The pigs came today- or rather, we retrieved them. Last year the guy we got them from brought them here and this time we got to load them, with his help, and unload them into their new home. I got to perfect my subcutaneous injections on swine (somehow, very different than newborn babes) and even with that additional insult the piggies were really mellow and hugely curious and rompy almost immediately. Having been farrowed in a barn, in a crate- this was the first day their hooves hit grass and dirt and the first time out in the glorious summer sunshine. They are quite pleased. They spent more time rooting, grazing, and chewing on the logs and fencing in their palace than finding where their grain was. Likewise, it took a while for them to find the nipple waterer but to cool them off and help them drink we put out a rubber tub filled with the hose and they launched and lurched their little bodies into it, limbs hanging off the sides while they splashed about. It is really cool (all over again) to see how pigs just like to be pigs- no matter how many generations have been raised in concrete slabs- they know what to do with dirt and pasture, know how to rummage out it's nutrients, cool themselves in it, play in it.
Every day seems to have it's successes and I've been finding ways to relish them amidst my 'constructive criticism' of what we'll do differently next year. Today- it was the pig arrival- not only celebrating our launching of another season, our second herd, but also hearing so many exuberant and encouraging responses from our friends who became our first customers last year. One family who had our pork and signed up for another hog this year came to visit and see the pigs today. Everyone is really excited and is sharing their appreciation of how great the pork was. It reminds me of one aspect of why I love this so much- it's like having all these friends for supper and knowing they enjoyed the meal! We will likely need to use another butcher and I'm hoping it will be as good or better than last time.
Another success - a funny one actually- is my first successful compost. I have been too busy to turn it much- and today- after cleaning out the chicken coop and adding the manure to our new pile- saw that both the new and old pile are that dark rich hummusy crumbly stuff that I've only READ about. I've been using compost bins in some form now for about 7 years, in my urban yards, and both because of frequent moving and the limitations in size, scope and content, my composting has always felt like a bit of a failure. I always cheer folks on- and tell them it's not complicated- but now I've really done it well!
A few days ago I was digging out hip-high weeds in my perenial garden and finally looked up to miraculously catch that view of the chartreuse dill weaving above the echinacea and the asters and the bobbing sunflowers and then surveying the alpine strawberries started from seed and the 6 strawberry transplants that now spread over the bed into a real PATCH and suddenly the 'What a disaster' summation of the garden turned to 'it's brambly and taking form into something really really beautiful'. Given that all of this work gives ya time to think, it's a great exercise in turning towards optimism- seeing what emerges and trusting that the world will grow and mend itself, that pigs will play in mud and runners throw out shoots to make strawberries, that rich fertilizer will emerge from what was dead and discarded.
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