Ah, the exciting life of a published author. If someone had told me 15 years ago that I’d now be living on a pig farm, I would have told that person he or she was crazy. But 14 years ago, my husband and I bought a small farm in Upstate New York with our daughter and son-in-law — ostensibly for them to grow fruits and vegetables. A couple of years later, my son-in-law brought home a pair of Yorkshire pigs and started Tinhorn Farm, his pastured pig operation. Pastured pigs are pigs that are put out in fields to root and roam, rather than kept penned in a barn. Among our resident pigs, we have Yorkshires (Benny, as a youngster), Old Spots (Clarence), and Berkshires (Nubbins).
Having pigs can be
exciting. For example, one snowy winter evening, the first year we had them, I
came home from work and turned into our driveway to see 400-pound Benny, his
300-pound partner Mama, and their two half-grown offspring marching toward my car.
They’d broken the fence surrounding the barn. My daughter and son-in-law and
their family were in in Florida visiting his father. My husband was working
late. I called a farmer friend and he and I got the group back into the barn. When
my husband got home, they repaired the fence.
Tinhorn Farm now has much better fencing, along with the
watchful eyes of Mr. Buttons (left) and Xena (right), both black lab/boxer
mixes, to keep the pigs in their pastures.Shameless family promotion: You can follow Tinhorn Farm on Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tinhorn-Farm/268979333162037?ref=ts&fref=ts)
Keep in touch with Jean on Facebook and Twitter
And check her website for a chance to win
one of
three copies of hr latest release Small-Town Dad
www.JeanCGordon.com
www.JeanCGordon.com
4 comments:
Love this, Jean. Never have I seen such attractive pigs.
Oh, the memories you've conjured up. Some funny, some down right hilarious, and some not so much. We had an animal farm. Pigs, horses, cows, chickens. We had to give it up when DH's job transferred us to another state. Nice article.
What a lovely place to live Jean. Do you ever look at those pigs and turn them into humans in your imagination...in other words, are they ever an inspiration when you're writing? I do hope so because they have such soulful faces.
I can just imagine the plots you can devise with so much nature to inspire you. What fun!
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