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Hello friends,
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We wanted to take a moment to introduce to you the newest member of the Working Hands farm-ily. … Truffle, an American Guinea Hog, who has taken up residence next to our dear Ellie. Truffle will be one half of a breeding pair for years to come. She’s as sweet as can be and loves a good head and belly scratch. Her breed is known for grazing on pasture and is a perfect fit for our small farm as they are noted for their small size, intelligence, and docile and friendly temperaments. She looks forward to meeting you all in the coming year!
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A little history. The American Guinea Hog is a unique North American heritage breed. The name derives from the origins of the Guinea hog in the Guinea coast of West Africa. About 1804 Thomas Jefferson acquired some of these pigs, which had arrived from Africa via the Canary Isles. The original strain, although basically black, also had a hint of red and were consequently called Red Guineas; that strain, well known at the beginning of the 19th century, is extinct.
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Later they were crossed with other breeds, including Appalachian English pigs, Essex pigs and West African Dwarfs. This new breed, the American Guinea hog retained its black colour but lost the red tint and is sometimes called a Black Guinea. These pigs were popular with subsistence farmers, not only through their ability to forage for themselves, but also because their habit of eating snakes made the farmyard safe for children and livestock.
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CSA Sign Up. Registration for our 2013 sign up is now open! We will be limiting our CSA to the first 75 members to sign up so we encourage you to sign up as soon as possible. You can read about the 2013 CSA here. If your have any questions please feel free to call or email.
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On the farm goodies. We have some winter squash (delicata & acorn) available on the farm as well as fresh eggs (at our winter price of $5/dozen). Please send us a note to place an order and we’d be happy to put it together for you!
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Check out our picture slideshow and of course, this short video clip of Truffle!
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Thanks for all your support,
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Jess & Brian
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dirty hands, clean heats
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working hands farm 
Carry on, guys. Keep the faith, make piggies, and know every day at dawn that…Small Farms Matter Big.
Thank you for sharing, I can hardly wait until I retire and get to move out to our farm and start adding domestic animals to to the property. We don’t dare get any as of yet as the farm is in the middle of the woods here in Oregon and we have black bear and cougar ( which I have seen) that would love to make a meal out of anything that we would leave out there alone while we are still living in Salem. I see deer and rabbits every time that I go up there to work, which is almost every day. We have wild turkeys that have seen on the property, and I have only seen the tracks of the elk that are on our place.
Are you planing on eating truffle’s babies? You said that she is a small breed, so I was wondering if her off spring were going to be sold or harvested. As we are going to have pork in our diet when we get moved out to the property.
PS, really like all of the pictures and movies.