…r window rolled down, and a young girl peaked her head out, calling to the pigs with her own “oink oink oink! oink oink!” The three of us on fencing duty sprouted smiles ear-to-ear. Yep, kiddo, you’re speakin’ our language. These ten tamworth pigs (collectively nicknamed “the chorus” for the aforementioned grunts and snorts) have enriched the farm in so many ways–they’ve contributed fertility to our “bedded pack” system,which is on short order to…
Search Results for: pigs
Comings and Goings
May 2, 2012 – 2:07 pm
By Laura
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Posted in Stories from the Farm
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Tagged boer goats, pigs
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Icy, Cold and Growing!
January 18, 2012 – 9:02 pm
…n, they stimulate the inner furnace of digestion. Who knows if the “market pigs” shivered away all the organic grain calories taken in on some of the days? What we do know is that they have doubled in size since it got cold. And the hens continued to Photo by Rose Wall dutifully lay their eggs. This progress while other growth is arrested, (for greens by lack of light, for farmers by the time sink of snow removal!) makes us glad to have livestock….
Hellos and Goodbyes
December 14, 2011 – 1:43 pm
…Rose Wall captured some of the joy they bring in photos this summer. These pigs have been great – from their early days scurrying around the barn to their summer, fall and early winter out on pasture. They have been a key piece of the pasture expansion team. Getting in where the logger couldn’t to open up some new places for pigs and goats to forage next year. And sphinx of course warmed all of our hearts as she recouped last spring in the greenho…
What They Leave Behind
February 18, 2011 – 5:54 pm
…ll enjoyed the months of silliness, curiosity, determination and joy these pigs demonstrated on pasture, digging in the woods, playing in the snow, enjoying an ear scratch and sleeping peacefully in big piles of warmth. As we ready to support Fife, Madison and Checkers who will all farrow in late March, we first must contend with another legacy of the 13. Their bedded pack is a rich arc, 18 inches deep and 100 square feet in area, where they left…
Morning Milking
July 10, 2009 – 6:13 am
…from my house to the farm. When I arrive in Northfield, I do help with the pigs, but my first morning chore is milking the goats. Jenga, Scrabble, and Owari climb up on the fence to greet me as I enter the barn, and they are always anxious to be milked and then put on pasture. I take them out one by one, Scrabble first and Jenga last, and lead them to the milking station in the barn garage. Even though there are many things to get done each day, t…
Ramona and the Rains
May 28, 2014 – 5:15 pm
…of 2013 and a year of raising three beautiful breeding gilts (young female pigs) from the Whalen’s Green Mountain Heritage Farm in Chelsea, Ramona Quimby was the first to deliver a beautiful litter of piglets. Ramona with her newborn piglets She delivered like so many pigs do, in the quiet wee small hours of Friday morning. We knew Thursday night that she was close, but her she was so calm and hungry that we didn’t think it would be that night. Ma…
By Laura
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Posted in Stories from the Farm
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Tagged birth, piglets, pigs
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Origin of “Don’t Eat Like a Pig”
April 20, 2020 – 11:09 am
…een repeated more often. There are many disparaging sayings that reference pigs, some I believe are unwarranted. And for years of raising pigs, I even thought this one was a bit overstated. Then came Grizabella, a lovely Large Black Sow we bought as a youngster from Hogwash Farm. She defines the source and meaning of this phrase. When we have multiple sows & litters of piglets together, it is evident around eating time which piglets are hers, they…
By Laura
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Posted in Stories from the Farm
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Tagged pigs, sayings
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SnowVember
November 29, 2018 – 10:07 am
…But deep appreciation to our team for patiently herding/catching hens and pigs in snow to move them in; digging in snow to put screens on orchard trees, digging sides of Hoophouses so the greens don’t get collapsed upon; making paths for pigs, moving stuff out of snow’s way, shoveling and finishing getting the farm ready for winter when it has already arrived. Now to enjoy the beauty, right?! (Check out our facebook & Instagram feeds for more far…
#RootedinVermont
October 18, 2018 – 9:15 am
…y will last. Just a little appreciation here for the roots — by us and the pigs too. Colorful Beets and potatoes freshly washed! The pigs do love their roots — beets are truly a favorite, but they love others too. Including carrots — see here (and don’t tell them that we stole the carrot roots for the humans and just gave them the greens). Missing a photo of it, but the sows have been on a major eating hunt for quack grass roots as well — quite…
By Laura
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Posted in Stories from the Farm
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Tagged #RootedinVermont, pigs, rootedinVT, roots
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Clean Food
December 6, 2017 – 8:32 pm
…ver it, at feeding time without even being prompted, reminding us how much pigs can learn. They were pasture stars, raising their piglets to also appreciate pasture, respect the fence and move when called. They were always receptive of a belly rub and scratch behind the ears and happy to share to share space with the chickens, taking advantage of the hens grooming skills. And those eyelashes, such beauties these Tamwo…
By Laura
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Posted in Stories from the Farm
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Tagged bionutrient, clean food, goodbyes, organic, pigs, sows
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