Hodgins Farm
Box 925 R0M 1E0 Lenore, MB, Canada

It's not just the cows that enjoy these poly crop silage bales. As the cows wait for their bale we had some other livestock pop by for a treat. Goat, pigs and bees all approved as well.

Instead of playing out in the wind I was inside packing meat for this week's delivery to Brandon. Here's a sneak peek at what's in some of our subscription boxes. These orders receive both the beef box and pork box monthly. As you can see a good variety of cuts to choose meals from. You don't have to get both! We have 3 great subscription boxes to choose from so you can pick based on your needs. We also have lots of great packages and cuts. Message me for more details. It's not too late for this week's delivery. Brandon...Thursday April 1st and Hamiota/Virden next Thursday!

Hodgins Farm History! A few weeks ago now, Cameron was out moving the cows and remembered something his dad had told him years ago. He had told him how Cameron's Grandpa Ed would bring home railway ties in the back of the old grain truck to be used on the farm. These railway ties had served their purpose supporting the trains carrying all sorts of different goods to and from the small prairie towns, and they now had found a new home and purpose being planted in the ground to support barbwire for farmers in Western Canada. Cameron's Grandpa Ed not only loaded and unloaded numerous loads of ties, but if you notice in the pictures the entire fence is made from split ties! Yes, Cameron's grandpa split every railway tie by hand and then dug, tamper and stapled wire to every post. And as you can see they are still standing strong today!

We had the honour yesterday to present to a great group. Thankyou to Mrs.Karen Kirk and her grade 9/10 geography class at Glenboro School for inviting us to share about Hodgins Farm. Who we are, what we do, and why we do it. We are thankful for the invite as we are happy to share and thankful for technology to make it happen. They are studying about food from the land and sustainable farming practices. We were one of a few speakers and parts of what sounds like a great unit of learning for the students looking at many different aspects and tools of farming. Thankyou again @karenkristinarawlings

The winter pig shelter constructed out of trees, compost and bales has collapsed as the pigs mined the support bales that held up the major support trees. Although this isn’t what we had planned the pigs seem to be handling their renovation well. The compost walls are holding the deep straw bedding together allowing the pigs to bury themselves in the straw especially during the cold nights that we have had. The other thing that has made it easy for the pigs to handle the harsh weather we had is the insulation that they are carrying on their back! All in all they handled the winter well out in the pasture and are now enjoying the warmer weather and starting to root and dig around as the ground thaws.

We are loving this beautiful weather in January! This was a few days ago before school went back in, but we all pitched in and chores got done and then we loaded up the sleds and snowboards and went to one of our hills for some family fun!

This is a soil sample from early December from one of our pastures. Note the "cottage cheese" looking soil aggregates. These are a sure sign that the biology is working!! creating these pore spaces allows it to soak up and hold onto water when it rains. These pore spaces also let the soil breath allowing the important aerobic microbes to feed the plant roots in exchange for liquid carbon from photosynthesis. Also note the "thatch" layer between the grass and the roots. This protects the soil biology from extreme temperature swings. Nuturing the soil biology allows us to grow more grass which is good for our cows, while enhancing the natural ecosystem and sequestering carbon through more photosynthetic capacity of our pastures. REGENERATING!!

Cheers to a new year! Thankyou for your continued support through 2020 and into the new year. We look forward to 2021 and all that it will bring!

From our family to yours...Merry Christmas! We wish you all a safe and happy holiday season! In Conners words... (Facebook only allows 1 so for more please see comments!)

Cameron was out turning the compost last week and was excited to see fungi growing in the piles. These are saprophytic fungi which means they convert dead organic material into humus and release essential minerals for the plants and microbes in the soil to utilize. These fungi are very important as they are breaking down the carbon rich straw based manure pack to a rich healthy product for the plants on our farm to feed on and then produce healthy forage for our livestock to consume.

Pretty exciting stuff to see in our plants and soils! This is a picture of a winter wheat seedling’s rhizosphere in late October! The rhizosphere is the narrow region around the plant roots that look like dreadlocks. This narrow region is full of biological activity as the plant is creating relationships with the beneficial microbes that feed on the proteins and sugars released by the plant created during photosynthesis. This relationship will help feed the plant throughout... its growing cycle WHILE sequestering carbon!! This field was sown to fall rye last fall, then grazed this spring by the yearling cattle. Then the pigs were used this summer to control some undesirable plant species, followed by some tillage. The field was sown to a mix of winter wheat & hairy vetch. We use no pesticides or chemical fertilizers on our farm. Stay tuned in 2021 to see how we utilize this crop!!

Just out exploring..but who doesn't belong? Clue... this is out my patio door, not out in the pasture

What does a winter shelter look like for pigs? Well this is ours. This project took a couple attempts and a little more muscle lol. Kids were great helpers as we spent a day cutting and dragging out logs and branches of all sizes. Got a good layer and then added the straw on top. We had a slight mishap (aka cave in) so added a few more larger supports and Cameron got it all filled back in. Materials used; compost pile, straw bales and trees. The plan is to have our sows winter out in the bush and have this for a shelter. They are using an alley way to come back to the yard for water and are fed daily either in the yard or out by the shelter. They seem quite happy out there!

We remember and we thank you!

What a change in the weather. Sure glad to get another project done before it gets worse out there. It took a good portion of the day yesterday but we got the bus converted into a home for the hens and got them moved in for the winter. I'll admit I'm no carpenter but with a few quick lessons and help getting started from Cameron the job got done. Few more little touches to add, maybe a few spots to fix lol and get it moved closer to the house but they are in there settling in. With the rain and cold today I'm sure they were quite cozy and happy to be in there.