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I am Cecilia. A New Zealander who farms in Illinois.
My farms are organic and regenerative and full of stories. I have been writing here about environmentally sustainable farming and food and travel since 2011.
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LATEST POSTS
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SIX WARM PIGLETS
If you were hanging out in the Kitchen’s Garden Lounge of Comments yesterday you would have read that a piglet was lost in that first cold night. I found him dead on Poppy’s side of their quarters. Being the Lady Pig Farmer is not always easy. All our focus these first few days is keeping…
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PORCINE SLEEP DEPRIVATION
When I was a Mum of little babies I used to moan my arse off about having no sleep. Baby got me up TWICE or even God Help Us FOUR times in the night. I would cry. Poppy the sow feeds her piglets every hour – almost ON the hour. But she does it with her…
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PIGLET PICTURES AS WINTER DESCENDS
PIglets in a second but first I was watching the blowing snow through the green of the glasshouse as I watered the plants being grown for summer consumption. It is an interesting lesson in the juxtaposition of seasons. Spring piglets in the barn. Snow in the fields.
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DOING ALL I CAN
Taking a step back from mothering the mothers and their babies is hard for me. But the new babies had a good day yesterday. The barn is closed up and quiet. Womb-like except for the lack of warmth. Poppy’s Seven have learnt to drink and run and are not hanging about in the cold preferring their…
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POPPY’S SEVEN
Poppy had a very slow start. One wild live baby, one dead (long dead) one then a bad time where I had to go in and bring out the piglet who was stuck, so now there were two. Then one more dead one. Then Poppy got up and had some dinner and lay back down…
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THE LADY PIG FARMER
I did not set out to be a pig farmer but there you are. Yesterday when I was talking to the man who was going to reverse my trailer into a tight spot, I heard someone else say behind me, in a low voice, to someone I could not see “Oh, that’s Cecilia. She’s the Lady…
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