The Pig Whisperers

The day after my hiking adventures, Jean and I headed into the bowels of the Fraser Valley prairies to for a different sort of adventure than our usual Vancouver jaunts, taking in the sights and sounds of the Xá:ytem Longhouse and quaint Kilby Farm.

What is a Xá:ytem Longhouse, you ask? Well, to be honest, I’m not quite sure either, but I believe it is something like this:




Here is Jean warming her hands by the non-existent fire. I told her to pretend for the sake of realism. Did it work?

So we sat on these benches for a while, warming ourselves by the fire and chatting. Sometimes other tourists would enter, wander around the hut and then feel awkward around us and leave. That is kind of terrible I think because we didn’t even pay to get in. Terrible indeed. Neat-o! So that’s about it here. Let’s move on now to Kilby Farms!

Kilby Farms was a bit of a drive beyond Mission and far out into the sticks…but it was teeming with people when we arrived. What a hot establishment!



We went for the full farm experience and even purchased some delicious animal feed for our new friends.






This guy was really gross-looking so we didn’t give him any food since we kind of wanted him to starve to death so he would stop scaring people with his saggy skin. PETA would hate us. We do love animals, really. (At least a few of them.)


Jean was willing to get her hand all slobbered just for the animals.

Some future pork chops were up next, these cute and cuddly piggies!


Aw, herro rittle friends!


Grain-fed is the only way to maintain succulent meat.





These kind of old farmhouses always have a little shop with really old little crap in it, also known as a museum. This is fun! Let’s go in.



My favourites are always the old Sears catalogues and newspaper ads and stories. The lady in the shop was really interested in telling Jean about the effects of water beetles in a quite condescending tone, insisting that “People from Vancouver will need to start paying more attention!” Eh, well, I’ll take note of it if I ever move to Vancouver.



After a whirlwind tour of the museum, we headed to the tiny restaurant/souvenir shop for high tea.



The place was staffed by a stout lady who whacked me over the head with a menu and said, “NO!” with a frown when I asked for water. She did bring my water shortly and asked if I knew she was kidding. Um..yeah, ok? Ha..ha? D:





On our way home, we stopped by one of those East Indian greenhouse/country stores that dot the landscape in the Matsqui prairie.









Ah, what fun. Thanks again to Jean who always provides for excellent adventures…please more to come?

The next few days were busy, preparing for my trip to Ottawa and Montreal...but first, I spent an evening with Sachie and enjoyed some stew at the Duke of Dublin and a walk at Albert Dyck Lake…I love this town.