permaculture

[Robyn Francis <robyn@permaculture.com.au>]

Just posted this article & photo journal on my website which some of you
might find interesting...

http://permaculture.com.au/online/articles/piggies-at-work-%E2%80%93-feature
-article-photo-journal

Pigs are amazing biological ploughs ­ their snout is exceptionally strong
and designed for excavating the earth in search of tasty morsels buried
underground, especially tubers and roots, and also fungi and insects. In
Permaculture there is frequent reference to use of pigs as tractoring
animals and I¹ve always been intrigued as to how effective they would be.

In 2006 I was gifted a pair of 4-month-old piglets for Djanbung Gardens,
supposedly miniature, though now fully grown are about half the size of
commercial or large pig breeds. The pigs, named Polly and Pudge, were
initially kept in a mobile pen (made from 6 old metal bed bases) to get to
know them and their behavioural patterns to inform the design of an
appropriate system to integrate them into the scheme of the gardens.


Robyn