Here Pig! Pig! PIG!

An amusing homestead adventure...

Running a farm and giant garden takes time. Effort. Strength. Energy. Out of all the jobs in the world this is the one I chose. It is my passion and my joy to run my farm with my little family. Providing good food, beauty and medicine for family and friends gives me great pleasure. When I close my eyes there are only two places I'd like to be - in the mountains or home in my garden...... with all that being said preserving and canning and caring for all these things does wear you down from time to time. Especially after the harvest. So we took a week "off" hoping to get some rest..... and this is what happened.....

It all started with Micah coming home after dark one night... his truck lights flashed against something unusual in the driveway.

Pigs?!

Yep the pigs got out. Now this is not unusual for curious little pigs. Fortunately our pigs have gotten quite tame and they really like their dinner so Micah was able to lead them back to the pen. End of story. Not to bad. We knew it would happen sooner or later.

The next morning started off as most mornings do here on the farm. Tea and coffee of course and then off to do the morning chores. Fortunately micah was home to help with chores. We opened the porch door and who should be standing there waiting for their breakfast?

The piggies.

"Well good morning pigs, is this going to be a habit? I asked them.

I get their food and we lead them back into the pen. No holes. Hmmm.

Well as it turns out the smart little piggies figured out how to work their gate. So micah fixed that. We certainly dont want to loose our bacon in the woods. We get the rest of the chores done and all is well. The week goes by just fine. Friday is the day we started our week "off". The next morning micah gets his deer... (if you've not heard that story scroll through our posts for an entertaining adventure).... later that night his dad gets his deer. We do camp outs with the kids. (So not restful but they were happy lol!) ... Sunday is an absolutely wonderful day with our friends for friendsgiving ... and then Monday morning our friend comes out and shoots his deer.... that was an even bigger adventure that micah's deer. For now let's just leave it at - lessons were learned. Blue and the holy spirit lead the way once again. Freezers were filled. It's all good. Later that day I had an amazing visit from my nephews and their mama. The kids wanted to feed the chickens some scraps and the pigs decided they needed a piece of that action.... so they pushed their way right through the fence into the chicken run. Of course the kids came running to tell us. So we patched the hole and pigs were put back once again. Lol!

Now the week progressed as you would expect a holiday week. Delicious food. Family time. Nothing crazy until the weekend.....

Something I ate did not sit well with me and I was tired and a little cranky. My children were being absolutely wild and I was desperately trying to be a good mommy despite feeling pretty crummy. Micah had to go to work for a bit on the weekend so I was on my own. I decided to pour an extra cup of tea. As I was standing there in the kitchen I looked out the window and who should be trotting through the garden but three little pigs. Sigh. Here we go again. I can't be mad. We knew one fence had a weak side if the pigs were going to get out it would most certainly be there. It was time to do some upgrades. I get the grain and call the pigs who were very excited to see me. I realized they'd broken through the chicken pen again but this time all the way to the garden....and there were chickens excitedly scratching and pecking all over. I lead the pigs out and decide to let the chickens be until the evening when they will go back into the coop on their own.

We get to the pigs gate and I realize micahs barricade is still in place. The pigs are wild with excitement of getting a second breakfast. They are snorting and nudging me with their snouts. I'm getting frustrated because I cannot get the gate open and the pigs are getting impatient. One nips me in the butt.... I'm only wearing rubber boots and thin leggins not much protection. I decide to buy some time and dump a little grain on the ground. Then I realize the extent of the barricade. I decide against trying to open it and decided on putting the pigs in the goat pen which I know is secure until I can get the fence patched. I desperately try to get the goats into the barn. They were not cooperating. I call micah frantically....not even sure why or what I want him to do. Not a good move. Honestly there is nothing he can do. I hang up. Near tears. I realized the pigs were bored and done with the grain I'd given them. They quickly trotted off through the walk way by the shop in search for something more exciting.

I quickly run and get grain for the goats. I get them into their barn. I get more grain in a large bucket for the pigs and call my mom to come help. Shes only 10 minutes away and knows how to get pigs to come home. I take off after the pigs who are already nearing the corner on the road. They have zero interest in coming home. I say a desperate prayer through tears which are threatening to burst from my eyes. I start running towards them shaking the bucket and yelling piga pig! pig! Here Pigs! Suddenly the pigs turn and start running at top pig speed toward me! I turn around and begin walking towards the barn... and then realizing the speed at which the pigs are running I picked it up to a full on run.

- now at this very moment I would love to have paused time - Just briefly because of all the things that could have gone through my head and I'm thinking gosh I hope the neighbors don’t drive by. Suddenly it's like I had an out of body experience I can see the pigs running full speed. Me wildly running toward the barn grain bucket in hand yelling pig! pig! pig! Oh what a sight we must have been -

I eventually get to the goat pen and the 3 little pigs follow me as if we had done the maneuver a thousand times. I shut the gate and all was well.

My mom arrived and helped me patch the fence well enough to hold the pigs until micah could help me really get it secured later that day. We move the pigs over to their pen once again. I let the goats back out into their goat yard. It was time for a well earned cup of tea.

The fence is fixed. The pigs have been happily rooting around their pen all week without a single escape. Phew.

I hope you all enjoyed this rather long tale. Until the next adventure. I will leave you all with the imagery of me and the pigs running full speed down our dirt road. Fast food on the hoof anyone?