Snow and sausages

Well its been a big couple of weeks at Peace farm.  We had our inaugural Peace farm-warming party which happened to be on about the coldest and wettest day we have had on the farm so far.  A bit of a bummer that we couldn't enjoy and share our beautiful land more.  But luckily the rains stopped for just long enough for the farm tour.  Apart from that it was very cosy indoors beside the raging open fireplace.

The following morning we woke up to see our mountains covered in snow, so it was great to spend the afternoon of recovery in the breathtaking beauty of freshly fallen snow.  Here's a little video we shot that day:



Since then we have slaughtered and butchered our three berkshire pigs with help from local mobile butchers.  A big process for us all to get our heads and hearts around.  I felt quite sad to say goodbye (and thanks) to the three fellas as I have loved having them here the last 6 months.  The kids made the mistake of naming them as piglets (Gerald, Percy and Charlie) instead of just "Bacon" which is what they are now.  However, the whole process has been quite fascinating. Jasmena, a big bacon eater, is so far refusing to eat any of our pigs, but will happily eat the free range bacon from the supermarket!

I have previously been a vegetarian for more than 15 years and only just started eating pork in the last 3 years so I was not prepared to watch the kill and felt pretty squeamish with the butchering. But I have to say that it feels right to be consciously involved in giving these animals a happy and healthy life on our land, and giving thanks and appreciation to them for providing us with their meat.  It is so much more connected than just buying a packet of bacon from a deli.

We also now have a deep freezer full of delicious free-range pork.  And I am looking forward to getting our next lot of little piglets.  I wonder if these ones will be named...