Leaving my backpack in my Dad’s car overnight didn’t strike me as a stupid thing to do back then.
But it was, because later that evening, my Dad did what he’d done many times before and took the car to fill up the little gas can we’d use for the lawn mower and then proceed to spill gasoline everywhere, including on or near (depending on who you ask) my backpack.
I was about 12 years old at the time and I loved this backpack, if for no other reason than because it had my initials on it and was clearly not a hand-me-down.
It was perfect. But now, it smelled as if it had fallen into an oil tanker. Which meant that I, too, now smelled as if i’d fallen into an oil tanker.
I weighed my options carefully the next morning when I realized what happened and hoped that my classmates and teachers wouldn’t notice, which of course was very much not the case. In fact, everyone noticed and everyone asked, until a few weeks went by and the stench dissipated.
I share all this tonight because, whether from this experience or not, I’ve always had a very keen sense of smell. Not just for gasoline, but for other odors, too. And I think it’s interesting to think about smells as they pertain to livestock farms.
Pig farms generally smell awful. The manure, urine, bacteria that builds up can be smelled, even by those with less attune noses than mine. Some even form giant putrid lagoons, that can be smelled for miles and miles!
But you’ve probably noticed that our farm doesn’t smell bad at all. In fact, at our Farm tour last week, our guests stood beside our herd of over 60 pigs and went so far as to say it smelled good!
On most days (except a few during a very wet spring season) I couldn’t agree more. And that’s actually something that’s really important because it’s one of the ways we gauge the health of our soils and the animals’ living environment, and create really amazing food.
So, how’s this possible? It’s all because of a few critically important farming practices that we implement here on a daily basis. Can you guess which ones!?
Your Farmers,
Jenney & Greg
PS – If you want to try some of that amazing food I just mentioned, click HERE and place an order with us. Pickup is at our Farm Store, which is right beside our sow Meatball and her new littler of piglets!