Today we went to visit Debbie Dallaway of Trewint Farm in Kent. An award-winning pig breeder, Debbie has promised us two of her piglets when they are old enough as we are keen to raise our own free-range meat.
She specialises in Gloucestershire Old Spots, a rare breed renowned for the quality of its meat and favoured by chefs. The Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs are medium to large sized animals which are predominantly white in colour with black spots.
Matthew has been busy building five-star piggy accommodation in the Bunny Meadow, which is destined to be our veggie garden in time. Pigs don’t need much to keep them happy, just a bit of field large enough to run and forage around in, a weatherproof shelter with some comfy straw to snuggle into and a secure fence to keep them safe. They love a muddy wallow, especially in hot weather.
We visited Gooseberry Field glamping site in Kent a few years ago and enjoyed the sight of their piglets running around the pig pen. John told us it was their second year of pig keeping and they were especially keen that their young sons should understand where meat comes from.
We hope our (many) children and young guests will enjoy visiting the pigs and it will go some way towards their understanding of the cycle of life.
In our modern society we often don’t think about the conditions our food is raised in. Micro farming is becoming ever more popular, with smallholders experiencing a close connection with the land and able to focus on animal welfare and low impact cultivation. Our wish is that our pigs will experience a good life and we will end up with free range pork to serve as a hog roast to our wedding guests, plus a freezer full of joints and sausages for the year ahead.
Debbie was full of top tips for how to keep our pigs happy and healthy, including feeding them a diet of pig feed, fruits and veggies. Pigs also love acorns, and acorn-fed pigs from Portugal and Spain are famous for resulting in the highest quality ham in the world. To this end Moira has been busy potting up acorns and oak tree seedlings to establish our own tiny oak tree woods in a few years’ time.
While we were visiting Trewint Farm, we picked up some tasty sausages and lamp chops from sheep bred by Debbie’s son. In time we hope to offer our own sausages to our guests. In the meantime, we are seeking a local supplier.
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