As you will remember Tane the little Kunekune boar has a bung hip. He hurt it the first time he bred Tima last year. Now we are in winter, and his limp seems more pronounced in the mornings.
But Tane has put himself on a regime of exercise.
Every morning after breakfast he lies at his gate until I let them out.
Tima (the sow) always comes to visit the house for her ongoing pedicure before steaming out into the field like the Queen Mary at full throttle. Full Steam Ahead.
But Tane heads straight out and spends the whole morning walking across the fields looking for frozen corn.
By midday when he brings himself back in his muscles have warmed up and the limp is gone and he is strolling along quite normally. Ton will visit him throughout the morning but he only comes in when he is ready, unless I have to go out I don’t even bother calling him back in I just wait until he is done with his exercise and his scavenging.
The header shot is his view as he toddles home. On days when he cannot go out he is quite obviously disappointed.
He always goes to bed first and, like Sheila across the barn, he waits until I have covered him in straw before he says goodnight.
Yesterday I made Rewena Bread. This is a traditional Maori bread made in New Zealand using fermented potato to make the bug that will rise the bread, instead of yeast. Like many sourdough breads it is a two day process.
This is my first attempt and I look forward making it again for you with some tips from my old Maori women friends.
Good morning. I don’t make bread very often in the winter but this challenge was hard to resist. It tastes as good as it looks. In the old days the women made the bug with potato peelings. Speaking of peelings I came across an old lady the other day who makes her apple jelly from apple peelings. I look forward to learning how to do that too!
Have a lovely day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
51 responses to “Tane the Kunekune Boar”
Tater bread is so soft and yummy. Good for you! Now, I bake bread in winter…
Tater bread ! have a lovely day Alice.. c
I think the apple peelings create pectin. Fascinating how potato peelings can create a type of yeast. Good for Tane to have his own specialized training program. I suspect perhaps he has an arthritic condition exacerbated by the damp cold. Poor guy . I hope he does alright this winter. I adore your piggies ! And oh by the way all my little Grand nieces and nephews love your little picture book. The parents ( three of my nephews with their wives) have to make up stories every night to go along with the photos! So dear!
Have a great day!
Time for bed in my neck of the woods, but first I could murder a thick slice of that bread slathered in the wonderful apple jelly you are all talking about. Do you deliver, Celi?
Logic! Sun > Vitamin D to Tane > Vitamin D + exercise good for Tane’s bones > Hurts less, feels better + one can find a bit of yummy food here & there > Tane happy > Tima will be happy > Celi happy too if little Tanes and Timas appear . . . 😀 !!
ah yes – all good!
I see the pics of Tane in the field and I cannot get Dion’s singing of “The Wanderer” out of my head. Dion was looking for girls; Tane for corn. Who am I to judge? 😀
It’s a wonder those little legs can carry him so far away. Mr. Flowers feathers are filling in nicely!
I love the idiosyncrasies and habits of the Farmy cast, animals are as prone to them as we humans, I think.
Funny but I was given a jar of apple peeling jelly for Christmas by a good friend. She learned to make it when she was a little girl. I had never heard of it. And, I had an elderly friend who always said if we get to come back in another life she will come back as a cow. She thought grazing all day and basking in the sun a good bit, just being lazy sometimes and also wayward, sounded like a wonderful life! Ha ha