Sunnyside Farm Fun: Excitement on the farm

Just as I was pressing the 'publish' button on the last post....

Our aim here at Sunnyside is to be the best possible stewards with what the Lord has given us. In doing so we are hoping to produce as much of our own food needs as possible ~ obviously within the limitations of location, climate, finances & cravings ( there is no way I can grow chocolate bars....is there ???quickly?? like right now???:).

~ If you're wondering what happened to the shelter? We had a very bad storm last night & so we think the wind must have picked it up & moved it ~ it was over the hay in the background until then. We'll fix it this afternoon when we can get a little closer ~

Almost a year ago we were blessed to hear of some 8 week old piglets for sale. We had been hoping to add pigs to our little farmyard for quite some time & these were at the right place at the right price. Bringing Boris & Delores home was certainly an adventure ( thankfully we don't have any close neighbours ~ have you ever heard a piglet squeal??). And they quickly made themselves at home here at Sunnyside. We loved our new additions & no matter what people say, pigs are such fun pets. They have such floppy ears that are so cute when they run!

They quickly became a business for Zai with him taking over their care.

After all kinds of adventures with them we have finally had success in keeping them into their own paddock thanks to some electric fencing we installed.

For the past few months we've been watching Delores for any signs that breeding has taken place & we were constantly disappointed, but about a month ago she really began to round out & the signs of pregnancy became obvious. Excitement grew around here with dreams of pork chops and our own free range bacon (have I told you I'm a bit of a bacon snob?)....

Then this morning Zai came bounding in & announced that Delores had given birth to her piglets ( & here we were thinking we had another month)..... We threw on our gumboots & ran down in our pj's to find a very tired mother cuddling with her babies.

There were 7 in total ( thankfully.... I've heard of them having numbers into their teens & was so worried about how we would get rid of all these animals)....6 surviving so far ( although one looks very weak). 3 are spotted & 3 are pink ~ born to pink parents.

They are about the cutest little things I've seen & let me tell you they sure can squeal too!!

It's wonderful to know they were born to a happy, free ranging mother who only yesterday was rolling in the mud on the side of the dam. Their first steps are in an open paddock & their first food will be grasses their mother teaches them to forage for. This is the best life a pig could ask for...

So far Delores has been a good mother & she really is quite placid allowing me to get close enough to get some good photos ( guess she knows where her food comes from :) She did get a tad stroppy when I picked up one of her piglets which had gone a little far away from her & wasn't sure where to go to find her again.... I'm not silly enough to get between a mother & her baby however ~ I was out of there quick :)