I expected the winter harvest up here to be a little bit like the tourist season: slower, quieter, dormant, a time of hibernation.

But instead it’s brimming with life and there’s been an unexpected arrival – or eight! That’s right, the farm’s beautiful, heavily-pregnant piggy mama gave birth to eight piglets last night, and she did it all on her own during one of the biggest downpours of the year!

Today was the first time I’d ever laid eyes on piglets just a few hours old, and I was totally mesmerised by their dexterity, darting around, suckling on mum’s teats and even coming over for a sticky beak. Farmer Johno told me the piglets have three days to choose their favourite teat out of twenty, and then that will be their go-to for milk as the other twelve will cease to produce. Clever and efficient. All the more reason why these intelligent creatures should be given wide, open spaces to roam free, play and forage.

These farm piggies each have about 500 square metres, they’re rotated on fresh pasture with nutritional grasses to forage on, and they don’t receive any hormones, antibiotics or drenches. The only additive they get is garlic infused apple cider vinegar in their water to help gut health, digestion and immunity. How very Byron! Plus they get lots of love and cuddles from farmers like Johno.

As you probably will have guessed, the pigs aren’t pets or for show. They’re bred for consumption at Three Blue Ducks restaurant, a 100-metre walk away. That can be hard to swallow. I’ve eaten meat my whole life – in fact, my parents were pig farmers back in Poland before they came to Australia (they once had a delivery of 14 piglets). Having spent some time on my grandmother’s farm as a child, I was made aware of the reality behind consuming meat from an early age. I remember sitting in the farm shed watching my nan make endless sausages, quietly and thoughtfully. Nothing went to waste.

But being so far removed from the source of food for most of my adult life has desensitised me a little, and meeting these little pigs was confronting. I thought about this for a while and I’m glad I feel something because it makes me care. It has reminded me that “ethical farming” is more than just a buzz term. To be able to justify our consumption of meat, we need to respect the animal during its life- and afterwards by eating every part, offal and all.