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Our little farm...

 
Posts: 83
Location: Amador County, California
23
goat monies duck forest garden foraging trees rabbit chicken cooking pig wood heat
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My girlfriend Meagan and I raise pigs, chickens, turkeys and goats in the forest in Northern California. Here are a few pics...
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raising pigs in the forest
raising pigs in the forest
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raising pigs
raising pigs
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raising pigs
raising pigs
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raising goats
raising goats
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raising goats
raising goats
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chickens in compost
chickens in compost
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chickens in compost
chickens in compost
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row of sunchokes
row of sunchokes
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raising pigs
raising pigs
 
gardener
Posts: 1774
Location: Los Angeles, CA
562
hugelkultur forest garden books urban chicken food preservation
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Absolutely beautiful!  Those little pork-choppers look so healthy and strong.  And your girls look happy working the compost pile.  Where are you getting all your compostables?  That's quite a pile (or rather, series of piles).

What is your water source?  Growing enough fodder for all that livestock will certainly take some irrigation, I would imagine.  

Are you anywhere near the fires that are ripping their way through wine country?  From the landscape, it looks very similar.  Stay safe.
 
pollinator
Posts: 111
Location: South Central Indiana
19
hugelkultur dog forest garden hunting trees chicken
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Those are great pics Jeff.  Welcome to the forum!
 
pollinator
Posts: 4715
Location: Zones 2-4 Wyoming and 4-5 Colorado
492
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hugelkultur forest garden fungi books bee greening the desert
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Welcome to permies Jeff, great first post, looking forward to seeing and hearing more about your farm !
 
steward
Posts: 4837
Location: West Tennessee
2438
cattle cat purity fungi trees books chicken food preservation cooking building homestead
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You have a beautiful place Jeff! Those look like some happy piggies and goats, and the chickens look like they have plenty to keep them busy! Welcome to permies :)
 
Jeff Campbell
Posts: 83
Location: Amador County, California
23
goat monies duck forest garden foraging trees rabbit chicken cooking pig wood heat
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Thanks, everyone. There is a fire pretty close to us in West Point, in Calaveras County. Last I checked it was 90 percent contained. We have a few acres around the house with a barn and some small outbuildings. The goats and birds are here all the time. Our hogs that are close to farrowing are kept here. We keep them here until we wean and train all the little ones to electric fence. Then we move them to another place down the road, it's forested with black oaks, pines, madrones, maples and quite a few other species of trees. The land has been selectively logged twice in the last twenty years and just cleaned up two seasons ago. We are running the hogs through trying to clear the under story and keep it cleaned up. We have kept more hogs at the house this summer using them to terrace a half acre we are planting to perennial gardens. The one picture is a row of Jerusalem artichokes Meagan planted in the spring. Keeping the extra hogs this summer we've raked lots of manure hence the large compost piles. The goal is to build some good soil for the gardens around the house. We have about a half acre meadow, but that isn't near enough fodder for what we are doing. Our hay comes from about 30 miles away, it is a mix of oats, clover and native perennial grasses. I'm working with my hay guy to plant some different mixes for me this coming year. The goats get lots of hay, we let them waste lots of it, then it gets raked out to the chickens and turkeys. They scratch through it, then it goes on top of the garden beds and what ever else needs mulch. Mulch matters. We stay very busy and always have multiple ongoing projects.
 
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Jeff,

Looks great. Love that part of Ca.
How is the zoning there for building?

 
Jeff Campbell
Posts: 83
Location: Amador County, California
23
goat monies duck forest garden foraging trees rabbit chicken cooking pig wood heat
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Anything over 120 square foot you need a permit. We have an ag exemption though so we could build a barn I believe. Luckily the place already had about enough barn space for us. I think we'll end up with a big shipping container sooner or later to keep stuff dry and rodent free.
 
Jeff Campbell
Posts: 83
Location: Amador County, California
23
goat monies duck forest garden foraging trees rabbit chicken cooking pig wood heat
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I don't always make ham and eggs for breakfast but when I do I make it in the backyard. I've been on the road, drove to Texas and headed back again the end of this week. Taking these hogs to the butcher first. Five barrows and two mean sows.
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raising pigs
raising pigs
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raising pigs
raising pigs
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raising pigs
raising pigs
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raising pigs in forest
raising pigs in forest
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ham and eggs
ham and eggs
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farm ham
farm ham
 
Jeff Campbell
Posts: 83
Location: Amador County, California
23
goat monies duck forest garden foraging trees rabbit chicken cooking pig wood heat
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I’m back! I’ve been in Texas with no internet for the last four months. Got back to the farm and we took thirteen barrows in to butcher, they averaged 290 lbs each. I’m trying to get a chicken coop built so we can get the 120 chicks out of the garage. We’ve also had four gilts farrow for the first time, so we have lots of little piggies on the ground.
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mother and baby pig
mother and baby pig
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raising pigs
raising pigs
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newborn pigs
newborn pigs
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piglets feeding
piglets feeding
 
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