The Sidebar: Piglets and Panzanella, Farmstand Crawl and Flower Bingo
P.S. The recipe is at the end!
1. Some Pig
It’s not all flowers and frittatas for me, you should know. A baby farm animal can do the trick. Make my day, that is.
Lambs, calves, foals, kids, ducklings, goslings, chicks – they’re all cute, and they’re all happy to provide a mental health boost when they appear in fields and barnyards at various intervals throughout the Vineyard seasons.
But none have the personality and charm of a piglet. I met my first piglets at my friend Liz Packer’s farm when I came to the Vineyard in 2008 for a sabbatical, fell down the rabbit hole of rural Island living, and never left. You could say those piglets and a couple very special baby lambs cast a spell on me. (Lambs are a big deal on the Island; they’re a promise that winter will end, even if spring doesn’t actually exist here. The first baby lamb gets her picture in the paper, just like the first baby born in the new year!)
Those piglets — and their mama — also taught me the reality of livestock farming. I witnessed the death of the runt and the “retirement” of one of the sows when she stopped producing piglets. Much later, on my own farm, three pigs spent their very short lives eating windfall apples, recipe leftovers, and hog feed before filling our freezer for the winter – after which I became a vegetarian for four years. Another story. But let’s just say this: I understand and appreciate the fact that there would be far fewer piglets in the world if we weren’t breeding pigs for meat, but I would also be happy if pigs got to live longer lives. Pigs are not only personable but very smart. Smarter than dogs.
Thursday I got my piglet fix at North Tabor Farm. Mama “Meatball” and her 11 (yes 11) piglets have a nice shady yard near the farm stand where the piglets are learning the ropes of pig-hood. This involves a lot of rooting around in the dirt with their more than adequate snouts, as well as frequent naps and play time. During play time, they dash around in a swirl like the tail of a kite in a stiff breeze, occasionally stalling out and piling up in a tangle of pink ears and curly tails. Meatball, who is a very communicative sow, snorts and grunts a lot, but remains unflappable in the center of the chaos.
The sign by the farm stand explicitly instructs not to pet or feed the piglets, but when I bent down with my I-phone to photograph them through the fence, they all came running up, snouts leading charm, and my phone received a kiss or two. You’d have to be the grinch (pre-Christmas) not to feel your heart swell when these little critters greet you. Thank you for the love, piglets.
2. Farmstand Crawl, Cows at the Beach, and My Version of “Chopped”
On the one hand, we are cursed: Martha’s Vineyard probably has the most expensive groceries east of San Francisco. On the other hand, we are a 100-square mile Island with over 30 farms growing and selling agricultural products – many with farm stands open to the public. You can’t live anywhere on the Island where you are more than 15 minutes from a farm.