2015 February

Mangalitsa on the Range 2015

Here are the eight Mangalitsa that we kept from the last litters, almost 5 months old at this point, enjoying another very sunny mild day at Stonebridge.  These guys are super hardy and have no problem with cold and wet, something they have not had to contend with much this year. 

Another ridge of high pressure has parked over the Northwest, leaving us dry, sunny and quite mild.  Great for getting things planted, but could spell trouble if we get some cold temps, rain and fruit flowers.

Chard

Swiss Chard, this big and nice looking this early, is almost unheard of.  We have been taking advantage of the weather and planting lots of greens, kale, mustards, mizuna, endive, spinach, favas, snap peas and radishes.  Even Raven's over winter sweet onions look great.  Tomatoes get started on March 3 rd, Town meeting day, old school timing that has worked well for us.

We look to reopen the restaurant by mid March, barring more delays with our on going refrigeration projects.

Shiro Plum Buds about to bloom

More Mangalitsa Piglets

'Herd' of young Mangalitsa pigs

On August 30 and September 1 st, Fauna & Flora each had a litter of piglets.  Flora had 7 and Fauna 8.  We allow them to free roam outside their pen for the first month or so, until they begin to get in trouble, this time it was trampling sungold tomatoes that had just been picked, not so awesome when you are a farmer with a very small picking crew.   It is quite a sight, as you can see by this image. So now they are locked into the pens with their mothers, but they all comingle and are let out during the day onto a large pasture with electric fence.
Eight of the pigs will stay with us to be fattened and two gilts and some feeder pigs will go to friends who are excited to raise Mangalitsas.

Please check out this article from Austria, it speaks about old style heritage pigs in Europe and even has a tasting featuring several types, including Mangalitsa and Iberico.  The results are not surprising for us, it simply validates our crazy idea to raise these pigs in the first place.

Check out the Translated article here: Austrian Pig Article

8 Month Old Purebred Mangalitsa Barrow

Flora & Faunas Piglets

One of Flora's Piglets

Our two purebred Swallow Belly Mangalitsas had piglets.  Fauna on Dec23 and Flora on Christmas.  They are super cute, very healthy, both the piglets and mothers are doing great.

Some of Fauna's Pigs

Flora

More Mangalitsa Pigs

Flora

Now that our newest Mangalitsa pigs have settled in, it is time to introduce them.  We have two unrelated Gilts, they are Flora and Fauna, born July 19 & 20, 2012.  We also have Tripp, the young boar, he is a bit older, May 22, 2012.  He is no longer small, likely weighing in at 225 lbs.  He is very affectionate for a pig, and acts more like a dog.  Although we shall see what happens when he gets to be full size, about 450 lbs.  In collaboration with our partners on Lopez hope to have a couple of purebred litters on the ground later in the year.

Tripp

These three are all unrelated, so they will be maintained as purebred Mangalitsa breeding stock.  There are really only likely a few thousand of these pigs in America and maybe 10,000 or so in the world.  We have been really happy with our Berkshire & Mangalitsa cross pigs, so we will pursue that as well.

Doing our best to try and get the restaurant open after two months of projects, we will open for the week of Valentines day and then be closed for three weeks after that, to try and get everything completed.

Another View of Orcas Island

One of Two Lakes Over Blakely Island

So A and I were invited to take a ride on the coolest biplane on Orcas, but really maybe the best on earth, given our surroundings.  Rod, has an amazing grace,  history and ease as a pilot, I envy him for that.  He called and said, looks like a perfect day, would you and A like to fly.  I said, are you kidding, of course, so I picked him up after school and we drove to Rod's hanger.

October, not July, mind you, it was still, clear and as close to perfect as possible.  Like not even cold, or perhaps even warmer than the ground.

Inn at Ship Bay From Above

Needless to say, I can highly recommend a trip with Rod, www.magicair.com,  you will not have any regrets, especially if you can pick a day of perfect Orcas Island weather.

2012 Heirloom Tomatoes

Heirloom Tomatoes

We have officially crossed the 400 lbs. threshold in heirloom tomato production and we are far from being finished for the year.  The Japanese Black Trifele, Green Zebra and Orange Persimmon have been personal favorites this year.  Great fruit production and awesome favor.

July 2012

What does this mean?

Mt Entrance Fist Pump

Two power outages during dinner service, big views and trying to get Genny, our Mangalitsa gilt, pregnant.  We have been quite busy this July.