The hoop-house is done! I started this in July with bending metal pipes into half circles, and then had to set it aside until the first week in November because of work. Luckily in September I had just enough time to plant a little something, beet, carrots, leeks, lettuce, parsnips, etc. so that I'll have fresh greens to harvest through the winter. The design is based off of Elliot Coleman's in four seasons gardening. I used 1 inch conduit and a set of "rails" made of 2x6 so that the hoop-house has two plots it can cover. In the spring I will add folding benches to the north side for seedlings and replace cold-loving greens with tomatoes, cukes, melon, ect. I'll move the hoop-house in Oct and repeat.
Slaughter time is almost here. If you're in the area and interested in being apart of it send me an e-mail. I've mentioned this to a lot of people and tend to get a faces that are an odd mix of sympathy and disgust. So I feel I should explain.. I don't take an pleasure in the act of slaughtering the pigs. In fact from everything I've heard I think it may be quite hard to do. But I eat meat, and I feel that obliges me to take responsibility for that animals life. These pigs have enjoyed free range of a wooded lot, been well fed (to the point of overfeeding), and most importantly been allowed to rut and wallow and otherwise be pigs. They've had good lives, free of hardship. I guess at this point I don't feel all that sorry for them. I'm happy to be taking control over the production of my own food, and to be taking away from those who would do it irresponsibly (CAFO farms). I think that by doing it myself It can be done more humanly than anywhere else. Learning how to do this and opening it to the community is an empowering act. This is knowledge that is almost totally lost, but it connects us in a very basic way to realize this was a life and I am taking it in order to live. It's something that some anonymous person does for us everyday so we won't think about, but I think we lose out for having it locked "safely" behind factory doors.
anyway Dec 19th is the day, and a forewarning I'm probably going to put some pictures up for those who can't make it but want to see how it's done.
