Nuts About Acorns

One new thing we came home to is acorns.  One day I noticed the pigs eating something off the ground underneath our huge oak tree.  When we investigated, we discovered they were hunting the acorns that keep falling down.  We know that Nature's Harmony Farm purposely pastures their pigs in wooded lots in the fall so they can eat acorns, so we figured we should take advantage of the free food, and Herb began gathering buckets-full of them.

We've been feeding the pigs one bucket of acorns each day in addition to their regular ration of (chicken) food and table scraps (mostly fruit and vegetable peels).  They seem to enjoy them most when they're dumped on the ground.

This has been going on for two weeks now, and the pigs know when they're getting a nutty snack.  They come running, squealing excitedly and foaming at the mouth (sorry I didn't get a picture of that!)

We may have some very unhappy squirrels and deer in these parts, but we have two very happy pigs!

And Herb is happier, too, because his back feels a lot better since I pounced on a new toy at the Co-op the other day--a nut gatherer.  Here he is rolling it over the ground while the three dogs watch this bizarre new human activity.  (Yes, I do mean three dogs; Zephyr is underneath Misty!  Stay tuned for more on that subject.)

Here is Herb--dare I say it?--showing off his nuts.

While he was paying for our purchases at the Co-op the other day, I read the instructions on the nut gatherer aloud:  "Roll over any surface to gather nuts."  I promptly rolled the thing up and down Herb's back, then looked at it and said, "But there aren't any nuts!"  Both men looked at me like I was nuts, and I said, "I think they need to be more specific on the directions.  They said, 'Roll over ANY SURFACE to gather nuts.'"

I guess you'd have to have a sense of humor like mine to get a kick out of that, laughing out loud to yourself as you walked out the door.  At least Herb is used to my sense of humor, but I know that poor Co-op man is really worried that some squirrel is going to get this nut!