The Farm
Torstone Thandi is a six-year-old, 15.1hh registered 75% Arab mare. She was bred by Julie-Anne Gower at Wild Coast Horse Trails and purchased by Peas on Earth when she was just three and a half. Thandi has been working since she was four years old and has been Nicky’s lead trail horse for several years. She still works as a freelance trails horse, as her and Nicky guide trails for Wild Coast Horse Trails when required. While bred for endurance riding Thandi also shows great potential as a show jumper. She’s an excellent all-rounder, forward-going, enthusiastic, energetic and very intelligent. She’s not an easy horse to ride but is well-schooled and cooperative.
Dougal is a 15.2hh, seven year old gelding of uncertain breeding, 
although he shows many characteristics of the Cape Boerperd
and probably has a little Saddler or Thoroughbred in him as well. Dougal has been purchased by Peas on Earth twice and is now with us to stay. He is a stunning horse with a very friendly temperament and no vices on the ground. We are currently working through both physical and psychological issues that are affecting his ability to work comfortably under saddle. So far, we have him walking and trotting quite calmly in the lunge ring which is significant progress from where he was a couple of years ago.
While the introduction of pigs to our farm came with a certain amount of reluctance, we have come to love our pigs and really appreciate the role they play in terms of the farm itself. We started off with one male – a large white crossed with indigenous African pig. We then got two females of the same origin and, in October 2009, we had our first litter of five piglets. Of those five, we have kept one female – the rest were sold. The original male was sent off for slaughter and his meat sold – a nice lump sum of income at a difficult time for the farm. We have subsequently acquired a new boar, named Humphrey. He is a pedigree pig although, being rather amateur pig farmers, we’re not entirely sure of his breeding. We think, given his appearance, that he must be a Gloucestershire Old Spot. Humphrey has been bought in partnership with a small local butchery and we hope he will be the start of bigger things to come.
In addition to bringing us both income and meat, the pigs are also an essential aspect of our vegetable growing project. Our pigs were originally kept in an old enclosure in the yard but we really wanted them to be able to live out and graze and rummage as they naturally should. We have subsequently subdivided our large vegetable field into four quarters. The pigs are fenced into one quarter at a time and they are gradually clearing the field, not only of weeds and roots, but also of bugs and insects and are also tur
ning up huge rocks and boulders.
Their natural ploughing skills are second to none and we are planting in each quarter as the pigs finish clearing it. This rotation will continue, with fodder crops and horses also being introduced to increase diversity and also to give us a little extra grazing for the horses during winter. In due course, we envisage building a small, light-weight, mobile enclosure that will allow us to turn some of the pigs out into the horses’ grazing area to clear sections of weed and help improve our overall grazing.
In addition to this vital role our pigs play in the development of the land, they are also the main garbage disposal units. Pigs are great at consuming all the things our land produces that we can neither sell nor eat. They also benefit from all the cut-offs and throw aways from the jam, jelly and chutney production. One of the biggest benefits of this is that little ever goes to waste – it simply goes to the project of fattening up our pigs.
Overall, although not initially welcomed with open arms, the pigs have earned their place both on the farm and in our hearts.