Our two recent arrivals at The Oak Tree low carbon farm are already making themselves very useful in preparing the vegetable beds. I'd read about how pigs root and churn up a plot of land, but nothing had prepared me for seeing this pair in action.
At only three months old, our pair of Large Black pigs literally dig the soil with their snouts and teeth, apparently eating everything in their path. They've only been here for about 10 days, and their pen already looks beautifully cultivated and weeded.
I'm hoping they are gorging themselves on the roots of our nasty perennial weed, couch grass, which was particularly virulent in that corner of the farm. Couch grass roots used to be ground into meal and added to bread, so presumably make good eating for a pair of growing pigs. Not only do the pair dig, they also supply and spread muck, saving us the time, and the fuel, that it takes to rotovate and spread manure.
I'm just one of the eight members of the farm pig club, Acorn Antics. We wanted to share the responsibility of providing for, and ultimately eating, our own pigs. We plan to move the pigs around the vegetable beds in their portable electric fence (which seems to be containing them successfully at the moment) so they till and fertilise the soil while eating up any leftover vegetables from the farm.
Joanne Mudhar runs The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm in Ipswich, Suffolk. Read her previous posts here.
