajamas, and if you can’t, get a blanket. If you can’t do either, PUT THIS BLOG DOWN AND WAIT UNTIL YOU CAN! Got your pajamas/blanket? Good! Imagine a day spent with friends doing fun stuff, then having piano lessons, then coming home to finish some schoolwork, and finally sitting down to what you’ve been waiting to do all day. Grab a cup of hot chocolate, or tea bitter as wormwood if you’re a Volunteer, or just coffee, and continue reading this post.
Sunshine Time!!!
MY FIRST TAG!!
The awesome mind of Dekreel behind the Inky RambleBeast blog has tagged me (well, not me specifically, more like any blogger who would like to steal her tag) for the Sunshine Blogger Tag.
Ze Rules!
1. Thank your tagger. Thank you, Dekreel!
2. Answer their questions.
3. Tag people and ask them questions.
My Apologies…And Other Things
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…
What is up, my peeps? SO glad to be back! I’ve not been very active here, but the explanation is simple:
I was sick.
So please cut me some slack! I’m going to try to be more active! I apologize! Bows.
Hello Everyone! And Welcome!
Hello there peoples! I’m so excited to be writing my FIRST blog post! I hope to post my art, about my stories, rambles, as well as give some of my favorite blogs some well-deserved recognition.
So, a little bit about me. I’m a total farm girl. On our 8-acre farm, we have 106 broiler chickens and maybe 20 egg-layers. We also have our cows Julie, Elsa, Lia, Lia’s calf Clover Faith, and Jay, our bull. We have two Great Pyrenees dogs, Bear and Orshee. We have 4 pigs and around 6 ducks. No horse yet, but I’m working on it. 😉 
Some of my interests are reading, writing, and art. I’m an avid reader. I read wherever and whenever I can. I like books by Louisa May Alcott. I also enjoyed reading Melanie Dickerson’s books The Healer’s Apprentice and The Noble Servant. I also have her book The Merchant’s Daughter on hold. I also enjoy the Cupcake Diaries series by Coco Simon and the Explorer Academy series by Trudi Trueitt.
It’s Spring–And Time for the First Pastured Poultry of the Year
The Sun Rises on the Broiler Chickens
This batch of chickens (75, in all) arrived at the beginning of February. They spent 3 weeks in the brooder and then we moved them out to pasture in their chicken tractor, which we move every day. They’ve been out here since, eating weeds, bugs, and whatever else is available. We ran them over the area that will be our 3 sisters garden to lay down some grade-A fertilizer, and now they’re fertilizing the grapevines for us. They do really good work, as all they do all day is eat, sleep, and fertilize!
This batch was also fed conventional feed. We haven’t found a new provider of organic, soy-free food yet, so we have to make do with what’s available.
They have grown well, though. Check these guys out! We process them the first week of April (starting THIS weekend) so if you want any, let us know. Also, if you want them cut up, instead of whole, let us know early, before we get them in the freezer. You can pick them up fresh on the day of processing or frozen starting a few days after.
Call or text us at (910) 484-3720 or email us, if you prefer.
You Bought Your Heritage Breed Pastured Pig, Now What? (Pt 3)
In the last post we discussed how much it will cost to pay the processor to butcher your pig.
In this post, we’ll finally talk about the different cuts of meat and what you can ask for and expect from the butcher.
How A Hog is Cut
There is a wealth of information available on the many different cuts of pork and how they are produced.
Here is one of my favorite sites for understanding all the options for butchering pork. Here are the first 5 of a set of 12 videos from that site that will be very helpful.
You Bought Your Heritage Breed Pastured Pig, Now What? (Pt 2)
So, You Ordered A Pig, Now What?
In Part 1 of this post, we discussed the options available for processors. In this part, we’ll look at how much it costs to buy a pig and have it processed.
If you ordered a pastured pig from High Grace Farm, you were required to pay a deposit while you wait for it to be butchered. There are 2 reasons for that.
First, it seems unlikely, but some customers have ordered a hog before and then have never responded when the time came to pay for it and send it to the butcher. I know, hard to believe, right?
Also, your pig was already at market weight (around 240 pounds) when you bought it, but it still has to be fed while it waits for its special day! It’s your pig, we ask you to help pay for the cost of feeding it.
Since the wait time is long right now, your hog is still continuing to grow. We feed only a maintenance ration so it is not growing as much as it would, but it still grows. Because of the long wait time to get an appointment at the butcher, the hog you bought at 240 or 250 pounds could be substantially bigger by time it gets to the processor. That won’t affect the price you paid for it, but it will affect how much it will cost to have it processed.
How Much Will I Have to Pay the Processor
About Us
