Harry and Wilbur

A sad fact of farm life is that unlike how they are portrayed in the movies or books, runts are usually killed immediately. They serve no purpose to the farm and would only be a problem to deal with. On our small farm runts were always welcomed and eagerly anticipated when birthing happened. The kids loved dealing with the runts be it pigs, or kittens, etc. Harry and Wilbur (yes he was named after our favorite turkey!) came into our lives as runts. They were moved up to the chicken coop so that we could keep a closer eye on them and have a heat lamp over them. They flourished in this environment. They had daily contact with the kids and the dog and before you knew it they were both acting almost dog like. Have you ever seen the movie “The Ugly Dachshund”? This Great Dane was raised with Dachshunds and believed that he was a Dachshund. Well this is kind of what happened here. These pigs definitely did not believe that they were pigs. As they grew they had free rein of the yard. It was a common site for the neighbors to see me chasing Wilbur down the road with a broom to get him back home. Harry’s days of freedom ended when he came through the back screen door and walked right into the house. We knew they were outgrowing the chicken coop but we also knew that they couldn’t survive back out with the pigs. They were too humanized. One summer afternoon I came home from shopping to find they were not in the pen. They had rooted underneath the chicken wire. I called and called for them and they didn’t come. We were surrounded by corn that summer and a quick sweep through the fields didn’t find them. It was a big concern to us, we were worried about them but also worried that they might wonder into the road at night and actually cause harm to someone. They were gone for a whole 3 weeks. I was sewing one afternoon with the windows open and while ironing I heard rustling coming from the corn. I hollered out the window and then hightailed it outside. They came trotting out of the field. It was obvious they were thrilled to be home. They looked really healthy after all that time in the cornfield. I expect our neighbors yields were down that year! My husband decided that it was time for Harry and Wilbur to have a new life. He did some checking around and we moved them to another farm where they could have more room. They will always be remembered, I regret that we never took any pictures of them. But I do have them on film. My quilt guild came out to the house to do a segment on sewing rooms. Harry and Wilbur came up to great them so I did my opening standing next to the 2 of them. They were both real sweeties!
Dawn posted this quilt of mine on her site. It always reminds me of Harry and Wilbur when I see it. The summer after they had left, the chicken coop became overgrown with volunteer pumpkins. The kids had thrown a bunch of broken pumpkins we had grown the previous summer into the chicken coop for Harry and Wilbur to feast on. They had spread the seeds everywhere and we were greeted the following fall with a cornucopia of pumpkins.