With every bag of feed we finish we tell ourselves: ok, it’s getting cold, the girls are getting big, it’s time. That started about a month ago. To slaughter ourselves or have it done at a  slaughterhouse in Chrysler, that is the big question. Depending on who we talk to, more pros or cons are added to the respective lists. I feel torn. I want whatever is best for all involved, and there are many involved: the pigs of course, Joël (killing a creature is always hard on  him), the kids, and who will be consuming our meat once butchered. Currently we are leaning towards doing the deed this weekend with Nicolas and Clem, a friend with deer experience. The slaughtering and the butchering will probably take up a good two days. And after looking through a bunch of books, talking with my brother who has done it before and generally psyching ourselves up to actually killing what we consume, we’re as ready as we’ll ever be. I figure we’ll always be anxious and unsure the first time, whenever that is. One more step on the path to sustainability and the ethics of what we eat…

On a lighter note, last Monday we moved the pen again to give the girls new ground to till. You should have seen them – they were so giddy! Prancing around, sniffing everywhere, grunting happily at all this new territory to explore, leftover sunchokes to dig up and munch on, wooden posts in the ground to help scratch those hard to reach itches. I was sure they were going to knock over their former, sturdy hog panels when they put their entire weight on them to scratch their sides/ears/bums – it was funny to watch, they take scratching VERY seriously.

Babette and Delila have been a great learning experience – these animals are really amazing. Not just their playful and social personalities (which surprised and delighted us), but the way that they are such useful creatures for tilling, composting, fertilizing and then feeding us. Although I will still happily eat bacon, I don’t think I’ll take it for granted in the same way – it really is only a small part of what is edible on a pig. Hopefully we will never get to a point in society (although we seem to be steering that way with chickens, breeding chicken breasts and forgetting the rest) where we will grow bacon, not pigs. Which reminds me, there is a great little company called The Piggy Market (http://thepiggymarket.com/) that sources locally and uses the entire pig in the various products they sell. Food is definitely more than just fuel, and animals are more than just meat.

pigs