Piglet Update

So, our little group of monsters, better known as the piglets, is growing up pretty darn fast. Ruby’s three have started eating solid food, stealing it from the two moms and it’s pretty hilarious seeing a five pound piglet with an chunk of pear in it’s mouth. What’s even funnier, however, is when we bring orange slices to the fourteen pigs out in the woods and see them with an orange in the mouth, just like you or I used to do when we were kids. Plus, they make a squeaking sounds when they chew on the orange peel. So adorable...

Anyhoo, back to the piglets. As I said, they are doing quite well, as are their mothers. Garnett never had a problem, except that she got so exhausted during her farrowing that she lost one baby because she simply couldn’t get it out in time. And we all know the struggles Ruby had. But she is doing amazingly well; she has become more vocal, grunting and snorting and squealing all the time and she is producing plenty of milk and taking fine care of both her and Garnett’s offspring. She is gaining weight and looking like a fine and healthy pig once more. And thank goodness for that!

The piglets are hilarious! There is no better way to describe them, besides cute and adorable of course... One of my favorite things they do is as soon as they notice you coming, they all stop in their tracks, lift their tiny noses up, face their tiny ears forward and stare at you, trying to figure out who you are. They can’t see very well, but their smell is second to none. I will write a little about their noses sometime soon, as they are fascinating to watch. As soon as they figure out you are known to them and they feel safe, they scatter,  darting here and there, squealing and grunting as they go. They can run very fast on those little legs of theirs...

They seem to love company, and when I head down to see them to refresh their water or bring a snack for the moms, the piglets always come running, nudging you with their noses, grunting and oinking, trying to eat you pants, shoes laces, gloves, leather knife sheath and anything else that might, no matter how remote, be a tasty treat for them. They will also crawl all over you, scratch themselves on you, fall over for belly rubs, close their eyes in delight when you scratch behind the ears.... and, this is sometimes the cutest of all, they sleep in an ever changing pile. Once a piglet has made it out to the edge of the pile, he or she will crawl to the very top of the pile and wiggle themselves in. It’s hours of entertainment...