Charlotte Has a Boyfriend!!

Earlier in the year our new sow Charlotte lost her babies. For some reason, cold weather, the move to come live on the farm, or just something unknown, she went into labor early and her babies were gone..We were sad that we were not going to have spring babies. But, as luck would have it while I was perusing the sale pages on facebook, which just happens to be the same place I found Charlotte, I saw that the same person was selling Wilbur. I was really excited! I had been wanting to ask her if she might be interested in selling Wilbur, but I really hated to ask such a question!
After talking to Dawn, who I had found out before belonged to a cow forum that I love love love, we set up a pick up date. Dawn and I were actually excited, as silly as it was, that Wilbur and Charlotte would be reunited. He was actually the daddy of the babies that she lost, so they really were old friends, lol
 Here they are getting to know each other again. As you can see, Wilbur made himself at home taking a mud bath first thing!

I am not too sure that the Donkeys were too impressed. They probably figured that one pig was stinky enough, and two was just unacceptable!
Both piggies are Large Black pigs. The Large Blacks are a heritage breed, which awesome since way too many animals are forgotten as society mistakenly thinks that it needs to reinvent the wheel. The Large Black hogs are a very docile breed, known for being hardy and easy to raise. They forage well, and have excellent meat. They also have large litters, 13 piglets is not uncommon, and are wonderful mothers. Since they are black, they even do better in the hot summer without worrying about sunburn!These guys are just an all around good choice for our farm.
As you can tell, I am pretty thrilled with Charlotte and Wilbur. They really are very calm and sweet pigs, which since I have had a long time fear of pigs, it pretty nice! I can actually skritch and rub them both and they love the attention.
We won't be eating these two, but  they will have plenty of babies to go to freezer camp and also to hopefully bring a bit of money to the farm.This year we are going to try and get back to the way we were a few years ago. The farm was bringing in enough to support itself, and we have not been as diligent as we should have with all the things that have been going on in our lives. But we have a plan, and we are going to have a great year!
Another new thing on the farm is baby chicks! We picked up a couple that we are not sure of the breed, a few topknot polish, and also 7 Silkies from a local feed store. Here is a pick of the silkies on the way home to the farm.

The weird colors on their head is the marks the store put on them so I could tell them apart, lol There is 4 white Silkies, and 3 Splash Silkies. These guys are just too darn cute as they look like they are covered in long silky hair instead of feathers when they are grown!
Now if this weather would just co-operate I could get the garden started too! Pud'nin did try to till me a small strip to plant a few cool weather crops, but the ground was just too wet. Grrrr! I also got a small greenhouse, and I am very impatient to get a few things started in that as well, but low temps at night of 21 is NOT making that possible. I am so ready for Spring, to behave like Spring!