Silly Pigs, Tea is for People!
Just wanted to share a photo I took at a tea farm in WuYi Shan, Fujian in 2009. Just like in America they put out effigies of people to scare the animals away from their crops. But instead of crows they are trying to keep away, the wild pigs are the pests.
“Scarepigs”
We actually learned a bit about farming when we asked the farmer about these ‘Scarepigs’. These young tea bushes were being organically grown without fertilizer, at least not artificial. However, that’s not why they needed to scare away the pigs. Pigs don’t eat the plant, they eat the worms! Yes worms provide nutrients to the tea bushes, and there are especially more worms on newer bushes. Because the pigs love to eat yummy worms, they are willing to dig up young bushes in order to get at them, and they can do so with ease.
So thanks to these Scarepigs, these baby tea bushes remain pigless and with worms a-plenty!
-Eric Glass
August 21st, 2012 at 10:07 am
Somehow I didn’t see this post when it came out. “Scarepigs” made me smile. Hope the worms aren’t scared by these effigies. Also, I wonder what the pigs eat instead, and who ends up eating the pigs. I guess worms eat organisms, pigs eat worms, man eats pigs. Something like that. Thanks for sharing!
August 21st, 2012 at 10:54 am
Oh the circle of life right @jackie
August 21st, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Scarepigs… This idea is really frightening.
August 21st, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Tea and bacon was what I kept thinking…why is that?!
September 15th, 2012 at 5:55 pm
Tea is improved by these worms. Are the pigs also improved? Is their meat better?
September 17th, 2012 at 10:32 pm
@Bram: hmm, wild pork improved by worms?? doubt it, but I would think worms, since heavily sought after by the boars/pigs, are healthy. So perhaps because worms are a good diet for them they remain more healthy thus tasting better? The only wild boar I’ve had was the head, the jaw was the most tasty.
-Eric
October 19th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Ein wirklich gelungener Beitrag. Wie lange schreibst Du an so einem Artikel? Und eine Frage außerdem, wenn möglich: Muss man sich gut auskennen um so einen Blog zu führen? Interessierte Grüße aus dem Taunus Sybille
October 19th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
thanks for the compliment. This is actually my very first blog and blog post. I have absolutely no knowledge about managing a successful blog. i would write many more, there is always stuff on my mind, but sadly i don’t have the time. one day i hope to do a series a blog posts that deal with raw Japanese clays and talk about their effect on different teas. will take a long time but it should be fun. One day… when i have the time and enthusiasm.
Again, thank you for the kind words.
-Eric
danke für das Kompliment. Bitte entschuldigen Sie die Übersetzung. das ist eigentlich meine erste Blog und Blog-Post. Ich habe absolut keine Kenntnisse über die Verwaltung eines erfolgreichen Blog. Ich würde viel mehr schreiben, es gibt immer Sachen in meinem Kopf, aber leider habe ich nicht die Zeit. 1 Tag hoffe ich zu tun zu einer Reihe von Blog-Beiträge, die sich mit rohen japanischen Ton und sprechen über ihre Wirkung auf verschiedene Teesorten. wird eine lange Zeit dauern, aber es soll Spaß machen. Eines Tages … wenn ich die Zeit und Enthusiasmus haben.
Nochmals vielen Dank für die freundlichen Worte.
-Eric
October 19th, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Uhm, the German comment is spam. German spammers seem to love their enthusiastic “your blog is awesome, how do you become such a great writer” type comments. If a blog reply is generic, interchangeable – and would sit nicely on any blogger’s post, its nonsense. Only in your case “spammer Sybille” is spot on, much enjoy your blog!