Self-sufficiency, or the Good Life for cavies.

[weaseldropping]

In winter, our local supermarket sells bunched carrots with the tops still on, which my pigs adore. They eat all the tops straight away, but are rationed some of the carrots, and we eat the rest. I realised how mush more expensive the carrots were this way, and have had a brainwave!
I bought a long low planter, the sort people put herbs in on a windowsill and planted a packet of carrot seed in it. After a few weeks I had what looked like a rather exotic fern! All I did then was pop the whole thing in with the pigs, who demolished it, then I dug out the mini-carrots for a snack - they were tiny - and then replanted.
One packet of carrot seed cost the same as a bunch of grown carrots, and we got five separate meals of wholly organic veggie from it. This year I am going to restock all my bulb planters with assorted veggie crops for the winter, with a couple of nasturtiums and violas in for edible colour, and the pigs can have a feast! I reckon that if I get the planters out of the run in time they will just be "pruned" and will come back again.

 

[Furkidsmommy]

What a wonderful idea. Thanks for the tip. (P.S. I just got the reference to the "good life". Loved the program.)

 

[Piglet]

That's brilliant! I too think that the carrots with the tops on are so much more expensive, so we never buy them. I did try to grow parsley and that was an utter disaster, so maybe carrots will be easier!

 

[weaseldropping]

I have NEVER got parsley to germinate!
Coriander is easy, but the pigs aren't so keen.

 

[Piglet]

It did take time to germinate, about 3-4 weeks for me. However, soon it died. Apparently, you should soak the seeds in warm water before planting them. We just bought some coriander seeds last week, so I'm going to plant those soon. My pigs love it to bits and I love the smell of it too.

 

[weaseldropping]

Maybe I just gave up too soon with the parsley...
My pigs don't like peppers very much either, but love thistles, which I've never seen mentioned here, I must admit I'm less keen on thistles as a pot plant, though!
Do you have any other suggestions?

 

[Piglet]

Thistles? That's an odd choice. You could try growing lettuce, such as romaine. It takes some pigs time to 'register' with vegetables - I had to feed mine tomatoes for about a week and then they started eating them. How may times have you tried with the peppers?

 

[weaseldropping]

I know- but we get them in the garden and the pigs love them - don't seem to notice the spikes at all!
I only tried twice with the peppers, probably cos none of the humans in the family like them very much either!
Mine have gone off celery recently... maybe there's too much other tasty stuff about.
I will have a go at the Romaine lettuce - never tried it before! Do they sell it in Tesco?

 

[Piglet]

They sure do, that's where I get all of my vegetables from! From Tesco there is a salad mix that contains endive, lambs lettuce and something else (some sory of red lettuce, riddocio or something like that!). I buy that weekly and my pigs love it.

Oh, and also try lollo rosso, that's also nice for us humans to eat!

 

[weaseldropping]

Thanks - I have put it on this weeks order.

 

[Slap Maxwell]

I have parsley and cilantro growing on my patio. I bought four of each that were already germinated and they are in a big pot.

 

[Piglet]

I have no clue on planting - with coriander are there any special 'requirements'? How often should I water it?

 

[weaseldropping]

Piglet - I just bung the seeds on top of some compost, sprinkle a little more and top and water very generously until everything has been eaten. They come up within a week.
Slap - what is cilantro? Does it grow in Yorkshire? We get quite a lot of weather up here - not that my pigs seem to care, running around in the rain like a load of loonies right now.

 

[Slap Maxwell]

Cilantro looks like parsley. It has a stong smell- but the pigs LOVE it. And it is high in vitamin C, and low in bad stuff so you can feed it every day. I am not sure if they have it in the UK.

((broken link removed))

 

[Piglet]

Cilantro = coriander.

Different names for the same thing. Weasel, don't you bring your pigs in? I just brought mine in a couple of minutes ago, it's too dark.

 

[weaseldropping]

No -the live out round the clock. Don't panic, though, they love it - they are up at dawn to eat the freshly dewed grass, and just love sprining around at dusk. Mostly at night they are snuggled up in the house, but I have seen them foraging at night as well. The run is completely enclosed and they are perfectly safe, and have been living like this for years. They have a fantastic hutch - two storey, double-glazed with cavity-wall insulation which they use in late autumn when the weather gets too wet, and we have an indoor cage for heavy snowfall or very bad weather, but otherwise they stay out.
(In case you wonder - when you have human babies you spend quite a lot of time up in the middle of the night!)

 

[amfeider]

They sure do, that's where I get all of my vegetables from! From Tesco there is a salad mix that contains endive, lambs lettuce and something else (some sory of red lettuce, riddocio or something like that!). I buy that weekly and my pigs love it.

Oh, and also try lollo rosso, that's also nice for us humans to eat!

riddocio is high in calcium use sparingly

 

[Ly&Pigs]

The correct spelling is radicchio. It is not high in calcium at all. Here is a nice breakdown of some different lettuces.

Radicchio-100 gram serving:
calories-23
protein-1.43g
vitamin c-8 mg
calcium-19 mg

Romaine lettuce 100 gram serving:
calories-17
protein-1.23g
vitamin c-24 mg
calcium-33 mg

Green leaf lettuce 100 gram serving:
calories-15
protein-1.36g
vitamin c-18 mg
calcium-36 mg

Butterhead (also boston and bibb)lettuce 100 gram serving:
calories-13
protein-1.35g
vitamin c-3.7 mg
calcium-35 mg

As you all can see by this comparison, radicchio and green leaf lettuce actually have less calcium in it than romaine and butterhead. A 100 gram serving is more than 1 cup serving. The amounts are much less in a cup serving.

 

[Zeander]

What a good idea! Glad you shared

 

[Piglet]

Wow, thanks ly for the information.

weasal, your set up sounds so cool! I like having the pigs in my bedroom though because there is more interaction. And now that we're putting a desk in my room, I'm going to by constantly in there so I can keep an eye on them! However in the summer, mine are usually outside all day (except for in the night).

Does anybody know how much calcium is too much? How many mg of it should they receive on a daily basis?

I planted my coriander today! *sits by the plant pot waiting*