Farewell, Big Pig

It is with a worn out spirit but a clean conscious I let you know that Big Pig will not be staying with Apifera.

As charming and magnificent a creature as she is, my first responsibility is to the farm's health and the Misfit's safety. Big Pig and I have talked, she holds no grudge. And I hold no grudge against her for simply being...a 500# pig who continued to do 500# pig things. I have spent almost $1,000 and put so much time and energy into making, remaking, fixing, refixing - all the time not giving up. Some of you might know - I am not a quitter, and I am very loyal to those I give my word to. But I also know the freedom that comes from admitting I made a mistake, or need to change directions.

In the last week Big Pig showed me she was not going to fit into the scheme of things here, and the last straw came when she tossed Rosie aside like a feather - she was not being mean, she was being Big Pig. Each day something happened to make me reconsider her living here, including the day she pushed through the extra plywood I put up
to keep her from ruining a stall door, and in so doing she nearly knocked me down, under the plywood, and was on her way to walking over it with me under it.

I'm too young to die.

Always containing her in her spacious paddock was an option, but the money, time, and energy drain - to fix and refix, and worry of the consequences if she did get out into the barnyard - was what helped me come to my decision.

Big Pig has given me many gifts in her short month here - for one, I was able to experience this creature, in all her pig glory. I will never, ever forget her, or her eyelashes, or her quite grunts that meant, "What are ya' doing? Wanna hang out?" , to her manic grunts and foaming at the mouth that meant, "Come on, feed me, now, I am PIG!"

But the biggest gift she has given me is to put me and my open heart back on the Apifera track - that my goal is to help old, crippled, special need creatures or short term hospice cases. And a 500# healthy three year old pig does not fit into that master plan.

Big Pig will be back with her very good and caring former owners. Some of you might offer optional solutions to returning her there, or ways to keep her here, but I do not want to hear them and won't respond to them.

I will not talk Big Pig again. But she will appear in my art or stories in different ways, I suspect. She has made a huge impact on me. Her destruction here has also made a huge impact on me.

But it is a fact, Big Pig and I have a silent agreement.

Big Pig Big Mud

We spent the last two days hauling 7 tons of hog fuel to keep the most traveled sheep paths and gate passages free from the mud buildup. But no paddock got as much attention as Big Pig's.

Here's a tip - when you consider bringing home a 500 pound pig, take a good look at their feet. So pretty, they are. But they create more mud in less time than any creature I know. Of course it is NW Oregon, so Rain is our companion and with Rain comes our other companion, Mud.

We had put a small area of hog fuel [nothing to do with hogs, it is a wood by product like mulch, and they used it to burn in hog burners - also nothing to do with hogs] into Lucy's area so she'd have a 10 foot area free from mud. She loved to lay there by her hut. But within one week of heavy rain there was about 6" of liquid mud. Besides her piggie feet being overloaded with wet mud - a bacteria risk - the farmer's feet [that would me moi] were getting mud soaked every time she entered the paddock to give fresh water. When you have a hole in your sock, and you sink down deep into cold mud which goes over the top of your Muck boot and travels down to that hole in your sock, you only have one thing on your mind - hog fuel.

It was a warm day, partially sunny, more like Spring than Fall. As hard as the work was of shoveling, raking and lifting 7 tons of hog fuel, the animals were about, and to see Lucy's big pig body sunning on her new and improved large hog fuel island, surround by mud unable to touch her, it made me happy.

Little pumpkin pig, big pumpkin pig

What brings joy to a person is partially a mindset, I suppose. If I counted my joy in dollars in a bank I would no doubt be depressed. But when the pumpkins are harvested and shared amongst pigs, the internal celebration I encounter with myself is worth all the millions of the super rich.

Big Pig Drinking

When one gets a 500 pound pig, one tends to soak it in and a plethora of pig pictures follow.

Grande Dame of Pigginess

With Rosie snuggled into her bed in the barn, I ventured out to visit with Big Pig, aka Lucy. She is settling in very well after her initial "I Am Like A Hurricane" rendition of the Neil Young classic.

While the orchard tree cages still are in shambles, Lucy has managed to behave and is understanding the routines here - that the dogs barking doesn't necessarily mean it's her breakfast time but that it mean it's close to breakfast time, and that the front door shutting always precedes the barnyard gate opening and then it is definitely breakfast time.

She is a huge lover. A 500 pound loaf of attention seeking mass. She loves to be petted. I kiss her snout, now that I feel we both are on a more equal playing field.

I am sure Big Pig has much to share with me, and then I with you.

The Great Pig Breakout

Anytime a new animal comes on board, there is a certain amount of chaos and the settling in period is usually stressful for everyone, including the farmers.

Yesterday was such a day. If it hadn't been so amusing - I kept imagining it as a Cary Grant movie - I would have sat down and cried. After several break outs, Lucy finally found the apple orchard and once she knew there was an apple orchard, well, that's when the fun really began..

In all fairness to Big Pig, she is at a new home, without her group of pigs, she is in heat, and she is big. Really big. She's smart, really smart. And she's just trying to figure it all out.

She is personable. When she breaks out, I think it is to genuinely see what's on the other side, and check the farm perimeters. She cruised down to the lavender field but came a running when I called. She genuinely likes people, and likes me. I led her back to her paddock but she cruised into the orchard and...well, you can watch the movie. Rather than panic, I decided it was best to just go with the pig flow, and capture it on film. Eventually I put her in a stall which she broke out of but I reenforced it and managed to keep her in all afternoon while I made changes to the fence and added hot wire to the side she kept getting out of.

She went out and made it through the night, but as we lay in bed at 6AM Martyn heard wood breaking, and then I heard grunts outside my window, some 300 feet from the pig paddock.

I lay in bed and called out, "Big Pig?"

"Grunt, snort" Lucy replied.

I must confess that seeing her large mass outside the window was sort of cool, even if I knew in a matter of minute she could wallow into any area and ruin fences.

She's a steam roller.

So back I went to do more fixes to the fence, and then I had to leave the farm for a riding lesson. As I drove back up the drive 2 hours later, I kept looking for a large brown mass - but she was still in her paddock. The wire had held her...and as I write she is still inside her area.

The Dirt Farmer and I will once again work on the fence this weekend, and bring in pig panel and even more hot wire. The thing is, I really like Big Pig. And I always think of Paco and how long it took for him to settle, and I almost gave up. But I'm so glad I didn't.

So Lucy had a bad day, but in some ways it was fun to be part of it. A good glass of red wine at night and I can take anything.

Hippopotomamius has landed

She has landed in all her 500 pound glory. Her arrival was calm and welcome. She hopped out of the trailer like it was no big deal and trotted into her new private pasture with her new house waiting for her big piggie feet.

Now this is a pig. I can assure you of that. The barnyard is still under the belief that a Hippopotomamius is here and I am staying out of it. I can understand the confusion, for the only pig they know is little Rosie. Rosie is about the size of one of Lucy's hind legs.

Yes, her name is Lucy and she is a beautiful girl. She could no longer be bred, but she was the first breeding sow of a local farm and they wanted to find her a forever home of retirement if they could, rather than the alternative. She had served them well and I am so glad I was able to help. At first I was a bit nervous about the issues that might arise with such a large animal, and one that can take out a gate if it really wants to get to an apple on the other side, but after even one hour with her, I am in love.

She is much different personality wise than my little grumpoluposaus Rosie, and it is a nice contrast. Lucy is more like a huge dog who follows me around and comes to sit by me in the hut. She is a thinker, where as Rosie is a dreamer.

There is much to learn about her and many stories to emerge. For now, she is in her private area and barnyard introductions will be made slowly. Boone shares a fence line with her and he was intrigued. Itty Bitty has already taken walks though Lucy's pasture and in time I'm sure she will have many friends. I have already enjoyed watching her take a mud bath, something little Rosie seems uninterested in.

Do not fret about little Rosie, I have already told her she is and will always be, my first little pig.

Lucy will be eating 3-6 pounds of food a day, so feel free to sponsor Lucy or others if you feel so inclined.