I went for a morning walk and was joined by some friends. Whenever the news gets me down, I go for a walk. It helps me to clear my mind, bring me back to the present moment, and concentrate on...
Category: Animals
Blog posts about all sorts of animals. I’ve always had a strong affinity for our furry and feathered friends.
Lessons from a pig
On a sunny afternoon in early June, I was feeding our pet kunekune pigs when I thought I saw something odd about our pig Kowhai. It looked as though there might be a bit of swelling around the left side...
Jam sandwiches for a sick pig
We were sitting in a cafe in Sydney when the image of our pet pig came through on my phone. There she was—Mrs. D, one of our three pet kunekune pigs back home in New Zealand—with a jaw that was...
Pig breakfast!
Readers have been asking for videos of the pigs. So join me as I feed the pigs breakfast.
A cow portrait for the neighbors
When our neighbors John and Aussie Bronwyn announced that they were selling their property and moving away, CJ and I were mortified. More than anyone, those two have taught us how to live on 20 acres. How could they abandon...
Boar tusk trimming party
Kowhai the kunekune boar We’d just finished our Thanksgiving meal, and we headed out with some of our guests to the top paddock. Kowhai, our pet kunekune boar, was out there wandering happily through the grass. I felt bad. The...
Pig tusks and Thanksgiving
Kowhai loves grapefruit The first time Kowhai jabbed me in the leg with his tusk, it hurt. The second time, a week later, it bled. Both times he was just nudging me, but a gentle nudge from a 300 pound...
Babysitting the princess pig
Giggles the kunekune pig Our three scruffy pigs stared through the paddock gate, transfixed by a vision of loveliness: Giggles the majestic polka-dotted kunekune pig. She was above them, standing on the back of a trailer. She clearly wanted nothing...
The duck who came to dinner
Rolling out the welcome mat It was the height of summer when I found a brown duck swimming around our goldfish pond like it owned the place. It stared me down fearlessly as if to say, “I was here first....
Getting intimate with a cast sheep
“There’s a sheep down in your paddock,” our neighbor Jim said over the phone. He’d been working along the fenceline when he saw the sheep. “It looks pretty sick,” he said. I immediately called Hamish. The sheep belong to him....