The day has arrived! Our neighbours (of about 30kms down Annie Lake Road) and friends from the market Shiela and Poul have sent over their prized pig to help us dig our new garden. Jack's job on their farm is to dig up and eat roots of unworked ground. He is incredibly strong, and has a lot of mass to push with (he weighs about 450 pounds) and has great tusks under his smile that are perfect for scraping up turf and pulling up root systems. After about a week or 10 days, Jack will have turned over the soil many times looking for more roots to eat, the soil will have been well mixed, and there will be pig poop all over, to boot. This makes an ideal condition for building a garden in, because without existing roots to interfere with the vegetables that you have planted, you will enjoy decreased competition for nutrients and soil space .
We will have lots more to tell you about Jack as this adventure unfolds. The challenge for tonight is to continue our attempts to get him in his trailer where he is safe from wild animals throughout the evening. Unfortunately for us, it appears that the roots are too tasty to pass up, so he is making a bed in the middle of the garden. If he will get up into the trailer (where his food is), the easy part will be closing the door to lock him in there. That is if we can catch him in the trailer. If not.... well... pig-sitting, I guess.
Check out this little video of Jack.
Happy Friday everyone.
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