Esther the Wonder Pig

I mentioned Esther the Wonder Pig here once, a long time ago, and she's worth mentioning again. If you don't know her, click on over and meet her!

Here's the link to her facebook page.

She does have a website, but her real presence in on facebook where you can see her (a 500-lb pig) hogging her dads' bed, sleeping with her doggie family members, eating Oreos, sitting and patiently waiting for a treat by the kitchen counter. 

Her dads bought her from someone who told them she was a "mini pig," but it turned out they'd been had—she's a standard pig, exactly like the ones raised on factory farms for bacon. They kept her anyway. There is something very moving about seeing her—the same breed, size, and color as the hundreds of thousands who go to slaughter every day—lying on a big soft couch with a fuzzy blanket thrown over her, eating cookies.

If you want to see the others who are not so lucky—you probably don't, but if you do—the amazing Toronto Pig Save bears witness as they go through the city on their way to slaughter. Volunteers reach through the openings in the transport trucks to feed them lettuce and melon, give them water and photograph their faces when the trucks are stopped. If you ever wondered whether pigs were more or less okay with being transported to slaughter, have a look at their faces in TPS's photographs. It's an extraordinary view of these thinking, feeling beings that the big agriculture concerns do not want you see.

In honor of Esther, today's recipe is Creamy Ginger Butternut Squash Soup from Esther's Kitchen. It's great—sweet, salty and rich with the fall flavors of sweet potato, squash and apple.

Thanks, Esther.

Jamie Wyeth, Baby Jane in Summer, 1978