For those of you who read this blog regularly, you will know that life is changing on Buttle Farm – with sadness, we are dispersing the pig herd and from January onwards, will no longer be producing and supplying rare breed pork.
But until then, although the feeding rounds may be smaller than they used to be, the pigs are still being fed twice a day – at the moment, the remainder is revelling in a glut of apples so very happy they all are – cookers/eaters – all are welcomed with enthusiasm.
All Buttle Farm pigs are well socialised – they all see humans as a good thing and generally come running looking for treats if you show up at any point during the day, whether they are due a feed or not. Caught a lovely video the other day of Robert walking the dog ….. and the pigs came too. Ever hopeful that there were some apples to be had (there were!).
It is funny to watch how the pigs prioritise – some will eat one apple then head for their regular feed in the trough, others will eat every available scrap of apple first, even if it means they miss out on time at the trough.
The trees are almost bare and we’ve had some very misty mornings to greet us – and some fairly heavy frosts and ice on water troughs.
The start of November saw all of us in England go back into lockdown in an effort to slow/control the infamous COVID virus – the numbers show that we were heading for a disastrous winter without some form of ‘fix’. The news on vaccines appears to be promising and the upwards trends seem to be levelling off – there is confusion about what lays ahead for Christmas but fingers crossed that Lockdown 2 has done the trick.
Having announced the end of the pork enterprise last month, as you can image, we have had a major flurry of orders and are pretty much sold out of everything – we have a few hams left that will be ready in time for Christmas plus a little bacon – if you know what you want, don’t delay in letting me know asap – once the list is full, there’s nothing I can do to magic up some more 🙂
The last remaining sow on the farm, Eyelashes, is still looking for a new home. A stunning Berkshire, she has given us many lovely piglets over the years and although definitely ‘middle-aged’ for a pig, she is in fine form and will always trot across her field if she sees any visitors, just in case they might be bringing apples. If you have a paddock to spare and always fancied a pet pig, now would be a good time to let me know!
Although there were no tourists passing through the cottage during November, we are looking forward to welcoming people back to the farm once Lockdown finishes – just for a change of scene perhaps, or maybe planning to ‘hit’ the shops and do their Christmas shopping. So, if you don’t fancy doing everything online this year, come and stay and do some bargain hunting at Swindon Designer Outlet. They are open long hours so won’t be too crowded – shop during the day, do your wrapping up at night and go home with everything sorted!