Everything has been a bit of a struggle lately; I’m sure we’re not alone in feeling this.

Outsourced Homestead fix-ups, flash ups, and general maintenance, in the past so effortlessly arranged, now stretch into multi-month waits as material or man-hours are divvied up. Still, we limp along with patched up plumbing and impatiently awaited plans; So far we’ve managed to keep our heads above water although sometimes we’ve felt like the proverbial swans.

One of the impatiently awaited plans was for our Homestead pork supply. When it became obvious they would not be arriving via the prearranged route we swapped suppliers and

…four weeks ago these two blokes became the newest Homesteaders. There’s nothing like the sound of porcine grunts and squeals on a frosty June morning to make you feel very happy that this is your chosen lot.

Apart from having very definite ideas on what level trousers should be worn at, one preferring the snuggly-under-the-armpits look while the other is more a lowrider, these guys are an entertaining pair. They are great fans of dinner-time rump-scritches, labrador nose-touches, and are first up for a footrace with any vehicle utilizing the Homestead drive. Their previous human was a pains to say they were, “in no way, not at all, perish the thought, interested in turning over soil in any way shape or form; No! Honestly, nothing was further from their minds.”

Oh, really?!

Not that it really bothers us as the ground will be all the better for a good pig plough-over which is turning up all kinds of buried treasures from horse shoes to near-new hoof-picks (the goats say, “Thanks”) to sizeable stone proof positive that a river did indeed once run through it.

With pigs procured, we can only hope the plumber and fencing contractor (another of the impatiently awaited plans) are not too far away…