bacon day is set

We're getting very near to the end of this part of the pig project... the date has been set to say goodbye to our two boys, and hello to an awful lot of pork.

Tuesday is offically Bacon Day.

Up until today they have actully been making it easier for us to send them away to the big bacon factory. Sam and I were arms deep into some DIY on our new house on Sunday, and had to down tools and rush back home to deal with a mass breakout. When we arrived the boys had been sucessfully tempted back into their run with buckets of food, but the garden was slighlty worse for wear. Not only were there perfectly formed trotter prints across the lawn and flowerbeds, but the orchard had three or four Minty-nose-sized holes in it from some moss digging attempts.

We spent over an hour trying to reinforce the fences. Desparation has set in with trying to contain the pigs, and our ramshakle defences now include large rocks, breeze blocks, tree stumps, branches and even holly clippings in a bid to stop the pigs getting close enough to the fence to dig under it. It looks a bit like Steptoe's yard, but fingers crossed it seems to be working!

Other than the containment 'issues', the whole pig run is a huge wet, stinky, clayey mud bath. It looks bad, it smells worse and the thought of it ever being a prize winning vegetable patch seem a long way off.

However today the sun has come out, and the boys are playing the 'cute' card. No escaping, just lying next to each other sunbathing. Maybe they realise that next Tuesday is planned as Bacon day....


I thought I would feel sadder and more emotional this close to the big day, but there is actully a big part of me that is relieved. We'll be able to really get on with our DIY without having to feed them twice a day, the house can be left with no worries that there will be Pigs wandering through the village on our return, and we'll finally be able to pay back all our friends with fantastic tasting bacon, sausages and joints!

We are currently watching the River Cottage 'pig in a day' DVD over and over, ordering supplies - sausage casings, knives, mixing boxes, salt etc and planning the who, how and when of the big butchering event. We'll take pics of the whole thing from carcass to eating the final bangers and let you see the results!

the great gary escape day....

Oh dear.... it was always going to happen, we've had a proper pig escape.

Gary, who learnt to jump up at the fence to get as close as possible to incomming food, now has the strength to push against the fence and then just jump over it into the garden (posssibly with a plan to raid the shed where we're keeping two huge boxes of windfall apples donated by a friend whos a garden designer!).

Sam managed to get him back into the pig run, by distracting him from the joys of the garden with a bowl of pig nuts, which he followed all the way home..... only to jump out again 2 mintues later. He's now 'confined' back in the original pig run area, which seems really small now that the pigs are so much bigger and used to so much more space to trot (or rather squelch) around in.

Not sure what the plan is now, but I think we might need to write to Father Xmas and see if we can get 'electric fence' put at the top of our list this year!

3 months to go before pigs become bacon - yes it will be hard saying goodbye, but already I can see that a load of bacon and pork joints will be a lot less hassle to deal with!

• pig
• pigs

new tricks

Sam and I have just got back from a weeks holiday, we were very good and only txted home a few times to enquire how our boys were doing and if they missed us. They didn't. They were more than happy with Val's discovery of free windfall apples from a nearby field and are now eating them pretty much whole, so no food processer mess required.

Not only have they grown lots during our time away, but Gary (smallest pig thank goodness) has learnt a new trick. Now when you approach the pig run with the potential of having food for them, not only do they rush over to the fence to squeal at you, but Gary jumps up and puts his two front trotters over the top wire!

It can't be long before another 'escaped pigs' post appears here...

the great escape - pig style

Well so much for our digging day on Friday... Sunday 9am, Val goes down the garden to feed the chickens and the two piglies are the wrong side of the chicken / pig dividing line!

They had opened the gate and were happily digging about in chickenville and snuffling up acorns. Unfortunatly there were no witnesses with video cameras around, but Val says she had a fun old time trying to get them back in. I think it went something like: One pig in through gate, chase other pig, get second pig in as first pig comes out again through fence. First pig runs to be with second pig but gets confused by the fence in between them. Much oinking and squealing later (yes, and that was just Val) two pigs safely back in pig run.

When we first made the pig run, by putting up a wire fence across the chicken area, we didn't realise it had a 'right way up'. The holes at the bottom are smaller than the holes at the top, more by luck than judgement Sam and Ben got it the right way up for most of it.... but not the bit to the right-hand side of the gate. The holes aren't big but just big enough for a small wriggly piglet to get through.

So, this morning was spent putting small chicken wire all along the big holed wire fence and putting a wooden baton across the gate with a bit metal bolt. I still think it will need more reinforcement as the pigs get bigger, and heavier, and more adventurous and I'm sure this won't be the last post with the word 'escape' in the title!