a steamboat hog before factory farms

Hog at Entitas, 1970

The commune-farm, a place
of raped minds where
boredom led me away
from the clubhouse to the mud pasture. . .

I heard him first, his
sloppy muffled sound
then saw the biggest
gray hog of the bunch.
He was 280 pounds
of loneliness kept from
the others because of
his strength
that he was saving,
I supposed, for the time
the people there named him
"Porkchop."

He would tear that
foul place apart
if ever set free,
if ever.

I was planning
his escape when
the tour guide came near
and the group commented on
hog's size.
They cheered when the guide
hung a sign:
SMOKED HAM.

I loosened the latch.

(c) MLM (Lydia)



I wrote this poem when the concept of Factory Farming would have been inconceivable. Compared to the pigs and hogs raised in today's stench warehouses of death, the hog at Entitas had it pretty good. Entitas was a 1970s pseudo drug-rehab hippie commune at Steamboat, Nevada, between Reno and Carson City.

When I was a little girl our parents would stop at the dilapidated Steamboat Hot Springs on our way for a day at Lake Tahoe. The buildings were in ruins and there was a worn wooden sign near a spring right by the road that read "Chicken Soup Springs." We'd cup our hands into the water and take a drink, and it did taste like hot chicken soup! Then my family bought a home in Steamboat when I was in 7th grade. Entitas came to the area, inhabiting the natural hot springs and surrounding buildings, around 1970 -- just in time for me to move into the commune for a weekend and write a college paper about the whole affair.

Now renovated and in business under the name of Steamboat Hot Springs-The Healing Center and Spa, I really do hope to go for a soak someday. The smell and sensation of the waters would make me feel like a long-lost guppy that found its way back to its home tank! This info is from the Steamboat Hot Springs website:

The Hot Springs

The Steamboat Springs are classed as “thermal waters” of volcanic origin maintaining high heat as well as high mineral content. The temperature of the water as it reaches the surface is between 200 and 220 degrees Fahrenheit. The artesian well produces super-heated steam, that has been measured at 300 degrees, along with the water. The mineral water flows into a system of holding tanks and a cooling tank. We therefore have a supply of both hot and cool mineral water.

Water is piped from the holding tanks into the Spa building where all of the water supplied to the soaking tubs is mineral water. Our steam room is also supplied through the hot mineral water, just as it comes out of the ground.

The mineral water contains numerous sulphate minerals derived from the weathering of sulphides deposited from the hot water. Some of these minerals are extremely rare. One type found here has been hitherto known only in Chile in South America; another is a borax mineral not known before in the United States. Some of the minerals include silica, antinomious anhydride, phosphoric anhydride, magnesium, soda, Lithia and potassium.

I loved this post at The Wicked Witch of the Web and was captivated by the photo of a mini pig the size of a teacup!

Goal of FactoryFarm.org:
To eliminate factory farming in favor of a sustainable food production system which is healthful and humane, economically viable and ecologically sound.

Stop Factory Farm Pollution!

• There are many ways that groundwater, in particular, may be contaminated with nitrates from factory farms including: lagoon seepages, lagoon spills or leaks and the misapplication of manure onto the land. Read More
• Drinking nitrate-contaminated water can cause "blue baby" syndrome in infants, leading to developmental deficiencies or death. Read More
• One survey of drinking-water wells in North Carolina found that 10% of wells near factory farms have unsafe levels of nitrates -- the cause: leaking hog lagoons and hog wastewater sprayfields. Read More
• Residents near large hog factories may experience headaches, runny noses, sore throats, excessive coughing, diarrhea, and burning eyes more often than people living elsewhere. Read More
• Higher levels of tension, depression, anger and fatigue have been found among residents living near large swine factories. Read More

Go, Hog, go!