More babies

Yesterday afternoon, Wanda, one of our sows, gave birth to 7 beautiful little piglets. We had expected her to have more, but this is her first litter and having less might not be such a bad thing as she learns the ropes of motherhood. She is a great mama, being very careful to make sure her babies are out of the way before she sits down and keeping them all within her sight. She is also very calm with us (even with an overexcited little three year old) being around her and her brood.

We all went out after lunch to check on her (we knew her time was fast approaching) and there she was, with one piglet running around and another coming out of her. They really are so cute at this age. Unfortunately, Gloria (the other sow) was right next to Wanda and her nest, so we decided to move her out, as she could accidentally squish a piglet. Abe had to push her unwilling ass into the pasture and shut her out of the pen. She is very annoyed. She's not used to being alone and she feels her place is beside Wanda. Just for a couple of days, Gloria - sorry.

For more photos and videos, click here.

One week old

We went into the village today to the doctor. I had my stitches out. I'm generally doing really well and am relatively pain free. Nico had his first checkup. He's looking great. His umbilical cord stump has fallen off and healed fine; he seems strong and alert; he hasn't gained a whole bunch of weight, but it is the first week, and his bowel movements are frequent and healthy. All in all, a normal little baby.

Photos for this month will be posted here.

A new arrival

At 5.55pm on the 28th April (his aunt Shelly's birthday), we welcomed little Nico into our family. He weighed just over 7 lbs (as opposed to the predicted 9 lbs or so of an ultrasound a few weeks ago!?) and was 20" long. Pretty much on a par with his big brother Leo, and he looks uncannily like him at that age too, although a little darker.

He was delivered via C-Section, as he refused to turn out of the breech position, again just like Leo. Even under the best of conditions, Cesarion is not the most romantic image of birth out there, but in this case it was even worse than usual. For some reason, the hospital was packed, with a bunch of emergencies coming in all the time. The result of this craziness (other than no family members allowed into the operation area) is that Nico was left on the infant table in the operation room for almost an hour an a half, crying, as there was no one available to take me to the recuperation room and give me my baby.

When we were eventually moved and united, he was so upset that he had some trouble latching on to the breast and continued to cry. Poor little guy. It took almost the full two hours of recuperation to settle him down, but once he did, he took to nursing like a voracious little vampire and became very calm. We got out of the hospital as soon as we could - 24 hours after the op.

We went to a hotel to stay for a couple of nights before making the ride home (for those of you unfamiliar with our place, we live off a bumpy and long dirt road). Jim and Vickie, Abe's parents, were at the hotel as they had come down to watch Leo. They did the perfect job - bringing him lots of toys, spoiling him rotten and making him feel special during a difficult time. Thank you.

We came home on Sunday and now, one week after Nico was born (I can barely believe it), we have settled into a four person family. Leo loves his little brother and is extremely attentive to him. He is acting up a little with us on the other hand, but I suppose that is to be expected given the circumstances. I am definitely looking forward to when I can pick him up again.

All in all I am recovering very quickly, and although still a little sore, I can walk, turn over in bed, do small chores. What I spend a large part of my time doing is nursing Nico. He has an almost insatiable appetite, partly because he finds comfort at the breast, so likes to nurse when pooping or when he has gas, etc. Luckily my supply can keep up with him.

Right now, he also sleeps a lot, so we have a chance to recover somewhat, although we all continue to be tired. Luckily, he is very calm, although he is a little nocturnal, a habit we hope he breaks soon.

We are all delighted with the new arrival and very much in love. I cannot believe I have two beautiful sons.

For more photos, click here.

Finished wicking beds

We also managed to finally finish our wicking beds this week and make a bed for currants and berries on the overflow to the gray water system (that feeds the inside flower beds).

There wasn't a whole lot to do, but we have had so much wind this month, that we hadn't been able to get to it beforehand.

We emptied the rest of the compost pile we had made for a winter heater for the bedrooms into the both beds, and then finished off the fence around it (one of our dogs had assumed we'd made the bed just for her). We have soil blocks with little seedlings ready to go out there. We have been taking them out each day so that they can harden up a little, before we transplant. Next week we plan to plant.

One sad piece of related news was that some kind of bug or mouse or something ate all our little raspberry seedlings this morning. Hopefully we can make some more come up without too much grief.

For more photos, click here.

Oyster Mushrooms

We have been eating off our oyster mushrooms this week and it has been a real treat.

We grew button mushrooms before, but our success was only mild. They are a lot more picky about humidity, and we weren't quite up to the challenge at that point. Now we are trying our luck with oysters, a far more forgiving shroom. They grow incredibly fast - you can almost watch them grow if you are so inclined. They are also incredibly tasty. We grow them in laundry baskets filled with shredded straw.

We have made more liquid culture, grain spawn, taken a spore print and have even cloned a few mushrooms. We mean to continue this wonderful experiment.

For more photos, click here.

Pig Pasture

This week we made a new pig pasture. We used three strands of electric wire (doesn't need to be very tall as pigs are not good jumpers) and tied off to trees instead of corner posts. It covers a large area, with lots of clumps of shade tress included. Seeing as the pigs root around, we followed the contour of the land, so that they can create swales for us (as they push the earth downhill, it levels off a patch that then collects water better).

Leo enjoyed the work. He walked around with us at times, got us each tools we needed or water, and then went and sat under trees and played with some toys when he got bored. He was good as gold.

It was super hot weather, and we were both pretty exhausted after finishing, but it had its own rewards. When we let the pigs out, they started exploring all over. Our previous, younger pigs were very cautious and it took them a long time to really explore, but these girls had no such inhibitions. Having spent all their lives prior to coming here on a concrete floor, the allure of real dirt and trees was too much. They followed us around all over the pasture. They seem to respect the fence pretty well, having both been shocked a couple of times (the shock is not painful, just uncomfortable enough to make you want to avoid doing it again).

It really is great to see pigs on pasture. Can't wait until the rains come and it all greens up.

For more photos, click here.

Three years old

On April 11th, Leo celebrated his third birthday. We were going to have a big BBQ party last Saturday, but it was SUPER windy all weekend (and in fact most of the week), so we postponed it to this coming Saturday, weather permitting. So on his actual birthday, we kept it quiet. Leo and I cooked a cake, as that it the thing he most associates with birthdays, and then some friends came up for cake, presents and dinner.

Abe had been smoking ham and bacon for most of the day, and we'd also boiled and roasted some for different flavors. So dinner consisted of all different kinds of pork (with a little rice on the side).

The wonderful thing about this year is that Leo now gets that it's his birthday. I'd bought a candle set a while ago, which he saw every time I went into the pantry. He loved those candles and we kept telling him that he would have them on his birthday. Then his birthday arrived and he got super excited about cooking a cake and putting the candles on it.

We had also bought him a two-piece train a couple of weeks ago (he loves things that pull other things, like trains or trailers) and he had to choose between a red and blue one. He deliberated for some time, but eventually settled on the red one, but Abe snuck the blue one into the cart for his birthday. When he pulled a corner of the paper back and saw what it was, he instantly recognized what it was and BEAMED - "Blue one too!". It was precious.

So what's new with Leo? The changes are more subtle - very few new abilities, but rather fine tuning the ones he already has.

Language is doing great, other than he is going through a "what happened?" stage. Every five seconds it seems like he asks what happened. I guess this is the forerunner to the famous "Why?" phase. His sentences are complex, and he tells you exactly what he wants YOU to say in reply. He also talks in different voices for his toys, and his role-playing is becoming quite entertaining. His Spanish also improves, though not as dramatically as his English.

He has bad dreams every once in a while, where he'll cry out, wake up and call for me. I go in and he says "I have bad dream."
"Oh, that's terrible! What happened?"
"Big monster hungry and tried get Leo."
"Oh, honey, he was just playing. The big monster likes Leo."
"Yes, monster Leo's friend."
And he'll go right back to sleep. Another thing he has called out in a bad dream is "Little boy take Leo's red car".
To balance things though, he also frequently giggles in his sleep, probably thinking about games he plays with his dad. Of course, all of his nighttime discussions are great for me, as I'm often awake at night right now and it gives me something to smile about.

He still loves to help us work, and he's actually starting to become useful. His only downfall, both in work and other areas, is that he wants to do thing by himself, even if the things are beyond him. He then gets very upset if you try to help. We let him figure it out when we can, and he is learning to calm down and ask for help when he realizes that he can't do it on his own.

He can be quite bratty at times, saying "No", very firmly, when we tell him to do something, and then very quick to cry when we start counting to three. I'm not sure if it's attention seeking or just something he has to go through. Either way, it'll be nice to see the back of it.

He is very interested in the arrival or his little brother. Keeps on and on about how he can share things with Nicky when he arrives, and how Nicky will sleep and sit next to Leo, and how they'll talk.

He's actually very good at sharing his toys with other kids, which is good to see. He especially likes to hand out food to people. All in all, seems to be a fairly generous character for a three year old. He is also very affectionate. His hugs and kisses are lovely. He often tells you he loves you, and will call you beautiful and good girl, etc.

All in all, it's been a pretty great three years, watching him grow and develop into the little person he is. The next big milestone for him is becoming a big brother and I have no doubt that he'll be a good one.

Didn't take many photos on his birthday, but will try and get some on Saturday. When I do, I'll put them here.