Our Wild North

'It's the circle of life, and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love'. 

This week on the farm we suffered the loss of a pig. I found Macy Gray, as Andrew had affectionatetly named her due to her emaciated state, in the corner of the pig hut one morning. All very sad. We found no dignified way to move her body through the mud, but being a pig I guess that's what she would have liked. 

The same morning while getting the buckets of feed ready, Andrew shouted from the barn 'We've got kittens!'. It was an immediate stop, drop and run procedure. Over night one black, and two ginger kittens had appeared downstairs in the barn. We're not sure where they've been hiding, as we've both been up in the hayloft to get bales and eggs and seen no sign of kitten activity. 

I haven't managed to get many photos of the little fluff balls yet because the 10+ barn cats are very protective, and as soon as the camera comes out and goes up close several cats get between it and the kittens. It's pretty sweet really. 

It's all heating up here, so we had to dispose of a few pig carcasses that had died over winter that could only been driven and dumped so far due to the snow. It's a hard job lugging coyote eaten pig carcasses around in 24·C heat! With everything thawing out eventually, we noticed a whole load of dead frogs defrosting - as well as most of the goldfish in the pond.

On the same day, we were given the task of putting up a fence to divide 50 pigs. Having never put up a fence before and only being equipped with rubbish scraps of page wire I think we did an alright job. 

While scrabbling around for rocks to put under the gaps, Andrew found a frog. Because it was so hot, and all the water in the field had dried up, Andrew took him over to the grass and set him free. It's the circle of life I tell you!

Mother Nature must have read my last post because Spring finally seems to be on the way now. Hopefully that'll be the end of the snow!