It’s another random audience questions podcast episode (and blog post) where I pull five questions from my giant mason jar of topics you’ve sent in. Today I answer your questions about feeder pigs vs raising piglets, ghost stories, people’s opinions about kids and farm work, teaching other homesteaders how to butcher, and my thoughts on being away from Facebook.

If you’d like to add a question to my jar for a future episode please email it to [email protected].

Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above.

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1 — Feeder pigs vs. raising piglets

We are considering getting into pigs and are curious what went into your decision to buy feeders every year vs doing your own piglets. The husband and I are at odds about this and we’re hoping you could give some insight into why you don’t do your own piglets. - Ellen

Farm babies are adorable, but in our couple years of doing piglets and goat kids, I learned that farm babies just aren't my thing. Keeping a mama pig means overwintering a pig. It means breeding that pig—which means keeping a boar, borrowing a boar, or doing artificial insemination. Having babies means dealing with all the extra worry that comes with having babies (and all the extra steps to dealing with those babies). And then you have to find new farms for those babies—which means dealing with people who think they want those piglets.

There is nothing wrong with trying the whole piglet thing out, it's the only way you will know what works for you and your farm. We tried it here, and our experience taught me that I'm totally okay with paying someone else to deal with moms and dads and piglets.

2 — Ghost stories

You’ve mentioned in a few episodes that you believe in ghosts and that your kids don’t. Tell us a ghost story that you’ve experienced. - Nita

To be clear, I'm not a “hey, I saw a ghost floating in the cemetery” kind of person. It’s more of a “there’s something else here” kind of thing. I will tell you two stories; a spooky one about a house we looked at to buy where my dad and I had the same experience in similar rooms in the second story, and sorta charming story about a kid who used to leave green crayon marks all over our house...before we had kids.

(Listen to those stories on the podcast by pressing the black player button at the top of the post and finding minute marker 8:27 -- they're too long to write out here!)

3 — People's opinions about kids and farm work

I’m wondering how you figure out what jobs your kids should have around the farm? I seem to be caught in the middle of half my family saying that I make my kids do too much and some of the rest of the family says that kids can do more than we think they can. I know you moved to the homestead when your kids were younger, how did you decide what they would help with? And did you ever internally struggle with they’re doing too much/not enough. And what did you say to people who said they were doing too much or not enough? - What To Do?

This is an issue whether you live on a farm or not. This is just a thing that boils down to people always feel the need to comment on how other people's kids are raised.

How do you figure out what your kids should help with? You know your kids. You know what they can handle. You know what you need them to handle. Parenting is finding that balance between what's too much and what's simply a challenge they need to surmount. That's everything from can they collect eggs without dropping them to can they carry a knife around the farm to are they big enough to do this particular job on butcher day.

Helping on the farm is about helping them grow as people, not about what your mom sister brother fellow homesteader thinks is enough or too ...