Also insurance related, we are planning for the future and the hopeful return of the pigs and steers to the farm in about a month. Before we commit to bringing them back, we want to make sure we stand on absolutely firm ground regarding the insurance situation of the house, future barn, and farm liability moving forward. We are currently soliciting quotes for that insurance package (ironically, this is a process we had started a few weeks before the fire!) We are learning that it's not so easy to find insurance that is affordable for a farming operation of our size, and it's also not easy to get insurance right after you've had a loss due to fire. We are hopeful that we can find something that works for us in the next week so that we can start planning for bringing the animals back. In order to bring them back, we will need to invest in a few small pieces of equipment: an electric fence charger, some new billboard tarps to repair our pasture pig shelters, hoses, a water tank and float valve, and we will need to repair and bolster our perimeter fence that used to include the barn as a "wall". Your donations will be applied to those needs. We've had unusually warm weather recently, and we should have enough grass to sustain the cattle in a month, if not sooner. The piglets are fine on pasture once they are about 2-3 weeks old if they have an adequate shelter.
We are also now able to start the process of site clean-up. The first step is going to be the worst, as we need to contain the asbestos containing cement siding that covered about 1/2 of the barn. About 1/2 of the siding is intact.
Thank you all again for your support through this long, but hopeful process.