Karina trying to decide if she’s okay with these new sights and sounds and smells. 🙂
The farmer, Carlos, explaining to us that a sow gives birth to more piglets than she has nipples. So the piglets fight their way in and bite to hold on to mom and not get pushed off by other piglets. This hurts the sow, so she shakes them off, rolls over, and generally a few of them get crushed by mother sow. In order to avoid this, the farmer has to remove the piglets’ sharp little teeth. Then the sow doesn’t get hurt and doesn’t shake them off, and in exchange for their teeth the whole batch of piglets get to live.
As the piglets grow they are moved into a new pen with all the piglets of the same size. Each time a new batch of piglets moves up, the bigger batches each move over to the next pen. When they reach a certain size they are sold. The farmer sells 30 pigs a month, so he keeps them coming in 30’s and moving up to the next pen in 30’s. Notice the tarp on one side of the barn. This is called a curtain barn, which is without walls but has tarps on one side to keep the sun off the pigs while the breezes blow through.
We knew it had been too long since the girls had been over to the Halverson’s house when Karina, discovering an egg next to the pig barn, logically concluded that it must have been left there by the pigs. Actually, a few of their hens are crazy ones that leave their eggs wherever they please all over the farm. It’s like a treasure hunt – you never know where you might find one.
Sorghum to grind up with other grains and minerals for a balanced meal fit for a hog.
Speaking of meals…we had churrasco (Brazilian style barbecue) with rice and feijão tropeiro – the kind of beans mixed with manioc flour that the cowboys used to take with them on their long drives. We weren’t the only people visiting; Carlos’s daughter had come home from Bible school for a visit and brought some friends with her. We all sat on benches or chairs, walls, or the floor of the empty extra house, and talked for hours.
Cali and Karina found a peaceful, shady step to sit on while they ate.
A view to give you a taste of the terrain.
Walking back to the main house where the family lives.
Karina looks so little on the trail by herself.
A friend.
The Bible School students practicing for Sunday night worship.
Isaiah picking a sweet tangerine for himself. A band of wild monkeys came swinging and leaping in to swipe tangerines off the tops of these trees, too. But they ran away and hid when they saw us, so we didn’t get a good picture. Those guys are fast.
The girls with Tia Jaci. Cali and Karina are the reason we met the family in the first place – they met Tia Jaci and got attached to her on a day trip with the church ladies months ago. Ever since then we’ve been planning to go out to the farm to spend time with Jaci’s family and see the pigs.
The girls were thrilled that it finally worked out.
It was a good day.
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