GUINEA SCORE, CONTINUED.

So a few weeks ago we told the story of getting guineas. And I have to be honest, we felt pretty stupid about what came next.The first night they were out, they slept in one of our barns and pretty much stayed around the property. But Hannah and I went back to see our folks the next day and when we came back, we didn't hear or see them. At that point, I was pretty sure that was another seventy dollars we should have just burned and saved ourselves the trouble.But then the phone rang and it was our good friend and neighbor Davis––the guineas were in his mother's yard, a solid mile walk from here. If you know anything about guineas, you know they cannot be caught on the ground. Your best chance is to catch them at night. So we asked Davis to let us know where they roost, and we'd come get them.But they roosted in the woods that night and we weren't sure where, so we didn't bother. Then they disappeared from site for a while. For a week, we didn't hear anything from them at all.  I was doing chores one morning and noticed they were in another neighbor's yard. I called that neighbor, told them the story, and asked them to call me if they saw where they roosted––if I hadn't been busy I would have just followed them around all day. But alas, farm work beckoned.At lunch, however, we heard their familiar call in our woods. And for the last few days they have been kicking it around the homestead with our other white guinea. It's nothing short of a miracle that they were gone for almost two full weeks, and came right back here to stay. Hopefully, this will be the last post about this saga, but as I write this they're still here. Of course, if we've learned anything from this, it's that you can lead a guinea home, but you can't make them stay.- Jesse.

GUINEA SCORE.

The goal was to buy more guineas. We like what they do to the tick population around the house and, admittedly, we like their meat. The noise we could do without, but as we've said several times before, there are no perfect creatures, only perfect systems. And our system needs more guineas, loud or not, to be perfect.So we decided to go to the Amish auction in Scottsville, Ky. This is a wildly popular event. People come from all around the country. But auctions are also intense places. It's hard not to buy all the random rabbits, fowl and miniature livestock available. On several occasions we found ourselves itching to bid on rabbits. But we've made a deal with ourselves this year: any animals we decide to get, we have to be ready for first. So we waited impatiently for some guineas to come up.And finally, after twenty or so lots, they did. We didn't want to spend more than $25 on a bird, and when the auctioneer began at $15, several people jumped in, as did we. It was three one year old guineas—two hens and one cock. Exactly what we wanted. But when the bidding ended at $22.55, I was a little surprised to see everyone else back off. We had won. We had won three guineas for less than what I had expected to pay per grown bird!But if you've been to an auction like this before, you know what a newbie assumption we'd made. Because the biding is per item, I learned in the check out line, not per lot. Oh well, we'd still paid less than we'd wanted to per bird. I can't say I wasn't a little disappointed, but not nearly as much as the guy in front of me who thought he had just scored twelve Tennessee Quail for $10. That's a lesson you don't learn twice.Of course, when we got home we kept them penned for a couple days before letting them out with our other guinea who seemed uncharacteristically excited. We were, however, a little dismayed when they promptly flew off into the woods.They are still (as of now) hanging around the property, living in an old barn. But so long as they eat ticks around our woods, they can live wherever they want. Rough Draft Farmstead, indeed.- Jesse.

MESSY MONDAY.

It was around November when we finally conceded the goats were not the best fit for us. Their proclivity for being on the same side of the fence as we were was, to say the least, a liability for us vegetable farmers. They ate several crops. They broke lots of things––cold frame windows included. They tore up the insulation under the house. And with Further on the way, it was just too much to think about having to chase the goats around everyday with an infant child in the house. So, regretfully, reluctantly, we found them new homes.However, the reason we wanted to put this as a Messy Monday was because for the past few months we have actively avoided talking about the goats on the blog. We tried with them, but we failed, and that failure was a little embarrassing. We could have kept at it, sure, and that embarrassed us a little. We could have built better fencing and infrastructure to keep them from escaping to the gardens, but we didn't and that embarrassed us. But you know what, we've decided we're fine with that. It simply didn't work for us at this moment, and that's okay. We want our readers, or anyone who is thinking about this lifestyle, or already trying it for themselves, to realize what we realized this month: it's alright if everything you try doesn't work out––not everything is going to.That said, we do still want goats––need them even––we just want the right kind of goats. We're thinking about meat or fiber breeds––smaller animals with less desire to jump 42" high electric fences and chase us around. Plus, we share a milk cow with our neighbors, so milk goats don't make the most sense anyway. We're in no hurry, though. The pigs we'll be getting this week, and our loyal flock of chickens, will be plenty enough for right now––plenty enough to get another crazy season started on the farm.- Jesse.

PORK.

Our entire house smells like bacon. We spent two days rendering lard - ending up with almost 2 gallons. There is a gigantic ham hanging underneath the stairs, and we've got four huge slabs of bacon curing in a couple of makeshift salt boxes (bee hive supers) by the back door where it stays cool. We have been eating sausage, chops, shoulder, or some other such pork product almost every day for the past two months. It is hard work and emotionally difficult, but this kind of abundance is why we raise pigs. They helped us to better our land, and now they are nourishing our family. Thank you, pigs.- Hannah.(For more of our thoughts on eating animals, check out this post.)