Our friends at Patrick’s Market in Omaha have agreed to supply our pigs with their favorite foods: fruits and veggies. Patrick’s is collecting their damaged and expired produce, and in exchange, we are naming one of the barrows after them. With their help, we are diverting a usable resource from the landfill and using it to feed our animals.

Late last night, we maybe woke all of Bennington with the sound of squeeeeeels.  Our piglets arrived just after 11pm and were not too thrilled to be wrestled out of their soft, cozy bed and introduced to their new home.  For little guys, they sure are strong!

This morning, they got a delicious breakfast and have made themselves right at home.  I think they’ve decided to stay.

A huge thank you to Mary Ann and her son for delivering them to us safe and sound.  We are thrilled to finally begin this phase of our journey.

~Kelly

On July 5th last year, we traveled to a farm in Iowa to check out their Guinea hogs and make new friends. We had contacted Sherri and John to ask about their pigs, and they invited us out to visit. We had more fun than we knew how to handle. Jackson got to bottle feed a calf, Comet rode bareback/hung on for dear life, and we got the chance to see Guinea hogs up close.

Guinea hogs are a critically endangered breed. They are smaller and more docile than modern pig breeds, which makes them very interesting to us. Guineas are incredibly difficult to find, but we recently made contact with someone in North Dakota who is selling off her herd. In a couple of weeks, we will have our own Guinea hogs. We won’t be renaming ourselves Black Pig Farms, but they’re sure to be a focal point for a long time.

This marks an important leap for us. Up until this point, we’ve only had poultry: chickens, turkeys, peafowl, guineas and ducks. Of course, we’ve kept dogs and cats, but this will be our first attempt at keeping mammals. Wish us luck!

-Brian