This week, we moved the grower pigs around to the other barn. 

Up until now, they’ve been in the same barn where they were born.

However, they are getting to be a little big for that area…plus the sows will need to move back in there in the middle of March to for spring farrowing. 

So, we herded them out for a little walk through the yards, between the barns. 

My favorite part was when they were in the last pen before entering their new home and we slowly added more and more of our kids until everyone was helping (since the pigs kept pushing boundries and not wanting to go in. ) 

This ended up being a whole family venture…everyone holding gates or being a human wall to keep them going the way they should.

Sometimes it’s hard to find something for everyone, ages 3-18, boys and girls, to participate in together, but livestock often brings our family working together. 🙂  Even the 3 year old stood outside the fence and cheered us on.

Here are some pictures from my vantage point….I was standing against the door where the sows come in and out.

I had put some feed in a trough in there for them to keep them busy since the littles would be walking through their yard to get where they needed to go.

But the door is less than secure…so I stood there to remind them to stay in for a few minutes. 🙂

So here are the pigs having circled around and now are in the last pen, ready to go through their entrance,

Here’s just Arthur and Lindsey….

Then Oliver and Walter joined them…

Then Felicity and Julie joined the menfolk for the last few pigs…

And there we go…the last little naughty pig crossed into the new pen…quick – close the gate! 🙂

The goose and gander had been living in that barn with the growers so we had to move them too since there wouldn’t have been food or water in there for them. 

Plus the pigs keep everyone a lot warmer.

There wasn’t much herding for them….we just cornered them in the barn and one of the boys and I each grabbed one and carried them to the other side of the yard.

A lot easier, really. 😉

I’m still trying to figure out how to make a successful loaf of fresh bread using fresh ground flour.

In the past, I’ve bought whole wheat flour already ground, but with the somewhat recent addition of a grain mill, I can now make flour myself. 

This adds a completely different dimention, mainly that the gluten acts entirely different but the flavor is superb.

This week I tried a different recipe entirely from the one I’ve been using with the older flour.

Other than that it was unbelievable wet (I added about 500g more flour than what the recipe called for) it actually turned out pretty great, especially the buns that I made with half the dough.

The kids raved and I said….ok I’ll make more buns….but that means I’ll need lots of hands helping make them. 😉

So if you also happen to have a grain mill, I’d recommend that recipe, with plenty of extra flour just in case. 🙂