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The Weekly Digs #147

Written byBecky Updated

In the Garden

We’ve continued to have some cold weather this week. With the ground frozen every day it has really limited what I can do out in the garden. I’ve been working on thinning out our strawberries and removing them from the middle aisle so that we can walk through this spring and pick them easily.

Thinning out strawberries is a great winter project because you can easily see them and they are dormant so ripping out extras doesn’t affect the adjacent plants. 

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We are entering our second year with them so it will be a big harvest hopefully! After I thin them out, the plan is to add a layer of compost on the beds and then a layer of wood chips over that. 

I still was able to pull out dandelions with the frozen ground but pulling strawberries with clumps of frozen dirt attached isn’t working out very well. Now that we are in February the days are mostly cold with a rare warm day here and there. I try to take advantage of those! 

Homestead Projects

Cam always has a few projects in the works. Once he finished hooking up the wood boiler, the next order of business was to build a shed for the wood to protect it from the elements. He dug some holes for the posts and thankfully didn’t put in the posts right away because about a week later he changed his mind as to where it should go.

Yesterday Cam, his Dad, and the kids got the posts cemented in the ground. Then today they started framing out the roof and the rest of the structure. 

The other day Cam started working on trenching a line for our new pig fence. Two strands of electric for the pigs works well but it’s not foolproof. There is constant upkeep of trimming weeds under the lines so it doesn’t ground out. 

Last year there was a day when the pigs got out and tore up an area of the garden that wasn’t fenced yet. I chased them for two hours trying to keep them out of the garden and away from a hole intended for the septic tank that was filled with rain water. I didn’t want them to drown. 

Cameron was not at home when that happened. It was so frustrating that we decided to revamp our fencing this year. 

We are doing welded wire around the whole perimeter, which in and of itself isn’t enough to hold pigs in. They would probably break it or dig under it if that was the only thing there. But the plan is to have the welded wire on the perimeter in addition to the two strands of electric.

The electric strands will run about a foot inside the welded wire fence along the perimeter. Then we will continue to use two strands of electric like we did last year to make the paddocks on the interior. The area is larger this year so that there will be plenty of area to rotate through.

Ideally the pigs will never touch the welded wire fencing because it’s our backup fence. Cam is borrowing a friend’s trencher because we’ll bury some of the welded fencing below grade.

Preserving

The kimchi I started a few weeks ago finished up. I put it in three mason jars and my family enjoys it so much that it only took a few days and we were down to two jars! Everything was homegrown in this batch so it was more delicious but spicy!

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5 Comments

  1. I love your blog! There is so much valuable information here. We are thinking about getting pigs for the first time this spring, so hearing about your trial and error is so helpful!
    Thank you!
    Hannah
    Ps We are in NW Arkansas also we moved here last August and I wondered if you did garden consultation as we are setting up our garden. Or if you had any recomdatioms in that regard.
    Thank you once again for faithfully documenting your journey as it is so helpful for newbies like me🙏😊

    Reply

    1. Hi Hannah, Thank you! Unfortunately, I don’t do garden consultations, even though it sounds fun! My blog, YouTube, family, homeschooling, gardening, homesteading projects, and church responsibilities are all I can manage at the moment. Maybe in the future! For the time being I recommend checking out all of my blog posts on starting a garden here: https://www.theseasonalhomestead.com/category/gardening/starting-a-year-round-garden/ Welcome to NW Arkansas! We love it!

      Reply

  2. I think your offset hotwire against the welded wire fence will be perfect. I put up 2 strands of hotwire 8 inches away from our barbed wire perimeter and had no problems at all cows, sheep, or LGD’s (the cows used to escape with frustrating frequency).

    I don’t have pigs, though, so can’t speak to that. A strong enough charger should make your setup work.

    Reply

  3. Good luck with the pigs! The kimchi looks yummy! I’m glad your family likes it, too. My husband won’t touch it because fermented means rotting in his mind. Pooh! Have you tried fermenting corn relish? I used frozen corn, red peppers and onions and it’s delicious!

    Reply