In nature often we will see perfect beauty sitting right next to rot. Good sitting hand in hand with Bad. This beautiful little butterfly sitting about with a bunch of flies sucking up sugary watermelon water from a rotton watermelon is an example. We found this watermelon when picking in that patch – it already had a hole in it.
So what does this teach us. Does everything have to teach us something? 
I think so. If nothing else, I learned that this is a Viceroy butterfly – I have not seen one here before but evidently they like watermelons. But seeing this perfect butterfly compete with my enemy the fly, for a drink from a rotton watermelon, creates a need in me to untangle this puzzle. A visual metaphor.
The piglets are having a hiccup – we had started to mix in a new bag of feed and almost all of them had runny bottoms by yesterday afternoon. Also we mowed their garden yesterday so they were rooting through freshly mowed greens. Scours in animals terrifies me. They are drinking a lot of electrolyte and I have thrown out all that new feed. The chickens can have it. It was a special and very expensive piglet mix designed to get them to eat more but now they will be slowly introduced to the fresh home made pig mix and we will see how that goes. But I don’t want to lock them off their outside toilet when they are this messy. The problem may also have been caused by worming them (you will remember that we have round-worm in this soil). It is hard to nail down a cause.
But the reaction is extreme. Besides the electrolyte, I gave them yoghurty water often yesterday too and they drank that with gusto. (I am holding the cows milk until they are back in order). Interestingly the hand-raised piglets are unaffected though all the piglets are still eating and drinking and playing. This shot is from earlier in the day yesterday before anyone showed signs of illness. If a pig is sick I ban the dogs first as they run from pen to pen following us about spreading bacteria with their feet.
That is one of the handraised piglets visiting with Boo. We will see how they all are when the sun comes up. They were all cuddled up fast asleep in the night – ears up as I watched them, no-one out on their own at that stage. An animal who is very sick will isolate herself. That has not been happening so far which is good.
Aunty Anna (on the left) is in heat and making sure everyone knows it. On the right is the Hereford steer. He is a lovely animal. In two months Aunty Anna will go over to Carlos.
Egoli always sits in the same place every day, twice a day, above the milking room. And when I have finished milking he yawns, stretches and drifts down the wall to have his milk.
Mr Flowers.
The nights are significantly cooler now. I have opened up the interior sleeping quarters for the piglets so they can get right out of the cool air that is drifting down at night. The blankets are coming out of the cupboards and will hang on the line to air today for the humans.
I hope we have a little more summer coming after all this time not being able to get into the garden because of the rain. But the late winter garden seems stalled.
And I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
PLUS: The Pig Rescue T shirt campaign has finished and you all made 648 dollars towards helping Lurch the rescue pig get back on his feet. Also many of you donated money through paypal and checks – thank you so very much. I have not been able to thank you all individually for obvious reasons but please know that I am thrilled at your generous response. Some of the funds will go to paying the vet ($162.00) and then I will be printing a cheque for the pig rescue and Nick and I are hoping to take it down and deliver it by hand later this week. (I have to transfer everything out first and this takes a few days for each step). So it might be early next week. However we hope to go down and take come photographs for you. So we can all see how he and Winston are doing.
Thank you again. c
The Kitchen's Garden 
36 responses to “The Beauty and the Rot”
Poor piglets!
I thought about the melon and flies – to me the melon would rot naturally (if wild) and the seeds would end up in the soil and grow. I don’t particularly like flies, but it’s all a natural process and the butterfly is in there somewhere – balance perhaps 🙂
Yes, balance – that is a good way of looking at it.. c
It’s all cycles, like Orpheus and Eurydice.
Mr Flowers is looking particularly handsome. I think that’s one of my favourite shades of blue, and so beautiful with the greenish crest on his head. All your creatures always seem so glossy and healthy, even when wet or with runny bums. Clean living = shiny, healthy creature.
Beautiful picture of the butterfly.
So glad there is money to go to the pig rescue! Scours are something serious to worry about. Hope they are clearing up today.
Yes, they are all good so far, nice clean bottoms..
Poor piggies. I feel for them having had a bad bout of gastro last week.
Summer seems to have been rather short this year.
I shall eagerly look forward to my pig t shirt…hope all the piggies get well fast
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2016 at 2:05 PM
Celi, do you make your own kefir daily with your cow milk? It is one of the best probiotics for the stomach and overall good health. We make and drink it daily, and I feel it really is wonderful for us. And when we have extra the dogs love it. I know you make your own yogurt, as do we, but the kefir just seems to add extra health benefits too. xo
Yes, isn’t it lovely …
Bummer … hope the little piggies recover quickly. Looking forward to seeing developments with Lurch and Winston. HI Egoli 🙂 Laura
Boo is just lovely, looking over his charge. And your butterfly had me routing around in google images, wondering if Viceroy was another name for Monarch butterflies . It’s apparently a species on its own but with subtle differences from the Monarch — one being that the male Monarch is poisonous, and the Viceroy’s are not! Wow, learn something every day reading your blog…. so I thank you! heh heh — Hope you have a great day too! ~ Mame 🙂
Beauty and rot are perfect symbols of the eternal life and death struggle. Perhaps reason for the flies existence is they help remove the decay allowing beauty to thrive. Everything has its purpose….although I’m still puzzling mosquitoes 🙂
That is the very FIRST question I have of the Almighty once I pass over to the other side: Why mosquitoes? Much love, Your Gayle
Mosquitoes are food for bats, swallows, purple martins, nighthawks etc. There are other insects that eat skeeters, both adult and larvae. We may not like them (I certainly don’t), but they do fill a necessary niche in the food chain.
Everything is so interdependent and change causes adjustments. I hope piglets get back on track. It is a puzzle about butterflies. They are so lovely and yet have no qualms sliding up to the bar with flies. Hmmm. Maybe Egoli, with all his observation skills could explain. Have a great day. What is Sheila up to these days?
Sheila is looking long and lovely in her own little field.. I should take Camera House to visit her..
Love your Monarch butterfly I had ONE here the other day. I was delighted! Hope all goes well…animals are such a joy and a fright.
Linda
This one is a Viceroy – smaller with different markings – but very pretty – c
Oh! Thank you for the clarification!
I could be wrong but I don’t think a Monarch would be eating fruit? They mostly live on milkweed. So that’s another way to tell them apart.
No you are right – it is not a monarch, it is a Viceroy butterly
Aloof, comfortable in his superiority, alert but relaxed about it, supremely confident and why shouldn’t he be, beautiful creature that Egoli is. I haven’t followed the naming ritual there closely, but I love getting to know your animals as unique individuals. “Egoli” brings to mind the “I” that thinks of itself first and above all.
Egoli means Golden – it is an African word though I forget which tribe..
I hope the piggies get better fast. the butterfly picture is so colorful even with the flies. I enjoy all of your photographs they are so beautiful that is what first attracted me to your blog .now I love the fellowship and stories too.☺
ahhh look at your gorgeous orange Egoli- what a splendid cat. Hope your little piggies are doing better-