We've had more of our 'lot next door' cleared, but left a buffer of jungly growth along the street for now.
There is now a perimeter fence of woven wire enclosing everything that wasn't already behind the chainlink fence that came with the house when we bought the place. Enormously big, huge thank-yous to our friends who came to help with that project!
Every single post hole had to be drilled with a rock drill, then the metal post pounded in place. With all the help, it only took a few hours to do what would have taken Mike and I a week, at least.
Since putting up the fence, no roaming dogs have gotten in (as they had twice before), and the wild pigs have left their mark on the outside of the fence, where they belong. So far, so good.
Our driveway has been regraded, and graveled this time, as opposed to cindered. Makes a nice hard surface that the rains can still soak through, so no slippy mud puddles any more. The new driveway gate is something we're still getting used to.
Next up: The piggery, which has been named Hubbell's Hog Heaven, which was built over the past few months...
and the first pen was completed and filled just last week. 
Some of our fellow Natural Farmers came to help with that. It took some preparation and arranging to get all the inputs needed for this Korean Natural Farm method of creating the 3-foot deep bedding, but it's worth it since this is the only way to raise pigs without any odor and almost no flies! And of course, it had a Hawaiian twist since we utilized the different materials available here.
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| A layer of logs sets over 6 inches of soil. |
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| Palm fronds, shredded coconut husks, and wood chips cover the logs. |
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| Layers of sawdust and cinder soil fill up the pen... |
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| ... and get spread around. |
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| Various inputs are spread over each layer: IMO4, sea salt, biochar. This is what makes the Natural Farm method work! |
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| The finished pen with its fencing installed. Mike's adding the door. |
A large area behind the piggery was also cleared and cindered deeply to create an area to grow food crops for the pigs, chickens, and ourselves. We already have cassava starts, moringa tree seedlings, kalo (taro), kabocha squash, and pineapples planted back there.
Soon to go in the ground are sugar cane, bananas, sweetpotato, papaya, and another ulu (breadfruit) tree or two. This combination will give the animals a complete feed and we won't have to buy the pelleted variety from the feed store any more... but it'll take a while to get to that point.
The biggest news is: we now have pigs!! Lola and Suey arrived on our farm just a few days ago. Both are 5-6 month old Chester White cross, just about ready to be bred. They had been raised on a concrete slab in their own poop, not quite the industrial farm thing but not far enough from it. Mike and I felt like we were doing an animal rescue in bringing these two gilts out of that environment.
They had never been on dirt before and as soon as we could coax them out of the travel cage and into their new home, they were indeed in hog heaven. Dirt to root in! And to roll in! And to just bury one's snout in!! Their curly piggy tails wag with happiness! And I swear I can see them smile.
They are still both pretty skittish, but are calming down considerably already. Both will now come over to the fence when I talk to them, will take treats of sweet potato vines, and let me touch their ears and noses.
Mike has been doing their morning feeding, and this morning he was able to give them a few pets and do some raking inside the pen while they ate. It takes time, but gentle ways work wonders. We hear their happy grunts and soft snuffling snorts all day long, so I know we are on the right path.
Aloha!
PS: (Please excuse the crazy configuration of this post... I've been working on it for hours. That's what happens when they go and 'improve' the blog site. arrgh)
