Snow, Pigs, and Milk

9 inches of snow Sunday night through Monday noon or so! The most we've every had in the 16 years we've been down here. Couple that with 4 inches on Christmas night, we are having some kind of winter. The snow is beautiful, but it sure makes for a mess as it melts-which hasn't started doing yet. We had ice last night and the roads are dangerous still.

We did find a hill on our neighbors property and used the tops off some plastic 55-gallon drums as coasters and did some sledding yesterday. With the ice-over, it should be even more fun today.

Tammy, our Tamworth gilt had her first litter on Saturday night-8 healthy piglets, still hanging in there despite the cold, snow and ice.

Over the past few years we've had constant requests to sell raw milk. I have strangers approach me at the gas station asking if I will sell them milk. This weekend we sold the last of a 10 week-old litter of pigs and both parties who came by for the piglets also asked for milk. Of course unless we have a Grade A-Government inspected dairy, it is illegal for us to sell our milk. In keeping with the principal of subsidiarity, I read a comment on a homesteading forum recently which sums up what the government's role should be: we need the government to inspect a dairy when the consumer can't. If you are buying milk on the farm and can see the conditions for yourself, then you don't need the government to do it for you. However, if buy in a store, and can't inspect the dairy, then you may want some assurances of cleanliness, etc.

Oremus pro invicem!