Please forgive me, I've totally abandoned my blog for the past couple of weeks. I didn't realise how difficult it'd be to find interesting things to say & be witty with it! The sad thing is, now that I've stated that, it means I believe what I've posted so far has been witty and interesting!
Anyway, I promise I shall try to be more disciplined in the future and will attempt to write something, no matter how trivial every evening. Guides honour. I wasn't a girl guide though. Does that matter I wonder?
So, Edwards & Tubbs are getting bigger apparently. James (aka Jeff), my ever-patient boyfriend (note boyfriend, not husband. JEFF!) hadn't seen them in a few days - I do all of the mucking out & feeding etc and he works in Newcastle which is about 40 miles away, so generally leaves in the dark and gets back in the dark - and he said they'd grown loads! Seeing them every day, I suppose I don't notice it so much, but it's good to hear they are actually getting bigger which means I'm obviously feeding them correctly! That still causes me much worry you see....
I've realised that I was probably over-feeding them and am now following the 'if it's not all eaten in 20 minutes, there's too much food in there' rule. I do honestly believe they'd eat apples and vegetable peelings all day if I gave them a constant supply, but I know they don't tend to over-eat when they have too many pellets in their trough. I think I've found a good balance now. I hope I have anyway. I suppose we'll only find out for sure when they get butchered.... Sorry to have to mention the 'b' word...
I made some braised red cabbage to go with - funnily enough- some belly pork from the farm shop. There was loads of the stuff left over. The braised cabbage, not the belly pork - I'm not silly! So, I gave it to the pigs, mixed with a tub of extra thick double cream that was past it's best and also some home-made cranberry sauce from Christmas that was sat in the bottom of the fridge looking all lonely. Oh my goodness. They went mad. I don't think I've ever heard such a racket from just 2 small animals! The oinking and the lip smacking and the little squeals of what I can only assume were delight and total disbelief at the feast I'd plonked in their trough! They totally loved me while it lasted. Of course they looked at me a little disappointedly when their next feed consisted of pellets and a bit of barley. I do love them - they're so funny and so easy to please! Batteries are on charge for the camera. More pictures to follow, guides honour.
I've watched HF-W's Chicken Run programme over the last few nights. I know I knew how extensively reared chickens were kept, but had obviously never seen it for myself. I never buy any eggs other than free range anyway, but have (like I'm sure many of you have) bought ordinary chicken & chicken pieces from the supermarket in the past without thinking. Since moving up north, I don't buy any meat from the supermarket, but when you live in a big city, it's very easy to just not think about how animals (all animals, not just chickens) are raised for our plates. The programmes have certainly made me think about what I buy from now on that contains eggs or chicken - once you start to think about it, it's amazing how many of the products we buy contain this type of produce. Even noodles from the Chinese on a Friday - I can't imagine the eggs come from free range chickens, can you?!
I do realise that I'm very lucky in that the farm shop is just up the road and I can get pretty much everything I need from there, including vegetables. I can also bake my own cakes & bread - I work & live here, so it's very easy for me to put aside some time to make things, but I could do a lot more and I'm really going to try to eat only fresh produce that I've made myself or that I know exactly where it's come from. I've also decided to become selectively vegetarian when I go out to eat. I don't want to become a meat bore and dictate to my friends where they should buy their meat from, but I don't have to eat it. I only want to eat happy animals!
Now, I have to go and make my kitchen less smelly. I've no idea what it is, but it smells like bins. I'm going to have to pull everything out & check under the cupboards - I reckon that little serial killer of mine (Halle Berry - the cat - she's brown and beautiful), has brought something in that's been merrily rotting away. Wish me luck.
VP x
Oh, and thank you so much to my fellow bloggers for their comments! I really appreciate the fact that people take the time to read this!
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1 comment:
Don't worry about witty and interesting - write it for yourself. There's plenty of us who'll find it interesting anyway.
You're right to be careful with the feeding. 1lb a day for every month they've been alive up to 6lb is about right, but try to vary the diet, which you already seem to be doing. We've included seaweed for Eric and Ernie, soaked for two days (the seaweed, not the pigs) then blanched in boiling water. It takes them longer to eat so is good because we find keeping them occupied is becoming important.
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