Notes From Owl Hill: Runaway Hogs and Homegrown Bacon

A homesteader’s first attempt at raising pigs quickly turns into a scramble of boots, buckets, and a bewildered mailman.

Hogs are natural rototillers, using their snouts to root and aerate soil while grazing. Ryan Cashman

From June 2025 to January 2026, the most common text exchange between my wife and me was, “The pigs are out!”

Once that text came in, a routine would begin: boots on, orange bucket filled with water or feed, going outside and yelling to pigs, pigs following bucket back to pen, pigs eating or drinking while the busted part of the pen gets fixed. I’ve excluded the cussing for political reasons.