passel of pigs Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

This Face

A few days ago I made a discovery that literally made me yelp with joy. Our local farmer is raising pigs again. Seriously: just look at this face!

It seems like it’s been a very long time since our walks were last graced with these curious creatures. A search of my posts indicates it’s been a good two years since I wrote about them. So it’s no wonder my heart skipped a beat when I beheld their adorable faces again.

It’s been a very long time since any animals have resided within the fencing surrounding this gorgeous tract of land. With the absence of the four-leggeds that used to live there, the grasses have grown tall, thick, and lush. When I first detected movement on the far side of the small pen within the vast enclosure, I dismissed it as wishful thinking.

Definitely Sentient

I think what bowls me over the most about pigs is their friendliness. While I adore the sheep that have grown up within these confines, their personalities overall pale in comparison to the pigs’. It’s undeniable.

The first time I spotted them last week and realized Teddy-the-Farmer was raising pigs again, I called out in my customary sing-song voice that I reserve for babies and small animals. (OK, I’ll admit, I use the voice on toddlers and not-so-small animals, too.) I could see them reacting. The largest seemed to lift her head and grunted, “Huh? What’s that? You talkin’ to me?” She immediately headed over toward me, not caring one whit that Spartacus was with me.

I saw a second one peek at us from around the corner of the pen. A third rambled out of the pen as if awakened from a long winter’s nap.

The three of them chatted with us for a few minutes. I felt bad that I had nothing to give them in that moment and hoped they wouldn’t hold it against us.

Prancing Passel

They didn’t. The next time we saw them, which was a few days later, I couldn’t see any of them as we climbed the hill. I called out to them in my usual way and didn’t the three of them come tearing out of their pen?

Honestly, they appeared to prance as they made their way happily over to see us. The joy they bring is almost too much to bear.

I need to remember to bring carrots tomorrow.

Photo: L. Weikel

(T-173)

Mmmm. Delicious; Photo: L.Weikel

Pig Tales

Luckily for me, I was able to take advantage of today’s balmy temperatures (upper 70s!) to continue my recent walking extravaganza. Even better, however, was my discovery that our pigs have survived the great culling – at least so far. Sadly, though, only one pig is frolicking in the field that’s close to the road.

Actually, we realized she was back yesterday, and we wondered if she’d been the only one to escape the butcher’s knife. But today we caught a glimpse of at least four or five of her compatriots in a field to the north of hers, frolicking with lambs and their mamas.

I cannot tell if this is my sweet #245 because the brass tag on her collar is too muddy to read. But she sure seemed happy to see us come into view. She tore across the field, not once but twice today to greet us with a vocal and vociferous “Hi! How the heck are you? Long time no see!”

Celebrating Her Return

The first time I saw her today, I was so thrilled and relieved to see her again that I gave her a couple of my organic dog treats. I definitely think she is #245, because her delight in seeing us was palpable, and she snarfed up the dog treats (ok, I gave her two) without a moment’s hesitation.

The second time around, though, I remembered to bring a carrot for her. Alas, I.M. Carrot went into the mulch pile several days ago, so I brought a wonderfully fresh, straight out of the refrigerator, organic carrot for my Piggety Pig.

As you can see from the top photo, she loved it. Indeed, after munching on it for a moment, she quickly ran away with it, as if making off with a prize that she wanted to hoard all to herself. Again, that’s not hard for her to accomplish since she’s the only one currently living in this particular field. Nevertheless, she was adorable in her zeal to eat that carrot with relish.

More Porcine Ponderings

Believe it or not, the delight we felt at both the return of my Piggety Pig and her absolutely thorough enjoyment of the carrot caused Karl and me to ponder:

“Do we feed the Pig? Or does the Pig feed us?”

We got a good chuckle out of our very Zen musing. (Don’t judge.) (And it actually is worth a ponder or two, if you think about it.)

As we said goodbye to Piggety Pig (aka #245) for the evening, we walked a bit further up the hill and caught sight of the rest of her kin playing and foraging in the distance. Prompted by the joy I felt in that moment, I did a quick bit of research. I’m sharing what I learned because it just seems like something we all should know:

“The name for a group of pigs depends on the animals’ ages. A group of young pigs is called a drift, drove, or litter. Groups of older pigs are called a sounder of swine, a team or passel of hogs or a singular of boars.”

So it gives me surreal satisfaction to surmise that our sounder of swine are safely ensconced and saved from the sadness of slaughter. So far so good (at least).