Pigs are only allowable in my care because of one thing: bacon. That’s it. And I try to ignore the fact that whole pig does not equal whole pig of bacon. Bacon is worth it. And pigs are fun to watch … when they stay in their paddock, resist nibbling on your boots (I can feel that!), and find alternate ways to show affection besides barreling into humans.

We were thinking about getting piglets but really on the fence. Looking through the farm section on craigslist (as we do regularly) and stumbled across a listing for three baby piglets that were a week old and were being hand reared after their mother rejected them.

We made our way out an hour to a farm, not knowing what to expect. In our experience we always end up connecting with like-minded farmers and enjoy talking shop for a while before bringing whatever animal or plant home.

This was not the case with the piglets. It soon felt like an animal rescue situation and we were happy to bring the piglets home – even if they didn’t make it, without their momma so young.

We named them Cedar (the male), Aspen, and Poplar. We are happy to have an outlet for extra milk we have on hand. It was funny talking to the other farmer because she was shocked that our family would choose to drink raw milk and she was feeding the piglets a gallon of garelick brand milk a day – despite a large herd of holsteins on their farm!

These adorable little guys should be ready for butchering in December.
Remember bacon.