We have not had an escape for ages. Everyone seems to be happy where they are. But when I went out to do the afternoon chores yesterday and saw this –
– in front of the barn, I knew that somewhere was an escaped pig. I looked first into the bedroom of the little pigs and found Tima and Tane. Something very wrong with that picture. Instead of seven little Hereford pigs there were two old kunekune pigs in there.
Looking further I found all seven of the little pigs, upon being set out on their adventure by Tima, had gone through the barn overturning everything and looking behind everything else then erupted out into the corridor paddock and were busy trying to make friends with Sheila through the fence.
And digging holes in the field. Which is why they do not live in this field! They have their own backyard to dig in.
It actually took some time to sort this out. Tima and Tane wander free in the winter – kunekune don’t dig holes in the soft grass so I don’t mind them wandering through the gardens doing winter house-keeping. Apparently Tima had found a way to open the little pigs door. Then threw all the little pigs out and she and Tane proceeded to eat all their food. Of course the little pigs were thrilled. And Sheila was glad there was a fence between her and a gaggle of screechy piglets.
I was not too worried – they all come when they are called – but I wanted them out of that little field as soon as I could before they dug it all up. At least they did not end up in the kitchen like Poppy that time.
The Cadet, wearing her grand-dad’s gloves and her own getting-too-small gumboots came for a visit and helped me get all the pigs back in order and then we shifted the little chickens in with the big chickens and we started to catch all the wild chickens, mostly Leghorns who lay big white eggs all over the place, so we can get them all into the Chook House together. The Chook House door has to be shut for a while now to teach the little chicks where their home is. So we may as well have all the chickens in there at the same time now that they have begin to lay. The space is pretty big and being so warm I have opened up their wall door so they will have plenty of natural light in the day.
Things get a bit loose in the winter, especially with gates and chickens and pigs apparently. But soon there will only be roosters roaming free eating pig food and getting fat for the first spring cull.
There is hope for a little sun today and if the sun does come out I will make the new electric fence for the Middle Sized Pigs. I need them to dig up one specific area that will be a new vegetable garden this coming summer. Of course I can do this job in endless cloudiness but I want sun. And I see no reason why I cannot have sun if I want it. So.
I hope you are going to have a lovely day or at least find some loveliness in your day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
78 responses to “Run-aways”
Good to catch a glimpse of The Cadet again. Do you see her very often anymore?
She is a teenager so she just pops in when she has time.. c
How funny! It looks like Sheila might have been talking to the piglets from the safety of her own field… 🙂
She did not seem too upset about it – not nipping at therm or anything.. c
She probably tipped the girls off about keeping their virginity and becoming pet pigs 😉
I wonder how much time Tima and Tane had before you discovered them. I can just imagine Tane having just hauled himself in there only to find he was busted!
Poor old Tane – I let him have a rummage about for a while before ejecting them – he is a pretty belligerent chap when asked to move too.. so it was a bit of a scene! c
The piglets are darling. They remind me of naughty children that make you laugh but you mustn’t let them see you laugh or else they’ll think it’s okay to be funny in that naughty way forever! So you turn your head and hide your laugh with a very serious cough. The Sun better obey if it knows what’s good for it.
Still cloudy but there is the promise of a little sun.. c
We had sun for a few hours yesterday and today! We WOKE UP TO SUN! AND IT’s still shining. Hope is on it’s way to you! Life is wonderful within sunbeams!
Linda
Most days I have to chuckle at the antics of your “critters.” The entertainment on my little fsrm seems mundane. Maybe I should get a piglet ot two to redig my overgrown garden and eat the high quality chicken food that I bought one day when I was being lazy, and the chickens won’t eat. They went on strike until I started making my own again. What do you do with 8 gallons of quality layer pellets that no one wants?
Aren’t chickens funny- what do you put in your own special chicken mix?
My mix most of the time is 16 c Black Oil Sunflower seed, 12 c Whole Oats, 16 c Wheat Berries, 6 c Whole Corn, 8 c split peas or lentils (can use soy but I don’t), 2 c flax seed, 3/4 c kelp powder, 2 Tbs Olive or coconut oil. I mix this up in a 5 gallon bucket and grind in my Corona mill as I use it. My layer flock gets 3 c + 1/2 c freezedried mealworms per 8 birds. When I am really lazy, I go to Tractor Supply, a feed store and buy their Dumor 5 grain scratch, beef it up with the sunflower seed, peas or lentils, flax seed, kelp, and oil, but since the scratch is cracked, I don’t grind it and I supplement it with a full cup of mealworms and a little layer pellets. I also give them gifts of fresh caught mice when one gets in the house or car and gets caught and most kitchen scraps except banana and avocado peels.
Pigs really are very mischievous!
It is their best! c
Those piggies 🙂 There Sheila was minding her cows when somebody let the whole excited kindergarten loose on her! So pleased to see the Cadet lending a helping hand again. Laura
Hi Laura, yes it was nice to have her round again.. c
Nothing like ‘runaways’ occasionally to keep you on your toes!!! 🙂
You know it!! c
The coloring of your pigs is mighty confusing, a city-boy like me might mistake them for beef-cattle. 🙂
And this pig breed is called Hereford too, so you could be forgiven for the city boy confusion! c
I say my beagles are “head down, brain off” when they are on a trail, I think we can apply this to pigs also. The flash back of Poppy in the kitchen made me smile – as does remembering the turkeys running amuck in the house. Oh the adventures you do have!
HI CADET!!!!!!!!!! Nice to see you again!
Yup – it is a bit like that! Certainly the brain OFF thing.. c
Sounds like those pesky pigs are going to give you a run for your money. They do keep you on your toes. They look adorable out for their visit with auntie Sheila. It’s good to see you with a second pair of hands doing all those chores. We had lovely bits of sun last week during our too cold to breathe spell. Now a week of rain followed by a glimmer of hope for some gentler weather and maybe a peak at the sun. Hope you see it shine on you today. With all those characters on your farm, you never have need of a television set for entertainment. Have a wonderfilled day yourself.
Nope – never felt a need for a television at all..c
Ha ha piglets on the rampage….love em all. Xxxx
When they are happy they dance around in a circle and wack at each other with their heads, if they happen to get my leg instead it is a reasonable thump. c
The mud is more fun on the other side …a mischievous bunch always looking for fun….and the games once you discover them.
We humans are all pretty sick of the mud this year
Yes, it is getting past a joke now – especially with dogs
Ditto here, too!
Snorts with piggy laughter. It was the great pig escape…. not that I have ever done anything like that in my oinker life… nope not at all. XOXO – Bacon
You never would!! Good wee piggie like you
Looks innocent. Surely I would not. It was a ninja that broke into the Hotel Thompson and snuck into the freezer eating ice cubes. Scouts honor… XOXO – Bacon
You have no snow! A foot or more deep here but a long thaw coming. You as well it seems; http://cci-reanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#T2_anom
We have only had a little snow. hmm that is an interesting site, if I could work out how to read it, lots of warm colours.
Sorry I’m late. On that sight I look mostly at “Today’s weather” and on that page I watch primarily the Temperature Anomaly and the Jet Stream. So for today fully half on North America is way above average temperature for this time of year. It’s a good site to determine what weather is coming and how long it will last. Last year at this time we were just starting a period of very cold temperatures that persisted for weeks.