Work Worth Doing

 Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. -Theodore Roosevelt

That feels like a bullseye for an official nursery motto. It truly resonates with those who have a genuine purpose in life, something worthwhile that drives them forward. Ages ago, they used to create generational structures like the Panama Canal, the intercontinental railway system, and even the pyramids.

While most trees don't have the same structural integrity as some of those edifices above, they should undoubtedly be thought of as generational structures. Properly cared for, a tree will outlive you. They represent the passage of time and the continuity of life. They're like good children who grow up to be responsible adults that will eventually see your descendants playing sad music at your wake. Or happy music; the trees don't judge.

So it is, in a sense, that anyone who plants a tree may be undertaking one of these monumental tasks. Yet, worthwhile tasks aren't solely of a generational nature. Starting any new endeavor, whether it's a business, a farm, or a personal dream, can be thrilling. The initial excitement of a well-laid plan often gives way to unexpected challenges. For instance, when we bought our first pair of pigs, we encountered an amusing yet disorganized farm.

The very first pair of pigs we'd ever bought were from what we thought at the time to be a reputable breeder. They had papered pigs! Pigs with papers, can be quite the affair, for sure. If those papers are proof of prize winning stock, that certainly adds value to the feeder you're purchasing. If, however, those papers are "somewhere in the farmhouse", they're probably not going to add too much value to the pig. If you have below average papers or if you have a below average approach to your livestock inventory, it might be a below average exchange.

In fact, they offered up non-castrated males, which surprisingly turned out to be above average. Most feeder pigs (pigs that are weaned and in their most active growth stage) would be castrated before purchase because of the possibility of "boar taint" which gives the meat an offensive odor and/or taste when cooking or eating.

We were amazed at the state of this farm where we went to pick up these piglets. They had animals all over. Literally, all over. This couple was raising turkeys, pigs, and chickens and they joked about how they could never keep any of them under control. A couple pigs had gotten out of their pen just that morning (which happens all the time) and everyone laughed. Only later, after visiting enough farms and doing my own research into raising pigs (after purchasing the pigs) did I learn that this wasn't how most pig farms operated. Usually, these animals were quite agreeable when they had their proper habitat and diet. 

Sometimes, when the mood struck or something caught their eye the wrong way, these beasts would balk and refuse to cooperate. On one hot sunny day, I was moving our first set of pigs from one enclosure to another. We'd done this at least a dozen times already and two of our first three were free and clear and grazing fresh pasture. For some reason that day, the largest of the gang decided he did not want fresh greens. Maybe he was scared, maybe he wasn't hungry enough, or maybe he just wasn't in the mood. 

I sat on an overturned milk crate for 4 hours in the hot afternoon sun watching the first two pigs go back and forth through my connection area. Sometimes they'd talk to their friend, other times they wouldn't. Often only one or the other of the good boys would be in the new enclosure. At one point the skittish fellow found his way through but one of his gang mates were still in the old enclosure. Do I risk closing the gap between enclosures for a time so the latecomer will be more inclined to stay? Will the second good boy continue to be a good boy if I close him in his old enclosure for a while?

I was tired and sweating bullets, though at this point it had started to cool off as the sun went down. I had worked all day fighting for a path through the woods for my fencing. I got their water and food properly situated in their new enclosure and I was ready for a smooth transition like all of our previous moves.

My thinking being crystal clear, I went ahead and tried to coax the last pig back into their new enclosure. In doing so, I managed to kind of get around him in the connection area so I just went for it and tried to chase him the rest of the way. It worked great! However, he got too startled and the skittish pig went charging back into the old neighborhood before I could even get near the fence.

Dejected, I went back to my milk crate and waited some more. It wasn't long before the whole herd was in the new area and all was well.

Why did I sit there for 4 hours in the hot sun watching a pig casually enjoy his afternoon and ignore my pleas? Simply put, it was work worth doing. It was work in the pursuit of a goal. However, it's more than just a goal, it's a dream.

If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly first. -Joel Salatin