This is the first in a monthly series of stories that focus on remarkable people doing interesting things on farms, ranches, beaches, and other outdoor-oriented places. At Big Dawg Farms, we want to celebrate those entrepreneurs and small businesses who are finding ways to live off their land and pass on the joys of a simple life, close to nature, to future generations. In today’s world of suburban sprawl, our wonderful outdoor-oriented life surrounded by natural beauty and wildlife is not as common as it once was. We want to publicize and celebrate it.

Let us know what you think! Also, if you know someone you think we might want to interview, please email Sandra.

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• Pigs to Pork Chops on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pigstoporkchops/
• Website: pigstoporkchops.com
• Blog: pigstoporkchops.com/blogs/out-of-debt-into-livestock

Who says romance fades after 20 years of marriage? Not me, and I just spent two days visiting a pig farm in Gillette, Wyoming with my beloved husband of 21 years, after he came home a few weeks ago and popped the question. That is, the question “Want to go visit that Wyoming pig farm this weekend?”

That falls under the “for better or worse” part of the marital vows, you say? Not at all. It was a lovely adventure, I promise. Read on and see for yourself.

Lemons into lemonade: how to turn a spring snow disaster into a road trip, new friends and fresh pork

This is the story of how a spring visit to the tulip festival in The Netherlands led us to a Wyoming pig farm called Pigs to Pork Chops over Labor Day, two remarkable new friends and a freezer full of locally grown winter pork come December.

How it all began

Ryc, the human Big Dawg of Big Dawg Farms, has a day job working for a company that has a large presence in Amsterdam. For years, he has traveled there for work.

Every spring, he’s described a country awash in color as their world-renowned tulip fields come into bloom. I had never been able to visit until this year, our first as empty nesters. I was thrilled when we were able to plan a trip last spring, thanks to the very responsible, highly competent, reasonably priced teenager next door we were lucky enough to hire as our house, pet and livestock sitter. (Local Sedalia friends, we’ll happily recommend him – just get in touch.)

First: The Netherlands

In late April, we set out. The beauty of the Garden of Europe exceeded my expectations.

At the last minute, we decided to add a trip to Alabama to visit Loose Ends, our southern refuge. So, the first week in May, we returned to Colorado from Europe only long enough to throw the dogs in the car, and headed south. We stayed in Alabama until mid-June.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

At home, our stalwart young house-sitter took care of the livestock. On May 18, he had to deal with what Coloradoans likes to call a “late spring snow shower” but everyone else calls “ridiculous” and “against God’s plan.”

Our ornery rooster (“ornery rooster” being redundant, for those who know roosters) did not make his job easy either. Fortunately, this guy knows how to show a rooster who’s in charge.

Disaster strikes

On June 9, as we were on our way home from Alabama, we get a text from our neighbor:

Our garage freezer is on a circuit it shares with the heater for the chicken coop (Yes, our chickens live a palatial life in their Cadillac Coop. Don’t judge.) When the weather turns bad, it occasionally trips that circuit. We completely forgot to tell our house-sitter to check it after the May 18 snow storm.

That was an unfortunate rookie mistake on our part. Colorado spring weather is wild, woolly and wholly unpredictable. On May 18, the day of the storm, Denver had a high of 37 and a low of 32. The temperatures gradually heated over the next several weeks until, on June 9, the high was…91.

Smelly, messy consequences

Our freezer was filled with pork from a couple of successful wild pig hunts and elk from one our son had shot a season or two ago. During those two weeks, that meat slowly and inexorably spoiled, locked in its no-longer-cold jail of a freezer.

Since the house-sitter had no way of knowing it was offline, he was not responsible at all for the disaster. We did not want him to have to clean it out.

So, the odor built and built…until we arrived two days later and opened it, recoiled, shut it…and played a serious game of marital “Rock, Scissors, Paper” to see which one of us had to clean it out.

Ryc lost. I love that man.

When that much meat spoils in a hot, enclosed space, the smell is akin to a flatulence contest at a skunk convention.

Once he disposed of the nastiness, we were faced with the challenge of replacing all of that meat. Enter the magic of social media.

Looking for pork in all the wrong places

I was poking around on a Colorado Facebook group, and found a post offering pork “my grandpa would have eaten.” The guy who posted it was in Wyoming, but taking orders to deliver pork to the Denver area. He offered “hero discounts” to first responders, which warmed my heart and made me like the farm owners, sight unseen. The farm’s mission: “To produce high quality pasture raised pork in a environment that allows the pigs to be pigs.”

What’s in a name? In this case, a lot

The name of the Wyoming farm, though, is what made me really sit up and take notice: Pigs to Pork Chops: Out of Debt and Into Livestock. What.the.heck.

So, I went to the farm’s Facebook page to find out more. I discovered

• Their pigs are antibiotic-free, but they get plenty of ice cream.

• The farm owners don’t take themselves seriously. In fact, they’re hilarious.

• It’s a veteran-owned and operated business.
• The Schelskes are entrepreneurs: serious about making a good living and getting out of debt. (You’ll notice some of these articles are written by Miranda, who’s also a third grade teacher.)

Next step: introduce Ryc to Pigs to Pork Chops

I showed Ryc what I’d found. Once he saw the pictures of the pigs and the video of Sean on the mini tractor, he was hooked. He only had one condition: he wanted to visit the farm, 400 miles away, owned by people neither of us knew.

Ryc and his buddy Hambone

You see, a long time ago, in the 90s in Louisiana, long before we dated, let alone married, Ryc had a pot-bellied pig named Hambone. (Ryc has always been fascinated by pigs.) Ryc and I were friends at that time.

In fact, I was with him the day he chose Hambone. I also met the piglet’s porcine parents, Elvis and Priscilla.

 

I watched Ryc teach Hambone to ride a skateboard and learn that pigs get wicked sunburns if they don’t have mud piles or sunscreen handy during unforgiving Louisiana summers.

Bacon is magic

Plus, Ryc loves bacon. But everyone loves bacon. I know vegetarians who love bacon. Back in the day, even Hambone got hold of some illicit bacon and chowed down, to his discredit and the eternal disapproval of his entire species.

Establishing contact

I texted Pigs to Pork Chops that we were interested in purchasing a share of pork and casually mentioned that we’d like to stop by and see their operation when we were in their neck of the woods – perhaps the end of August. Sean texted back that he was working on his pig trailer but would be in touch.

Sure enough, Miranda and Sean sent pricing, butchering and pickup information on the pork that very night, and, best of all for Ryc, they were perfectly willing to indulge his (a little odd to me, at least) request to visit.

All set for a visit

We sent a deposit and agreed we would decide how much pork we were buying when we visited. We tentatively decided on Labor Day weekend.

The week before Labor Day, Miranda had committed to take a fifth grade class to an environmental camp. They also had a family birthday to celebrate Saturday. Thus, when we left a little late Saturday morning, we agreed we would visit on Sunday.

Road trip

The ride up was hot.

You know that saying “At least it’s a dry heat?”                     Well, that saying is hooey. Anything over 85 degrees is “Wayyy Too Hot.“

and smoky. The northwest has been beset by fires throughout the summer and the smoke was so thick you could taste it in the air. But the Wyoming highways were clear and we made great time.

Wyoming wildlife abounded

There were thousands of antelope milling around the entire route, in groups ranging from four to 40.

A few deer crossed our path as well.

The sparse, dry western scenery was strikingly, hauntingly different from our Colorado mountains.

The turkeys have landed (meaning us)

When we arrived in Gillette, we checked in at the very comfortable local La Quinta and let the Schelskes know we were in town. Despite their busy Saturday schedule, Miranda touched base to make sure we had a good place to eat dinner.

The superb Prime Rib and Wine Cellar

Ryc wanted Wyoming beef, so I found the Prime Rib and Wine Cellar. Miranda approved.

It was amazing. We had escargot for our appetizer, which I’ve not eaten in ages. The steaks were huge and perfectly cooked. The wine was excellent and the selection was extensive. Best of all, Jacque, our waitress, was really, really nice and took great care of us.

So, romance is not at all dead: we had a wonderful Saturday night “date night” before we visited the pig farm on Sunday.

The visit to Pigs to Pork Chops

Sunday morning, we arose early. We’d brought our twelve-year-old Jack Russell, Buttercup. Like many terriers, she is a Rottweiler masquerading as a lap dog.

We loaded her in the car and headed to the farm.

We promptly got lost and I called Miranda. She directed me back to the highway and told me to drive until I saw some trees and then turn left.

I asked how far it was, and she said, “Well, are you driving back to the highway now? Because if so, I can see you.”  Therefore, it wasn’t far at all – right past this notable sight:

Meeting the Schelskes

Miranda welcomed us as soon as we drove through their gate. She was just as friendly and lovely in person as she was on the phone and Facebook. Sean had shared that they were expecting an addition to their family in December. She has the beautiful glow pregnancy brings to a fortunate few. She is so personable, though, that glow may simply be with her all the time.

She invited us to let Buttercup out of the car. Buttercup immediately demonstrated her inner domineering grouch to the Schelskes’ much sweeter Lab. We banished her back into the car until she had sufficiently meditated on her manners to be allowed out again, this time meekly on a leash.

The pigs

They took us down to see the pigs, who were contentedly rooting around their pens.

Sean stepped into one pen and a pig immediately came over for a scratch…

and a cuddle.

The others watched…

conferred…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

then waddled over to get in on the action.

Everyone clearly gets their fair share of attention                   at Pigs to Pork Chops.

After watching how affectionate the pigs were with both Sean and Miranda, I told her I would have a difficult time raising pigs, because they are so smart and personable. She replied forthrightly, with a touch of sadness, “I know. It is a shame that their lives have to be so short. We make it work by making every effort to make sure they have the best possible life we can give them while they’re here.”

The Schelskes list their values as animal welfare first and foremost; taste second; and efficiency third.

Efficiency and ingenuity

The welfare of the animals is clearly top of mind. Those are the happiest pigs I have ever seen.

The taste must be good: the weekend we visited, the pork package they donated to the veterans group Halo for Freedom Warrior Foundation  brought an excellent price at their fundraiser. It was purchased by Bruce Moriarty, the movie director. (Coincidentally, he worked on Forrest Gump way back in 1994. Forrest Gump was written by Winston Groom, who hails from Fairhope, Alabama, my old stomping grounds.)

Everything at the 12 acre farm is built with thoughtful care as well as frugality in mind. Sean has purchased almost everything he uses – if not absolutely everything  – secondhand. He is the king of re-using and re-purposing. Their cost basis is low and the efficiency with which he raises these animals is very impressive. Yet the pigs’ quality of life is impeccably high.

At Ryc’s request, Sean good-naturedly showed him the (secondhand) tractor that so captured Ryc’s imagination in the video I linked to up above. When we explained what had happened to our freezer, he invited us in their warm and welcoming home to show us an ingenious gadget that he has on his own freezer: the Tappecue.

With the Tappecue, we can monitor our freezer temperature from anywhere on our smartphones, tablets or laptops. if the power goes out when we are on a trip, we will see the temperature rise,  call our intrepid house sitter, and he can go flip the circuit back on.

Future plans

Once they showed us all the pigs they’re currently raising, Sean shared his plans for future breeds they intend to raise once this group is gone. He and Miranda have a well-thought out, sustainable road map to future prosperity for their family. Their sense of enterprise, determination and their connectedness make them a heckuva team.

It will not be easy. No one ever said “I think I’ll opt for the soft life of a pig farmer and just coast.”

But I saw an old sign on the freezer while Sean was showing us the Tappecue. It was a heart magnet, and the inscription said, “Half of my heart is in Iraq.” Somehow, I think neither of these two entrepreneurs are strangers to hard work or sacrifice.

Ryc and I bought an entire pig. We cannot wait to get our first pork this December (although we are content to wait until January if the new baby takes priority.)

Based on the plans Sean shared, we’re already thinking about what we want to order next year. When you meet people like the Schelskes, you know not only will their products be good, but they’re the type of people you’re honored to call friends.

Pigs to Pork Chops: a place where pigs can be pigs. Indeed.

Want to Stay in Touch with Pigs to Pork Chops?

You can follow the Schelskes’ farming adventures, and see the how to’s of debt-free living they freely share online, at the links below. (You may be interested in Pie Crusts to Pies, their next venture!)

• Pigs to Pork Chops on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Pigstoporkchops/
• Website: pigstoporkchops.com
• Blog: pigstoporkchops.com/blogs/out-of-debt-into-livestock