Pig Update

Well, we sold all the piglets we wanted to, and now we are left with Wanda and Gloria (the two sows), Macho and Amigo (the two boars), and two piglets that we’ll be fattening up. They’re all growing like weeds, but the three adults are especially huge. Luckily they are all very tame, otherwise they would be scary (as is, we keep the baby away from them until they’ve been fed!).

Sad to say that we will be getting rid of Macho soon. It looks like the girls are definitely bred, so we no longer need to keep him. We will be using Amigo as our main boar and he will be old enough by the next time they need to be bred. In the meantime Macho is just eating food. It’s a shame in a way, as he is such an intelligent and calm pig. Hopefully we’ll find him a good home - good boars are in short supply around here.

Abe and a couple of lads from the village have spent the past couple of days making a new pasture for them all. Abe cut a bunch of limbs off the Juniper trees, so that the pigs can get under their shade without being cut by low branches. The boys then trimmed them up, so that we can use them as posts in some upcoming projects. We now have a BUNCH of beautiful posts (which the rabbits are cleaning off for us, as they like to chew the bark off) and the pasture looks awesome. Now that the rains have come and the grass is growing, the pasture should provide a little more of their food.

For more photos, click here.

Framing the roof of the kids' rooms

This week, we finished the concrete, fabric formed posts that will support the roof to the kids' rooms. They are 11 feet apart east to west, and 12 feet apart north to south.

We also started framing the roof. We put up the base frame, which is 12 feet by 33 feet, and 2 of the 3 peaks, which rise 3 feet in the center.

We used 2”x6” wooden boards for the frame. Normally we would use metal, but with this technique (latex concrete), wood is easier, as we will be able to staple the fabric into it, as opposed to using glue if the frame were made of metal. This will all become clear next week when we apply the latex concrete.

For more photos, click here.

Posts getting done

Our progress on the kids' rooms has moved in three directions.

Firstly, we made a dry-stacked retaining wall north and uphill from the building site. At its base we dug a drainage ditch, in which we placed a 4 inch drainage pipe. We then filled the ditch in with rocks; gravel will be put on top of the rocks next week. More Photos

Secondly, we have begun to put an 8 inch layer of sand over the whole area. This will be compacted to 6 inches right before we pour the foundations for the walls. We will then fill in the rooms with more sand, up to the top of the foundations. Most of the rooms are covered, other than close to the northern posts, as we have been working on those, and sand would have gotten in the way.

Thirdly, we begun pouring the posts that will support the roof, which we are building before the walls. We have poured 3 of the 4 northern posts, and halfway up on 3 of the 4 southern posts – these must be done in two stages. We did these posts using black plastic stapled to wooden posts. They come out round, and one of them in particular came out super funky, as we didn't put enough staples in and the plastic started to separate from the boards. Oh well, funky kinda fits here! More photos