Home Sweet Sty by my Mom

I love pigs! Have for a long time. I grew up on a farm. My mother had a pig business — friends that would come together for the purpose of raising their own meat. We named them and played with them. The piglets would arrive on Memorial Day and sometime around Labor day they would go.  Go where? I didn’t like that part at all! I decided long ago that I could never eat bacon or pork again. I still don’t. All I want is to have my own pet pig. Not the pot bellied ones, but the real big ones. What I know about them is that they are clean and super intelligent animals. Living in the country… I could 🙂 BUT….. alas, not everyone in my family shares my love of pigs.

One year at the Boulder Humane Society, I saw my dream pig — Curly!  Curly was HUGE – 500 pounds and needed a home. Yes, I thought this would be a great match. Curly, I would learn, was too much pig for me. After speaking to the workers at the Humane Society, I soon learned Curly was very enthusiastic around food and could easily hurt me — oh well, I would have the fantasies go. Maybe another would come my way. And, yes — new piggies are coming my way, but they are ceramic, glass, stone — and they adorn my house as if that might replace the one I have my heart set on. 

One market season, I learned that a runt would not make it. How I wanted to raise it. They actually called me to see if I could adopt it, as it was costing them time and money…  I was sooo close to saying yes! Again, the practicality of introducing a pig to a home with already established and protective pets made it unrealistic to accept. I can still dream!

My obsession goes waaay back. I grew up around pigs and my mother drew them from a very early age. She had a series of drawings called the New Porker. She had pig totems displayed throughout the house and even had a personalized “OINK” license plate for her car.

Since I am not in a place where I can have a real pig, I find my obsession is to draw them and I am gifted pig-like objects to quell the desire. For the moment, it works, but I still keep the hope alive. Since I returned from my painting retreat, I’ve had the piggy inspiration which keeps appearing in my art as well.

This pig goes with me everywhere. She helps me to go slowly — her legs chiming if I go too fast around corners or over speed bumps. She holds my earrings safely, she is my pig angel, and boy does she have personality.

Alas, this is the best porcine solution I can muster at this time!