Apologies for the belated August newsletter. We had the biggest event of our lives at the end of the month which had us (Nikki) preoccupied for a while – WE GOT MARRIED! For a day that takes months/years to organise, it went way too quickly! And Flav was back to a reality of escapee ginger ninjas very quickly the next day with a thumping headache.

Aside from the amazing day at the end of August, the rest of the month was filled a bit more family time as we had a few hog-roast-free weekends. Flav has also been battling with the pigs most of the month because they’ve decided to go back to their old ways of breaking the fence daily…well maybe every other day but it certainly feels like daily! The salt on the wound moment was when he drove to feed them one morning and found 30-ish ninjas running around loose with the electric fence between two paddocks tangled up more than your favourite earphones. He genuinely felt like packing it all in at that point.

But then again, this is why farming is fun. No two days are the same. Especially when you not only have a pig breed notorious for escaping, but also goats and rogue Cotswolds sheep.

Talking of goats, they’ve had an adventurous month. We moved them to our bit of land where our horse yard is. They’ve been clearing up the nettles and bramble bushes like it’s going out of fashion. When Flav goes and checks them every other day, his highlight is always seeing them popping out of different parts of the woodland soon as they hear a few of his screeching “MEHs”. We tend to take them treats to keep our friendship going. It also helps that ringleader Chege (who Flav is contemplating buying a bell for) along with his side kicks/cousins Curry & Goat always come running soon as they see us; or any human with food!

Other headlines from the farm include:

• The pigs are now enjoying brewers’ grain (waste product of beer making) from a brewery in Southampton once a week. They initially turned their snouts up at it but they’re hooked now!
• We still haven’t managed to catch the sheep.
• The pigs have been having frequent mud baths to cool down from the heat and protect themselves from sunburn.
• The butchery is FINALLY finished! (Thanks to dad/dad-in-law Robert for all the help) – videos of our progress are on Flav’s YouTube channel – The Kenyan Pig Farmer.