Photography by Lauren Allen.
Elmwood Farm has introduced some new friends to their small plot of land in Oak Cliff. But don’t get too attached.
Two pigs, Sir and Ma’am, were brought to the farm in January and provide for the land in a variety of ways, along with their flock of chickens.
“Integrating animals into the rotation is a regenerative agricultural principle,” says Eric Nystrom, Elmwood Farm pig coordinator and culinary director. “It’s mimicking nature. You’re growing cover crops that cover the soil, take solar energy, put it into the ground, feed the microbes, and then we graze it down with the pigs and the chickens. We’re cycling those nutrients so there’s a natural rhythm regenerative cycle that we’re trying to enact with these animals.”
The pigs take about 10 months to get to slaughter weight, so when November rolls around, Sir and Ma’am will be made into charcuterie to be shared with the community.
“We are generally very separated from where our food comes from, but also from death, and that’s a necessary part of having meat,” Nystrom says. “A couple of people have come out and been blanched a little bit when we say we’re gonna eat them. I don’t want to say it casually because it is a somber and sobering thing to take something’s life to sustain your own, but we are part of nature. If you do choose to eat meat, there can be a no more close and hands-on and ethical way to do it.”
The farm hopes to host dinners for the community with meals based around the specific meats as they are prepared.
Ma’am, a darker-toned, tri-color Idaho Pasture pig is more gregarious and rambunctious. Nystrom says Ma’am is like a cat who will take off running at the spur of a moment. Ma’am is likely to nibble on shoe laces and is the alpha of the two pigs, nudging Sir out of the way when their favorite food, avocado, is thrown on the ground. Despite this, Ma’am is docile and sweet like Sir, and the two enjoy being together and snuggling together. Pigs are unable to sweat, so they will often create a little wallow, get all covered with mud and lay together.
Sir sports a ginger coat, perfect plump-shape and is described as the more mild-mannered pig of the pair. Sir is an Idaho Pasture Pig, which is a mixture of the New Zealand KuneKune, Duroc, and Berkshire breeds. This combination of breeds gives him the traits of a grazing pig, and a pig that produces high-quality pork. KuneKune pigs are also known for short, upturned snouts, which make them ideal for grazing rather than rooting up the ground. Like most pigs, Sir is very intelligent, and will try to break into the chicken coop for extra food with the help of his partner in crime, Ma’am.
Thirty-five chickens of all different breeds. Some look like they’re wearing a fuzzy pair of boots, some look like they have a mohawk, and they all have their own styles and personalities. Some are for egg production, some are for meat and some are simply for decoration. Chickens were originally introduced to Elmwood Farm back in 2021, but with a much smaller group of 12. The details as far as eating some of the chickens are still to be determined.
