the pigness of the pig

One of the biggest influences on my decision to farm, and how to do it, came from Joel Salatin's books.

Among his practical tips and words of wisdom came these words:

"Our motto is we respect and honour the pigness of the pig and the chickenness of the chicken. That means not confining them in a house with hundreds of others."

Allowing an animal to express its natural behaviors, such as the scratching and pecking of chickens, or the rooting and tilling of pigs, becomes an essential part of giving that animal the best environment in which to live, and therefore, the best possible life.

On our "little farm," that is exactly what all of our critters get to do.

For many years now we've talked about getting pigs. We enjoyed watching the pigs at our friend's farm and always figured we'd try it ourselves.

One year turned into five, and I finally decided it was time. A few e-mail inquiries later and we were rushing to put together a pig shelter (thank you old pallets!) in our old garden space, which, due to my current schedule of working full-time off of the farm, is lying dormant.

The perfect pig palace!

Now "Roto" and "Tiller" spend their days happily rooting and tilling up the old garden, happy as pigs in, well, mud.

If that isn't the pigness of the pig, I don't know what is.

Cheers -