Two Little Pigs

Before the Museum opens to the public in the morning I often take a walk down to the Lippit Farmstead. Morning is a busy time of day on the farm. The farmers are moving livestock, feeding animals, and doing the morning milking. I like to see what the farmers need from the Blacksmith shop and watch the animals. The sheep and the new lambs get a lot of attention from our visitors but I think they are missing out if they don’t visit the pig pen. We have two pigs on the farm this year, and they are still pretty cute!

Pigs were an essential part of small farms in New York. Most people know that they are very efficient at turning farm crops into future bacon. But many don’t realize how smart and how funny the pigs can be. The farmers have taught our piglets to sit before they get their morning feed. That may not be important now when the pigs are only 50 pounds, but in a few months they will be nearing 250 pounds! When they are that large it is nice to have well mannered and polite pigs!

One of the pigs loves a good scratching from the farmers in the morning. When I visited, he looked up at me, squealed with delight, and fell over on his side like a dog wanting a good scratching! After a good scratching he just laid there with his eyes closed as if he was saying, “Oh, that hit the spot!”