American Guinea Hogs

This year we decided to go with a heritage breed for pigs instead of the commercial Yorks. We chose American Guinea Hogs. They are very hardy in winter, not prone to sunburns because of the thick hair covering their bodies, well tempered, and most of all from what I read they are well known for their deep red meat and especially their lard. It's supposed to be fantastic for making pastries (which we love!).

On top of that, these pigs are very calm, docile, friendly. My kids love to play with them. Here are some pictures:

This is their home: a pig cave. I got the design for it from Sepp Holtzer's Permaculture book! Awesome book, I definitely recommend it. I'll post more pictures on that later.

Our sow recently gave birth to 8 beautiful healthy piglets. She's an awesome mother!

I use electric fences with them. The panels you saw in some of the pictures were just to give the mama and babies some bonding time away from the other 3 older piglets (those are 5 months old... from a different sow). That totals it to 12 pigs, the most we've ever had.

So far, these pigs are my favorite farm animal!

We grow and learn

One thing I love about farming and nature in general is that it's always changing. You have periods where life is just bursting all around you and then there are times of peace and meditation. I learned that letting your chickens completely free range is not very self sustaining. It can quikly turn into a battle with the predarors you can't win. That's why I hav them in a chicken tractor that I move around the yard with an electric fence surrounding it. We are down to 51 chickens out of 125 we started with last year. Our predators were foxes and coyotes.

More pictures

Here are some more pictures from our small but growing Shaker Hill Farm in Henniker NH. We are located at 53 Shaker Hill Road in Henniker (hence the name Shaker Hill Farm).
These are some pictures of our livestock that we raised through out 2012. Now we are down to 2 goats and 80 chickens. We had to sell some of our sheep and goats.
I also butchered and skinned our 2 lambs (Calvin and Hobbes). Calvin's hide I sent to Bucks tanning place in PA. It just came back and it looks amazing! The kids love sleeping on it; it's so soft!
Now I am trying to see if I can tan the other hide by myself at home. I think I have all the right tools. I'll let you know how it works out!

Here is our rooster slaughter. It took us a while in the beginning, but once we got the hang of it, the process became faster and easier.

                                The result of all our labor!

These are our first chickens (the aurucaunas)

Getting the wool ready to be spun. An art passed on from grandmother to granddaughter.

Our sheep (Mama Leche) with her lambs (Calvin and Hobbes)

One of our goats (Faline)

My daughter spending quality time with our piglets. That was their first day on our farm and they needed lots of loving.

My little helpers on the farm, spreading pine shavings as bedding for the animals in the barn.

Pig butchering photos

Here are some of the pictures I promised from our first pig butchering event in November 2012. Since then we enjoyed many hams, sausages, ribs, etc. The taste is unbelievable!

You will notice in a couple of pictures that I smoked some of the meats over an outdoor fire pit surrounded by poles and covered with a tarp (like a tepee). While that definitely increased the flavor of the meat (I also brushed the meat with some brown sugar and maple syrup in the smoking process), I think I did it too soon. Some people suggest salt curing the meats for a couple of weeks prior to smoking. I did it the following day! I guess I was a bit impatient!