Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Just another day on the farm

Yesterday, a couple of friends and I went to Craigie's Farm just outside of Edinburgh. A lovely, albeit short, train ride took us from the middle of our medieval city out to the open farm land. 



Craigie's Farm has a little shop and cafe, and some family friendly events, but it is still very much a working farm.  With animals and produce, and even tractors!


Both of the girls I spent the afternoon with have blogs of their own. Lar makes up half the talent behind AsianCajuns (the other half is her twin sister, Cath). It's a beautifully done blog about fashion, travel, and more. Sara and her hubby post some wonderful pictures and expatriate musings on their blog We Moved To Scotland. I encourage you to spend hours and hours perusing their sites!

But not yet, first you have to finish reading this post! (Believe me, I save the best thing for last... but don't scroll down now, OK, I'll hurry. Stick with me.)

It was beautiful weather and before we had lunch at the farm's cafe, we took a lovely hike through the woods. I believe some could call this activity "tramping", but I admit I can't really use the term without giggling... Regardless, it was a beautiful walk. 


And at the top we were treated to this amazing view of the Forth. I think Lar said that the island in the foreground is Cramond, and that during the low tide, you can actually walk out to it. Might be another fun tramping excursion!


The trees were particularly beautiful. And quite magical.


We spotted a few funny birds in the adjacent field. I took the most amazing photo...

source


I couldn't guess what kind of bird it was... Possibly a pheasant? A grouse? Partridge?? When I got home, I looked it up, and I think pheasant is correct. I've shared an image from a 'Birds of Britain' site, in case you can't fully appreciate the shot I took myself ;)

After our walk through the woods, we headed back to the farm. We bonded with these little guys- cute and stocky ponies. We fed them grass through the fence and I tried to pick up a few tips on how to style my bangs...



We also met these two- the farms only 'pet' pigs. There are more pigs, just wait... but these two definitely have the good life. Their job is to cruise around in the mud and eat all the farm scraps.


We met other pigs too- like this fella.


And we hung out for ages with the piglets... they really stole the show. I could watch them all day! I mean, have you ever seen a litter of puppies play and scratch and eat and sleep? That was exactly what these guys reminded me of, only pinker and with curly tails!  So, even though it was wonderfully fun to watch them in all their piggy glory, it was also quite sad for me to know that they are being raised to be eaten. I'm really not sure how to compartmentalize this sometimes. Part of me wanted to shove them all under my coat and bring them home in an effort to save their sweet piggy lives... but I have to admit, regardless of their future, these guys are quite happy right now. And I guess... if we must live in a world that eats animals... it would be much better if they were all raised on a farm like this.


Ugh. But I can't leave you guys on that note! I mean, this is a HAPPY blog, so, I shall leave you on this little video of piglets playing in their pen. It's a bit long, and unedited, but I couldn't pick the cutest moments, because I think it's all adorable! Enjoy!!! (Oh, and it's set to music, so if you're at work or holding a sleeping baby, you might want to hit 'mute')


and now, a much earned nap with mama under the heat lamp.



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