It has been a difficult few weeks here in Redwood.
As you know Alfie was in hospital for a couple of weeks, followed by more weeks on medication. Then to compound it all I got struck by some bug…. nothing serious just days of discomfort and total exhaustion.
All of this forced us to think about what we are doing here. Owing to human illness our ‘production’ has dropped dramatically this year which naturally means no sales. You can’t sell what you don’t have!
Keeping pigs is not difficult, but it is physical.
While Alfie was in hospital he worried about me out feeding the pigs on my own. I don’t mind feeding them, it is jsut heavy work carrying meal and water to them. However, there are other aspects that I just can’t manage on my own…. like loading them onto a trailer! And, in fact, while I can drive forward with a trailer on the car, do NOT ever ask me to reverse the car with a trailer on. Co-ordination goes out the window!
So this past couple of weeks, we’ve had to seriously consider whether to continue on with what we are doing. Can we afford to keep going? No sales, means a serious drop in income and there are still many mouths to feed.
The decision, after much tossing and turning of sleepless nights, and churning out different ideas and plans, is that we will fight back.
It is going to take time. We have, we hope, come up with a scheme that will kick into place should illness strike again.
So we are back working on getting pork to people. Four pigs loaded into the trailer this evening for their final journey tomorrow!
Perky has had her new litter.
The Gloucester Old Spots are growing nicely.
And just when we had made the decision to continue, look what arrived in the post!
Thank you so so much to John and Sally McKenna – you have no idea how timely this was! For non-locals John and Sally produce the best guides to food and places to eat and stay in Ireland – don’t travel without their guide. To have our pork included as a ‘Best in Ireland’, well that is such an honour.
So we’re back, and we’d be delighted to take your orders!
A Year In Redwood 