Bringing home the bacon

Strong winds made our Saturday run to Bramble farm a little more challenging than usual - although I'm convinced it was behind us when we ascended that final hill :-)

Bramble farm was set up in conjunction with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall as part of a televised project to convert an unused and bramble-infested space into an urban farm maintained by a group of families

Once there we were met by one of those families (Chris Kim and the utterly adorable Adeline) who split us into three groups.

Group one including our new recruit Ellie used wheelbarrows (jealous) to move muck from one end of the farm to the other.

Group two wielded forks and spades to dig out an extra planting channel.

Meanwhile group three worked on a few more of the eponymous brambles.

But the best task was left to last as we were all tasked with moving the resident saddle back pigs back to their new enclosure. Using gate sections to form a channel, we waited with considerable trepidation as Chris laid a trail of bread into the new pen.

Anticipating a bull-run style onslaught of ferociously hungry boars we worried over Chris' safety and double checked there were no gaps in the channel. Several of us put our affairs in order and made precautionary calls to our next of kin. I worried that my runners plaster kit might not be sufficient to tape closed the awful wounds left by the pigs fearsome teeth.

The gate opened!

And the two pigs ambled slowly and amiably up the channel, probably the least intimidating wildlife I have ever seen :-)

Our jobs done, we headed back to base, managing a few lunges and loop backs on the way.