The word is out. Cypress Bayou Farm is the place to live if you’re an animal. Well, it’s great for us humans too but our four legged friends are living the good life on the farm these days. We have two new residents at the farm – a wild piglet named Nibbles and a country Catahoula pup named Dixie.

During recent flooding in Louisiana, Nibbles was abandoned by his mother on the levee near Chalmette, LA which is located east of New Orleans. A sweet couple rescued Nibbles and helped care for him during the first couple months of his life. Since they weren’t equipped to care for a piglet that will one day become a very large pig, they began searching for Nibbles’ next home. Andrew discovered their post on a rescue site and reached out to them. They were delighted for Nibbles to make the trek to Cypress Bayou Farm and Andrew picked him up when he flew into New Orleans on the way home from a business trip last week. To my surprise, this little gentleman greeted me the next morning when I left for work:

Cute thang isn’t he?!

He is a lover of sliced peaches, green beans, corn, strawberries, pineapple, apples and kiwi. I’m sure he wouldn’t turn away much since pigs eat just about everything. The sound he makes when he eats his peaches is pretty cute.

And his response to corn and rice bran:

Later in the week, he went from kennel living to a pig pen palace. He’s pretty happy romping around in his new living quarters.

He’s living the life now…a little sun, a little shade, a little straw for snuggling at night.

Just as we were getting Nibbles settled in this past weekend, a sweet Catahoula puppy wanders up our driveway Sunday afternoon. Andrew called me outside and we both looked at each other and smiled. We knew we were in trouble because this precious pooch was too cute for her own britches.

She did have a collar and I figured she belonged to someone in the area or she was possibly dropped off on our street. Since we didn’t want to assume ownership right away, we went about our business for the next couple of days, only to find this adorable perky pup every time we turned around.

She even became friends with Nibbles.

We finally found out that she belonged to our neighbor and he didn’t want her which we saw as a blessing because he wasn’t taking care of her anyway. She was running loose and was an easy target for prey or an oncoming car. Since she kept coming over to visit and fit right in with our family, we knew she was meant to be with us. And that’s when Dixie became a part of Cypress Bayou Farm.

After receiving the green light from our neighbor, Andrew brought her straight to our vet The Animal Center for a full work-up!

Dixie passed with flying colors – no fleas and no intestinal worms. Hallelujah! She is approximately 2.5 months old and weighs 15 lbs. She received her first round of shots and will go back for her rabies shot and boosters in a month.

We discovered Dixie is also an excellent road dog. Cool as a cucumber.

 

Since Abby James has been Queen Bee for the past couple years, we were curious how she would react to her new house mate. It is going quite well and these high-energy pups play until they can’t play anymore. It’s exhausting watching them sometimes but it makes for a boisterous home life.

Nothing like some puppy energy to get you going in the morning!

A lot has happened since we acquired the farm 2 months ago and it hasn’t been without some unexpected struggles, but we are still enjoying God’s many blessings each day. The life around us, whether it is Sparkle’s magnificent recovery at the farm or a pup and a pig finding their real home with us, it is all part of the beautiful journey. The journey about love and compassion, finding joy in the small things, witnessing the tenderness in the heartache and understanding the desire to just belong somewhere.

Until next time…