Weekends: Of Pigs and Gardening

Normally, Eric and I keep our weekends relatively unscheduled and open so that we can have a chance to spend time together and catch up on stuff around the house. The work week gets so busy and hectic that we really need the weekends to regroup. These past few weekends have been busier than usual, though. Last weekend I took a group of students from my class to the auction yard. The weekend before that, I was out of town for the World Dairy Expo for research. And this weekend, I took the entire class on a field trip to Pigs Peace Sanctuary–approximately 25 people came to meet Judy and pigs and see the amazing wonderfulness that is Pigs Peace! It was so much fun to see the students at the sanctuary—asking questions about pigs, what they like, and how they live, giving the pigs lots of scratches and pats. And of course, we fed the pigs carrots and corn on the cob. 

Reading about animals in the food system is one thing. Meeting actual individual animals at a sanctuary is another thing entirely. Most of the students had never met a pig before and many had never been in a farm-like setting before. I think there’s something special about meeting animals at sanctuaries rather than on farms. You can confront the animals at a sanctuary with an open heart and mind because you don’t have do the work of forgetting that these animals are going to be used for food. At Pigs Peace, at least, what you see when you visit is the way the pigs live all the time. There is no dark underbelly to cover up or ignore. I’m off to teach in a couple of hours and I can’t wait to hear thoughts from the class on their experience.

After the sanctuary on Saturday, the rest of our weekend was spent playing catch-up. We have a lot going on right now. In addition to the craziness of work and school, the difficulty of the dissertation research and other random stuff, we are welcoming a new canine family member into the house this week if all goes according to plan. I’ll wait for another post to share the details with you, but we’ve been scurrying around getting all of the other animals to the vet for their annual check-ups, cleaning up the house, wrangling baby gates and putting away chewable things. Plus, my dear sister is going to be coming for a visit on Wednesday all the way from Baltimore (yes! I’m so excited!) and we’re getting the house pulled together for her visit.

On Sunday, I planted 50 tulip bulbs in our front yard, and promptly gave myself a giant blister on the palm of my hand. Clearly, I haven’t been doing enough yardwork lately. Twenty-five “Fancy Frills” and twenty-five “Curly Sue.” I adore purple, and I couldn’t pass up these gorgeous tulips at the store. I can’t wait to see them pop up in the spring.

We’ve been working on an ongoing project to develop our garden into a mini-wildlife habitat and this summer especially spent a bunch of time working native plant species into the garden. We’ve been using this great book called “Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest” by Russell Link. This book outlines the ways in which you can design and add to your garden to make it more friendly to wildlife. One of the things I love about the book (in addition to his recommendations for specific plant species) is the way that he reminds you to think about the various levels of the garden, from groundcovers to bushes to tall pine trees. We’ve learned a lot reading this book about what parts of plants various animals will use for various purposes and which plants provide homes and safety for which animals. The tulips were not really part of this plan, but they are an aesthetic accent I just couldn’t pass up. So in the midst of the lavender, elderberry, magnolia, wild lilac, the hens-and-chicks, etc. there will be bursts of purple, pink and white flowers this spring!  

On another note, when the fine ladies at Our Hen House were here in Seattle, we went to visit Pigs Peace and they interviewed the amazing Judy Woods (director/founder) and they kindly included me in the interview (thanks Jasmin and Mariann!). If you’d like to have a listen to the podcast, which went up on Saturday, click on over here.

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