Special Alert!

On June 30 at the Spotsylvania Farmers Market on Rt 3, Papa Weavers Pork will have the following specials on a first come first served basis:

SPECIALS
3 packages of any LINK SAUSAGES for $10.00 (save @ $5.00)
Buy 2 packages of RIBS, get the 3rd for FREE (free is the lesser weight)

Monday morning

Ready for a new week.  I have to finish baling the hay I cut last wednesday.  As always, check on pigs first thing this morning..  We are suppose to have new babies waiting for me this morning,  One sow looked extremely "piggy" when I checked on her last night. 
To Do list for today:
      Go to coop and get mineral supplements to mix with our corn to make more pig feed
      Return mower I borrowed last week
      Feed pigs
      Grind feed
      Check for heat and breed
      Get wagon for pumpkin patch
      Get high school students on task
      Bale hay
      Pull weeds in garden
      Get pork delivery orders ready for tomorrow
Things get pretty busy around here sometimes

promotion

    Sarah has promoted me to head blogger.  I am not sure if it is a promotion, title to make me feel more needed, or merely a way for Sarah to simplify her life. 
   Since her last post, she has a full time off farm job. She also has PYO pumpkin patch set to open this weekend.  Matt is back in school and Tina is back in school.  Me...busier than ever on the farm.  Papa Weaver continues to grow. Our deliveries are becoming more and more demanding.  Thank heaven for "Lucy", our
gps unit.  She always gets me home.  I am currently driving about 600 miles per week making deliveries and moving pigs.  
   Pace on the farm is picking up.  Spring planted crops are nearing maturity.  We are checking machines getting ready for harvest.  Lots of baby pigs are being born.
    Bernie was a friend of mine who I met at a very young age.  He  worked for my father and later for me.  He was more than an employee.  He was a man was who became part of our family as I grew. I learned from him. I laughed with him.  I grew to respect him.
   During the later years of his life, diabetes had taken a toll.  His kidneys had stopped working and he had last both of his legs.  During a visit, I asked him how he was doing..  With so much of his life gone,  his response surprised me.  " I am having a good day.  My feet hit the floor this morning".   Meaning, he was alive. 

That's the right outlook.  If your feet "hit the floor", every day is a good day.

Oh, the wonders of cell phones. When they work.

Cell phones are a marvelous thing.  When you aren't desperately trying to get ahold of someone planting corn in a no cab tractor, or someone who is cutting hay where there is very little to no cell phone service.  Came over to Harrisonburg today to pick up meat, and happened to find a hole in the radiator.  I was frantically trying to call everyone I could think of, but knew that Dad was planting corn, and very unlikely to hear his phone in his pocket (or possibly in the truck) and knew that Matt was out cutting hay on another farm that has very horrible cell phone reception.  Luckily, Mom answered the phone, went and got Dad, and they are currently on their way here.  That's why I decided it was a fantastic time for a blog update!

Life is still busy on the farm- the way it will be until November.  Dad is busy planting corn, and replanting a field that did not come up, or a plant came up here and there, and no one has any idea really why.  Matt has started hay season.  He's the one that stays super busy in the hay field from first thing in the morning until close to dark.  He normally cuts the hay, and then bales it.  Either Dad or I end up raking it into windrows so that the baler can then pick it up.  

I have four sows having babies this week- three are supposed to have babies tomorrow, and then one Friday.  Sows have an average of an 114 day gestation period- how long they are pregnant- but ours have been going a little longer, normally around 117 days.  We still want to move them over with plenty of time so that they are all in the farrowing room, and can have heat lamps put out to keep the babies warm!

My pumpkins are being planted either late this week, or first thing next week!  I'm super excited!

New recipes and Pictures!

Also, please go check out the new pictures and recipes on the Facebook page!  (www.facebook.com/papaweaver)!  I have uploaded lots of pictures from the farm this spring!

Planting Corn, Soybeans, and Rain

So I know that it has been a really long time since the last blog post- completely my fault!  We have been busy on the farm since it is prime planting time, planting corn and soybeans, working ground, and still taking care of pigs and cows.  We have babies being born right now, even though they were all supposed to be through last week!  We try not to induce labor unless they are REALLY overdue, because most of the time we just let nature do its thing.

Matt came home last week, so he is back to helping out on the farm.  Right now, we are dealing with major amounts of rain and thunderstorms.  Good for the corn and soybeans, but not so good at getting other things done on the farm.  Luckily we have just about all of our corn in the ground, and all the soybeans planted.  We have to wait until it dries up some to finish planting corn on the river bottoms. 

Matt and Dad are out working on a cow who had some problems after she had a baby last week, hopefully they are staying dry in this weather!

April Already?!?!

Time sure has flown by since the last time that I had a chance to blog about the farm!  During March, it seems like all of a sudden time starts to speed up on the farm!  The slow days of winter all of a sudden seem to fade away as it starts getting warmer and the days stay lighter longer. 

We are busy getting ready to start planting corn in a few weeks!  I can't believe it is already that time again!  We want to plant earlier than normal this year so that we can start harvesting the corn earlier, just in case corn gets low.  With corn prices at the super high prices that they are now, it's not much fun having to buy corn if we run out!  I have been busy bush hogging old corn stalks, getting ready to start plowing any fields that need to be plowed before Dad starts planting.  Right now, he's even still out on the farm!  He is out spreading manure on our pasture fields, getting our manure spreaders ready to go into high gear this week!  We use the hog manure from our hog barns as fertilizer on our fields.  It is our way of being eco-friendly, and recycling all the nutrients that we have!  It is much better for us and the fields to be able to do this, instead of having to use commercial fertilizer.  We have to wait until this time of year to spread the manure, because it is against the law to spread when the ground is frozen.  Since Dad got the newer spreader, we now have two that we can use to spread.  According to him, tomorrow (if it isn't raining) he and I are both going to be on spreaders out in the fields! 

I am super happy that is is getting warmer outside- I can bring my 4-wheeler back out!  This is my favorite time of year, when I can take my 4-wheeler and just go for rides on the farm.  Tonight before I came home, I went down next to the river with my 4-wheeler just to ride and see what I could find.  There were lots of gorgeous purple flowers that I have never seen before that were everywhere down by the river!

I am getting ready to start ordering all my seeds for my projects this year!  I have a wishlist of all of the pumpkin seeds that I want, and the flower seeds that I am going to grow to sell at Farmer's Markets.  I am super excited to think about my pumpkin patch; even if I do have two more months before I can start planting them!