I'm back!

Ok so its been over a year since my last post, and obviously there is no point in even trying to catch up, so a quick recap: We decided to move, Alex quite his job delivering proteas, RIPLEY WAS BORN, we moved to a new farm up the road, MORE PIGLETS WERE BORN!!!, started a new veggie garden from scratch, hatched some pekin ducks which all got eaten by the hawk & baboons, oh yes a massive troop of baboons! Alex started a new business landscaping, we love the new place, hatched runners and more pekins, pekins for eating, Indian Runner ducks for selling, more chickens, animals rampaged through the veggie garden, only managed to harvest potatoes! sold ducks, big fire had to evacuate the cottage slaughtered piggies, sold pork, baby 7 months old already and starting to crawl!

Wow so much has happened in the last year. Will really try to keep up to date and of course post some more photos of our beautiful baby Ripley Layla Chouler Robertshaw.

Honey season in full swing.

Yes, its that time of year again. Time for honey harvesting! Sounds like great fun but after the 10th kilo of honey it becomes a bit sickening. It started last week with an easy harvest of about 40kg from the hives on the farm. No stings and a beautiful golden red tinged honey, a mixture of fynbos and eucalyptus we think. It had the MOST fruity taste, completely different from any other honey we've extracted from the farm bees so far.

Then earlier this week a lady asked us if we could help her move a couple of her hives as she doesn't have a bee keeping suit any more. Of course she was willing to pay us in honey! So off we went at dusk to plug up the entrances of the hives, load them into our bakkie, and hopefully move them to our farm for a couple weeks until they forget the old spot then move them back to the new designated area. The first 2 went well, quick and easy. The 3rd hive was a different matter. The hive was so full of bees that they couldn't all fit inside, clustering in a huge ball outside the entrance. We smoked them in the hope that they would go inside, and after a while decided we'd just have to forfeit the bees that remained outside. Within seconds the bees found a hold in my suit that i didn't know existed and i felt the unmistakable panicky searing pain that comes with a sting on the inside of my wrist, followed by another 2 stings on my forearm, and 3 or 4 on my knee! It being after dark, it was impossible to see where the bees got in and all i could do was smoke the stings to disguise the sting pheromones and run away. Alex didn't get away unscathed either, a few stings on each ankle resulting in some sexy "cankles" the next morning.

Eventually we worked up the courage to go back and remove the honey first, then move the hive at a later stage which was much more pleasant and manageable. About another 40Kg of honey from the 3 hives we moved. We kept our share of about 10Kg. Enough to keep us going for a few weeks!

Now to clean up, i don't think there is one utensil or one inch of kitchen floor that hasn't been in contact with honey in the last few days. Even the dogs are a bit sticky.

Last Piglet Sold!

Well thats a relief! I have just sold our last 2 piglets. Now if we could only catch that little bugger who keeps escaping castration! We tried last night and failed miserably. They are just way too smart. Everyone now knows the routine and as soon as we even think about catching one of them they bolt to all points of the compass!

So far all the others have been a success, although 1 we have decided not to do because he has a hernia and if we were to castrate all kinds of goodies might fall out. So we are keeping him for monitoring for the time being.

Do you know how to catch a pig? Let me explain: Firstly you have to clear your head of all pig catching thoughts, they are telepathic and its been proven. Then to lure with food. NB: this only works once or twice if you're lucky. When the pig is enthralled in eating you grab it by a hind leg, very quickly scooping it up into your arms and run away from the mother (Beauty) as fast as you can. Its a good idea to cover the face with a cloth or something to calm the pig down. BE PREPARED FOR SQUEALING!!! Its the most high pitched, nerve wracking, spine chilling noise you will ever hear, ever! It makes your heart beat at double the speed and a cold fear run through your body. Pigs do not like being picked up! Oh and lock the dogs up first because they will interfere in the process. What you will do with the pig once you've caught it is up to you. Next week we will have to catch 7 piglets all going to loving homes and have been saved the trip to the slaughter house this time. Lucky pigs!

Castration of Piglets - Trial run

I would say the initial attempt at castration was a success, although 4 boys managed to escape the snip. We decided to just to the 2 and see how they recover before we end up maiming the entire litter. Unfortunately we didn't have enough free hands for photos but when we do the other 4 either this Friday or early next week we'll make sure we get some gory pics. And then i can explain the whole process step by step. So far the 2 are recovering well and showing no sign of infection, even though they rolled in the stinkiest mud not long after the operation. Beauty (their mother) was not happy with me and still holds a grudge because yesterday she charged me in their paddock and took a pot shot at my leg. I high-tailed it out of there as fast as i could, ending up with only a nasty bruise.

Emotional Last few days

So off we went to Cape Town for our big scan. The 13 week scan of the IVF pregnancy to make sure all is fine and that the little monkey doesn't have any abnormalities. Were we nervous?? YES! But not as nervous as we were for the previous scans. We knew the pregnancy was there and the baby was alive because of those lovely 1st trimester symptoms, but we were in for a shock when we saw that little one moving around inside. All that tumbling and turning, punching and kicking, Alex was worried it was going to get all tangled up in the umbilical cord. After a few minutes of tears, i finally managed to keep my eyes open long enough to watch our little gymnast. We were lucky enough to have a Gynea in training scan us, taking all the measurements of all the bones, heart, head, stomach, bladder, fingers, toes etc and then she called in the Prof who took all the measurements again. A whole hour of our beautiful (alien like) little baby. Every measurement came out normal and we're all on track. What a miracle. Its still incredible to think that this time last year we found out that our chance of conceiving naturally was 0.01%. A few months later our chance of conceiving with IVF/ICSI was between 30 - 40%. And now here we are, not even a year later 100% pregnant! I will forever be grateful to the amazing Doctors, Nurses, Scientist and Embryologists who all had a hand in creating our family. Not to mention the fantastic support we've had from family and friends. We are so lucky.

The following day we met with Dr Thabo, our Fertility Specialist, mostly to say goodbye and so he could have a look at the scan results. He was just as thrilled as we were with the outcome although very sad to have to hand us over to Hermanus for further monitoring of the pregnancy. He has been the most incredible man to have entered our lives in this infertility struggle, supporting, counseling and mentoring us through our difficult journey. To have met a man like that makes all the pain and suffering worth it. We hope to keep in contact with him for a long time. Sob sob.

Now back on the farm life goes on. I dare say today we are preparing to castrate the piglets. It will be our first time and we're struggling with the whole karma thing. How can we do this when we ourselves were infertile? But its for the best as the little buggers keep mating their moms, and we really need to introduce some new blood.  Now for the hard part - catching them! Wish me luck, i'll update tomorrow with the gory photos!

What is the Curse of Stanley?

Firstly let me explain the Curse of Stanley.

Soon after we moved out to the farm, got our dogs and chickens (priority) we decided the next step was do acquire some pigs. We knew about the man in Cape Town who has hundreds of mixed breed pigs and decided that would be the best place to start. Off we went with an envelope of cash - not sure how much a pig costs these days - and our bakkie comfortably straw lined for the live stock.

Upon arriving at the city farm located in Tamboerskloof, we were greeted by a mob of hungry pigs, geese, chickens, a goat or two and if I'm not mistaken i think a baby cow was present. We entered negotiations and settled for 2 young sows which we would look into breeding at a later stage.

We were so happy with our cute and friendly little piglets which we named Beauty and Tambo. We were soon amazed at how much those piglets could eat and frantically planted a field of cabbage (which when harvested they refused to eat).

A few months down the line the piglets had grown and were looking rather fat and lazy. One afternoon while giving Beauty a good scratch, i noticed a drop of milk expressed from her teat. That night we heard a bit of grunting and squealing and behold, Stanley was born. We worked it out that Beauty had been mated on the day we got her.

What a bargain, an extra pig! Buy on get one free! We were so delighted, until a few months down the line Stanley started showing what he was made of and promptly mated his Aunty Tambo and shortly after, his own mother, Beauty.

Now i would just like to mention that my Breeding Pigs guide book states that a male pig is not fertile or capable of producing offspring until its at least 7 months old. Stanley was 3 months old when he mated Tambo and 4 when he mated Beauty.

And since then we have been inundated with piglets bringing us up to date with Beauty's new litter of 8 piglets (6 males) and Tambo pregnant and due sometime mid March.