Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
27th March 2021
Pig Thank You
I’m taking the liberty of saying a huge ‘Thank You’ to Rob Smith of Farm First Vets in Penpergwm, Abergavenny for treating one of my pet pigs, Edna, last week. Apparently she has pig pneumonia and to quote Rob, “She is (was) a very poorly pig.”
Her lungs were struggling and her heart was weak. Even her temperature was on the low side as she just didn’t have the energy or strength to maintain her normal temperature. She was lethargic and hadn’t eaten for three days. Typically, I was reproaching myself for not calling him sooner, but I had just hoped that she would ‘be brighter’ each morning.
After a strong antibiotic injection, and three painkillers on three consecutive days, we are now waiting for a few days – with everything crossed – and hoping that she will rally, her body will combat the infection and she’ll start regaining health. She is now eating, albeit out of my hand. A bit of pineapple, a few raspberries, a banana and an avocado yesterday and soaked oats, jam and chopped banana this morning but she is refusing the grapes. My brother said it was because I hadn’t peeled them for her!
Despite the slight improvement, Rob, being professional and pragmatic, has warned me that ‘we aren’t out of the woods yet.’
I can’t begin to tell you how stressful it is and so ironic that Edna should have a respiratory illness, (her first illness ever) just weeks after me contracting COVID, another a respiratory illness. It’s been a tough couple of weeks. My animals are my world. Edna and her brother, Frank, are eleven years old. Pigs have a similar lifespan to dogs – anywhere between 5 and 15 years, roughly. Eleven years is by far and away long enough to have become an essential and much loved part of the family – and community. It is twice as long as any romantic relationship I have ever had – and far superior.
I also bred Frank and Edna, watching them enter the world in the early hours of a spring morning along with their 10 siblings. They both spent the first couple of months being walked locally in a harness and on a lead and are just very much loved and adored, by many.
So, whilst I appreciate ‘we are not out of the woods yet’, I am so grateful to Rob for his care thus far (and patience with me), and all the support, prayers and positive thoughts from friends on social media, and I hope to be sharing a positive piggy update next week.
Sleep Learning Curve
There seems to be a lot happening on the calendar this week. I suppose it’s all relative, but it seems ‘busy’ in these ‘unprecedented’ times. The clocks go forward tonight (27th), Thursday is April Fools’ Day and Friday is Good Friday, the start of Easter weekend.
Over the years I have always written, ‘Don’t forget to put your clocks forward (Spring forward, Fall back) an hour tonight’ but I think most clocks sort themselves out these days. I am oddly happy to report that I still have to put some of mine forward manually, including a clock in the hall and the clock in my truck. Good old-fashioned girl at heart, see. Whilst everybody seems to be embracing Tik Tok, I still prefer clocks that actually make that noise.
I am reading a fabulous book at the moment called ‘Why we Sleep’, and it is really enlightening. Sleep is far more important than most of us realise. A continued lack of sleep can result in all sorts of ailments and even disease, as your body is starved of its repair time over a prolonged period. And rather scarily, records show that there is even a spike in heart attacks the day after the clocks go forward and we lose an hours sleep.
I have always said that most of us take our bodies for granted and don’t appreciate just how amazing they are. This also proves how sensitive they are too. Most of us spend more time maintaining our vehicles than our bodies and you certainly wouldn’t expect your car to keep running without a few essentials like oil, water and fuel. Our bodies are the same – we are inclined to complicate things hugely but I am beginning to realise that it is the basics that really count – proper sleep, good nutrition, staying hydrated and being active. And none of these things require money, just discipline and an investment of time.
One of my favourite sayings is associated with the clocks changing:
When told the reason for daylight savings time the Old Indian said, “Only the government would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.”
And another lovely but more current saying from a friend, “I know the clocks go on an hour tonight but I think 4 months might be more helpful this time.”
Date of Mirth
Thursday is April Fools’ Day and I have heard of some great gardening April Fools’ jokes over the years. A couple of years ago, seed company Thompson and Morgan put out a convincing press release boasting the launch of their Gin and Tonic Tree, and of course there was the famous Spaghetti Tree hoax, a report broadcast on April Fools’ Day 1957 by the BBC current-affairs programme Panorama, purportedly showing a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the family “spaghetti tree”.
It’s easy to forget that, at the time, spaghetti was relatively little known in the UK and consequently a number of viewers afterwards contacted the BBC for advice on growing their own spaghetti trees. Decades later this broadcast is still considered to be the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled off.
But my favourite was one of the boys in work giving his girlfriend a small envelope of Honey Loops and telling her they were the seeds of a Doughnut tree.
And yup, she planted them; what a doughnut!
I was up on the moors about 6am this morning & sat in my in my car freezing cold and suddenly wondered about her. Hope she has pulled through this illness Lynne. Sending you all hugs.