= A perfectly busy day.
Poppy woke up mid morning (yesterday) rolled over and discovered that there were five little piglets in her room. She stood up and looked at them milling about her feet making half hearted jumps at her teats, then she looked at me and quite clearly said “What the hell is going on? ”
“Poor doll.” I told her, “you have babies.” As the day went on she relaxed a little more and by evening she was up and eating while her babies slept in a heap on the floor. They have not discovered their warm little Snug yet but I hope they will soon. I am leaving them alone. Poppy is best if she is not bothered.
Every picture I take of them is rubbish so far – they are never still and their doors are closed so it is quite dim in there.
Today may be better for images.
Our new Boar has arrived! He is from a lovely farm close by. Behrens Farm. They have lots of beautiful shiny show pigs and they were so kind – it was lovely to have met them. The farmer had been talking to the woman who runs the feed store I frequent, discovered me, bless her, and offered me her wee boar. He is 5 months old, gentler than any lamb I know and quite the sweet-heart. When we got him back to the farm we changed our minds about boarding him across the way and gave him the very secure new pen in the corner by Stalkers Garden. But even though John backed the trailer up nice and close he decided he was not getting off thank you very much. It all looked too big and open and scary and if it was all the same to me he would rather stay on the trailer for a while.
He has the most incredibie eyes, slanted up at the other corners and dark. I need to find out what brand of eyeliner he uses, it looks very good. I said fine, you can rest, and left him in there to settle down with the door open for a couple of hours. There was no rush. The trailer was inside the field. Once he had caught his breath he dismounted and was gently herded by me and my piece of board and two very quiet dogs through the field and into his pen. I filled his water tank and he had a great big drink then climbed into the tub of water and cooled down at the same time. I think he likes his new house. 
I am still working on his name I have Manu and Red so far. Maybe I should just call him Carlos. Manu Carlos. Maybe I will! Manu in Maori is birdlike or bird or flight depending on the context and can be a girls name too. But his eyes are birdlike so I am leaning towards Manu.
Yesterday I worked as hard and as fast as I could to keep myself awake , feeding, fencing, gardening and milking and cleaning and all that stuff. The Matriarch came out for dinner with a basket full of food and as I was chopping the salad when I heard her shout. A pea chick was stood in the incubator looking out at her and peeping. By the end of dinner another had hatched and last night a white peachick hatched too- away we go again!
So you see? Five piglets, a Boar and Three chicks. Not bad for an ordinary Fourth of July!
I hope you have a lovely day. Today Lady Astor will be brought in for her breeding by the Lady Vet this afternoon. Fingers crossed again!
Oh, I do love this farming life. I know it can turn to horror in a heart beat but today was a good day!
love your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
51 responses to “5 piglets +1 boar +3 carlottas”
Happy to hear all the good news!
Wow! A very special day and time ahead with all the new life, You deserve a good and fruitful year after the hardships last year. May the goodness continue for a very long time.
I like the idea of pea-chicks peeping out at you going peep!
A wonderful day, dear little piggie faces peering and bustling, as if they’ve been here forever. The new boy sounds delightful. All’s well with your world :0
5 piglets – wow! What a fabulous 4th of July you enjoyed C -the family is getting bigger and bigger.
Have a wonderful Sunday.
🙂 Mandy xo
Good Morning, Celi. Much going on here…. Lovely. The babies are so cute with their brown haired skin. It is visible and one can feel the Love that you have for your work and life. – Manu’s face is really a very friendly one and he seems to be very sympatico – not to be said he is a beautiful boar. Wow.
Now, that he still is a ‘youngster’, I reckon he’ll be huge when grown up, won’t he? And maybe not more so lovely but a bit dangerous, too. Or am I wrong?
Happy ongoing for you and the farmy with its new members. Have a nice and lovely day, too.
P.S.: The last two pictures are identically.
Oh thank you irmi.. I went and fixed that – I wrote this when half asleep this morning!
Well, there we go. I knew there were fireworks for the fourth and I’d say you achieved that and then some. Farmy fireworks. 😀
Happy Fourth, Miss C. A day of quietly beautiful fireworks. I love your new brown boy, with his winged eyes and his peaceful nature. I hope you’re now able to sleep and rest, with new life starting all around you!
Wow – if the new boar is only 5 months old, by comparison, those little piggies won’t be little for long! They are so cute!
I thought the same thing—“He’s only 5 months old? Look how big he is!”
Yay!! 5 piggies, they looks so big and active. They also look incredibly adorable.
Wonderful news! The new boy is quite a looker. I hope he keeps his sweet nature!
Wow – very much a day to remember!
The back end of a boar is not all that attractive really.
I was trying to think of a ‘nice’ way to comment on this very thing…thank you for taking the lead with this one 🙂
Now girls, you surely do not expect Celi to dress the boar in a skirt … or do you? 😉 😉
I know! And how he walks without chafing I have no idea.. they always remind me of baboons really.. c
YES! I’m not sure that I have ever really looked so closely at the rear end of a boar. It was a momentary surprise on the size involved at 5 MONTHS. Wow 🙂
I will simply choose to keep my focus on his lovely eyes in the future, rather than the expanding backside.
Perhaps a loin cloth? ALA Tarzan?
I was doing the same, thinking about how to be tactful. Then I thought what the heck, she wouldn’t have given us the picture if she was bashful about it!
I am so glad the boar gets to stay with company, solitary pigs are a bit sad I always think.
I made a creep for my baby piglets but like yours they chose to sleep in a heap in the same space as their mother, away from her but not in the creep. In the end I turned the heat lamp around to the place they chose to lie but high enough so their mum couldn’t knock it out of the way, sort of rendered it a bit ineffective really but it made me feel like a proper pig farmer!
I could never watch their Mum when she was getting up and down, like you my heart would be in my mouth and I dont think I could have got there in time to save anyone so I just stopped watching, it was way less stressful! My most favourite bit of watching piglets is right at the end of feeding when the milk supply must be shutting off and they quickly jump from teat to teat in a last bid effort to get the last drop. It reminds me of organ stops for some reason.
What a busy day you had – chock full of little miracles emerging from a safe womb to planet earth. This new boar is really quite handsome and I do love the name Manu. Those eyes are lady killers, aren’t they?
Bedroom eyes for sure!