pig – Nancy Tart: Writing for Life

Little Cuties

Some of my odd deep thoughts on animals, their importance in children’s lives, and the responsibility and love they teach.

February 16, 2019

Little Cuties

Becky is in love (again)! Every time there’s a new baby animal around our little farm, Becky falls in love with it.

This time, it’s our little Guinea Piglets. This one, named “Grizzly,” is a female who we get to keep (she gets to stay on our little farm)!

So Becky has been making cute little pictures, drawings, and plans for this cute little piglet. She is a mottled brown color all over with a sweet disposition. (I’m waiting for a video haha!)

All of our piglets and baby animals end up with sweet, loving, friendly dispositions because they are raised by loving caretakers! The girls make this a solid priority! No one can mistreat any of the animals in their care, not even by accident. Lucas wants to play with the babies as soon as they are born, but because he doesn’t know his own strength, he has to wait until they are old enough to not get squished! (Or has Christina, Mom, or Dad with him.)

Their little piglets are never nippers. They love to cuddle instead of bite. What usually causes piglets to be biters is that they have been scared as babies. If they think fingers are poking tools, they will bite them. If they know fingers as gentle places to snuggle and get petted, they snuggle instead. The girls make sure to teach their piglets that fingers are gentle!

Just like in our lives, our experiences shape who we are! Often, if we feel scared or hurt, we draw ourselves into isolation and distrust others. If we feel love and affection, we feel safe enough to be ourselves and trust others.

Where a snuggly, loving animal is, there is a loving caretaker.

In life, we are expected to shower those we are responsible for with affection and keep them safe. The same as when we are caretaking animals.

I think raising animals is a vital part of growing up; it teaches children responsibility. It also teaches them a basic understanding of how their influence on others reflects back. Goodness returns goodness. Gentleness breeds gentleness. Love reflects love. God gave us the animals to tend and love – just as some of us will eventually lead and influence people (parents, teachers, leaders, co-workers, etc.). Early life lessons from these cute, furry little creatures who are so dependent on their caretakers help to mold a caring tender heart from whom compassion grows.

(Okay, maybe that’s a little too deep of a thought from watching children tend animals, but it’s what I see.)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Meet Swan, Tiger, and Grizzly

Here are Becky and Christina’s newest triplets – Swan, Tiger, and Grizzly! Cuddly balls of fur and cuteness!

January 24, 2019

Meet Swan, Tiger, and Grizzly!

Becky and Christina’s guinea pigs had three little piglets! (Taylor, mom, is Christina’s whom we adopted, and Becky’s TobyMac was purchased with the store employee promising he was really a she… read here for that story!)

So about every six months or so, our little piggies pop out a couple of new piglets. First was our Sweet Potato, who went to a lovely home near ours. The last was another trio. The girls take finding a home for their sweet babies a big responsibility!

Becky finds a “theme” for their names. The first one was vegetable, the second one was desserts, and this one is animals.

This is Swan.

Tiger (so named for the white stripe)

And Grizzly (coloring played a role in this one’s name)

We don’t know the sex of these little piglets just yet because Becky thinks they are “too comfy” snuggling with Mommy and Daddy to “invade” and examine them. Toby is such a devoted Daddy to the piglets. He will even make a growling fussy noise if one of the girls opens the nursery roof when he’s bringing grass up to Taylor while she’s nursing the piglets. (They like fresh Spanish Needles better than even Timothy Hay!)

But when the adults come down to take a baby break, the girls get to peek at the babies! When it is cool, as it has been lately, we don’t take them out of their protection until they are better able to regulate their body temperature. Baby Guinea Pigs are born fully furry, eyes open, scampering about, and almost independent. (They will nurse from mom for 3 to 6 weeks, but start eating fresh grass brought up by Daddy almost immediately!)

In the cycle of our little farm the younglings get to see birth, life, and death as it plays out in seasons on a smaller scale than in our own lives. We are honored to see births and become responsible for the small life gifted to us (yes, even the frog egg cluster they saved from the drying pool and hatched them to “save them” from drying up). We will keep one or two of these little angels as they become permanent members of our little tribe. I love how tenderly the girls take care of their animal responsibilities – Lucas calls them “my animal friends.”

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Three Little Pig(let)s

Three big pigs and three little piglets! Raising our babies for joy!

October 12, 2018

Three Little Pigs

Today’s post is for complete cuteness! (pictures and a video)

We have three Guinea Pigs who are adults; Taylor, Toby, and Avery.

We are raising the three little piglets; Rocky Road, Cheesecake, and Custard.

Cheesecake is very unique (to us) because he looks like two different animals depending on what side you see! Notice:

Yes! Those pictures are both of the same little Guinea Piglet, Cheesecake!

Cheesecake and Custard go to their new mommy on Tuesday! The girls are very excited and have been talking to these two little piglets about their new home.

Ready for a cute laugh?

This is how Guinea Pigs eat…

So adorable!

Soon our three little piglets will be in their new homes – we love raising baby animals to bring joy to others!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Additions to the Squad

Welcoming our newest little farm members: the Guinea Pig Triplets!

September 10, 2018

Additions to the Squad

If you’ve read my blogs, you know my oldest three girls saved and bought Guinea Pigs. Each thought she was getting a female, but since Ginger was discovered to be TobyMac, this amazing trio of little animals became a part of our farm. They appear to have new little ones every six months or so. They are now called “the squad.”

Toby and Taylor’s first little angel, whom we called “Sweet Potato,” found a home with some lovely ladies and an animal-loving girl. (Picture is TobyMac & Sweet Potato)

Sunday, we came home to discover that Taylor had done it again! She had birthed triplets!

One is a mottled gray-brown color. This one looks just like a squirrel (she’s not, I promise, we watched Taylor birth her!)

One is multicolor (black, brown, orange, and white), this was the youngest. Jaquline is holding this one.

One is pure tan just like TobyMac.

These beautiful babies haven’t been named just yet as they are brand new and smaller than Sweet Potato was at birth. (Guinea Pigs usually have twins, but their offspring are larger if single and smaller if triplets.) These tiny babies were about 1/10^th of mama’s size. Taylor is a very good mama, and has burrows in the nest for all three of them to hide and snuggle. Baby Guinea Pigs are super curious as soon as all their adult Guinea Pig elders lick and groom them clean. (Even Avery, our second adult female, was helping Toby and Taylor groom these three adorable fluffy balls!)

Now we get the joy and privilege of raising these little animals. Three little Guinea Pigs. Kimberly (Avery’s official owner) plans on saving some money to make another Guinea Pig run and if one of these littles are a male, she’ll keep him for Avery to pair up with. Of course, Jillian has claimed ownership and caretaking of the next one they keep. Kimberly and Jillian are now mapping out money-saving goals to have $80 for materials in six weeks. I see lots of lawn-mowing and car-cleaning in their near future.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Tag: pig

Little Cuties

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Meet Swan, Tiger, and Grizzly

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Three Little Pig(let)s

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