To Ginger and Mangal....

When Ginger gave birth to her first litter of 7 piglets in November 2007 they were the first Curly Coats to be born in Lincolnshire for 40 or so years.
The paparazzi came out in force: radio and TV coverage was generous. Everyone was curious about these strange 'new' creatures or, as one news presenter phrased it, "Dodos returned from the grave".
A lot has happened since. From a base of 15 imported to the UK in November 2006 there are now over 400 registered Mangalitza Curly Coat pigs in the country. In Lincolnshire alone we now have 5 breeders, hopefully insuring against the whole stock being wiped out in the event of some
 awful foot & mouth type disease. We still meet a large number of people at Markets and Shows who have not heard of the Curly coat pigs but there is a growing band of pig lovers who now recite the story of their introduction back to us.  And even in these recessionary times our sales of gourmet Curly Coat Pork Provisions are increasing as their unique flavour wins over a growing band of people who value taste and provenance.
This is all thanks to Ginger and Mangal. But they are quite oblivious to the contributions they have made to our lives. Their world syncopates to natures' rythms and views ours with a wisdom and tolerance we can only aspire to.

So it was that Ginger delivered her 9th litter, of seven piglets, on Sunday night/Monday morning. Oblivious of the fact that we had the date in our diary for a week later - after all, in our order of things Delila should have farrowed first - she quietly went about her business and managed to catch us by surprise. Rather like the first time really! She came out on Monday morning to have her breakfast. Ate it calmly and then returned to her ark. And that's all that alerted me to the fact that something was different. Usually she hangs about by the gate until she's sure breakfast is over.
"Ahhh?" I thought, climbing over the gate and peeking in to the ark. Sure enough, there they were happily suckling away without a care in the world. Clever old Ginger. No wonder she's got that sublimely peaceful look on her face. All's right in her world. And that makes ours a better place too.