Melted Snow + Torrential Rain = A Lot of Mud

We’ve taken to wiping the pigs feet every time they enter the house these days.  Although they take pains to avoid the mud puddles that litter the yard(that pigs categorically love mud is a myth), it is quite impossible to avoid them completely.  A walk to the barn means getting muddy regardless of your species.  We humans also have to be mindful of the wet dirt that creeps inches up the bottom of our boots.  Entering the house is laborious process for us as well.  Boots must come off one at a time, but socks cannot be allowed to touch the ground outside.  It is an awkward dance; perhaps you could even call it a hop as there is a lot of hopping going on.  Or even a hip hop, because there’s a lot of bending and swaying happening all the while you are hopping.  It is an awkward dance, like I said.

The farm’s been muddy before, but this year has been worse than others.  The blizzard of 2010 appears to be gone, but really its just disguised itself as rain water and hidden itself in the earth.  Along with this impostor, genuine rain water has not been in short supply either, pouring down from the sky on an almost daily basis.  Piscataway Acres sits between a busy road and a busy creek, both of which push their extra precipitation onto our little patch of land, resulting in fertile soil, but also a whole  lot of mud.

We’ve been brainstorming ways to deal with our rainstorms and their ill effects (and have already taken some steps), but I don’t believe it will be a battle easily won or won at all.  The mud will remain in some form, somewhere; it’s the general muddiness of the farm we want to reduce.  This might be a matter of bringing in more dirt or pulling gravel from the creek to make a path from house to barn.  But these are projects that would take time.

Until then, we’ll be ever so diligently wiping the pigs’ hooves and trying to remove our boots without mucking up our socks.  We’ll keep you updated.