Had you considered hooking up with the West Sound Beekeepers Association? The beginners class begins Feb. 21. If you join the club you can always ask questions on the elist.

I’m a natural beekeeper, a method that prioritizes bees over honey. There’s less equipment with that. There are several natural beekeepers in the club and Darren makes Warre hives: http://www.houseofbees.com/.

Good luck!

I am pretty pleased with how the second cheddar turned out (so far) — another month before we can open it though.

Re: pigs in general, you should probably consult the Storey Guide to Raising Pigs. It will give you a really good overview of what you need to do.

The first thing I took away is that since they are social animals, you may need two or three. Otherwise you will need to spend a lot of time with it, which makes it harder come slaughter day.

Unless you are planning to keep this pig to adulthood — like, for breeding, for a few years — it will not grow tusks. Breeding boars in captivity get their tusks filed down. Weaner pigs raised to slaughter weight will not develop tusks.

Re: warmth, um, you could use a red light like you would use for baby chicks? I figure the pig will tell you — just like the chicks will do — if she is too warm or too cold or whatever, based on her proximity to the light. I.e. if she is as close to it as she can get, she is cold; if she is as far away as she can get, it is too hot in her pen. Also insulate with nice fresh straw or whatever good bedding, as usual.

We’ve never trimmed the pigs’ hooves and I think we might die if we tried to do so. They are big and strong now! We could’ve done a better job of taming them earlier, but we didn’t, and now they are about our size and much stronger, and also their main way to interact with new things in their world is to bite.

“New food? Bite it! New fence? Bite it! Ow, it shocked me. New boot? Bite it! Ow, it kicked me in the face after I bit through the boot! New leg? Bite it! Hm, just denim. Bite deeper? Ow, it kicked me!” Etc. etc.

re: balance, we both wish you were here to whip us into shape. Maybe you could moderate our Farm Meetings.

(Actually, we just both miss you [plural]. Come visit?)

When you reflect on those things going well, you might stop to reflect on why and what you could do to continue to support that success. It’s easy to focus only on what you want to improve. Try to be balanced. :)

Now, this option is pretty dang far down the list, but we *really* love that restaurant.

We did have the planters open 24 hours a day, but felt that might be the reason nothing was growing in the last month (highs in the days in the 70s and lows at night in the high 30s). (We planted all this late October). So we closed up the plastic so the warmth would stay inside during the nights, but I think it’s getting too hot and steamy during the days.

I will check with a local gardener…thank you for taking the time to answer me. Leslie

What are you growing in those beds? It’s possible that you don’t need to cover them. The brassicas, carrots, parsnips, and several other things can withstand light freezes just fine. (In fact, with brassicas, it can make them sweeter, as the cold converts some starches to sugar, or something.)

Otherwise, you could just open the beds up during the day, especially if it’s sunny.

Day length is also an issue for winter growing, at least up here, but you have much longer days than we do. Right now it is only light from like 7:30 to like 4:30. :( In general we assume that stuff is not going to do any growing in the ground during the winter here.

You could check out the author Eliot Coleman, who has written extensively on growing year-round in Maine. A lot of his stuff will be seriously overkill for you, though. I do think you might not even need to insulate your stuff over the winter.

PS. I don’t know! I’m just guessing! :) Can you ask around in your area? Garden store? Friends?

We’re discouraged, but learning! Leslie

It can get too warm and damp (and therefore mildewy etc) inside quickly, if the plastic isn’t opened up on sunny days — even cold sunny days. How cold does it get in winter? One thing you could try is to put some slashes in the plastic on the top of the hoops, so that hot air can escape. Obviously you’d lose some heat on cold days, but it might help with ventilation on the hot days.

In the spring I’m usually doing a lot of starts of cold-resistant crops (kales and other brassicas, chard, carrots), but I tend to take the plastic down completely once it hits about 65 during the day, no lower than 50 at night. The brassicas can handle much lower temps than 50, of course, but when they are tender seedlings or even direct-seeded seeds, it helps to baby them a little bit.