Why is it that I never have a camera when I really need it?? Clearly I would have made a lousy journalist - that said, you will just have to read our latest update and be content with pictures of more cute little piglets. Despite our dates our ladies decided to farrow in the opposite order - Lucy won with 16 piglets, one dead and another very small one (which I should have taken and bottle fed, didn't make it either). The remaining 14 are adorable and are under a week old and tottering around the paddock already. Lucy is often found resting away from the hut after tucking them into bed at night having a glass of wine and some 'me' time - I know just how she feels. Shortly after Lucy, Rosie had 9 little ones and Bev followed with 7 (not the 2 I was predicting). A little disappointing for second litters but lovely little pigs so we will just have to be content with that. That boosts our numbers up and probably makes Felix rest a little easier. Still struggling with the concept of eating our pigs I got a little closer to the reason this week when I asked him what exactly was worrying him about it all (expecting a heart wrenching reply) - he said "I like pigs and if we keep eating them we will run out" - after I showed him that we had 30 more with the latest litters he seemed perfectly happy with the whole concept.
Speaking of eating pigs our first Farmers Market was a huge success. Once again we both had minimal sleep trying to figure out what we would do with 3 pigs and the resulting meat (LOTS) if the local demand for free range pork wasn't as we had hoped. Our butchers had very kindly lent us their refridgerated ute and as James loaded up the meat I struggled gamely with the tent that we had bought to cover our operations at markets such as this one. Everyone else seemed to set up like a well oiled machine whilst I stood around and aimlessly attempted to stretch the legs out on this supposedly easy to assemble piece of equipment. Once again Mudgee's friendly locals saved the day and helped out with the million things we had forgotten - tent pegs, hammers, scissors and some muscle in putting things up and carrying various boxes. By the time people started wandering through I think we looked almost professional. I say almost because on our first sale I had just taken the money and felt quietly excited about selling a packet of sausages and chops and managing to add it all up in my head when I went to open the till and realised that I had left the key at home....worse than that Emily had been playing with the keys the night before so I was pretty sure I would never see them again. Slight panic descended as more people came to buy the meat and I flapped around trying to figure out how I was going to operate with no change whatsoever, however emptying both our wallets and begging for the right money soon put us on the right track. Vanessa and Fiona responded to a call at about 9 which sounded a little like "HELP, please come down here" and even were so organised as to bring change with them. By 10.30 we had sold out of everything and for the next 2 hours had to hand out order forms and apologise to a lot of disappointed people. Champagne was drunk that evening and since then we have had 4 orders directly and apparently a lot of interest through our butcher, Hodges. It is all very exciting.
My goats are back and our chickens and laying like the clappers - 6 eggs today. We are all a bit desperate for rain and despite the fact that the clouds are ominous and the weather is cold I think we had about 4 millimetres today...the winter vegies are not happy and I have had to start buying fruit and veg from the shop for the first time in a couple of months. This weekend we are preparing for Wings Wine and Wheels - an airshow with wine and cars I guess. We will be selling hot pork rolls and sausages as usual and next weekend we will try our luck at one of the big farmers markets in Dubbo. Despite James' refusal to ever go back there are EI vaccinating it seems that the lure of thousands of customers is changing his mind.