[upbeat folk music]
- And now, we're gonna go over and visit another Soil Sister
who's raising heritage pork on her land.
[pigs snorting] [playful music]
- My name is April Prusia,
and I do farrow-to-finish rare heritage hogs
in Blanchardville, Wisconsin on the pasture.
- As a farmer who grazes cattle,
I know there is nothing better
than raising livestock on pasture.
So I just love to see how April's pigs work fresh plants
into their diet.
- If you raise pastured pigs,
they need to be on greens for the season,
grass, clovers, weeds.
And it gives them a great omega profile.
And if they're in the sunshine,
their fat also has vitamin D in it.
And it's a really humane way to raise a brilliant animal.
Hey, girls.
Hey, we love ragweed, don't we?
Mm-hmm, yeah, it's a huge nuisance in the field,
but we're really fond of it.
- Inga: April is also helping to preserve
this heritage breed of pigs,
known as Gloucestershire Old Spots.
- The Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs are pretty rare.
They lost their numbers when we industrialized pigs
and brought 'em indoors.
They don't do well indoors.
They're a fattier pig than your traditional pork.
You can get a good amount of lard out of 'em,
but you can also get a great amount
of good marbled meat from them.
This particular breed is super docile,
they're easy to work with.
They're great mothers.
They're a pleasure to be around.
They're a lot of fun.
Hi, Sparkles!
Hi, Sparkles.
You want some food here too, buddy?
- Like all the Soil Sisters,
April brings a woman's perspective
and a woman's experience to the way she raises animals.
- Well, I wanted to raise them in a way that was respectful
and lighter on the environment,
and actually heavier on the heart.
There's lots of care and love.
And they're having a really good life and you can see it.
You can see it when they run.
You can see it when they're eating.
You can see it when they're wallowing.
It's just very obvious that they're enjoying life.
And that I'm providing a good life for them.
Is that guy gonna let you hang with him?
No.
I think women just instinctively have a nurturing quality.
So we need that right now in our world,
we need a lot of nurturing.
So I think it's important to nurture our food
and our environment.
And we need more women
that can put that into the land and into our food.
[upbeat acoustic guitar music]
- It's really beautiful out here to see the pigs
in the outdoors, breathing fresh air,
and really grazing on the ground.
Tell me a little bit about what is that like
moving the pigs to new grass all the time?
- Sure, sure.
This year's been a little challenging
'cause it's been very dry and hot.
But I take them from down by the barn and they follow me.
"Let's go pigs."
They follow me with a bucket of feed.
And as long as their needs are met, they just wanna be here.
So if they got grass under 'em, they got fresh water,
they got a nice wallow, they got some shade,
- Inga: That's all they need. - Yeah.
- This is so fun.
I never get a chance to just hang out
with other women farmers and just talk about all these
fun things. - Sure, yes.
- And that's one of the reasons I wanted to come down
and visit with the Soil Sisters, because it just seems like
you guys are all such special women
and supporting each other and collaborating together.
What has that been like you
to be involved with the Soil Sisters?
- Oh, yeah.
It's been super empowering.
I feel like much of my business has evolved,
even my personality.
Even, just, yeah, just very empowering group.
I have gotten roped into all sorts of different projects.
I'm super politically active now.
I sit on our town board because of a lot of like,
"Hey ladies, we need to get more involved."
- It seems like there's quite a few Soil Sisters
that are representing their townships and their communities.
- Yeah. - I love it.
- And it's just kind of like, "Hey, you can do it.
Like, you can do this."
And so there's a lot of that.
Like even with the pigs,
I've sold quite a few pigs to other Soil Sisters.
I'm like, "You can do this.
If you've had chickens, you can do pigs now."
- Yeah. - So there's a lot of that.
And there's a lot of the camaraderie.
- I've been following along the journey
of a lot of the Soil Sisters for quite a while.
And there just seems to be something about
the women in Wisconsin in the farming community
that really think outside of the box.
- April: Sure.
- Or just implementing different businesses
and trying different things.
What do you think it is about women
that we can kind of do that? [April chuckles]
- I think we're always thinking.
You know? - Inga: Yeah!
- And have these visions.
And then when you have each other
to kind of paint that picture with each other.
- Inga: And encourage each other along the way.
- April: Yeah, absolutely.
It's without any judgment.
And it's, again, a camaraderie, family, unconditional.
So to feel comfortable in your skin and be okay with that,
it helps so that you don't feel blocked in your vision.
We're just very supportive. - Inga: Yeah.
[upbeat folk music]