This little piggie

So that's the pigs gone. Great to have them, and learn all about them, not so great having to go out and feed them through 3 feet of snow over Christmas, but glad we did it. Thought I'd try and capture them, but all I  mostly managed to get was their backsides as most of the time they had their heads down in a trough or the mud rooting around. They did like the occasional scratch behind their ears where they went off in a kind of trance and leant into my hand. Only found out last week though that they were males. Sorry guys for calling you girlies the last 6 or so months, you'd think it'd be obvious...

Happy as a pig in the proverbial smelly stuff

So, this is the reason I've not blogged in a while. We've been building, sawing, hammering, and running around like a blue ***** fly trying to get the houses ready for the various new  additions to the 'good life'. So the new chooks, 6 hens from an organic farm up the road, and one very young black cockerel who's been henpecked like mad by the others ever since he arrived. We've called the hen in charge Maureen, and the cock Giuseppe as we thought he needed a bit of an Italian stallion sounding name to encourage him and give him a bit more confidence. He's got one hen who he perches next to, like a pair of little love birds, so we think she may be a Juliet in the making. Perhaps he should be Romeo? We've put them in an old garden hut we raised 6 feet of the ground, and made a wee ladder for them to climb up so they can shut themselves in a night. They all quite happily go up, minus one who gets kicked out by the others so we have to put her in ourselves to deter the foxes.

In addition to this little family, we also acquired a share in three little Tamworth pigs. They're for the chop come end of the year, which is a bit unfortunate as I think we've all fallen for them. (Well I have anyway) We spent ages building the electric fence and mending the arc, and thought all was solid, when within 2 minutes of the weaners arriving they escaped, like the fence was never on. I fell about laughing, so much for our craftsmanship skills. An hour later we finally got them back, three little sows, all stuck together like glue.

They're slowly getting used to us, but still very jumpy, so the only chance I can get to draw them is when they're chomping. So, I imagine there will be many more sketches on their way, next time in colour. As for their names? Bacon, Chorizo and Salami....