The Pile

This is our compost pile. The Pile, as I call it. The Pile is very important for our little farm's functions - it ties everything together, it turns pollution (things we have too much of) into resources (things we need). Offal we can't use elsewhere? The Pile will take it. 30 plus hides our lamb customers don't want? The Pile is happy. The Pile doesn't judge - it'll take everything. Adult sheep or a day old chick - makes no difference for the Pile. Everything that dies around here and can not for some reason be eaten by us, the dogs or the chickens goes to the Pile. Really easy - if it's a small thing, I dig a little hole with a shovel. If it's a big thing - I dig a bigger hole with my Kubota. Ten minutes, tops.

There is a part in my brain that tells me I'll go to the Pile at some point too and so will the people I love (another part bumbles something about laws and all that nonsense but I don't usually listen to it). I'm not afraid - the Pile is nice and it smells really good and it makes killer soil that enables all kind of plants to grow even in that kingdom of sand we're in. I don't mind becoming a plant when it's my time. It'll be a happy plant, I think. Because you see - the soil is really good.

It's not all fun and games ...

The lamb is dead (stillborn) but the mom doesn't seem to realize it. She didn't go to the pasture with the rest of the mob and spent the whole day with the lamb, cleaning him, trying to get him to nurse and generally behaving like a happy new mother. I thought she would eventually realize that something is wrong but she didn't even after the flies did. We removed the lamb after several hours and she spent about 24 hours looking for and calling him but then calmed down and didn't show any signs of discomfort or stress.

Miniature prehistoric sheep

Not many people know that but in the ancient times numerous hordes of miniature sheep (less than a foot tall) roamed steppes of Inner Mongolia and jungles of Amazon basin. Later most of them became extinct but about a hundred little flocks exist in various places on every continent. It seems that one of these flocks lives in a forest nearby because every once in while the miniature sheep come out and join our flock. On the pictures you can see some regular size sheep for scale. I played with the idea of starting a flock of prehistoric miniatures (they definitely would be a hit with every petting zoo there is) but the ones who join our flock immediately begin to grow (better pasture, I reckon) and in a few months look just like regular sheep.

Looking back / Biggest mistakes - Part II

5." The Prevalence of Death. "

Justin, one of our WWOOFers, said that when he tried to explain to a lady who was about to start her goat farm what she should be ready for. This #5 really should be #1 - not sure why it slipped my mind. On a farm the death is everywhere - cute and cuddly sheep will kill plants or chickens (if the chickens are not fast enough). Chickens will kill anything smaller and slower than a chicken, including other chickens. Plants will kill other plants. Dogs will kill all of the above and then some, just for fun. Crows will kill newborn lambs while the mom is busy giving birth. Yes, during. How bad is to be killed while you are born? Most relevant though - a farmer has to kill all kinds of things (from trees to insects to dogs to ... whatever) on a regular basis because for something to live, something else has to die. Sounds real easy in theory, right? Better be ready to practice it before you make that first payment for your farm though.

Just when you thought it can't get any weirder...

"no, [Americans] do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume foods of their choice; " - says Wisconsin judge

Full text of the decision

Looking back / Biggest mistakes

Our friends started to talk about very interesting (I think) subject here - what would they do differently if they were starting their homestead now. Very good read and I'd subscribe under pretty much every line there - start small, go slow... Also, a few things that they don't concentrate on specifically but that were a big surprise for me when we started:

1) "Leading authorities" don't know that much. You'd think after 12,000 years that sheep spent side by side with humans they would be so well-researched that there is a thick book about every hair on their body. You'd think it's the same with irrigation, growing plants, growing grass, weather ... you name it. After all, we sent a man to the Moon and there is an Extension in every county. The truth is - there are some very basic facts everyone agrees on (a sheep generally has 4 legs; it will eventually die without water and food, etc.) but most of the stuff is still as mysterious as underwear fashion of aliens from the galaxy far far away. And it's about the situation in every area of agriculture. OK, I'm exaggerating but just a little. And don't even get me started on the Extensions or books on shiny paper ... not good even for compost. (I mean the books on shiny paper, of course - the extension agents would probably do great in compost).

2) Stuff is more expensive than you think. Oh, I did go to Home Depot before we started to live on the farm. I bought stuff there, sure. I even knew that funny looking metal T-posts there cost about $10. What I didn't realize is how many of them you need to fence even a little paddock, let's say 2 acres. What I also didn't realize was that a shovel for $10 won't last a month on a farm, so you'll have to pay more for better quality tool and that's true for every tool you use and also for the rest of the stuff - screws, rubber boots, you name it. I think we went through our 3-yr budget in the first 6 months. It was horrible. Who would've thought those stupid plastic thingies for sheep to eat out of can cost more than 5 bucks? Turned out, the really good big ones can cost more than 500, actually.

3) I'm lazier than I thought It's more work than you think and there are no weekends. Looking at our WWOOFers, I think I was in a better position than most of them. I had to do plenty of physical work in my life, I was better with a shovel in the first grade than some college kids we see here. But even for me it was a bit of a shock how unending this work is. Even though I almost never get physically tired too bad from work, just the sheer amount of it makes you numb sometimes. There is always something that needs to be done. Often, there are 2 or 3 urgent things that need to be done. There are times when you have to put on heavy jeans and boots and go outside under the sun to work and it's so hot that even a thought of having anything but the loincloth on makes you sweat. You have to get up every morning to let the animals out, and that's not that difficult to do but you have to do it every morning, year after year.

Do you see how hard we work? Well, honestly, I think we work only half as much as many people in our situation, especially when they just start, especially when they start on a shoestring budget. And no, you won't understand what I mean unless you actually try, so if you consider becoming a farmer/homesteader do yourself a favor - go WWOOF for a few months and then ask yourself if you can do it every day for 10 years. And have lots of kids, preferably boys, so in 10 years you can dump most of the work on them.

4) This one is a pair, actually - a)Having a plan and sticking to it is more important than you think and b) The best plan you can come up with will need to be changed as soon as you start actually doing it. Catch 22 and another reason to start small and slow. Without a plan you'll spent a lot of time backfilling ditches you dug out yesterday but no plan I've ever seen was so good that it survived the first few days of execution unchanged. Too many variables and unknowns, which is also the reason for problem #1, BTW.

I'll probably add some more later ...

IMHO

Sheep should never be allowed to rearrange things inside of a chicken coop unsupervised. I don't mean to knock down their intelligence or attention to details but as hard as they try, they just don't seem to be able to do it right most of the time.