Pancakes and Pigs… yes, we’ve got PIGS!

The kiln has been finished and the first stoves have been fired – and, to our great delight, they all survived. The fire was lit (yes, this was easier said than done, but James came the rescue when both Tim and Andy failed!). We all helped to cover the pots in the kiln with grass and mud. All seemed to be going well …. Smoke alert! The grass caught fire! A short while later the roof collapsed! Plan A was abandoned and four very black stoves were retrieved from the kiln. When things had cooled down the following day, we splashed out with a tin roof. Not free, but it worked better!

Oh dear!

Then the stoves were ready to use. It was all very timely on the first day as we had no power anyway. But great anticipation ended in initial failure! We tried to boil water, but the fire went out! Undeterred, we relit the fire and succeeded in boiling water to drink. Then it was time for pancakes! But I failed to get the fire hot enough and it went out again! After an hour and half (must be a record for the longest time trying to cook pancakes!) I succumbed and lit the gas camp burner! (I hesitate to write all this as I prided myself in my pyromaniacs when camping.) But we will persevere. Other than our technical difficulties in keeping fires going, the stoves do seem pretty good! Scientific and culinary testing on them are upcoming…

And the big news today is …. WE’VE GOT PIGS! Tim and Spedito finished building a pig pen for them down in the middle of our garden in amidst the trees. Much to the girls’ great excitement they were able to sleep in it with Tim the other night! It was a great adventure to sleep in a pig pen and after fueling themselves for warmth with hot chocolate and Minstrels (thank you, Bendells) they trekked out in the dark with torches and lots of DEET and snuggled up for the night! I tucked the three little pigs in their blankets and headed back to the house for a quiet evening and my comfortable bed. There was no huffing and puffing from a big, bad wolf and they awoke at 6:15am, house intact, and called me on my mobile requesting morning tea!

The Three Little Pigs

And now the new occupants have arrived. Two little girl piggies (for whom we are still considering names) came home with us this morning in the Landcruiser, squealing and pooing! Maybe we should call them “Sausage” and “Bacon” as this is what we are looking forward to! That is if I can learn how to make sausages and cure and smoke bacon (any advice welcome). We are all very excited about this new addition to our rather unexpected household of chickens, rabbits, dogs, tortoises (we have another tortoise now too)! So now I have a slop bucket in the kitchen and the girls and I are now just off to collect lots of grass to dry for their beds.