I expected some setbacks along the way, as there always are with something new. I didn’t expect, however, the first month to be a month behind schedule! The goal of planting herbs and flowers in the spring leaves me with the goal of prepping the sites this fall. Working with the seasons adds a new layer of pressure for reaching deadlines! To use techniques that work with the land we have, and work with it gently in a way that helps it continue to flourish with minimal impact on air, soil, or water, means setting up a few dominoes in just the right order-goats clear the brush, pigs dig up the roots, chickens scratch it all up and all the animals fertilize it as they work. They get fun and food, I get plant-able soil.

The first domino fell before it could reach the next-my favorite noisy helpers-Poppy, Travers and Flora (love my goats!) can’t eat half of the plants in the field! Enter the tractor and brush hog, with all the fuel and emissions. On the bright side, we discovered young oak and white pine trees hiding in the field as we scoped it out for clearing, and were able to transplant them all before the tractor gobbled them up. I felt a bit better that these carbon sequestering, air cleaning babies were rescued and not eaten by hungry goats.

I was ready to set my next domino-the pigs. I purchased electric pasture fence so they could move around the field and get to work bit by bit. I’m a tad embarrassed it has taken a better part of week just to figure out the movable pasture fence itself, but we prepared a run for the pigs to tide them over.

We brought home our first pig, Clover, who I had visited at Rescue Village 2 or 3 times a week for close to a month so she would be familiar with me when she came to her forever home. I don’t think I can call this her ‘fur-ever’ home and be cute like you can with a puppy or kitten. She barely has any hair at all! Clover was the sweetest pig and I fell in love by visit number 2. She came home, settled in, and within 3 days began to let us know she does not like her new digs. I’m working on interpreting her language to be able to give her what she is asking for-she deserves it! I’ve been told she was found wandering the streets of Cleveland and was brought to Rescue Village. I can only imagine someone adopted her as a pet-thinking she would stay tiny probably-then set her ‘free’ when she became too large. This seems to be a common sad story for these “mini pigs.” She spent about a year at Rescue Village following a weight loss plan to help her be a healthier version of herself, and I was committed to helping her complete that journey. It could be that’s a part of her grouchiness? I kid, but I won’t even try to pretend I’m not nervous around a 200 pound grouchy pig. I am doing my best to interpret if she is asking for alone time to settle in, company, more space to roam, or is just missing her old digs and piggy friend. Pig language is complicated!

While I work to learn about Clover’s needs, we are not exactly progressing with preparing the fields. That’s okay, because it’s what she needs. I have a plan B to start some lasagna beds on the areas we cleared with the tractor. Stay tuned to see how to make lasagna with logs, clippings and compost, and to hear if I learned to speak pig enough to make Clover feel at home!