One of the best parts of our piggie co-ownership is that our friends have land that the pigs are using to root and forage in. This clears and fertilizes the land for their garden expansion next year. This helps to minimize the amount of feed that we need to purchase for the pigs.
But, pigs being om
nivores creates a great situation for feedings. Frugal families can feed many things to their pigs safely, thus reducing the monthly food bill. The following are just a few ideas of things that pigs can eat and grow on.
- Kitchen and table scraps. If you are not keeping onion peels, celery tops, and carrot nubs for making stock, they can be tossed into the pig pen. My friends have advised me that large amounts of fruits at one time (particularly fruits with pits) can be a problem, but if given in modest amounts over time they are fine.
- Garden leftovers. Any produce that you have grown that was damaged beyond the point of human consumption will be great for your pigs! Even things like corn stalks, shucks, and cobs can be added.
- Co-op leftovers. I have a cousin who gifts me anything in her weekly co-op purchase that she feels can’t be used up quickly enough by her family to prevent spoilage. Sometimes this isn’t much, but occasionally it can be buckets full of large cucumbers on the verge of spoiling, leaf lettuce that has seen better days, or questionable bags of kale. She is pleased that these items don’t go to waste and end up in a landfill and I am grateful that it reduces our feed bill.
I am sure that the homesteader that is determined could find all sorts of ways to provide 
free and low cost foods to their pigs to keep the feed bills lower. As for now, we are finding enough for our growing piglets. I will likely be exploring more ways in the future as they grow and require more food.
For more of our adventures in raising pigs, click here.
Are you raising livestock this year? What are your feeding tips?
Till next time,
Another day of repetition around here. Today, I began putting up the second large stock pot of turkey bone broth and some leftover turkey meat. It feels good to put a bit of quality food back in the pantry for use later. I like that I know what goes into my jars, where I might not be entirely certain when I purchase products.
load, more or less. But, it will wait on low heat overnight until it is time to get started.
One thing that I don’t have on my little homestead is a chicken coop full of hens and chicks. We are in an agrarian area, but covenants that came with our property specify no large livestock. We can have horses, but no cows, pigs, etc. However, a neighbor once cleared land with goats and nobody batted an eye (so I am assuming that goats aren’t considered large livestock) and a couple of others down the road raise chickens, so I am pretty sure that would be okay here.
The secret to a superior chicken soup is really all in the broth. If you can avoid it, try not to use chicken stock. Stock is made from the meat and isn’t cooked very long. Stock will be straw colored and not nearly as rich and tasty as a good bone broth. Broth is made by cooking bones and some meat with or without veggies and salt. I always put onion and garlic in mine (you can even put the skins in as it will all be filtered out later), but there is no rule that says you have to. If I have carrots, a celery heart (or the end pieces that have leaves on them), a piece of cauliflower that has seen better days, broccoli stems, onion peels, etc. then I will throw ’em in. Basically, it’s a good way to take iffy looking produce and use it rather than throw it out. I would throw in just about anything except collard (with or without stems) because the only catch is to keep delicate leafy things like herbs out until the last 30 minutes or so, so they don’t get cooked to death! Oh, and I usually throw about 5 whole peppercorns in at the beginning, too. To learn more about preparing broths, 
But, back to the soup. In my large crockpot (I think it is a 6 quart model), I will chop up a fresh onion, add 4-5 cloves of minced garlic (we love garlic, if you don’t then cut it in half), a stem or two of finely chopped celery, and 2-3 peeled carrots cut into small rounds. I toss in a couple of cups or so of chopped or shredded chicken (can be cooked or uncooked), a Tablespoon of salt, a few grinds of fresh, black pepper, and 2-3 quarts of homemade turkey or chicken bone broth. If I add 2 quarts of broth, I will add 1 quart of water and two bullion cubes or the equivalent in granules. You can always add more water or broth if you want a fuller crock of soup, just remember to add 2 bullion cubes for every quart of water you add.
Now, I’ve gone and done it! In an effort to use up some of the *cough* many bins of assorted fabrics that I have purchased, been given, or traded other scraps for, I am tearing strips into fabric yarn.
wonderful start. I added one frozen breast from a bag in the freezer and thawed it just enough to be able to run a knife through them. I diced them fine and added to the crockpot along with 1 medium yellow onion, 5 cloves of garlic (minced), two carrots cut into thin rounds, 3 quarts of chicken bone broth, 2 bullion cubes and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of salt. I let it cook on high for about 4 hours before stirring and adding about 3/4 cups of uncooked orzo to the mix. Normally, I would have added celery and used brown rice (wild rice, too, if I have some), but it was more important to use what we had on hand. Any noodles would have worked fine also.
Another Hatchett Job.... 