This painting brings some humor to the series! We lived in Scotland in a farming area just outside of Aberdeen that was part of an agricultural center for Aberdeen College. Our house was directly below the pig unit. The pigs of Scotland are kept indoors throughout the year; thus, they reside in a unit rather than a barnyard.
One thing that I had learned before coming to Scotland, was that people who migrated down into our mountains from Scotland and Ireland, generally knew quite a bit about the raising of cattle and sheep. Their knowledge of pig farming was scarce, however, and so they had to be told by their neighbors about the advantages of pigs over cows. Primarily, a pig is cheaper and easier to raise because it can root up it's own food and can roam freely in the woods, eliminating the need for fence building.
So this poor old big pig of today's modern pig unit, (where control and indoor housing is the rule), is blissfully dreaming of the good ol' days of her ancestors, when pigs roamed free in the hills of Virginia. This painting is owned by Peter and Anne Corbett.
Ellen Elmes
PO Box SVCC
Richlands, VA 24641-1101
email: ellen.elmes@sw.edu
phone: 276.964.7205
fax: 276.964.7720