They were as curious about us as we were about them and we had a nice time visiting with them while we waited for Barbara.
Barbara's husband, Gary, stopped over to visit with us and was (thankfully) happy to answer our many questions about them. Here's what we learned...
~ They got the piglets two days ago and will have them until the Fall. And then they will have pig roasts.
~ Pigs are FANTASTIC at rototilling gardens and clearing land. They "root" around for, you guessed it, roots, and chop up everything else in their way to get to them.
~ Gary said if you have an old tree stump, partially pulled out, you can throw some grain under the stump and the pigs will clear out all of the roots for you.
~ Barbara said she will turn the pigs out in her flower garden (but not her vegetable garden because the fresh manure is too strong for the vegetables) this week instead of using a rototiller to turn the beds.
~ After that they will move the pigs around the yard in a portable pen.
~ In the fall, they will turn them out in the vegetable garden so they can till and fertilize the garden for the coming year.
Fascinating though I'm still not fully comfortable interacting with animals that I know are destined to become food.
I was a vegetarian for 17 plus years, until I became pregnant with our second baby, while still nursing our first, and my body called (loudly and clearly) for meat. I found a local farmer who sells grass-fed beef and stocked up our freezer.
That was two years ago and I am still thoroughly enjoying cooking and eating meat.
But I remain uncomfortable about the whole process by which a pig, or a cow, or a chicken become my dinner.
I'm happy to know another compassionate, animal-loving farmer who is raising meat animals. I look forward to getting to know more about the process, and hopefully getting more comfortable with it so we can incorporate small meat animals at Nadalada Farm in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment