May we have some fries with our vinegar?

A muddy-snoutied piggy at nature's salad bar

Today I sprayed some of the stinging nettles and other weeds that are quickly getting out of control. I use straight vinegar, with just a little dishsoap added to help it adhere to the plants and sometimes a little salt. A scorcher of a day like today (33 degrees Celsius) is perfect. I discovered the mixture works great on dandelions and grass (in the driveway and along the edges of the fence) but not so great on stinging nettles. I guess I'll have to try cutting them right back and then dousing just the roots instead.

But, to get back to the title of the post, the funniest part of my day was the pigs' reaction to the vinegar. One area I needed to spray was around the gate from their pigyard to the pasture. I did it first thing this morning. Right away, all the piglets came rushing over to the gate, sniffing and snorking and snuffling and trying to reach the vinegar-soaked weeds through the wire mesh of the fence.

Later this afternoon, I let all the pigs into the pasture for a couple of hours. Those areas treated with vinegar drew them like flies....ooops...no, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar......okay, apparently vinegar attracts pigs the way honey attracts flies. (Actually, the flies didn't mind it either - they are the bane of my existance at the moment!!!).

I'm sure the piggies would have loved some fries (another favourite treat of pigs, and one that my pigs have only had ONCE) with their vinegar, but instead they had to settle for salad greens with a spritz of vinaigrette dressing!

The other highlight of the day was Soda playing in her piggy pool - but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the video of that!