Hello reader,

We here at Piggery Run Farm hope that you had a lovely Christmas!

It even turned out to be a white Christmas after all!

I’m not sure what I really think of that…I was certainly enjoying the 50 degree temperature and the lack of Minnesota mud or ice….that was certainly a treat for mid-December!  The animals all enjoy the warmer winter weather too.

Take a look at the pigs, active as ever, below! 

I have been having all sorts of fun lately, looking for and trying out pork related recipes. 

Check out this one, a re-creation of a yummy college days cafeteria special (but *spoiler alert* doesn’t taste the true “cafeteria food”!)

BLT Spread

This hen went broody this past week. (This means that she’s decided it’s the right time to sit on a nest and hatch eggs.) 

This is pretty unusual for this time of the year as it most definitely NOT the right temperatures and weather conditions to successfully raise a clutch of little chicks.  She was broody most of last summer (frustrating since that also means she’s not laying eggs herself…) and when it happened, I put her into her own cage out in bright sunlight. Supposedly that “de-broodifies” chickens.  It worked occasionally…otherwise, when let her back out again, she’d jump right back into the nesting boxes again. This time, however, I think I’m going to leave her…the other hens lay eggs in a nest right next to her and she steals the eggs and keeps them under her, a useful trick for this time of the year when eggs freeze somewhat quickly in below zero temps. 

We’ll see how long she keeps up with this!