Annette Henry

Big gate (probably about 6 feet) and a roof of welded wire and a tarp is what I'm planning on.  There's pasture right next to the pen area so I can move a truck in there as well.

The piglets around here are typically bacon type mixes, no specific breed, and we're in zone 6a, Missouri around Springfield area on the plains.  Most of our winds come from the North/South/West, rarely from the East which is why I'm situating the pen gate on that side.

Ok, so last year my dear husband and I moved onto our now 10 acres. We're selling two acres of our former 12 ares to friends who want to partially homestead as well, and we're moving on from our rabbits and chickens into the bigger livestock.  

The first/second type of animal we're going to bring in are pigs.  (We might get our cattle first, but that's another issue, lol!)  I have available concrete blocks to build a pig pen.  The area is sloping east with a large area, but not a ton of blocks, perhaps two or three pallets worth?  These are being recycled from another project from our last house and they are the only things I have to work with.  My plan is to build a 4 foot wall in a rectangle shape with the lower, East side wall having a gate.  The West side will have a smallish? area with a block floor and roof, (from North wall to South wall) and at least two thirds of the pen will have bare ground for rooting/wallow building, etc.  I plan on using hay/straw from our land to put onto the concrete floor area for bedding.

Any suggestions on size for two pigs?  Depth of the blocks below ground with a 2 foot freeze depth?  Yes, I know they like to root down under walls, so hopefully 6 foot of concrete blocks total in the wall will help?  Do I need to go deeper?  There's no pasturage, although I might start/finish them in my garden but only after teaching them about electric fencing which I won't have anytime soon.  I plan on butchering in the fall, perhaps getting 4 piglets and butchering two small (100 pounds?) and letting the other two go until winterish weather sets in? Our first snow comes at the end of November, but really it doesn't snow until Jan/Feb.  I have two large freezers and plan on smoking/drying at least most of the meat.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Annette

Well, it looks like grubs it is then.  The land was pasture last year and I'd seen a few grubs but hadn't thought much of it.  It's too dry for slugs and I don't have voles or other tunnel making pests.  I'm off to research how to get rid of grubs now.  Thanks for everyone's input, it really helps!

Ok, so I'm in the fall of my first really large garden.  First year homesteading on acreage, so we put in a large enough garden last spring to grow potatoes as our main crop.  The deer got the tomatoes, cabbages did ok-ish, etc.  Not bad for a first year garden when everyone was busy elsewhere.

But I'm just getting to digging up my potatoes.  4 varieties.  Yukon golds had hollow heart.  Not great, but other wise they did well.  Second variety, fingerlings - well they just vanished beneath the weeds.  On to the 3rd.  Irish Cobbler, and something has been eating tiny holes in them.  They are completely underground, not being dug up and eaten.  There are no tunnels that I've found.  But a good half to 3/4 of them have holes up to the size of my thumbnail eaten out of them!

I haven't checked the Russets yet, but I'm not holding out hope that they came out unscathed.  

Has anyone else had this?  Any ideas of what could be getting into my, admittedly, small harvest?  I have seen some ants, but not a large amount.  No pillbugs.  Again, no tunnels for the groundhog that lives on the south end of the 12 acres I've got.  They haven't been dug up for deer or bunnies.

I plan on trimming up the Cobblers and just having potatoes for dinner, but I want to know what got into them so that I can plan out a way to avoid this next year.  Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

Oh, and I'm in Southwest Missouri if that helps.

Annette

Long time wearer of corsets here.  My youngest daughter is very into cos-play and as I sew, (I'm working on a set of winter skirts today), she dragged me into the world of costumes.  Well, costumes as actual wearable art that is, meaning from the skin out as much as possible.  I sewed my first corset for a costume party we were to go to together, and began to wear it to work to break it in for the big night.  By the time it was worn enough for me to wear daily, I was hooked.  They are so much more comfortable for those of us with more than we'd like up top.  I haven't worn a bra in almost 10 years.  The important things to remember are:

First of all find the right size.  All corsets are, by design, adjustable.  A good place to go is corsetstory.com, they have a sort function on their website for sizing.

Second, wear something underneath to keep the corset clean and to keep your skin from rubbing on the lacing and hardware of the corset.  Yes, most come with a modesty panel, but some don't bother and still others come with lacing along the sides or fronts.  These NEED to be on top of a layer of cloth for cushioning.  

Third, yes they can be worn for almost any occasion, but wearing them daily means that you must take some time off and work those back muscles.  Yes, people did wear them constantly during some parts of history, but those muscles did get weaker - not fainting weak, but weaker than I liked.  I only wear mine to work and go without anything on the weekends to help keep my muscles strong.  

Forth, never tight-lace.  A corset should have a hand's width between the edges on the back.  That's where that modesty panel comes in.  Tight-lace and you get into the so called reasons no one should wear a corset.  Not that you feel it when you wear a tight-laced corset, but yes, tightness of breath, too squished organs, etc - all come from a too tightly laced corset.  When you first put your corset on, take a deep breath and then lace up.

I find that the support I get from the overbust style is tremendously helpful.  I hadn't been able to run in years because of the pain of bouncing.  Now, if necessary, I can run for as long as I have wind for it.  I no longer get blood blisters from pinching underwires, dents in my shoulders from straps trying to hold up far more than they really should be, and back pain from simply having large breasts.  The process to get into my corset actually takes less time than getting into a bra did.  The first time you wear one, yes it takes a bit of help and time to 'set' to your personal shape for the first wearing, but after that it goes on super fast.

I would recommend a corset for anyone who isn't a small breasted person.  They literally last for at least a year, and most often far longer than that.  The support cannot be denied, and as long as you don't tight-lace, you aren't harming your body.

Annette

While the corn grew well, (planting with a good watering at planting time and spot watering as needed with deep mulch), the pollination sucked.  Very few ears had many kernels I think this was because of the constant wind, so next year I'm planning on planting on a grid rather than in hills.  What corn I did get was very nice, so I'm going to go back to that variety and either plant as soon as the farmers around here start tilling or wait until three weeks after they have planted theirs.  With a short term crop I'm hoping to get around their pollination times.  I'm also happy to report that none of the deer I see from my windows have tried to eat what corn there is!  The fence kept them out - for now.  I think right now they're more concerned about all the activity around my new place. lol  Once they get used to that all bets are off.

Thank you to everyone who offered advice!

Here is the solution to moisture wicking/cold coming up through a cob/adobe floor.  Lay down a layer of glass bottles to use as insulation.  I'm planning on doing this with my cob house and am collecting glass pop bottles to use as I don't drink, and will use volcanic rock for under the RMH.

As for the sacrificial layer for the winter - I agree that scrap plywood, even the thinnest type would be the best.  The point being that you don't have to have something nice, just something that will keep the floor protected.  That means the wood can be of any type.  If you have left over 2x4's or your old neighbor is throwing out some paneling use that.

Good luck with your new place!

Update!

Well, for the first week things went gangbusters good.  The corn doubled in size and there were no problems of drying out and dying except a very few on the outer edges of the patch.

Week two, no need for additional water save for a couple on the outer rows, but there was a little bug damage.  A few holes certainly aren't going to bother me as one of the things I love about my new place is the fact that it is teeming with life!  Bugs, birds, deer, raccoons, etc.

Week three - u-oh.  The bug damage isn't so little anymore.  It seems I have lots of grasshoppers and they found the corn patch.  Well, this is exactly why I was doing the test patch in the first place.  Now I know that I need lots of chickens and guineas to keep the hopper population down to a reasonable amount.   That isn't a problem as I was already working on putting up a greenhouse to house the chickens.  Now I know that I need to buy a lot more than I had originally planned on.  That's not a bad thing, lol.