Newest residents of the farm...

First to be totally up front:  I raise animals to eat.  I have 32 Cornish X chicks that are growing nicely, and will soon be turned out on the grass.  I have raised lambs, and once raised a steer (won't do that again), and raise turkeys and pigs.

This year, I have 3 little pigs.  They are sisters, and are wildly cute. 

They gave me pause Wednesday, when I came home to an empty pig pen.  I've only had them a week and a half, and I wasn't sure if they would *allow* themselves to be caught.  I have been setting up a Pavlovian response when I feed them - I snort like a pig, and they come running with their tails just wagging!  Didn't know I spoke swine.  So, when they were MIA, I started walking around snorting.  Ok, so this isn't something you would want to do in the city - your neighbors would think you needed mental assistance.  Fortunately the friend that was with me understands my quirks, and went along with it!  As I passed by the "old growth" laurel behind the house, I got a response - they all came running out, but seeing that I had no feed scoop in my hand, ran back under the tree.  So, being a trainable chimp, I got the feed scoop, filled with feed, and snorted again.  They came running, and then followed me like the pied piggy piper, back into their pen.  Said pen has now been fortified, and there should be no further field trips until I move them out of the barn (when they're a little bigger) to the big outdoors in the orchard.  They will be finished on the fallen apples - pre-applesauced pork chops - yumm!

Last year I raised two, and sold all but 3/4, which I kept.  This year, I'll keep one, one is going to the family of a dear friend whose husband replaced the clutch in my truck, and the third will go to my neighbor who has a backhoe.  He's kindly come and dug great big holes when I had to put my horse down (twice - last year was not good), and will grade me a 60 x 120 riding arena so I can actually work Merlin without hauling into town (unless it's raining).  He has a smoker, which I'm hoping to get him to do some of my pork chops - I can hardly wait.

In the meantime, they are a riot, make me laugh out loud, and amuse the alpacas.

Next post - fiber pursuits.