This is one of our pastured pigs. He is a Hampshire with just a wee little bit of Yorkshire in him. We had just had a thunderstorm the night before, and he is looking around in the pasture for something yummy to eat and anticipating the all-natural, non-GMO, soy-free, whole-grain concoction that I am about to bring him.
We have been blessed to sell chickens to folks from all over Central Virginia including Bedford, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Charlottesville, Rocky Mount, Blacksburg, and many other localities. We have even had one customer drive from Morganstown, West Virginia! We are looking forwarding to selling our all-natural, non-GMO, soy-free pastured pork to folks in these areas as well. We just got the first of our pork back from the butcher just the other day, and it is delicious. Here is a picture of some of the sausage:
You can see the huge “NOT FOR SALE” label plastered on it. That is because we are planning to eat this meat and give it away, etc., and therefore we did not pay extra to have one of the servants of our “benevolent” government overlords oversee the slaughtering process. So, this meat is not safe. But don’t worry, the pork we plan to sell will be killed under inspection and therefore will be safe. I am so reckless that I am going to feed this unsafe (because it is uninspected) meat to my wife, my eight kids, and my friends and family.
(In case you didn’t catch it, the last several sentences were very wry and dripping with sarcasm. There is very little about the modern food tyranny that is run by the government and supported by big agriculture that has anything in the world to do with real concern over food safety. It has much more to do with keeping smaller farmers like me from competing with the big boys. After all, if it were really about food safety, then why would I be allowed to give this meat away, feed it to my kids or a passing troop of preschoolers, or cook it up for a bunch of kids at Vacation Bible School? (All of which is perfectly legal, but, if this pork really is dangerous because it has not been inspected, it should be just as much of a food safety concern as my selling it.) Regardless of how you feel about non-GMO and locally-sourced, etc., every American should be for real liberty, which includes the freedom to buy and sell without the government being a party to every single contract, and every American should oppose the type of crony capitalism that has made most farmers into little more than serfs working for big agriculture. All right, enough ranting. I will get back to the post now. But, before I do, and before you think my rant is all that bad, imagine what that guy from Central Virginia who made that speech about “give me liberty or give me death” might say if he found out the government wouldn’t let him sell his pork without having it inspected!)
Now for something more peaceful. Here are some more of our hogs enjoying the pasture:
In addition to four more of our Hampshires, this picture shows you some of our Duroc / Yorkshire crosses. (It would show it better if they weren’t rooting up around my feet wanting me to give them something yummy to eat. It is hard to get pigs to pose for a picture!) For those of you who remember, these are some of those same five little pigs that started the porcine portion of our farm adventure way back in January. Just click here and scroll down to see how they have changed! Our pig herd consists of the following breeds to varying degrees: Hampshires, Yorkshires, Durocs, and Tamworths.
As you can see, pastured pigs are happy pigs. They spend their days roaming around the pasture, grazing and rooting about for food, and lounging in the shade or playing in the creek. They grow fat at it too. They are extremely healthy, and we don’t have to use antibiotics, etc. on them. And, you might not believe it, but they don’t stink either. With the room they have to roam, and the feed we feed them, they just don’t smell bad.
In addition to being happy pigs, pastured pigs make great tasting meat, which we will have for sale very soon!
