More piglets and a successful farmers market

Why is it that I never have a camera when I really need it?? Clearly I would have made a lousy journalist - that said, you will just have to read our latest update and be content with pictures of more cute little piglets. Despite our dates our ladies decided to farrow in the opposite order - Lucy won with 16 piglets, one dead and another very small one (which I should have taken and bottle fed, didn't make it either). The remaining 14 are adorable and are under a week old and tottering around the paddock already. Lucy is often found resting away from the hut after tucking them into bed at night having a glass of wine and some 'me' time - I know just how she feels. Shortly after Lucy, Rosie had 9 little ones and Bev followed with 7 (not the 2 I was predicting). A little disappointing for second litters but lovely little pigs so we will just have to be content with that. That boosts our numbers up and probably makes Felix rest a little easier. Still struggling with the concept of eating our pigs I got a little closer to the reason this week when I asked him what exactly was worrying him about it all (expecting a heart wrenching reply) - he said "I like pigs and if we keep eating them we will run out" - after I showed him that we had 30 more with the latest litters he seemed perfectly happy with the whole concept.

Speaking of eating pigs our first Farmers Market was a huge success. Once again we both had minimal sleep trying to figure out what we would do with 3 pigs and the resulting meat (LOTS) if the local demand for free range pork wasn't as we had hoped. Our butchers had very kindly lent us their refridgerated ute and as James loaded up the meat I struggled gamely with the tent that we had bought to cover our operations at markets such as this one. Everyone else seemed to set up like a well oiled machine whilst I stood around and aimlessly attempted to stretch the legs out on this supposedly easy to assemble piece of equipment. Once again Mudgee's friendly locals saved the day and helped out with the million things we had forgotten - tent pegs, hammers, scissors and some muscle in putting things up and carrying various boxes. By the time people started wandering through I think we looked almost professional. I say almost because on our first sale I had just taken the money and felt quietly excited about selling a packet of sausages and chops and managing to add it all up in my head when I went to open the till and realised that I had left the key at home....worse than that Emily had been playing with the keys the night before so I was pretty sure I would never see them again. Slight panic descended as more people came to buy the meat and I flapped around trying to figure out how I was going to operate with no change whatsoever, however emptying both our wallets and begging for the right money soon put us on the right track. Vanessa and Fiona responded to a call at about 9 which sounded a little like "HELP, please come down here" and even were so organised as to bring change with them. By 10.30 we had sold out of everything and for the next 2 hours had to hand out order forms and apologise to a lot of disappointed people. Champagne was drunk that evening and since then we have had 4 orders directly and apparently a lot of interest through our butcher, Hodges. It is all very exciting.

My goats are back and our chickens and laying like the clappers - 6 eggs today. We are all a bit desperate for rain and despite the fact that the clouds are ominous and the weather is cold I think we had about 4 millimetres today...the winter vegies are not happy and I have had to start buying fruit and veg from the shop for the first time in a couple of months. This weekend we are preparing for Wings Wine and Wheels - an airshow with wine and cars I guess. We will be selling hot pork rolls and sausages as usual and next weekend we will try our luck at one of the big farmers markets in Dubbo. Despite James' refusal to ever go back there are EI vaccinating it seems that the lure of thousands of customers is changing his mind.

Countdown to Farmers Market

After smugly commenting on the fact that we have all been free of 'bugs' since leaving the crowded streets of London, we have all developed unpleasant hacking coughs over the last week or so and so life has been a bit miserable, especially for the kids. James' ear has healed up nicely, although I was hoping for a permanent hole so that he could sport an ear tag as well.

Last weeks cyclists were very keen on the hot pork rolls, which sold out within a couple of hours. Next we had to make around 300 canapes and the day began with me forgetting that the local electricity supplier would be cutting off our power from 10.00am to 3.00pm. Thank god a friend's kitchen had been lined up as it was closer to the event and we could keep the kids occupied a little better. I spent a day sweating over a pork belly recipe which I had not attempted before and that luckily decided to cooperate. This was combined with some sausage rolls and taken up to a rotarian conference for about 300 people. Again the tables were empty in about an hour and a half and we had lots of great feedback on the meat. It is now time to put our money where our mouth is so to speak and we will start selling the free range pork at the next farmers market. We are getting labels and brochures printed, having our sign put on the side of the ute and looking around at portable coolrooms. I have a long 'to do' list at the moment that I am trying to work through.

James' parents, Julie and Peter, arrived on the weekend and have not so far suffered too much from jetlag. James and Peter quickly kicked off by finishing the kid's treehouse (above), much to the delight off Emi and Felix who would probably like to take their beds up there if they could.

The goats have gone off to the billy and I am told have both have cooperated with much enthusiasm. I am embarrassed to write this however I am actually really missing having them around - as is Gracey who spends her days bleating pathetically at the gate for someone to come and play with her. I will leave them for another week to make sure that they don't come into season again and then they can load up and come home and get back to eating our blackberries.

Woody is off to dog school this weekend - he spends most of his days ambushing Coco and launching himself at her ears with a tenancity that would make a staffy proud. She is suffering a bit and has taken to jumping out of the back yard and heading up to her good friend James dog for a cup of tea and some rest and relaxation. I am hoping that getting a good start on his training might help, but am slightly worried that we may never have enough work to keep him busy. The pigs seem so clever that they pretty much walk themselves out now and go through the scales without too much of a problem. Staying on the pig news we are due to have about 3 litters in the next week. Lucy is so heavy that her teats are almost dragging on the ground and she looks distinctly uncomfortable. Little Rosie (who is still my favourite and loves a scratch and a cuddle) is probably coming up second and Bev, who really should be first, either has a solitary piglet and therefore not much to show, or is like one of those supermodels who manages to sail through pregnancy without looking as though there is much more than a beachball till the last minute.

Last but not least my chicken saga continues... Brad has been joined by a new Angelina - she is a pretty little grey thing but so flightly that I couldn't get a photo of her. I know that she is there because every morning when I let them out she almost flies into my head and runs squawking off around the yard. I have long been looking for some silkies and found out that there was a sale up at the agriculture plot at the high school with one rooster and 2 hens going. Clearance and garage sales around here seem to be pretty competitive with people showing up hours before they begin so I wasn't going to miss out this time. I went there ready to push to the front of the queue and jump on the chickens at first sight, however luck was with me and they hadn't sold. We therefore now have Buzz, Isabella and Wendy (named by Felix) who you can see above. They provide me with a lot of pleasure as they are like owning something out of the Muppet show... not highly intelligent (even for a chicken) they seem to strut around and bump into things a lot and unlike the others don't roost so I have to be meticulous about locking them up as they would be an easy meal for a fox. They are already laying and the plan is that they are so clucky that I can use them to hatch out my duck eggs.

James takes empathy to a new level..

Today started out as a normal day - weaning Beccie's piglets, moving the very pregnant Lucy, Rosie and not so pregnant (but supposed to be the most pregnant so not sure what is happening there) Beverley down to the maternity wing. I was out with the kids and James decided that he would do a spot of pig tagging (giving them an ear tag and number) himself. This was cut short as he calmly walked back to the house with blood all over his neck and said he had just 'cut' his ear. I bravely decided to inspect more closely, however after identifying that the metal stake had actually gone through the cartilage at the top of his ear I started seeing spots and had to sit down myself. He drove himself up to the hospital where there wasn't a whole lot they could do except clean it up and give him a tetanus shot. He bravely came back and we continued the ear tagging - this time with me weilding the big pair of pliers that puts the hole in their ear out of necessity whilst James held them as still as possible. I am not sure who squealed the loudest, the pigs about being held, or me every time I punched the hole in their ear... not for the faint hearted (of which I would usually categorise myself however needs must).

This week we have had both pan fried goat and slow roasted goat shoulder. I don't deny that the whole goat saga has been a little stressful for me. I felt very guilty about the little pain in the bum that was Bam Ram. I therefore approached the whole goat eating with great trepidation and so carefully watched Fiona as she ate before me for a hint of goat identification in the meat (which with Fiona would make her run wretching from the table). This was not forthcoming and so whilst I made a bit of a fuss I had to eat my words after eating the goat, as it tasted not too different from lamb. So encouraged am I that I am taking Dora back to a Boer (meat breed) goat for her to be re-joined as the only setback of getting rid of her kids is that she appears to be quickly drying up milk wise.

We again have a full week of sausages - this weekend a Mudgee Food and Wine event in Birkenhead in Sydney, on Thursday a bike-riding event that sees around 1000 bikeriders descending on Mudgee (hopefully feeling desperately in need of a pork sausage) and Friday we have another local wine event at which our sausages and pork belly will be one of a number of options to soak up a bit of alcohol. This week we are bravely moving away from the gourmet sausage and trying hot pork rolls as well....

Happy Easter

Oops, yet another week has gone by and no updates! Last weekend began with selling our sausages at Mudfest (a local small film festival at one of the wineries) AND selling some to a local chef who used it for a grape stomping lunch at yet another winery. It was our first time selling in Mudgee and once again the response was great - all sausages sold and Mudgee free range pork got a mention in the local paper too... The pigs got a reprieve this week as we step back and have a think about how exactly this is all going to run - of course we have pondered endlessly but come up with nothing so are going back to plan A - just keep putting it out there whenever we can. We are aiming for the next Mudgee farmers market to actually start the Ormiston stall so are in the process of finding out about licencing and all the other fun things that go with selling food to the public.

The Good Life continued with our first almost completely self-sufficient meal - roast pork, potatoes, beans, a small sad piece of brocolli and cabbage. The last pigs were almost used up but had the legs left over so we are awaiting a ham and have a freezer full of spare ribs and leg roasts - they join the duck with the little feathers that we can't get rid of and sadly very soon the little buck goat. I am once again wrestling with my concience that is yelling "keep him as a pet" - however I am trying to reassure myself we are doing the responsible thing by having it all done here and not putting him through the trauma of going to market. I will of course be as far away as possible with the kids, while a helpful local is coming up to do the deed. It is a steep learning curve this farm thing. The children of course think he is going to a lovely farm where he will live happily ever after and are comforted by Gracey, the little kid, who would usually have been weaned many weeks ago. I feel she will probably have a bottle a day for the rest of her life because Emi and Felix (and okay...me) find it so rewarding.

After a long wait it is finally starting to become obvious which of our chickens are hens and roosters. Coming up to the feeding shed I was very excited to hear some lusty crowing and ran around the corner eager to see who our first rooster was. Angelina posed proudly on the gatepost and continued to show me her cockadoodledoo for about 15 minutes. She has now been renamed Brad and seems quite unfazed by the fact that he is half the size of the larger ladies - he flaps about importantly and I am told the Isa Browns are quite partial to his charms. I am awaiting the arrival of some more blue egg layers who are actually laying so that I don't make the same mistake twice.

Easter is of course eagerly awaited with great excitement and the counting down of sleeps by Emi and Felix... they will no doubt spend the weekend high as kites on sugar after consuming as much chocolate as humanly possible before 9am tomorrow morning.

We wanted to drop Maggie the new goat off with Elvis the billy for a naughty weekend and hopefully a pregnant outcome, however I forgot the trailer was full of whey and out of action for another week. There had been much excitement around this trip as Elvis' owners have a herd of Shetlands and Minature ponies and pony rides had been mentioned. We went out minus the goat with much anticipation. They both had a lovely time on Ruthie the pregnant Shetland - unlike most of her breed (especially the ones that I remember) she was absolutely delightful. I am holding back hard on the horse thing, however the offer of letting Ruthie come and stay with us for holidays so the kids can have a ride around on her might be the compromise we have been looking for. Felix just wanted to go 'faster, faster' and Emily endlessly sang a tuneless song that seemed to comprise of "I'm riding a horsie, I'm riding a horsie" the whole time....nobody fell off.

Not content with the growing list of work that needs to be done on the place, James has decided that we need both a cellar and an outdoor woodfired oven (legal in a total fire ban or not is the question of the week). I am in the midst of registering Coco's pedigree in Australia and have had to become an official dog breeder in order to register any puppies that she has - Ormiston Woody continues to be both a huge pain and a delight at the same time. He and James have formed a blokey partnership and if not together he can usually be found destroying my garden and barking at anything he can possibly convince himself we need to be protected from.

Our Pigs are lucky but surely it should be normal??

I try to steer away from getting on my high horse about animal welfare..but what else is a blog for if it isn't to express your opinion? Thought it a good opportunity to show anyone interested the latest add campaign against factory farmed pork (which is where all your pork comes from unless it states free range!).

www.pigad.blogspot.com.

Watch if you dare!! The videos are particularly distressing - especially for me when I know what a nice life our herd has..

Ormiston Free Range is open for business...

I had to do it really - pictures from paddock to plate as it were. We have toasted Gloria on many occasions and it feels as if she has had a proper send off - she will always be remembered as the pig that launched the sausage from now on. It is a hot Tuesday afternoon and I think we are really just coming down to earth....even the dogs look exhausted.

The story goes something like this...

The pig eventually arrived at the butchers at about 10.30 on Saturday morning to everyone's intense relief... I went in with James to see the sausages being made with a sweaty brow in case my professional manner was compromised by bursting into tears at the sight of a named pig ending up on the hook - I think James thought this was a possibility as well so he tried very hard to let me stay in the car. Not to be deterred I crept in behind him with eyes averted in case I needed to run out but luckily they had made all 800 sausages and they looked so amazing that we were just terribly excited. The reaction from our lovely butchers also made it all worth while, they were amazed at the consistency of the meat and loved the spice mix that we made up for them.. obviously we let them take some to give us some feedback.

We left them to hang and set but cut off a few to take them home to a waiting audience of willing tasters... the difference in the sausages made from our meat was very evident, they even smelt different when cooking. The spices that overpowered the intensive bland practice sausage meat was perfect with the richer berkshire pork. We decided that I should go along for the day as well and luckily Mum, Fiona and Vanessa were on hand to look after the fort.

Emily must have sensed that I needed a decent night's rest and helpfully woke me at 1.30 on Sunday morning. After this I of course couldn't get to sleep for fear of not hearing the alarm... 3.00 am came around and we were off, both feeling a little sick with nerves and tiredness. The NSW Cellar Door Expo was held in Hyde Park with around 300 wineries from all over NSW - we were in the Mudgee area with another smokehouse, a vension farm, a thai restaurant and a winery restaurant of stalls. I started to feel very nervous for our sausages at this point. I watched the stall from a distance as the doors opened at 11.00 - people wandered past but didn't buy...about 10 minutes of angst followed but by 11.30 we had a queue that didn't go down until 4.30 that afternoon when we sold our last sausage. It really was an amazing experience - we had incredible feedback and lots of requests for which markets in Sydney we would be selling our meat. James managed to drive home that night aided by red bull and jelly babies whilst I lay comatose beside him.

Weigh day took on a whole new meaning yesterday - one of our Berkshires hit the magic number of 70 kilos as did one of the Landrace X girls so they are off today to make up the order for one of the local restaurants and more sausages for Mudfest (a short film festival that attracts about 1,000 people at a local vineyard). They are all very confident in the runs now and go through the scales quite calmly (aided by a handfull of food in the crush which had the unexpected effect of making them unhurried about wanting to leave it). This week we decided they could go home through the walkway by themselves after being weighed but they all refused to leave the stockyards. Dorothy (one of the ginger girls that was handraised) sat at the gate and grabbed it in her mouth shaking it back and forth when we shut her out. On the piglet front we have just lost the second one from our latest litter to some kind of respiratory type infection - despite getting antibiotics, a hot water bottle, fluids and me attempting to stuff a bottle in its mouth most of the night it died this afternoon. It seems very strange that the weakling runts that have been at death's door seemed to live through anything and the strong little fellow that we bought down here deteriorated so quickly...

My goat Maggie (black and white like a Magpie) is getting a little better, I got to observe goat behaviour first hand when they clashed horns and strutted around each other sizing up the opposition. It would have been impressive except Dora is such a rickety old girl that it was like watching a granny beat someone with their handbag. Maggie is still quite flighty but will at least take food from my hand. Gracey is still her demanding self and is enjoying eating her way through my pomegranate tree when I don't watch her closely. She is now with the other kids learning to be a goat.

The website is in progress and you can contact us on james@ormistonfreerange.com.au or georgie@ormistonfreerange.com.au from now on. Sausage recipes gratefully received!

Goat dairy??

Perhaps this post should read "RIP Gloria"but that's a bit morbid isn't it! Actually all initially went to plan...she was unfazed by the load up and the journey and the abattoir was exactly what we wanted -a small business that treated them very humanely and everything was hunky dory. I did think that I may chain myself to the gate and have a last minute change of heart on the whole producing meat thing, but actually I was strangely accepting of it all. Anyway, the butcher was expecting delivery on Thursday to make up our 800 sausages for Sunday's festival. It is Saturday morning as I type this and the pig still hasn't arrived. Thankfully the boss of the abattoir is driving it across this morning and the butchers are going to work overtime to get it done for us. Needless to say yesterday was a little manic. Photos of our first ever stall to follow soon.

On a happier note we have added to the goat dairy with 2 newcomers - Grace, who Felix has decided is just like a new puppy, is a little handraised Melaan (Australian breed of dairy goat) - she actually thinks she is a dog and James carried her home in the car on his lap - much to his absolute disgust. Felix as you can see runs about with her and feeds her the bottle twice a day and is very taken. The second goat is the British Alpine who looks like some kind of African Gazelle. She climbs the wall when I go near her so not sure how that equates to her ever letting me milk her but we will see - lots of carrots.