The Little Gothic Homestead

03/08/2023

🎯😉🖤💭👋

23/07/2023

These sweet little fluffs are all ready for new adventures & are now seeking employment! 😍

15/07/2023

We've been holding out until they were ready but We have 8 livestock guardians in training who will be ready for new employment within the next two weeks! They will come dewormed & with their first round of vaccines. We'll be sharing more of these adorable little rascals until they go to their new farms. Message us to inquire about one of these little fluffy balls of perfection! 😍🖤🐶

09/06/2023

The farm welcomed yet another beautiful creature today. That makes 8 puppies born on memorial day, 8 piglets born on Tuesday & then this precious doeling today. Wednesday is yet again a proud mama. Everyone give Elvira a warm welcome to the world. 🖤🐐

01/06/2023

Perfect weather, happy creatures. 😊

28/10/2022

One hog down, & One will be grown out a little longer to hit goal weight. You can't beat Home grown & harvested on the farm! Let me tell you, this was one hell of an experience. Some people prefer to eat their meat without ever seeing it prior to it being processed, it is hard for alot of people to imagine slaughtering an animal after raising it but truthfully I feel this is a much more intimate way of life for many reasons.
First, these hogs are LOVED, spoiled & treated with much more respect than most commercial hogs in facilities. Second, I KNOW what is in them because we personally raised them ourselves from start to finish. I had the chance to manage their care/living conditions/dewormings & everything they consumed so there are no questions or wondering what "could be" in it, I know I'm eating a healthy animal. Finally, there is nothing more rewarding than harvesting your own food whether it be produce or livestock. Your work and effort goes into it. Blood, sweat and of course some tears (both from stress & from happiness) this is what homestead life is all about.
This gilt topped out at 170.2lbs post cleaning, she was probably about 200lbs prior which is a great outcome. She goes on the spit tonight and Sunday we should have enough smoked pork to feed a small army. 😂 HUGE thank you to John & Tanya Grove for their mobile processing service! There is nothing better than having someone come straight to the farm to help harvest an animal in the most humane and least stressful way. Highly recommend their services! 🖤🐖

23/09/2022

Wednesday decided today was her turn and delivered a beautiful healthy buckling! I Came out just in time to help her through it. Momma & baby are doing wonderful. I think we'll name him Grim. 🖤🐐

22/09/2022

And big shout out to our resident barn cat, keeping the rodents away every day! Now if she'd stop dragging them onto the porch 🙄 😂

22/09/2022

Love catching them hog piled 😂🐷🖤

22/09/2022

We had the pleasure of adding to our kunekune herd yesterday, we just LOVE these beautiful little girls! All of our pigs are special to us but the kunekune really steal the show. Thank you to CAALM Pastures for these perfect little piggies, now to figure out names! 🐷 🖤
(Edited to add: In honor of Hocus-pocus 2 releasing soon we will call them the Sanderson sisters! Sarah, Winnie & Mary) 😂🕯

22/09/2022

Woke up to 2 sweet little black doelings! I checked Morticia last night around 11pm before bed & Of course she waited until I was asleep to deliver but mama and babies are looking great! Everyone welcome Fall & Mabon! Fitting given the time frame 🖤😍🐐

20/09/2022

Her udders are getting so big they look like they might explode. She is so close, but still no kids & I keep coming out to check on her all day/night afraid I'm going to miss it. Come on morticia! 😂😍🖤

17/09/2022

Our mallard hen has been busy hatching out all her new babies, meanwhile our only Sebastopol gosling this season is finally feathering out & I'm so excited to see all those beautiful feathers 😍

17/09/2022

This season hatched out so many boys, we have quite a few different roos looking for new roosts as well as some cayuga drakes & black Spanish turkeys who are up for discussion. 🐓🦆🖤

26/08/2022

Pig cuddles 🐷

26/08/2022

She's bagging up & showing signs. Thinking twins again but we'll see. She's not happy about being pulled from their run. Crossing fingers for a smooth delivery 🤞

26/08/2022

With the field knocked down he can keep it all cut with the zero turn. This is a huge accomplishment for us to start planning where we will put the animals next spring 😀 🙌

23/08/2022

We brought 2 more girls home from Black Witch Farm this evening. These birds have a phenomenal temperament! They love to be loved! We will be incorporating them into our breeding lines going forward to help re-populate the La Fleche (aka devil birds) breed in general. For those of you not familiar with chickens, the La Fleche is a critically endangered French breed of chicken. Slow growing however an exceptional dual purpose bird for both egg laying and meat. We are excited to incorporate these girls into the little gothic homestead and help them grow in numbers!

22/08/2022

We have a couple girls about to deliver in the next week or so & finally have a milking stand! Super excited about it! We're planning on using their extra milk for soaps. What does your homestead/ farm use your milk for?!

22/08/2022

Our birds free range during the day and never lay in the same place twice so everyday is an egg hunt 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

An Easter egg hunt everyday.

10/08/2022

The last week has been chaotic so we haven't been posting. Sometimes we get so caught up with chores & projects it feels impossible to keep content up on social media. A huge accomplishment for our family was getting our pigs situated in their new enclosure. I don't know how we ever did it without electric fencing but now that we have there is a HUGE amount of stress relieved. The hogs are happy which translates to us being happy, go figure. 🐷🤣 The pears are starting to ripen on the vine & hibiscus is blooming everywhere. Threw in a picture of Gandalf and all his glory just because. 🖤😃

10/08/2022

I've been hesitant on posting our newest addition out of fear she might not recover but about a week ago we added a Holstein bottle calf to the homestead. She has been scouring since we got her so naturally we had the vet pay a visit to check her out & take a f***l. Today her results came back negative for EVERYTHING. We've been on a strict routine of milk feedings & electrolytes. After we got her results today I told her the news, I think she's excited about her results. I think she's going to be just fine. We've named her Cordelia, which means heart. 🖤🐄

01/08/2022

The Little Gothic Homestead welcomes our newest registered Kunekune Boar Cowboy 🤠 😍

26/07/2022

Summer is in full effect here on the homestead. Everyone's loving the weather the last couple days. 🌸🖤

23/07/2022

Freshly hatched 🐣🐥 😍

20/07/2022

One of the greenest laid yet, but I think we can do better. 😍 🥚🖤

13/07/2022

We've got a broody hen who keeps trying to build a nest in the barn. I don't want a nest in the barn so I've been taking the eggs to discourage her from nesting there. This morning she decided to show me she's not playing around and she's is going to hatch something regardless of me taking her eggs. (It's a plastic ball my kids left laying around!) 😂😂😂😂🤦🏻‍♀️

13/07/2022

His "praise me, I'm perfect" face 😆🐐🖤

12/07/2022

After alot of research & hands on learning to find what works best for us & our little farm we welcomed a new breed of pig to the little gothic homestead. Kunekune pigs ( “cooney cooney”) are a good & efficient option for small farms like ours. Kunekune means “fat and round” in the Maori language. They produce a delicious red marbled meat & are easy on the pasture compared to larger breeds like our berk/yorkshire crosses. Unlike our ornery larger hogs, these guys will graze the pasture without turning everything into mud and are easier on feed costs because their diet consists mainly of pasture grass. With the rising costs of feed it isn't so hard of a hit to the budget either which makes this breed perfect for what we're doing here. Not only are they a more economical breed to raise they're just dang CUTE! The freaking spots! My gahhhh! This little gilt even has a little heart on her side 🖤😍 We've named her Hina after the Maori goddess of the moon. 🐷

10/07/2022

Another piggy was picked up today! Olivia & her little girl started their adventure home this morning! Pick up days are always full of excitement, and we try to go over alot of information so we can set up our animals for success. In this case Olivia is a vet tech so she made the process even more seamless. We feel good knowing that our animals are going to only the best homes. We try to place them in homes we know they'll receive nothing but the utmost love & care. Congratulations to these two ladies on their journey together & thank you for supporting our little gothic homestead! 🖤🐖🐷