August
We have started to attend the Bradford on Avon Thursday Market every week from 8am to 1pm. Please come and visit, we will have fresh produce now virtually all the time.
Bess has had her litter of piglets, 9 little black babies all doing well.
We have grown our sheep flock, with 3 Shetland Ewe lambs, 3 coloured Lincolnshire Longwools and 4 Zwartbles. They all look very interesting and will hopefully produce some excellent lambs next year.
July
Miranda our Middle White sow has just given birth to 13 little piggies! All very sweet and doing well.
A successful and very busy day at Melksham Food Festival. I think everyone enjoyed seeing the piglets and mum! The goats and lambs did really well with all the attention too. Without our band of helpers we would have found it a major job, so thank you to all of you, you did a grand job.
June
Sophie our large black, has finally had her litter - 9 piglets, since she was crossed with a British Lop boar, she has produced some lovely pink and black piglets. Come and see them at Melksham Food Festival in the Home Grown Pigs stand.
We are eagerly awaiting the 3 litters of piglets due in the next month, its going to be a busy month!
We are now proud guardians to two 3 month old pygmy goats, they are awaiting names - we will arrange a competition for this.They are quite sweet, albeit a bit noisy due to missing mum! Hopefully they will settle down in the next few days and start enjoying their new space.
What is the weather doing this month! We did Open Farm Sunday on 12th June - what a bad weather day rained from 5am til 6pm. Fortunately we have a small following, and we managed to get enough interest to eat the hog that had been cooking since 5am. And I must say it was the best hog we had done. Amazing!
We also attended a school fete at Kings Lodge, Pewsham, we all had a fantastic afternoon, the children loved having pigs and lambs there, hopefully raised a bit of awareness. And we have been booked for the pre-school fete in September.
We now have a small chiller, so the produce looks fantastic in that when we get it fresh. At least we can start looking proper for events and things.
Don't forget our equipment and general sale on 25th June. And if anyone wants a childrens birthday party with a difference, come and hire our venue, bring a picnic and enjoy the space.
May
The hog roast went as quick as a flash, a lot of satisfied customers and even a converted veggie after trying our Mangalitza sausages! It was hard work but well worth doing, come back for another one on 12th June.
We had a surprise lamb born, we thought they had all popped, lamb is doing well a little girl so she will be kept for breeding.
We attended the MCR open day at Melksham House on 28th May, the weather wasn't too kind, but we met a few people the animals had a lot of attention, we are also attending a school in June and possibly a show in Calne in July. So if you want us to come to your event please give us a ring with details and we will see what we can do.
Ducks have been hatching out for the past week, we have around 12 now.
Look out for the Hog Roast details on the events page.
We are tidying up the toilet and hand wash area, its coming along nicely and will be ready for the Hog Roast event on 21st May.
We have loads of new chicks, including quails. The duck eggs have been set so hopefully will hatch out in 4 weeks.
It looks like Sophie our large black is finally pregnant to the British Lop boar, we will keep everything crossed and hope she succeeds in having her own litter.
April
Easter is over, we had a wonderful weekend showing our animals off, promoting our project and gathering support from local people. We were lucky with the weather although it was very hot at times. We would like to thank all of our friends who helped with the event, without them we could not have done it.
Alan from Melksham Community Radio interviewed us on Easter Monday, visit their radio website to hear it.
We had 2 Easter lambs born, the boy is called "William", and 6 Easter chicks hatched. We also picked up 2 Wiltshire Horn Orphan lambs, "Kate" and "Jessie" that were a day old.
We are going to have a "name the lamb" competition on 28th May at the Melksham Community Radio launch (outside the Arts cafe, where we will have a few animals on display) see their website for more details.
All in all a successful start.
Hear our interview on Melksham Radio:
http://www.melkshamradio.co.uk/6/Events_in_Melksham/
The place is buzzing getting ready for Easter. There are so many jobs to do, we will get there in the end. We got another large black sow "Rosie", very sweet and about the same age as "Ash".
Most of the piglets are now sold, which is good. We can't wait for our next lot but it will be a while as Sophie still doesn't seem to be pregnant.
We now have a outside toilet for visitors, and hand washing facilities are being installed.
A STAR IN THE MAKING : see basil our 2 weeks old lamb playing football on you tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjHJG5KbHkc
EASTER OPENING HOURS : Easter Friday and Monday 11am to 3pm.
Come and see the animals, newborn lambs, piglets, ducks, chickens, big pigs and sheep.
Easter egg hunt to be arranged.
Food and drink will be available.
March
Our first lambs have been born, the first ewe decided to be difficult and we lost one of the lambs unfortunately but the surviving lamb is strong and well. Sooty our original orphan lamb produced 2 lambs both girsl, the are so sweet - will post pics soon. We are now watching out everyday for the rest to pop - its so exciting.
Corky the adopted piglet, is going on his 2nd outing. The first was a visit to the Nursing home next door, everyone thought he was lovely. And this week he is going to a Nursery school to visit the children. Not sure who is more excited! Anyway he is becoming thoroughly spoilt!
We are going to do Open Farm Sunday on 12th June please see the link : www.farmsunday.org/ofs/home.eb and enter Home Grown Pigs and you will see our entry.
We are also opening for Easter, we will post the dates and times nearer the date. So please come back and check us out.
We would like to thank our huge friend Richard Casemore who gave us encouragement and the bug for what we are doing today. Sadly Richard passed away this month, he is and will continue to be, missed by all who knew him.
February
Due to high food prices things are a bit more difficult, we have slimmed down the stock a bit to account for this, but still have a few piglets due in the next few weeks.
Good news is that the Large Black Boar is now up on his feet and fighting fit again. So will hopefully start working again soon.
Our friend Richard, who is ill in hospital has had a litter of Lops, they are being looked after by some friends ouf ours. The runt has now taken residence in our conservatory since he wasn't growing and didn't seem to be getting much food. He is now destined for a life of Riley, we hope to find him a home on a childrens farm evenutally.
January
We have acquired 4 grey-faced dartmoor ewes, all hopefully expecting suffolk cross lambs in March. All our ewes are looking heavily pregnant now, so cannot wait for Spring!
We are renting another 2 acres in order to run the sheep there whilst they are lambing, and we are also looking after a boar so we are in the middle of building a boar pen for him as well.
Our first litter was born to Miranda the Middle White, 8 piglets are doing well.
December
Although we haven't had much snow, the weather is playing havoc with us due to getting all the animals a fresh water supply daily. Since everything is frozen up, its a case of transporting barrels of water everywhere. We can only hope the cold spell is a quick one, so we can get back to using the water supplys nearer by.
November
We swapped a wiltshire horn ram for a jacob ram, hes a very fine looking fellow. We will be using him on the soay sheep first to see what happens. We took delivery of a David brown tractor, a bit old and worn but will look much better for a lick of paint. Its already been for a steam clean and sandblast and looks better already. just a lot of painting to do now. We lost one of our Soay sheep this month, and marthys lost her whole litter of piglets. So not a good month. Hopefully next month will be better. we have taken on our first batch of table birds, hoping to sell them at the farmers markets.
October
We took on 6 soay sheep, they are completely different to our other sheep. More delicate looking rather like deer. They are supposed to be more hardy, so fingers crossed.
September
We are slimming down our stock for winter, all finished pigs have gone to slaughter, our table birds are ready to go soon and the lambs are nearly ready. So a well deserved rest for a few months with just our breeding stock in residence.
August
We acquired a large black "champion" boar he will be used in our breeding programme and also hired out if possible.
July
Another litter of middle whites were born this month, other than the fact "Miranda" decided to make it more diffciult everything went extremely well. Mother and babies all doing well. We acquired an oxford sandy and black gilt, a british lop gilt and a large black gilt. Meaning the herd is growing and our breeding programme will be getting underway later this year. We hatched our own chicks, so hopefully these grow strong and will be our first "blue" layers.
June
We have had some reasonable success hatching our own ducklings, so far we have 25. They are very sweet, but become very smelly after a while. It is hard to believe that something so cute and fluffy has a horrid smell!
May
Mixed success so far with table birds, we seem to either be losing them to rats or a virus. So much for getting them from an organic supplier! So far our experience of organic animals is that they are either riddled with worms, have mange or some other disease which isn't clear until they have been here for a few weeks. In our opinion, the only thing organic means is poorly kept animals. Who exactly is supposed to be benefitting out of this because it isn't the animal. So if anyone out there is reading this and buys organic, "DON'T". Its just not fair to the animals.
We had our first hog-roast, it was a brilliant sunny day and very mad! Around 70 people turned up, the hog was just amazing. Definitely something we will do next year, hopefully on a bigger scale.
We have also acquired a Gloucester Old Spot called "Lexi", she is about 18 months old and has already had one litter. We will be putting her to pig later in the year, once she has got over the mange problem she brought with her. She is very vocal, so much so we have had to move her away from the house as every time she sees a human she things she is being fed. And its very noisy.
April
Marthys decided to give birth to her brood outside in the sunshine. 7 arrived, but 1 died later. The remaining 6 are doing well. the place is looking great, the grass is growing and fingers crossed the rain stays away for a while!
February/March
This month saw the arrival of the first lambs, lotty was very strong but unfortunately larry and larkin, were not so lucky. Larkin died within a few hours and larry died a week later, mum didn't seem to show much interest in them but is doing well now.
we had a disastrous month with sheep, 2 adult sheep died and we never found out why. So it was all a bit upsetting and confusing for a time, and caused concern with the lambs. Everyone seems to be doing better now, so fingers crossed.
Sooty, finally gave birth to Scamp. Another little girl, who we will keep for breeding.
January
20th January - The piglets started arriving at 5pm and she finished around 7pm, she had 6 babies, all doing well.
19th January - Still waiting for the mangalitza piglets to arrive, Maria in the meantime is destroying everything in site. We have had to re-inforce anythin potentially edible like the shed (her house), the fencing & gates. So it now looks like a prison camp, but we couldn't have her going walkabout at this time incase she decided to have her babies somewhere else.
The middle white piglets are looking cuter than ever, I'm sure you will want to adopt one! The runt is pocket sized.
11th January - The piglets are here! We didn't notice it all happening, but by 2.30pm they were all here. 1 died, but we have 9 survivng, all doing very well and looking very sweet!
Some of marthys' piglets have now been rehomed, the others are staying for fattening.Its been quiet over Christmas and New Year. Marthys the British Lop and mother of the piglets has now parted company to see her boyfriend. She was getting a bit fed up with the babies, as they were very demanding. Maria the mangalitza is very hormonal with a couple of weeks to go before her brood arrive, she seems to have a new lease of life chasing the shovel. I wonder if we need to increase the fence height wither her hopping and jumping spree! Miranda the middle white, on the other hand, only has days to go and is struggling. She cannot get comfortable and finds everything so hard now. She has been moved into the new pen for the big day, and can now be viewed on the webcam.
The snow isn't making life any easier, all water supplies have frozen completely, so its a major job getting water to all the animals via the house supply. Sweep and buttons the 2 rams, are finding their house a god-send whereas the ewes which are due in February seem to have other ideas. 3 of them are in the house, but the other 2 have decided they don't want to get that cosy and appear to be living rough. Hopefully they do go in at night as its blooming freezing!
The chickens didn't even venture out today, you could just see the trail they had made to the feed bowl and that was it - otherwise you could make out their little heads peering out of their house!
Its a time when I miss Jasmine and Poppy as they loved the snow, it gave them both a new lease of life. I can only hope that they are both causing major disruption at the rainbow bridge ! Wish you were both here now, playing in the snow. Love you both forever, you are always in my thoughts. Mum.x
December
The piglets are now enormous, we are soon going to separate them from mum, as she needs a break. The mangalitza and middle white are both due in January, so we need to have a swap around to sort out where they are going to be when it all happens.
More sad news, Jasmine our 11 year old cocker spainel had to be put to sleep last week. She suffered with a perforated tumour in her abdomen. At least she didn't suffer, and is now at peace and probably causing chaos with Poppy on the beach somewhere. Jasmine, we will always remember you, missing you so much, love us all.
Jasmine : 28/02/1998 - 07/12/2009
November
The weakest didn't survive but all the rest are doing really well.
3rd Nov The piglets have arrived! 
10 out of 14, we are hoping they all thrive tonight. It was a bit of a struggle taking longer than we thought, but after a little intervention from the vet things got on their way eventually.
With the imminent arrival of Marthys' piglets, we are all waiting with baited breathe. I feel really sorry for her as she is so large now her stomach rubs along the ground and she is so uncomfortable. Fingers crossed things go smoothly and she succeeds in producing a healthy litter of little piggies! I am hoping that the webcam is now working so that you can all have a look (be patient with the settings!)
October
Boris has now moved to have fun with more girlfriends, Maria is now feeling quite lonely! Miranda is back after being away with her boyfriend, so hopefully January will be quite eventful with 2 litters of piglets due.
Miranda has now moved to her winter quarters, which we hope she finds more comfortable.We are still in the process of completing Marias new winter pen.
We have purchased 2 weaners "Blackie" and "Spot" who are around 12 weeks old and are quite cute (see picture gallery)
The weather hasn't helped with the work, but also the mud is getting worse!
We have finally finished the pigs pens, Miranda and Marthys have moved to the new enclosures.Maria will move once we have replaced the original wire fencing later this month.
One thing to remember is "ALWAYS BE READY FOR SOMETHING TO GO WRONG". I was feeding the mangalitza boars one sunny sunday, and whilst trying to get into their pen, "Sweep the sheep" tried to mug me of their feed from behind. At the time I was trying to get through the gate and in the split second the young boar put his mouth through the gate and bit me! I received 4 teeth marks and a huge bruise above my knee. And I was grateful that I wasn't actually in the pen as he would have then been able to open his mouth fully. So since then I have gone armed with a slap stick in order to get them to move away from me when I enter.
September
We are now owners of a completely mad blue roan cocker spaniel "Trixie" and an equally mad 10 month collie called "polly". They are both adorable and love the space they have and drive everyone completely mad with their antics. We are hoping Polly will graduate into a working sheep dog and well Trixie will hopefully just pick up some manners along the way!
We have hired a boar for the mangalitza as her babies are now huge and she is ready to start all over again. "Boris" is from Pig Paradise and is quite large but quite a nice pig to have a round. He is a bit of a bully, but Maria is getting used to him!
Miranda is on her holidays wth a boyfriend as well, so january is likely to be quite busy what with 2 litters due and Marthys' piglets being 8 weeks old. marthys is looking very pregnant now, she is due early November.
We are now getting some concreting done so that the 3 sows have a dry place to stay during the winter. And it will mean we have a safe and secure place to put any animals that need dedicated care as well.
The ram has been with the ewes now for a few weeks, there has been a bit of "action" but I think Buttons needs to do with a bit more practice.
August
We have been steadily making progress with fencing, reseeding paddocks where possible for winter and just generally tidying. The work is never ending, but still enjoyable. Its nice to be outside in the fresh air.
The ducks are making so much mess, that we have given them even more freedom and space - otherwise the place is going to be full of holes.
Thursday 23rd July
We have been building more houses, from mini roof trusses we acquired from Wiltshire Wood Recycling based near Castle Coombe Race circuit. The ducks now have very posh lodges, as well as 2 for the sheep and 1 built specifically for the mangalitza when she arrives.
Friday 17th July
Picked up some more table birds, they look so cute whilst small, but are so ugly when they are fully grown!
Tuesday 14th July
Brought home our Ryeland ewes and ram, hope they settle in quickly with their new friends, Sooty, Sweep, Sue and Arthur.Will ask the people in the Old Peoples home to name the girls, The ram is called Buttons, as he is chocolate!
Thursday 2nd July
The piglets have arrived!
Our manglitza and Richards OSB have both produced their babies on the same day. The babies are sooo cute. (See pics on pig page)
Sunday 28th June 2009
We rescued 6 more battery hens today, they are in good condition and will be taking residence alone for the time being until they are stronger and more able to look after themselves.
Saturday 27th June 2009
We were invited to have a farm stall at The Old Peoples home next door, we took some ducks, chickens and of course Arthur and Sweep! It was a jolly day and the residents enjoyed meeting the animals up close.
Thursday 25th June 2009
What a day !
Firstly I had the worst news ever, as my cocker spaniel Poppy passed away after suffering a short and sudden illness. She was the most wonderful dog anyone could ever wish to own, we will all miss her dearly, I can still hear her "singing" for her dinner.
Pops : 25/06/1999 - 25/06/2009
Then Marthys escaped! She was reported to be walking up the A350 - after a manic 5 mins of dashing about trying to find her, we managed to coax her back home, much to the amusement of passers by and drivers!
Lesson learnt, always check the gates behind you.
Saturday 13th June 2009
Another pig ark has been built, to home Miranda who will be coming to stay soon.
Friday 12th June 2009
Expanded the duck space and built a new shed for the table birds, they now have a much bigger house and 2 pens so that we can alternate the land they live on.
Thursday 4th June 2009
Acquired a curly coated mangalitza in-pig. Piglets due in a few weeks. An exciting development as both myself and Richard desparately wanted to try them, much to the other halves despair! We pick her up next week sometime.
Wednesday 27th May 2009
Bath and West Show. Marthys won 1st prize again, and Richards Oxford Sandy and Black Boar won Male champion! So far this year we have done so well and to top it all Richard bought another British Lop boar which also won champion and has since won champion at the Cornwall show as well He is going to be Marthys' mate, so we have high hopes for her offspring in January 2010.
Monday 25th May 2009
We went to the Sherbourne Castle Country Fair, with Marthys and Richards Oxford Sandy and Black gilt. Marthys won first prize! She will be getting a complex soon, and demanding more feed
Tuesday 12th May 2009
We bought a middle white gilt today for breeding, she is so cute! Photos are in the gallery on the home page. She came from Devon, and is a year old in July. We will breed from her later in the year.
Monday 11th May 2009
Unfortunatelt Patricia the British Lop has had a phantom pregnancy, so we won't be having any piglets just yet. Shes not very happy with having her rations cut back down!
Friday 8th May 2009
We are waiting for 'Patricia' the British Lop to give birth to her piglets, she was due Wednesday and therefore its been a pacing week!
Three of the remainng lambs are being moved today to a greener field, we will still keep Arthur here as he isn't weaned yet and as he needs company, Sweep has volunteered to stay as well. I think he is hoping to share the milk rations!
Monday 4th May 2009
The British Lop gilt we are buying was taken to Wraxhall show today and won 3rd prize! We are very proud of her, hopefully she will win more prizes at the Bath and West Show and Sherbourne Show at the end of the month.