Teen tries hand at raising old-breed pigs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)--As class projects go, Jonah Koenigsberg is doing something more interesting than the usual papier-mache map of the state.

Jonah, 15, lives on New Town Farm in Union County, N.C. With his seven brothers and sisters, he's home-schooled by his mother, Melinda Koenigsberg.

Jonah's homework is sometimes farm work. For two years, his pet project has been pigs.

Not just any pigs. Old-breed pigs. Tamworths, Farmer's Hybrids and Ossabaws.

It's that last name, the Ossabaw, that makes some people take notice.

These days, the food world is having a new romance with the pig. Chefs and farmers all over the country are trying to get back to more naturally raised pigs and get away from factory farms. They want pork that has been raised humanely, but they also want pork that tastes like pork.

Fatty, juicy, flavorful pork.

In those circles, the Ossabaw stands out as the pig with a story.

Jonah Koenigsberg is like most teenage boys. Just quieter: Coaxing him to talk is like trying to drag a goat on a rope.Why did he pick old-breed pigs? "They seemed interesting. Different. It just seemed neat."

For Jonah, that's a long speech.

In natural and organic foods, Jonah's dad, Sammy Koenigsberg, is one of Charlotte's leading lights. He helped found the Matthews Community Farmers' Market, and he's active in Slow Foods, an international food organization.

Several years ago, Sammy and Jonah went to a lecture at Clemson University about old-breed pigs.

Both father and son were intrigued. So they decided to try it, starting with two Farmer's Hybrids, a 100-year-old breed.

Sammy would put up the money and Jonah would be in charge of the pigs.

It was easier than he expected, Jonah says. "They didn't seem to have any problems."

With advice from S.C., farmer Emile DeFelice, they branched out. Last spring, they got two Tamworth piglets from Grateful Growers Farm in Denver. In the summer, those were joined by two Ossabaws from Eliza MacLean of Cane Creek Farm near Chapel Hill.

MacLean's Ossabaws are an important part of the story.

Here's the short version: Brooklyn food writer Peter Kaminsky is crazy for ham. Particularly Spanish ham made from pigs called Ibericos. Kaminsky's search for Iberico pigs became a book, "Pig Perfect."

Spain's Ibericos are an ancient line with great genes. They're specially raised, foraging and feeding on acorns.

When Spanish conquistadors were roaming around, they dropped off pigs, including Ibericos, on islands in case they came back.

So Ossabaw Island off the Georgia coast ended up with a population of wild pigs believed to be Iberico descendants.

The Ossabaws can't be removed from their island without a lengthy quarantine. But in their isolation, they developed a form of non-insulin-dependent diabetes. So a group was taken to the University of Missouri for a health study.

With the help of Chuck Talbott, an animal sciences professor who is now retired from NC A&T State University in Greensboro, Kaminsky brought about two dozen Ossabaws from Missouri and handed them over to two Carolinas farmers, Eliza MacLean and Emile DeFelice.

Today, those pigs are having piglets. And MacLean's piglets are on the Koenigsbergs' farm.

The Koenigsbergs fenced in an acre of woods behind their house and let the pigs loose. The pigs got a special diet of corn and soy, but they could also forage. Pigs are powerful foragers. Put a pig on a plot of land and that plot will get torn up. That can be a good thing: Historically, farmers used pigs to clear land.

The pen where the pigs lived last fall still looks like an earthmover hit it. The pigs even wiped out pesky honeysuckle and blackberry vines.

Jonah and Sammy were both moved, just watching the pigs act like pigs.

"They root around, and they can't do that on a cement floor on an industrial farm," says Jonah.

Jonah also got to know them in a closer way, feeding them extra vegetables from the gardens.

"You don't think of them as dirty anymore, or stupid. They seem a little more real, or human.

"Some of them are nicer than others. Some tend to be kind of mean."

All in all, he says, the four pigs were easier to handle than his seven siblings.

All this talk of ancient Spain and wild pigs is romantic. But there's more to it.

"Ossabaws are great," says Kaminsky. "When all is said and done, it was a great grail in front of us--restoring this ancient Spanish breed.

"But I don't think it's all that important. Any pigs that you raise outside, let them roam around and eat acorns, are going to be great."

The important thing, say old-breed activists, is getting pigs back onto small farms and keeping the genetic diversity of older lines.

Don Schrider, communications director for the American livestock Breeds Conservancy in Pittsboro, points to all kinds of benefits, from hardiness to increased Omega-3 fatty acids in the fat of animals raised on pasture.

Then there's the taste factor. Everybody agrees that old breeds, raised in the right setting, have it all over industrial pigs that produce lean meat known for its consistency.

"These breeds on our list, like Tamworth and Ossabaw, all these breeds are winning acclaim for their flavor," says Schrider. "It's a stark difference between what you can buy in a grocery store. It's not a subtle difference."

When Jonah's four pigs made their inevitable trip to the meat packer, he went along.

"It's probably the hardest part," he admits. "You don't actually see them kill them. But we walked through (the packing plant) and there was a dead cow hanging from the ceiling."

Eating the first pigs he raised felt a little weird, he says. "But you get used to it."

As far as whether the pork tasted better, he really doesn't know. They don't eat much pork at the Koenigsbergs. His mother only buys organically raised, non-industrial meat. And that kind of pork is hard to find.

But Jonah found plenty of customers among local chefs, like Joseph Bonaparte at the Art Institute of Charlotte. Several were eager to buy pork for projects like house-cured bacon and pork belly.

After paying his dad back for fencing, feed and other supplies, Jonah thinks he's pocketed about $1,000 "for college and stuff."

"A new iPod," his dad teases.

A few weeks ago, a fresh batch of five piglets arrived at the farm. All Ossabaws this time.

Jonah plans to stick with the pigs. Will he grow up to be a farmer like his dad?

Probably not, he says. "I've kind of done a lot of it already."

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Date: 4/25/07

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