Piglets and Pies

The husband and I picked up piglets yesterday morning. Cathy referred me to a friend of hers some years ago after our first pig supplier flaked out on us. This woman brings in bred sows from the Hutterite colonies east of the mountains and supplies piglets to a lot of the 4-H kids. We have always been more than satisfied with the quality of the animals she sells.

We decided to go up to eight pigs this year. Usually, we do six, but I’ve had so many people ask me about pork that we don’t think we’ll have trouble selling two extra. Kalispell peeps, if you want a half or whole hog, get on the list now. I’ve already taken several reservations.

The piglets settled right in.

They are Duroc/Landrace crosses. We’ve raised those in the past and they finish out nicely. We’ll keep them inside the Piggy Palace for a few days before the husband takes them out and trains them on the electric fence.

Yesterday was a cold, soggy day. After we came home, I left the husband to manage piglets while I came inside to heat up chili. We serve homemade chili, quesadillas, and pie and ice cream at our spring pie social. I happened to be at the grocery store one day a few months ago when ground beef was on sale for $1.98 a pound, so I bought all I needed, made my roaster pan of chili, and put it in the freezer. I moved the chili to the fridge Friday morning so it could thaw out.

We wondered what attendance would be like at the pie social because of the weather, but people came anyway. (This is Montana.) We went through almost four roaster pans of chili—no surprise there. And we had a great selection of pies. Sarah went above and beyond by making more than two dozen herself.

I had a slice of her raspberry/tomatillo pie, which is one of my favorites. I really like the zing that the tomatillos add.

My serger class on Friday went reasonably well. Teaching a new class for the first time is always a bit nerve-wracking, but everyone got their tops done or done except for hemming, so that was good. We used the New Look 6555 keyhole top pattern.

I can see the light at the end of my five-week marathon. I won’t overschedule myself like this again next spring. I’ve already let several groups know that I am giving up some of my leadership positions because I am no longer willing to allow the volunteer responsibilities to take priority over other things I want to do.

[I’ve come to the conclusion that I have a different definition of “leadership” than other people do. I’ve always thought of leadership as being the process of providing a vision and an organizational structure that enables other people to come along and pitch in with their time and energies. I appreciate the people who do come along and pitch in. I have decided, though, that most people define “leader” as “the person who is going to do all the work” so that everyone else can sit back and enjoy the results. Please don’t ever say to me that the best way to get something done is to ask a busy person, because that will get you a guaranteed “no” in response. The busy people are tired of picking up the slack for the rest of the world.]

One of the things I want to do this week is to clean and organize. I can’t be productive in the midst of chaos and my environment feels chaotic right now. The weather looks cool and rainy for most of the week, so it should be a good opportunity to tackle that project. If the forecast holds, though, we’re supposed to get a heat wave after that, so I want to get the peas planted this week. And the husband and I are planning a date night in the garden with the shotgun soon because the ground squirrel population is running amok. I will not tolerate them eating their way through the garden this year. Little Bunny Foo-Foo is back, too, but it lives over here by the house.