Yes, a horse, and pigs, too. Planting for the future

Yes, we did it. Well, Grandpa, Mama and Victoria did it. Mama got a call yesterday from the lady with the horse. She had gotten so many calls that she needed to see some action. Friday was not going to do. So Mama, Grandpa and Victoria went yesterday to get the horse. It really worked out better for Victoria who has to work today and would not have been able to make the trip had it not been yesterday.


They borrowed a trailer from a friend of a friend but Grandpa had to buy a magnetic trailer light kit to adapt it to the truck. It was definitely rigged up West Virginia style but it worked and it took far less time than some other retrofits would have taken. Mama said the horse, who my grandkids named Rain after a similar looking horse on the Disney movie “Spirit”, loaded easily. She was not so quick to get off of the trailer in the dark when they arrived at the farm. We did get her off and she immediately found the hay that had been set out for her. My surprise is that she was larger than I had envisioned. She is a pretty good looking horse but she will need some care to overcome the neglect she has suffered; for $275, it was probably a good deal.

While the trio was out getting the horse, the pigs were delivered. They are wild as a buck, vicious toward each other and generally not much fun yet. Grandpa thinks they have been getting the wrong type of feed and our first order of business is to get them on a proper diet. Hopefully, that will calm them down. They are not frightening or dangerous, just very skittish. They are very nice looking pig and will fill our freezer nicely come summer. There is a third on the way. We may sell him to pay for the butchering costs of the other two. We’ll see.

The three burrows watched all the events of yesterday with a sort of distant curiosity while the Pyrenees pups nearly beat apart the enclosure we have them in. They are not used to being left out of the mix nor are they used to any activity after dark. Now with all the grunts, barks, brays, neighs, clucks and crowing, we have a noisy farm. I do not know why anyone called farm living a quiet or a simple life. It is turning out to be neither. It is however, quite fulfilling. Growing plants and seeing baby animals born, perpetuating life is rewarding at a primal level.

Hopefully, tomorrow we will be able to buy some fruit trees to plant on the farm. There is a vendor at Trade Days that sells acclimated fruit and nut trees for only $21 each. I have set aside enough money to buy ten to start our orchard and pecan grove. I have a five year plan for its development and eventual harvest. So far all of the plants we have put out – blueberries, blackberries and grapes – are doing very will.

All the native blackberries are going to be thinned out and transplanted to facilitate their harvest in a few months. Since there are ten to twelve thick stands of the native plants, it will require some work. I will, unfortunately, not be able to participate in very much of it. So far I have provided all of the money and most of the vision while Grandpa had fleshed out the vision and provided most of the work. With Victoria added to the mix, the pace will pick up considerably even if she does have a part time job.

Cori, Nate and the kids are talking about coming over at the end of the month (another month gone). By that time I hope we can have the kids plant some seeds or seedlings in the garden. I hope to buy some more trees while they are here so they can help plant them also. Then, every year they visit, they can check on the progress of their tree. Once a season we can take them a box or bag of produce from their tree. Maybe it will root them in our little farm.

Mama and I will have to head home early tomorrow in order to make it to a dinner I am supposed to attend for ConocoPhillips. We will get to take the bookcase back with us and set it up in the house there. That will be a great addition to our permanent furniture. I am thinking about taking the desk we were given also, but I have not tried to get it into the little van. That may happen tonight.

I did not get to build the cover I wanted over the log kit we have sitting on the farm. The tarps that covered them have been tattered by the fierce winds we have here. It is nearly impossible to keep the sun and weather off of them; hence the shelter. There are not enough hours in the day to do it all. All an all, it has been a great week.