Hog Scouting and Other Things I Did on My Maternity Leave

When I had the boy, I took all of my FMLA allowed 12 weeks and it was so awesome.  It was the first time since I was sixteen that I wasn't working and not looking for a job or going to school.  I think I looked forward to the time off as much as having the kid.  This time I own my own business, so a week after having The Girl I was back at work.  I was just doing paperwork, and no one wants to read a blog about me doing paperwork.  Heck I'm bored just writing it.

But never fear, this blog is not about paperwork, because I went hog scouting.

So we rent some land over on Arrington Bridge Road and over there we have a bit of a wild hog problem.  They come out and get in the field and root up places looking for delicious things to eat in the dirt.  I'm not even sure I know what they're looking for.  They cause a lot of damage and we have some trappers that come once a year or so and trap some of them.  Right now (as you can see in the picture below) there is nothing planted so it's not crucial, but in a field were you might have wheat planted the entire field would have been a loss.  Well The Husband came home a couple weeks ago and said he saw a couple sows with about twenty piglets and I got excited, because all I've ever heard was how dangerous and big they were and I wanted to see one.  So that weekend after dinner we rode over to the field to see what we could see.  I was hyped up, all excited.  Finally.  I could see the elusive menace.  We pulled up to the field and cut the brights on and I was holding on to the oh s*** handle and ready to see one...and nothing.  It was the biggest let down.  We went all over that field and two others we rent over there   Nothing.  Only rows and rows of rooted up soil.  We were so disappointed The Husband took me for a latte (which did cheer me up but before you get too impressed I had a gift card that some of my Posse friends gifted me for my birthday last month and he got one too).

Last weekend we went for take two, this time with The Boy in tow.  It was around 7:30 so I knew for sure we were too late.  As predicted, we pulled up to field one and saw nothing but a deer.  We went to field two, which was finally dry enough and saw fifteen deer.  While I was impressed by the number of deer, I was not impressed by the animals themselves.  I can go out my back door and see deer.  We have their favorite early spring treat planted a hundred yards from my house, strawberries (and yes, the sap suckers have been indulging).  We went to field three and saw yet another deer (population control anyone?).  This field is L shaped, with a path going around the edge of a pond that fills the area inside the L.  We turn the corner of the path and drive down the hill and surprise, there are four huge hogs.  Now, I don't have pictures because it was dark, but they were huge.  I didn't see their faces, so I plan on returning to see if I can catch them again, but they were so big and furry they looked like bears (granted I've never seen a bear in the wild either so...yep, it's on my list).    

This is a tame picture.  Imagine 8-10 foot wide swaths the length of the field.

So nothing else I did can top the excitement of finally seeing the hogs.  Sorry.  It's all creating CSA forms and figuring out spring farm tours and planning long term goals for the farm.  The Husband did some excavating around the pond, sloping the sides down so it's no longer a dangerous ten foot drop into it with no way of pulling yourself up.  At least on two sides.  We're taking the dirt and putting it to the side for the giant slide we're planning on installing.  Eventually we want to open it up for fishing, since my Youngest Brother in Law put catfish in it over the winter.  

The Husband & The Girl

Looking towards the picnic area

I do have an awesome mom moment.  When we saw the hogs The Boy went crazy and we were talking about how big they were, in perfectly pg terms.  Then The Boy breaks in with "those were some big a** hogs".  Yeah.  I felt like an a-plus mom at that point.  Part of me was trying really, really hard for him not to find out I was laughing.  Part was semi-proud he used it in context.  Part of me was super guilty because I knew exactly who he'd learned that word from (insert knowing cough and red face here).  Most of me was cringing hoping he's not going to his church-affiliated preschool showing off this robust vocabulary.