So far, our garden fence has been doing its job admirably. Sure, birds get in, and I'm pretty sure a squirrel has been invading to gnaw seeds out of my tomatoes. But the deer --- our area's major garden predators --- nibble right up to the fenceline then stop.

Imagine my surprise when I heard a strange, hoarse squealing coming from the direction of my broccoli and zinnias last weekend. I peered out the window...then yelled Mark's name so loud he thought someone was dying.

The problem turned out to be an extra-small pig in our garden. I'm guessing it found its way in under the gate.

Luckily, I saw the pig before it could do much damage, and we chased it out to rejoin three other piglets roaming the road. A couple of hours later, a pickup truck cruised by then the livestock were gone. If they'd stayed around much longer, we would have had to beef up the bottom edges of our fence!

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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