This little Piggy….

One of the joys of our business is the opportunity to work closely with local farmers and producers. In the peak of the growing season this means we get to see a number of farmers every week when they make deliveries, or when we do our buying at the Ottawa Farmer’s Market. In the winter months we don’t get to see them as often, but we have two that visit us almost every week.

Both Aartje (the Pickle Patch) and Rob (Songberry) take our vegetable waste each week to feed to their animals (chickens & pigs). This means that 150-200 pounds each week of vegetable waste is re-directed from landfills, and fed to animals in our community. In Rob’s case, he raises chickens and pigs for his own consumption. In Aartje’s case she raises a heritage breed of tamworth pig. We use her pork 3-4 times a year for special meals, and took top prize at Feast of Fields in 2008 for a Pulled Pork Sandwich made using her pork.

To give you an idea of the care and attention that our farmers put into their animals, Aartje recently had a sow that lost all but one of her litter, and Aartje has been carrying around the remaining piglet with her – every where she goes for the last 7 days. In the first picture (above) the piglet was less than 1 day old. Today, she visited again, and her little piggy has grown considerably since her last visit.