Breakfast Bunny was surprisingly tasty. A little weird, but very edible.
We had a blast visiting our Ohio family. We got a chance or two to be helpful, and we learned a lot from their systems, dreams and schemes.
Here’s a photo version of a day at the farm, beginning with morning chores.
The cows provide milk, cream and butter for the family, but my understanding is that most of the milk goes to the pigs, providing them with a great source of (relatively inexpensive) protein.
The golf cart pulls the chicken tractors! It’s a whole lot easier to move their three than it is to move our single tractor by hand. The chicken tractors are moved every day to provide the Cornish Cross broilers with fresh grass and a new supply of bugs to eat.
The draft horses graze ahead of the chicken tractors to clear a path in the tall pasture. Genius!
Sean is the pig whisperer
Pumping water is one of the big electrical draws at the farm, and patching hoses is a big draw on manpower. These pigs are helping to create a pond that will provide livestock water with no hoses and no electricity!
Behold! The pond-makers in action!
They are the prettiest, happiest, muddiest snurflepigs I’ve ever seen!
After chores, we went out looking for a group of lambs that had an appointment with the butcher. These appointments are made months in advance.
The pastures at the farm are gorgeously in bloom this time of year. They’re also very tall and easy to hide in. Where are those sheep?
Sean is sad because there’s a lot of work ahead of him. The lambs we were looking for escaped and got mixed in with the flock!
Baaa! We had to herd the entire flock through a narrow gate. They walked in circles for a while before they noticed the opening.
Once the sheep got going, it was mostly a matter of keeping up.
Jesse, Sean and Dante are separating the desired animals from the rest of the flock and sending them down a chute to the trailer.
Get in there!
It was a beautiful day for a lot of work.
After a long day, Jesse, Fezzik and Sean teamed up for evening chores
The pigs and chickens graze together. Pigs make good predator protection for the chickens.
chasing piggens 
Very cool! Thanks for sharing! Did your friends take a course on horticulture or learn from others or just experiment? A giant hoorah for small farmers and all the work they do. WahooO!
Jesse’s family has been on the farm for something close to twenty years now, so that’s a factor. They’re also both big readers. If you’re interested, I can probably get them to direct you to some cool resources (J and C, if you’re reading, rattle off some of your inspirers (is that a thing?))