Moving forward to the future....

Lulu, with 3 of Liz's daughters

There has been lots of talking and thinking done here on the farm in the past few weeks, and now it is time to unveil our plans for the future.  We decided that we had to make a decision for the future, and put it into action now, so that we can get to our final destination while we sre still young enough to enjoy it.

Life is for living not just working, and the way the farm is at the moment it is exceptionally hard work, with me here 24/7 and Lovely Hubby working a 40 hour week over 4 days and working on the farm the other 3 days.  This has proved to be extremely hard and the pleasure we were getting from the farm and the animals has been lost in trying to make things pay and just in the sheer slog of getting through the day.

With the added worry of Mum in Law being so seriously ill, and knowing that we have to leave the farm as often as we can to be with her, we have made the sad decision to stop keeping/breeding Rare Breed pigs.

Lottie and Jack

We were adamant that our pigs would only go to the best homes and we have given ourselves until September to find them all the right homes.  We have been very lucky that through our links with the Large Black Pig Breeders Club we have managed to find a brilliant home for our herd of breeding  stock. 

So this Wednesday Jack, our boar, and his wives Elizabeth Taylor (Liz) and Lottie are making the journey over to the Netherlands to establish a breeding herd there.  Lulu, who is due to give birth this week will join them as soon as her babies are old enough for the journey, in the meantime she is living at Jimmy's Farm and we delivered her there on Saturday morning and were given a guided tour of the farm as it is seen by the public and behind the scenes.  She is in her own lovely daisy filled paddock getting herself ready for the birth of her second litter.

Liz

Tomorrow night Jack his wives will be checked over by the vet in readiness for their journey by road and boat on Wednesday, and then the farm will seem a very different place.

Already it is a quieter place as these five boys went last Friday, unfortunately their destination is not as exciting........ they are now sausages!!  : - (

And our plans for the future......we have decided that instead of farming we are  going down the path of self-sufficiency.  So as part of our Year of Living Simply we are drawing in the reigns of the farm and jettisonning anything that costs us money, and planning a lifestyle that will mean we will be able to rely on our own resources and reduce the money we have to pay out to other folk to 'live'.

We have down-sized our search for a property and instead of needing 30 acres to run a pig breeding programme we are now on the lookout for an acre or two with a small property to rent while we save like mad to buy us our 'forever home', the final destination where we will plant the seeds of our future.  Us, the house animals, our chickens and a goat or two, yes we may still have a pig or two in the future but they will be for our use, for food or bartering for other meats (for LH not me I hasten to add).  We will strive to continue to give us all the best lives possible and we will continue along the same path that we have been on from the beginning, one of healthy happy animals living naturally together, and vegetables grown the natural way with minimal intervention, no pesticides, chemical fertilisers and the like.

Once we find 'Our Place' we will strive to pay off the mortgage at breakneck speed and then hopefully LH will downscale his work, or even take early retirement and we will live our self sufficient lifestyle together.  We are both looking forward to this next stage in our lives.  The main priority at the moment is finding all our pigs new and happy homes, and this is why we are not rushing to do this too quickly.

Back with our other big news tomorrow, the explanation of why the £100 Challenge has ground suddenly and unexpectely to a halt!!

Sue xx