One facet of Womerlippi Farm life is that every critter gets a name that somehow reflects their individuality. I'm not sure the animals appreciate this, especially those that finish up in the freezer, but Aimee insists on it.
And, as in most things Aimee insists on, I am careful to follow along enthusiastically.
If left to my own devices, I'd probably come up with names too, but it's fine by me if Aimee chooses to do it, and the names are thought up a good deal quicker than otherwise.
These pictures are from Aimee's web page of farm photos where she keeps a sporadic photo diary. I thought them rather helpful.
I should explain that lambs get names organized alphabetically by year. This is the P-year. We may have some trouble with Q, next year.
Pigs get whatever names Aimee chooses for them. Aimee can tell the three smaller piglets apart based on their tails. Here's the caption. To see the whole photo diary go to http://www.unity.edu/facultypages/aphillippi/house.htm
"We have four pigs this year. We got Van in mid-May. She was a runt and quite abused by her fellow pigs who chewed off her ears and somehow caused a big scratch down her back. We couldn't decide if her name should be Van Gogh or Evander, so we settled on Van. The other three came from a different farm and are Vera (with the left sided tail curl), Ruby (who doesn't curl her tail, but likes to wag it), and Gus (who curls to the right)."
Pretty cool, huh? The "we" part is of course largely rhetorical, Kemosabe.
As in "we felled, bucked and split a cord of wood yesterday."
No, "we" b****dy well didn't. "I" did.
Womerlippi Farm society exhibits sexual dimorphism when it comes to occupation. If that's the right term. Sex roles. Whatever. Men bring in the firewood and eat the bacon. Women stay warm and give pigs names.
But they also shingle barns, grow tomato starts, make pie. Very useful critters, women.
Not that I remember all the names. There's just too many. Men can't remember that many names. Takes up too much brain. I need all the brain I have just to remember to do all the things I'm supposed to do.
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Welcome to our Farm Blog.
The purpose of this blog is for Aimee and I to communicate with friends and family, with those of our students, and other folks in general who are interested in homesteading and farming activities.
The earliest posts, at the very end of the blog, tell the story of the Great Farm, our purchase of a fragment of that farm, the renovation of the homestead and its populating with people and animals. Go all the way to the last post in the archive and read backwards from there to get it in chronological order.
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