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Pasture fed pigs have intrigued me for a few years. But, memories of pig manure on grandpa’s small farm near Frost, MN weren’t all that pleasant. Even worse, driving by a hog factory(huge modern pig farm) is enough to make even the most cautious driver put the pedal to the metal to escape the gagging.

Last summer our family went to Apple Prairie Farm, operated by our friends in Warroad, MN, with the express purpose of checking out their pigs. Later, we purchased a Guinea hog and my mind was totally changed about pigs. I went from hating to loving pigs during that visit. Brent and Rhonda have used pigs to improve their farm and the stink was almost non-existent to my sensitive nose! Check out their website to get some great homesteading ideas or just to see a small family homestead in action.

We have a piece of land that I would like to improve. Don’t we all? Something just isn’t right with the grass and I’m getting hungry for bacon!

This past winter I found a local pig farmer that raises pigs using red wattle and large black bloodlines primarily. These are some of the larger varieties of homestead pigs that I’ve found.

My son Micah and I often work very hard on the farm. For years he has worked like a man. It almost makes me cry just thinking about the great times we’ve had together. He’s seen me at my best and worst. Together, we added additional electric lines and “porked up” the fence to withstand pigs. We currently have a multipurpose one-acre plot built with t-posts, cattle panels, and 14 gauge wire. On my larger 10 and 30 acre pens I have chosen high tensile fence with high tensile wire which is much harder to work with but is more durable.

Recently, we brought 2 pigs home and they are adjusting well from a very small pen to hog heaven.  It started out as hog hell with lots of squealing as it took some getting used to the electric fences. As an optimist I ordered 5 pigs. As a realist my wife modified the order to 2 pigs. Together, we make better decisions.  Happy wife happy life.

Never stop learning and put relationships first today. In the end that is only this that matters!!!

What a fun day here as we see our first does starting to kid. The first momma was a doeling with a single buckling and the second was a mature doe with 4 bucklings! This is our first set of quadruplets and she is one of our best mothers and is a high producer. I’ve heard horror stories of how difficult it is for a doe to raise 4 kids. All I can do is just give her a little bit extra alfalfa, corn and Big Gain.

Are you feeling a little bit stretched lately? Maybe you need to get a little bit extra to make it through the day. Sleeping in late on a Saturday morning, an expensive coffee as a treat, or just a few extra minutes as you hide in the bathroom from your children.

Jesus knew the value of sneaking away to get what He needed and that makes me feel better. God understands that life gets overwhelming for us at times. Luke 5:16 says “So He(Jesus) Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.” Connection with the Father was life giving and life sustaining.

Make sure to take the opportunity today to get a little bit extra and connect with the Heavenly Father through Jesus because tomorrow is gonna suck it right out of you!

Do you have a story of when you drove all night just to see the one that your heart loved? I sure do and now I’m glad to say that it has been nearly 19 years of blessed marriage after meeting her 22 years ago. Driving my sister’s Honda Prelude in the wee hours of the night through the Canadian wilderness just to see my love by breakfast!

Last week we had an opportunity to bring Quiero just over 2200 miles round trip to Desoto Illinois to meet his girl Phoebe from Hadleigh Grange! Her mother was a movie star in the Disney’s movie Santa Paws 2. Well, it was love at first sight and we are hoping to get another puppy in about 4 months. More to come about that later!

Check out their website at https://www.hadleighgrange.com/. Maybe order some of their Alpaca wool or homemade soaps while you are at it.

Most of all, I hope you see the one you love today and tell them how much you appreciate them! Love is a long journey so make today count!!!

I work as a Physical Therapist in a rural community enjoying a wide variety of challenges. Early on while working in Alaska, I treated a young thief who had been apprehended after firing numerous shots at some heroic police. I will spare the details involving the incident, but he was eventually apprehended alive with numerous life-threatening wounds.

     Loving to engage in small talk, I asked him many questions about how he picks his homes to burglarize. To my surprise, he described in detail how to get into just about every home style I know of in less than 15 seconds. The criminal mind is a pathetic place to live. However, he did have one home that he would never break into. A home with a dog!

     Picture a hardened criminal with tattooed tears on both sides of his face signifying himself as a murderer to his gang, tough as nails but scared of even a poodle! Evidently, at some point he had been bitten in the past and the teeth that hurt the worst are the ones that spring from nowhere.

     I love to hear stories about how dogs have done some selfless act of home defense. I think God made these amazing creatures to give us a glimpse of His desire to be our protector and ever faithful friend and I’m reminded of this.

Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.”

But, I love that God can work through your family guardian. What’s your home defense system!

The summer a mother bear and her cubs repeatedly and boldly visited our yard while my little brothers played outside,  was the summer my parents decided it was time to get a guardian dog.  That was the year a Great Pyrenees joined our family.  He was a clumsy, cuddly ball of fluff who tripped over his own feet.  Over the next two years, he grew from a 15 pound armful of soft puppy love to over 150 pounds of devoted guardian.

     Despite his fluffy, loveable appearance and laid back personality, we knew he was watching out for us.  Besides determinedly keeping bears, moose, and timber wolves out of our yard, “Champ” seemed to have a sense of when to welcome and when to discourage human visitors.  He did not allow unwelcome visitors out of their vehicles when my dad was gone for days at a time, leaving my mom and three young children home alone.

     When our family moved from the northern Minnesota woods to a suburban Texas home, of course Champ came with us.  Can a Great Pyrenees survive that kind of change?  From tree-lined Minnesota lakes to Gulf of Mexico beaches?  From the freedom of hundreds of wooded acres to a postage-stamp sized back yard and leash?  Champ not only survived, he continued to fulfill his life’s purpose-to guard his small flock, his family.

     Just his presence in or near the house was enough to deter unwelcome visitors.  Neighbors’ homes on the cul-de-sac were burglarized.  But never, while Champ was on duty, was our home or its inhabitants unprotected!

The Great Pyrenees is a real dog! Sorry to most other dog breed owners out there. Mom, I know that Shitzu was once known as the Tibetan lion dog. He sits on your lap and bears some resemblance to his canine forbearers but is about as useless as a wet blanket on a cold night.

We’ve had plenty of cold nights up here on the Canadian border. We often step outside to hear a pack of coyotes howling what seems a stones throw away. Tracks are evidence in the morning of a pacing predator looking for an opening in the fence and an easy meal of chevon. In the past 4 years coyotes and wolves have been thwarted night after night.

I could brag about the fencing that my son Micah and the rest of our family has done. I could also brag about the time my daughter Madi dispatched a threatening coyote with a throwing club while her Great Pyrenees stood guard in a full snarl. But, instead I’ll brag about our guardians.

The other morning during the lunar eclipse the eerie silence was pierced by the calls of coyotes signaling another night of failure over our livestock. All is safe on a Super Blue Blood Moon!

What’s high in protein and loaded with vitamins and minerals that your dog will slurp up in a second?

EGGS!!!

1. Eggs are cheap! Buy eggs in bulk when they go on sale- then freeze them for up to a year. Crack your eggs into a freezer-safe container or use ice cube trays. Avoid freezing them in the shell, because they will expand and break.

2. Eggs are easy! What could be easier than just cracking an egg into a bowl to upgrade your buddy’s food!

3. Eggcellent coat! This super food will make your dog’s coat healthier because of the proteins, minerals and vitamins it contains, including biotin.

4. Eggs are endorsed! Jesus told a parable in the Bible book of Luke chapter 11. A good dad giving his son an egg is comparable to the Heavenly Father giving His children the Holy Spirit.

Feed one egg each day for a big dog or several per week for smaller dogs. While your at it you could eat one too. Give eggs a try this week!

Do you consider yourself a good neighbor?  I came across some advice from a farmer when we were considering raising goats. “Good fences make good neighbors.” I’ve also learned that big sturdy fences are expensive to buy and put up. But, I haven’t lost a goat yet and most people love to drive by and look at our animals. Do you want to have the kind of dog that everyone loves? Then take some time to read this book. The Art of Raising a Puppy. It’s never too late!