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”
Hi Celi, I hope your back is better, having a nice walk with Sheila makes me think it is. It looks like your weather was similar to ours but tomorrow it’ll feel like -20C with the windchill. Glad our power is back on now!
thank goodness my ‘back’ is doing SO much better, now Ton and I can start walking some of this weight off, being laid up was awful.. Thank goodness your power is back on, did you lose many trees? Your weather is terrible, we are going to be very cold tonight too, bad wind and very cold.. c
Hi Celi, lots of huge limbs came down but so far we haven’t had a count yet. Glad you’re doing better.
these photos had me wishing i had a piggie to do walkabouts with….
[gee….marmalade is growing up!!]
When I was doing research for my M.S. in psychology, I came across a number of research articles that said pigs had the intellectual abilities of the average 6 yr. old child. Pigs are also the animal who are the most anatomically similar to humans. When you see 4 year olds running all the electronic gadgets in the house better than their parents can, it makes you really wonder what a pig is capable of. Shelia seems to be an above average piggy so she may have the mind of a 7 yr. old, so it must be really boring for her when she is penned up with no stimulation, She probably loved figuring out how to open & closed the door to her pen. Her walks with you through the fields, must give her lots of things to ponder when she is alone with her thoughts. Maybe she needs some things to play with when she is alone. I think your walkies with her with greatly enrich her life. Shelia is “Special Pig” as E.B. White wrote of in Charlotte’s Web. But, we already knew that.
Marmalade & Boo are so sweet together.
I think that Sheila and I have figured out a kind of language too. I talk to her as I walk about and work and when i pause she grunts in reply. She is actually seldom alone which is nice as she is in a barn of other animals plus TonTon the border collie is seldom far from her side. If I am not outside Ton is with Sheila. She is got up in the morning and even tucked into bed like a 7 year old at night. I swear she even says goodnight. She refuses to have anything to do with the other pigs preferring to hang out with cows and dogs. When I am not there she closes her eyes and sleeps, quite contentedly actually. I imagine carrying that kind of weight around must make a pig very tired. Good reminder about her toys, she has bowling balls but keeps pushing them straight out the door, she does not like them inside, they have been mired in the ice and I forgot to get them out when it thawed. Lets hope she can be bred, I think she will make a lovely little mother. c
She is gorgeous!!!
I love following you around too, you know. 😉
xo
What a lovely walk. Nothing like some fresh air during a reprieve from the cold. We did the same yesterday. Sheila seems like good company on a stroll.
This reminds me of the movie Babe.
Pigs do love to take tours. Sheila is a large beauty. Big congenial company there
The compost must have been calling her name. She’ll be one tired piggie if she follows you around all day!