Farm is going whole hog

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It’s incredible how quickly the winds of change can shift.

I’ve looked back over the last few years and realized there have truly been pivotal moments in my journey where if I had made one small decision differently, I would have followed another path entirely.

The most recent of these decisions has happened in the last week.

On a whim, I had visited the website petfinder.com to help a friend learn more about a pup who matched his current dog almost to a T. As I searched for more information about this particular pooch, I noticed there was a link available on the website that said “Other animals.”

A peek can’t hurt, right? I clicked on the link and then was asked what type of pet I was searching for. Hmm, there was a link for Barnyard.

Barnyard? What would go under that? I clicked on this link and the first picture that popped up was that of two adorable snouts belonging to two pigs named Myrtle and Turtle.

I haven’t made it widely known, but over the past two years or so, I have been mulling around what animal I would add to the farm next. Several people had suggested goats, but I know they can get out of pens easily, and if I were to raise them for milking, that would ruin any chance at all of me ever leaving the farm for a break.

As sort of a joke, yet being somewhat serious, I posted these pigs on my Facebook page and said, “Who wants to help me sponsor an adoption for these piggies to come live at the farm? You’d get all the pig pets you want.” I put a smiley face and a winking face in the post to jest at the idea and figured the comments would start with people saying, “You’re crazy,” “What are you thinking?” etc.

What happened instead is still making me giggle.

Within 10 minutes of posting the piggy pair, I had received a gift of $5 through my Venmo account with the note “For pigs” under the amount. Then a few minutes beyond that, I received a message from someone saying they would be bringing by cash for the pair. Several others started commenting, and before long, I had enough to adopt the two pigs with a nice start for their feed and new pen.

There was no turning back at this point. The pigs were going to have to happen, and I was going to have one of the funniest stories of the farm’s journey I’ll ever have.

Prior to my owning this farm, the previous family had owned some pigs of which one of the two outbuildings was designed specifically for. I found great delight in trying to imagine what the barn looked like when things were running at full speed. Hints of past containment areas and the doors that would have granted the portly swine access to the outdoors are still in place and usable.

It only made sense when I was contemplating my piggy placement predicament to use what was already there. Thanks to the help of a surveyor’s mind through my dad and a creative mind to help it look good through my mom, the outline of where the piggies were going to call home was set in place.

I also discovered there was another pig and his siblings that needed a home, so this Sunday, it looks like little Chester will be joining me for the ride home with one of his brothers.

Yes, I have officially lost my mind on the farm. Stay tuned for more piggy adventures.

Until next time…

Stephanie Strothmann owns Purple Shamrock Farm LLC in rural Seymour. Send comments to [email protected].

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