It will always amaze me how fast kids can adapt. We are closing in on 7 weeks of being home and by week 3 otto knew we just wave and talk to people through the windows. When my parents came over to drop off some groceries Otto ran to the door and never crossed the threshold. I didn’t even have to tell him. He wasn’t scared or afraid just very matter of fact that this is how things are done now. When the weather is crappy and the days get long we hop in the car and go for a drive. We have at our great grandmas from the sun roof and bring them eggs to the doorstep.
Otto has been asking and asking about getting pigs. We visit our pretend pigs every day when we go to do chores. When papa Craig (my dad) got feeder pigs a few days ago we had to go and visit.
This little boy fears nothing except the IRobot vacuum and our two large collie dogs (although he is making peace with them, slowly). We pulled up to papa Craig’s barn and Otto was about half way into the pig pen by the time I put my boots on. He wanted to catch one sooooo bad and for a moment he briefly caught on to one. He named them after Peppa of course. I tried not to take it personally when he pointed to the second biggest one and said “That’s you! That’s mama pig!”
Growing up we always had pigs for 4h although I was not … the most hands on participant, I have so many good memories of fair dates with my friends. I loved showing pigs..not necessarily raising them. However when we raised our own a few years ago I really enjoyed having them around. They were garbage cans on four legs. I fed them tons of scraps from the garden and they were super friendly. I think we might be getting some again in the future. We did a no stress kill on our farm. That is when someone comes to your farm and kills the animal right on the farm rather than loading them on a truck and having them wait a few days at the slaughter house. It improves the meat quality as well as a better end of life option for the animal.
We are on the waiting list for a specific type of piglet right now but if we do not get to raise them until next year that will be fine. We have sheep, chicks, rabbit, cat and a big garden coming up to keep us busy. I love watching otto interact with all of these critters. He is so gentle with them and talks to them like they can talk back. I just love to sit back and watch him play. His imagination is wild and is exactly what I dreamed of if we ever had children in this house. He loves learning and playing and getting dirty. It reminds me of when my brother and I were little and we would spend our summer days building forts in the woods, catching frogs and walking the backfields to my grandma’s farm. It was truly a different time and I feel a bit of that is captured during this odd time at home.
It’s one of the few things that keeps me busy and gives me peace.
I hope watching the farm progress brings you a little peace as well.
