Sheila the big pig is getting a bit too big. Fat I think. So Ton and I took her for a little walk. After she had managed to get past the new compost heap, we had a nice wee trot around the back.
Going back in and out of the Logan’s gate often so she knows her way home. Each time we came out just a little further.
She followed me very closely. I could only really get one shot of her as she was at my heel the whole time. Though once she broke into a frolic, which made us all laugh. Sheila, TonTon and I.
Boo stayed inside with Marmalade. He is not calm enough to be around Sheila when she is nervous.
I pruned some mulberry as we walked and we brought it back .
To have with dinner.
Then back to work I went.
Although I know that today it is going to get cold again, these last few days above freezing have been very productive. A reprieve.
I am hoping that Sheila and I can go for a wee walk every day that it is warm enough. We usually walk about the fields doing the chores. This is the first time I have taken her through the gates and down the back where there is long wild grass to munch on and space to run that is not rutted mud and ice. And she was very well behaved. Being cooped up in a paddock must be awfully boring for this pig. Plus she loves to follow me around.
Have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
70 responses to “Sheila goes walkies down by the creek”
A wonderful little adventure 🙂 Laura
Aren’t pigs supposed to be fat? I love the idea of Sheila trotting along behind you like a pup. It must have been quite an adventure for her. 🙂
They are large animals but Sheila has been raised to be bred and if she is overweight she has less of a chance to breed.. I don’t even like the pigs I breed for the freezer to get too fat.. it is not healthy.. but she is a good size! c
I have often wondered what it would be like to take a pig for a walk… now I know and it didn’t cost me any energy at all, you did all the walking…
It looks so warm and New Zealandy!
Sheila is such a lucky pig! They are intelligent animals (a dog trainer here once trained hers to do basic obedience AND scent discrimination) and are far too often relegated to a boring paddock, or worse; a tiny pen.
I look forward to getting the kunekune, so Sheila has a friend (though i am not sure she wants one) but he will be smaller, training Sheila is like training a bus crossed with a rhino. She knows that she can outrun me or wack me if she wants to. I could not possibly have her wandering about the garden for instance, she would dig everything up. But so far she chooses to be a good pig. I think they like order and create habits and these are the key to training. Plus food. Food is good.. c
I just looked up kunekunes. Adorable!
A nice sunny day sure does feel nice doesn’t it! 🙂 Sunny here today too! Blizzard yesterday into the night and finally quit around 9:30…
Love your photos and especially the one of your front porch!!! So nice to sit out on a nice warm day and sip some iced tea I’ll bet! I love porches!
Sheila I am developing a real liking for you! Such a very smart and friendly piggy! What good company you are while our Celi is out and about!!! LOL
Boo and Marmalade look comfy cozy by the stove…:)
I was rushed yesterday…wanted to tell you that I love what you are doing to your coupe! What a lovely place for your dear Matriarch! She will spend the rest of her years when she is ready in a very warm little home with privacy andwill be quite safe!!!
Everyone likes their own space and that is precisely what you are designing for her! Nice colors too. I know she will love it! 😀
Will be picking up my puppy this Friday! I have waited a very long time for her and soooo excited!!! Will send you photos!
Well, I think I am going to make myself some tea and eat a nice ham sandwich! The ham is almost gone!!! 🙂 Can’t wait to have ham but it has stayed it’s welcome and will finish it off today!
Take care and peace, love, and joy my friend! Hi to all the fellowship!
I did not know humans and pigs could go for walks together. Wonderful
I wonder if you could ride on her back. Would be very soft and warm.
Dear Sheila, such a lovely, clever, happy pig. Such fun for her to get out in the sun, play a little, see new things, smell new smells, and enjoy your company. Maybe she does need a companion, to exchange piggy conversation and snuggle up to at night…
When I lived in Malaysia many years ago, we lived opposite a kampong…traditional village…..and 2 or 3 times a year a man would come wandering along the road, the main road, full of whizzing cars, with an enormous pig! First time I saw this I thought it was so funny, taking your pig for a walk, but as they got closer to the kampong, the pig would break into a trot, and then the squealing would start from inside the kampong…..and I realised what was happening….he was off to visit the ladies. As he headed into the lane leading into the kampong he’d be racing at a full gallop, his owner right behind. Loud piggy noises would be heard all day until early evening when they’d head home again, his feet dragging, head drooping, a tired but happy pig.
I love that story. Joy
That Sheila is one lucky pig! I doubt there are many farmers who take their pigs for a stroll like this, Celi. Our temps are falling and there’s a fine mist in the air. It’s starting to freeze, making things slippery. I was in the dog run, slip-sliding around. You know things are slick if gravel is slippery. I won’t be going anywhere tonight! Have a great night, Celi.
No more slipping and sliding! Maybe i should get your some crampons too!.. c
You keep surprising me with what animals are capable of. I never thought a pig could be taken for a walk. This blog is teaching me so much, as well as giving me many laughs and sometimes tears.
How nice to have that little reprieve about freezing. Here, as I’m sure you’ve heard, we are having our wettest December for many years. Yesterday I walked to the sea in the rain and stood in the salty water, which was surprisingly warm.
Sometimes I think only our own expectations limit what we or an animal can do. I have all my sheep inside fences yet in iran the boys let them out and walk them about the mountains all day looking for food then walk them back home.. I think about that sometimes and am very tempted to walk my sheep out to the creek too.
You will have to get a shepherdess outfit and a crook! I can just see the scene: Celi and her flock.
I love how you make the everyday chores feel like an adventure, one we all want to be part of. I was just picturing myself with a ‘Sheila’ and walking down the hill to the town with her on a lead! How is she on hills, could she push me back up the hill on the way home?
you could probably ride her back home, she is a big girl, no leash though, no NECK!! c
Another ‘smiley’ post to enjoy! Actually I remember a photo of you walking with Sheila and Charlotte in different days and they followed you in perfect line! Remember too wishing it had been more of a closeup so we could have seen you up close and personal [!], but have learnt not to wait for those 🙂 ! Have to laugh at Boo and Marmalade ostensibly quite ‘disinterested’ one in the other . . . is the love affair fading?
Fast asleep, little cherubs. c
Hmmm, [laughing] ~ seems to me a few days back you were afraid their increasing boisterousness might just about wreck the furnishings! Now they are ‘little cherubs’ . . . I guess all young’uns are that when asleep 🙂 !
true that! ni ni eha mama
ni-ni lovely lady . . .
Can I have Sheila??