I began pestering to visit this pig sanctuary after a friend told me about a music festival held here, where there were "actual pet pigs walking all over the place." Thus began my research about this farm as well as my ongoing admiration for pigs, said to be fourth in intelligence after humans, apes, and porpoises. Others compare them to a four-year-old child in terms of temperament and smarts. Perhaps it is my long line of agrarian genes on both sides that contributed to my immense enjoyment of this farm, despite my lack of outdoorsiness. :-)
Ross Mill is a beautiful working farm (built in 1740) that boards pet pigs when their owners are away, takes in pigs for adoptions, and does just about every other kind of pig advocacy. Plenty of house pigs wander the farm freely, just like I was told and was delighted to see as we drove up. Volunteers run this non-profit. There is a general store and also a restored 1690-built cabin for rent.
The main house has indoor/outdoor facilities for the pigs, many of whom were sleeping on blankets when we looked in. Others outside in pens quickly ran over, grunting greetings (and to see if we had any food?) -- but pigs are also just friendly and curious. They are herd animals and like being with others. I had never seen so many pigs in my life and felt happy knowing that none of them would meet a violent end.
A white piglet named Nellie was busy nibbling fresh grass, but she was happy to let me pet her -- she followed us around as we checked out the place, which the volunteers did not mind us doing, despite the fact that they were preparing the cabin for the weekend. (I learned not to touch the hooves though, bad pig etiquette on my part.) I tried to lift Nellie just a little to see how heavy she was and learned that pigs are much denser than dogs or cats; even a small pig weighs twice as much as they appear to. A large black pig (who seemed to be an old man; and he had tusks, as the males do) also came over, then five friendly dogs showed up to get in on the petting. I spotted a ginger horse in the barn; she came over to the fence too. The animals are Disney-cartoon friendly here.
As we walked around inside the main house, the pigs began rustling around and excitedly squealing, and we thought we had upset them. It wasn't us -- it was mealtime, and they heard the guy coming up on his golf cart with all the food. The farm makes its own pig food which looks like oatmeal. Some of the pigs stood up in their indoor stalls and bellowed, unable to contain their excitement about dinner. I can relate. It was quite a commotion, and we learned that pigs can make a lot of different -- and loud -- sounds.
The cabin is just down the road, so we stopped on our way out to take a look. The weekend guests were already there and were nice enough to let us stick our heads into the small but charming space, with room for 4 upstairs, a kitchen, fireplace, dining area, and a picnic table outside. It is $120 a night. A small family winery is next door.
Bring your GPS is you have one, because it is easy to get lost in the woods, even though this farm is close to Doylestown, New Hope, and many other great things. Oink! read more