15/03/2023
Good Bye to an old friend
Sadly Blossom our 12 year old house pig was sadly put to sleep having given us years of happiness and
laughter.
Blossom came into our lives with an ASBO, as she was a naughty piglet, who would take herself off
scrumping in the village she was born in. A couple of old ladies did not appreciate having a pig break
into their garden to steel apples and reported her to the police. Because she had grown up on a horse
farm, where gates were always left open the police gave her owner two options: lock her up or
sausages. Beanie couldn’t bring herself to do either and put out an SOS.
Millie Lemon (my wife) has taken in waifs and strays all her life and the more outrageous the better.
We have re-homed chickens, alpacas, ponies, goats so why not a house pig. Blossom and I had a love hate relationship, because as usual, I knew nothing about Millie’s sneaky plan to bring this monster into our lives.
In fact her very first day with us was during harvest and we finished slightly earlier than usual and had
a chance of making last orders in the pub. As I walked down my farm yard to the pub, I thought I should just pop in the house to see if Millie fancied a quick drink. The house was very quiet and a light was on in the hall and I could see Millie’s reflection in the fish tank. She appeared to try and remain hidden and just as I was about to say something, I was oinked at from my own sofa. This pig lying across all 3 cushions of the sofa had clearly made itself at home and Millie thought it was hilarious. I turned on my heels and went to the pub with out asking if Mills would like a drink after all!
From that day onwards Blossom ruled the house, the paddocks, the farm yard and the barn. When she came into season (which was a lot) she demanded male attention and as there are no male pigs on the farm, human male attention is what she settled for. She once chased my 6ft4 tough Yorkshire sprayer driver (Darren Palin) into my office. He bolted in and shut the door, not to be defeated by a closed door and in a rampant mood she simply smashed through it causing said Yorkshire man to jump on to the desk.
In later years, I began to win the battle and Blossom moved into our big barn where she lived with the
ponies, but at any given opportunity she would escape (usually when in season) and made her way
back to the house. After a few years Millie thought Blossom didn’t get the attention she required,
tucked away at the back of the yard, so she decided that her first trip out of the village following covid lockdown was to Northampton to buy emu chicks. Blossom moved back to the front paddock and looked after the emus which grew from vulnerable little humbug chicks into the 6 foot Jurassic crazy gang that still reside in front of the farm house.
Towards the end she was really only concerned with meal times and a few grumpy oinks at emus if
they dared peck in her bowl and steel a crumb. You would occasionally find a clump of emu feathers
that she had pulled out in rage.
When she stopped being excited even for food we knew her time was drawing to an end and after a
couple of weeks with no improvement she was put down. She is buried on the farm she enjoyed
terrorising so much for so long
Camilla Lemon
