I bet you all think it's easy to get pigs to rototill up the vegetable area. It is, but it is not always that easy to get them to stay there, and focus on one job–they get a whiff of grass or a sight of a field in the distance, and woops! There they go, under the pasture fence.
That is the first lesson you learn about pigs-they need a board on the bottom of the areas you plan to contain them in. Oh sure, they might last in a good fenced area for....a day...
{Insert laugh track from Dirt Farmers and all Misfits}.
I was also told that pigs won't necessarily root if they have grass.
{Insert laugh track from Dirt Farmers and all Misfits}.
My very experienced pig friend...yes, I do really have "pig friends"....recently shared with me that she has sows and gilts that root, no matter what, and others that don't. So after I let Doris and June into a small paddock near the orchard for some grass, I was shocked...
SHOCKED! {Insert laugh track from Dirt Farmers and all Misfits}....
to see that Doris and tilled half of it up.
Oh well, it needs reseeding and grading anyway. Thanks, so much, Doris.
So yesterday, I went on my mission, Dirt Farmer in tow since he was under the weather. I bought pressure treated 10' boards to secure on the bottom of our vegetable area so Doris and June could really do some work for me. I worked all morning on it, and at precisely 2:15 west coast time, I let them in to their new work area. At this writing, there have been no escapes. But the day is somewhat young. Rather than measure and cut the boards precisely, as I had first planned, I did it my way. Why cut and measure when you can get the job done faster? And besides, this is just a dry run to see if it works. If you walk around the farm it's pretty obvious which areas I have worked on, versus where Martyn has worked.
I sat with the pigs for awhile when they first entered the garden and observed them-the only way to get to know any creature-sit and watch, and keep your mouth shut. Doris appears to again be the rooter, but in the garden I was all for it. The paths between beds had become grass ridden and even though we put weed barrier down, then hog fuel some years ago, it needed more, and it got way ahead of me. So I was happy to see her literally pulling up the long roots of the very tough grass in the paths. OKAY, so she's taking the barrier too, it needed to come up to get the grass out.
I was very pleased with myself and Martyn came by and siad it looked pretty good. But if there had been a bubble over his head like a cartoon, it might have thought,
"Oh well, at least she got it done and I don't have to do it."
Yea, kind of raggedy, but my girls are working it.
