Pigs in a Pen

Not in a million years did I think my fashionista daughter, Kathi, would become a country bumpkin.  Odd how people can and do change.   Kathi, her husband and children have sown a garden for a couple of years now; their menagerie of animals have grown from the standard dogs, cats and guinea pigs to include horses, rabbits and chickens.  And now their youngest daughter, Haley, has joined the local 4 H club, her project is to raise an animal for next local fair.  Her animal is a nice pink, porky pig. 

photo above...Haley's pig, trying to burrow under the lush, grassy weeds.

Haley is in a 4 H partnership with two other children, each has a pig, the pigs are being housed at Haley's as she has the space for them.  Of course the other two children must do their share of caring for, cleaning, and nurturing these future fair animals. 

photo above ... Haley in the shelter of the pig pen shade along with her charge of piggies.  At the moment they would be considered young pigs but should grow and actually triple their weight and size before the day of the fair ... in just 3 short months!

photo above ... It's hard to keep the 3 young pigs together.  Haley's pink pig wandered off to play in the deep grass and now the brown piggy is thinking about do the same.

photo above ... Ah alone at last.  The black and white piggy now enjoys the luxuary of the shade and the cool, moist soil without the other two.

No, never in a million years did I think I'd see the day that my daughter would have pigs in her back yard.

KATHI AND THE EGG - or - The Egg and I

photo above ... A pretty shade of pale teal and all natural.

From fashionista to farm girl, who would've guessed ?  Kathi, my older daughter, was always the city girl, she liked the bright lights, the hectic pace, the places to go, things to do and above all she liked the shopping. As she grew from a teen, who turned my hair prematurely gray, to an adult I envisioned her moving off to the lights of a big city such as LA or Miami but to my surprise she settled in Bradenton, Florida.  Now after residing here for several years she has transformed into a true country lass.


Back in July of 2010 she brought home 13 little baby chicks  (more on that here) .  Naturally that meant a special cage to keep them safe and of course a heat lamp to keep them warm, their little chick fuzz isn't that great at protecting them against a draft or a chill. 

photo above...baby pictures of the "girls" when they were just chicks.

Next, as they out grew their nesting cage, came a true hen house or chicken coupe.  Now, after 6 months, Kathi is starting to get a daily supply of fresh eggs from her "girls".   A chicken expert told her that the first eggs would be small and just about any color, he was correct as the first batch of eggs were hardly bigger than the top digit of one's thumb and have come in lovely shades of blue, green and brown.  The eggs are getting bigger and for now are still fairly colorful.  With these eggs one would hardly need any Easter egg dye. 

Stay tuned as in the near future I hope to blog about their horses (they now have 2,  Scooby and Havoc) and a new enterprise... to start up a local chapter of the 4 H Club, complete with cattle and 20 coconut palms, but that's another story.