Not a good morning on the farm

Spring is here and the foxes are back in full force.  We lost three chickens last night...  Queenie was my oldest rooster, a docile silkie bantam dissappeared two nights ago.  I should have locked the door last night.  A Mary and Red Sonja are gone.  All of my hens that look alike are Marys.  I have mary Agnes, Mary Magdalene, Mary Katherine, and so on.  Red Sonja was my favorite chicken.  This Rhoade Island Red was the type of hen that would jump up in your lap to get some love.  She would stand there and let Stella walk up and pet her.
I let Sonja and the rest down.
My two Pyrenees are great watch dogs, but they are not fast.  This is why we need a small dog, Corgi or Terrier on the farm.

planting begins

Cherry tree in, check
Asparagus in, check
planter of peas, check

Today
Another planter of peas
Another grape vine

As soon as the garden dries out, I will plow one more time and plant everything else.  The garlic in the lower garden is looking great!! 

This little piggy went to market, and this little piggy stayed home

This morning was the morning that every piggy dreads.  James backed the trailer up to their pen last night so there wasn't too much activity at once.  Both pigs had a magnificent feast this morning!  They each had a five gallon pickle bucket full of fresh orange slices, jasmine rice, cumin-spiced black beans, grilled beef, fresh dill, the list goes on and on, plus their corn and soy meal mixture of hog feed.  The last supper.
After a few hours we went back down to the pen with a plan in place.  Open the doors to the trailer, place the ramp in front of the pen gate, remove the gate, place food in the trailer, James would be in the pen pushing the pigs toward the trailer, I would close the trailer doors behind them.  We knew it was not going to be that easy.  The pigs were scared and leary of the trailer and the ramp.  It has been raining for a week so James was trying to herd these pigs while he was up to his knees in poopy mud.  The pigs were getting stressed.  James came out and we walked away for a minute to see what they would do.  I couldn't leave James alone down there, but the baby is applying more pressure to my bladder so I had to squat and pee.    The smaller pig edged her way into the trailer to the bucket of food.  The big one got close, nibbling on the kernels of food that had blown down the ramp.  She would not go into the trailer.  We had to make a decision before the first pig walked back out of the trailer.  We decided to shut the doors.
A short 20 minute drive to Vaughn's Processing Plant in the next town over is where she is until Monday morning.  There was one other pig dropped off this morning so she has a room mate for the weekend.  The people seemed really nice there.  We backed the trailer up and she took her time walking out into the holding area where she will have shade, food, and water.
Vaughn's is a strange little place.  The shop area has reach-in freezers with all kinds of meat for sale and a bunch of odd amenities.  Toblerone, Pedia-lax, Stirrings margarita mix, and giant cans of baked beans to name a few.  I had to pee, again, so I got to walk through the back.  Not where the slaughter takes place, but the butchering.  It was clean and organized which put my mind at a little more ease.
What do we do with the piggy who stayed home you ask?  Not sure right now.  We will either get her in the trailer on another day, or find a male Tamworth to breed her with.  We planned to get a breeding pair this Summer anyway.  I put a wanted ad on Craigslist and we will see if we find a pig.  Tamworth is a heritage breed so they can be tough to find.

I handled it all much better than I thought I would.  They are not my pets, but I have gotten to know them over the past 7 months.  I know they had a nice life, they are feeding my family, etc.  I think we all get all of that.  It is still hard.  The next time will be easier.  Thank you my little piggy, for giving your life for my family...