When our neighbors John and Aussie Bronwyn announced that they were selling their property and moving away, CJ and I were mortified. More than anyone, those two have taught us how to live on 20 acres. How could they abandon us?
Our three scruffy pigs stared through the paddock gate, transfixed by a vision of loveliness: Giggles the majestic polka-dotted kunekune pig. She was above them, standing on the back of a trailer.
She clearly wanted nothing to do with our motley pigs nearby.
“There’s a sheep down in your paddock,” our neighbor Jim said over the phone. He’d been working along the fenceline when he saw the sheep. “It looks pretty sick,” he said.
I immediately called Hamish. The sheep belong to him.
It’s early on a Sunday morning as I put on my running shoes. It’s been a very, very long time, so the shoes feel a little unfamiliar. I stretch, then open the front door and go.
I head in the direction of Te Muna Road. The name is Maori for ‘secret place’.
