And it all began...

In the cold winter of 2007 my sister, my parents and I decided that we ought to get a few pigs and let them roam around our large grassy field. By letting them dig and eat freely they would till our whole field, so when spring 2008 would come we would have a lovely field dug and fertilized at our ease and the pigs delight. This would be a very efficient, gas-saving-no- tractor-needed way of preparing your field for the spring. 

My mom received a letter explaining that any teens with a business idea could write up a business plan and present it to a committee of Youth Venture , a foundation helping teens to begin a sustainable business. My sister and a few friends who were also interested in our idea at the time, named our group Pig Tales. I wrote up a very intriguing and interesting speech with a bit of help from my mom, and presented it to the committee. We were granted $1,000 to begin our pig fun. 

That spring we sketched designs of the pig house and formed a plan. We built the pig house with lots of help from our dad in early spring. The pig house had four doors so it would be easy, during the year, to switch the pigs from one part of the field to an other, without moving the whole house. We would simply open a different door. We put up an electric fence to keep the pigs in the field. Pigs are very sweet and gentle animals. They are known for getting out of their pen and wandering around neighborhoods looking for... food!

We bought five little pigs in early June.

During the summer a local and very kind farm donated all of the ''aged'' vegetables from their farm stand. The vegetables looked brand new and quite delicious... especially to our ALWAYS hungry pigs. Along with the vegetables, grass and roots from our field and lots of compost from our house, we also fed them a small amount of grain... they spilled most of the grain out of the bucket we fed them in and after a while we ended up simply feeding them on the ground... hey! they are pigs after all. Also they were always thirsty. We got a free bath tub and loaded it with water so they would always have a drink. 

They loved mud. We would let the garden hose run for a few minutes on really hot summer days giving them a warm mud bath, which they adored. Also they ran after each other making funny grunting noises. When we walked down to them each morning they would run in circles with glee and follow us along the fence; they knew food was on it's way.

During the summer it was fun to have the pigs. Once winter came it got quite tricky. Our hose froze from the cold of winter and so we had to carry buckets full of water down to the pigs, which was straining on the arm. 

  

Our dear five pigs were scheduled to go to market in late November. A local farmer agreed to drive the pigs down to the slaughter house. He arrived and inspected the pigs remarking that our pigs were not fat enough! For two more months the growing piggy's played in the snow. It was mid January now and it was colder then ever. The pigs would be taken down to the slaughter house in four days. It was a sunny morning and I was preparing eggs for breakfast when my dad frantically ran into the house telling me to get outside... one of the pigs was walking up the drive way towards our house. All day we shoved and moaned at the pigs trying desperately to get them back in their pen. They were no longer afraid of the fence, and strong enough to knock it down. And all day they stayed put never leaving our property. The rest of the day we made a little wood framed box, and that kept them in until the sad day they left us. 

We had a list of customers who were eager to get a hold of fresh grass fed pork. Everyone raved over the juicy meat, even the butcher said these were some of the best pigs he had seen in a while. 

It is now June 2008 and we have a beautiful garden planted.