Pig cake

It's the night before the pigs go off to the butcher. I just this morning read Micheal Pollen's description of helping Joel Salitin with the chicken slaughter at Polyface Farm. I've thought of ways to be more involved/connected with the slaughter of our animals and I imagine someday we'll butcher our own chickens. But as far as the pigs go, we've hired our friend and neighbor Curt to help us take them to our butcher. We needed to rent or borrow a trailer no matter what- and when Curt expressed concern that we were going to haul them perhaps with less than a heavy duty 4 wheel drive and mentioned swerving trailers on icy roads and 2 1/2 tons of pig behind- well, it seemed like maybe it was a good idea to take him up on the offer. And then I thought about coming along- to help them load off the trailer. But it seems like the processor wants to handle that part. So I suppose my job is to help them load from Prairie Fire with the least possible stress. So tomorrow I will lure my pigs, who follow me anywhere, with a rainbow chip betty crocker cake, into the trailer.

Why a cake, you ask? Birkleigh's brilliant idea. She is processing saying goodbye to her pigs and I have to say is amazing at this farming thing. "Yes, the pigs are going. But we'll have BACON instead as a gift from them. And then I get to get my chicks- my fluffy yellow chicks." She sings the bacon part with much joy.

She determined that baking them a cake seemed a proper sendoff. A way to say thank you and goodbye. She wanted me to make a concoction with vegetable scraps. Was pretty thrilled with the possibility of making a goopy gross layered mess. But I just gave them the last of the vegetables from the Yahara River coop- and I reconsidered our resources. While I was tempted to make them a molasses nutrient rich treat, I settled on the Betty crocker mix in the basement. I am happy to get rid of it. Why when I am such a whole foods bake from scratch pretty damn good baker/chef if I do say so myself, does my family want their birthday cakes from mixes? I went over in my mind that of all the scraps we've given to pigs for treats, I've made a conscious choice to make sure it was all organic, whole foods. I've been disgusted at the waste products fed to livestock. The whole point of our pork is to do practices that will create healthy animals in balance and they in turn will make healthier meat. But I have determined that the gunk in a Betty crocker mix will not have a chance to penetrate our pigs in the hours prior to their slaughter and knowing that research in humans shows that a dose of sugar helps with stress hormones.. maybe it will help them out a bit. Their all time favorite treat was caramel apples. I thought about that. And all the while, Red is laughing at me. She has a plan of her own. A much more reasonable one coming from her years of farm experience and thorough research into hog production. She made a special trip to the store (which she never does voluntarily) for MARSHMALLOWS. Now, which is more ridiculous, really. Pigs eating rainbow chip cake and milk or making piggy faces while trying to chew wads of marshmallow?

So here I am trying to balance Salatin ideals of conscious connection with the slaughter of animals in the cycle of the farm and our cosmic relationship to animals and plants in a system of perfect balance, and we're wielding cake and marshmallows. I think we would not qualify at this moment, as biodynamic. But our hearts are in the right place. Load out is always stressful, I hear. Maybe if we can't get them on the truck, WE can sit down for a sugary junky treat.