Comment by Samantha Belley on July 4, 2012 at 2:38pm

Thanks Heather! Good Luck! We moved to our property 3 years (4 summers) ago it just took us that long to get the house in order for the humans.  Now it's time to make a wild forested lot a mixed pasture / forest lot. Fingers crossed!

Comment by Heather S on July 4, 2012 at 2:40pm

Sounds great and sounds like you're approaching things the right way. We've had out place 2.5 yrs and have work to do on the house and the barns and the land.. our 1st pigs arrive a week after we do :-0

Comment by Samantha Belley on July 4, 2012 at 2:43pm

That is so exciting! What breed of pigs did you decide on and what made you choose them?

Comment by Heather S on July 4, 2012 at 2:49pm

Yes we're pretty excited :-) We've gone with Tamworth X Berkshire. We're keen on Tams but we figure the Berks will give us a bit more speed in maturing - and we should get good bacon from this combo. We actually don't live that far from the birthplace of either breed, here in England (in Gloucestershire, where the Glou Old Spots come from - which we like too, esp the temperment though they tend to go to fat easily..). Anyway, my partner has a thing for Tams and we want pigs with good long snouts to dig up old ground and that are good on pasture - so there you go! How about you?

Comment by Samantha Belley on July 4, 2012 at 3:00pm

We are looking at tams  or tams x something too. The question I have that no one wants to fess up to is how well they will do in the winter here. How much housing I have to build up for them. We are in the snow belt here and it's not uncommon to have 3 feet of snow and -40C outside for weeks on end. I'd hate them to be cooped up in a box through the hard winter. 

Comment by Heather S on July 4, 2012 at 4:43pm

So much snow - sounds like it could have good insulating qualities if their housing takes advantage of that?  I went to grad school in Toronto, those are cold winters! There's a couple pasture raising pigs in Ontario, I can't recall where precisely but they're quite well known. I've emailed her on occasion (Tara). Their place is called 'GreenBeing farm' - they might have some advice for you? Another person who is quite famous in the pastured pig community is Walter Jeffries, he's in Vermont and I know his pigs are outside year 'round - he's reknowned for offering advice. Do keep me posted!

Comment by maria print on July 13, 2012 at 8:45pm

hi i am new here just looking around. love the house, miss being by the sea.

we are moving in a few weeks to a bigger property hoping to get some dexters, sheep and pigs, we already have 3 goats,4 horses, 5 dogs and a few cats :)

sorry didn't know where else to write.

maria

Comment by Samantha Belley on July 16, 2012 at 7:58am

Welcome Maria!  I look forward to hearing about your new additions and your existing animals adjustment to the move.  Good luck!

Comment by Rua Lupa on August 13, 2012 at 12:01pm

Hi there. I am on Manitoulin Island hoping to soon get myself some land to do some forest gardening no till farming. I currently have indoor potted plants on the go in my apartment and an outdoor garden under my apartment stairs growing some sunflowers, pumpkin, sweat peas, peppers and chick weed. Indoors I have a lemon, clementine, manderine, and chives (some other perennial herbs that have yet to start too). Will be in the market for land in about a year or so.

I'm continually working on the Ehoah website that has a lot of sources for permaculture, forest gardening, and urban farming, including natural homes - http://ehoah.weebly.com/food.html

Comment by Heather S on August 17, 2012 at 9:32am

Hi Rua and thanks for sharing the weblink, that's a great resource! There is a group very near us that has started recently - the Blockhouse School Project. They recently put off a permaculture course, we weren't around to participate but it seemed to go over well.

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