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Photo by Andy Atkinson Jessica Anderson, left, puts in some effort as she lifts her piglet, Molly, for the first time with some help from Melissa Townsend. Step one: Taking piglet home Eagle Point girl puts feet on 4-H fair path By MARK FREEMAN EAGLE POINT -- The baby animal darting about the pen was known only as Piglet No. 10 until Jessica Anderson cupped her arms and took hold of the 43 pounds of squealing swine. A PIG TALE This is the first in an occasional Mail Tribune series that will follow Jessica Anderson as she raises and prepares her pig, Molly, for entrance in the 4-H competition and sale at the Jackson County Fair July 19-25 at the county Expo Park. At that moment, the pig became Molly. "Heavy pig, heavy pig, heavy, heavy," puffed Jessica, 10, as she struggled to hold Molly aloft while posing for her camera-clicking mother. Jessica had never touched any pig before, let alone held one. But in the next four months, the Eagle Point fourth-grader and Molly will travel a journey hundreds of Rogue Valley boys, girls and their farm animals take together each year. Molly is Jessica's first project for 4-H, a program that will teach her responsibilities and skills as she prepares Molly for show and sale July 19-25 at the Jackson County Fair. Jessica will nurture Molly, now 7 weeks old, as she grooms the piglet into 240 pounds of marketable swine that Jessica will parade around the county fair arena. But all that will have to wait. This getting-to-know-you session, made awkward by Molly's intense screams of protest, must first end. "Jessica," said her mother, Christine Anderson, "you'd better get used to it." Jessica will get more than used to touching Molly, says Melissa Townsend, a 19-year-old 4-H veteran who will help Jessica in this project. Molly will live in a pen at the Townsend family's 10-acre ranch outside of Central Point. Between now and fair time, Jessica will spend at least two weeknights and both weekend days learning all the nuances of raising, marketing and selling an animal for profit. Jessica, the only child of her single-parent mother, knows none of that now. But Townsend is convinced Jessica will be a quick study ready to absorb the Head, Heart, Hands and Health aspects that give 4-H its name. "She's real outgoing," Townsend says. "She'll pick up the whole process and will get right into 4-H." But one thing the process will not prepare her for is finally parting with Molly four months from now, Townsend says. Jessica knows Molly will be sold and butchered for food. But she won't feel what that means, Townsend says, until the pair part at the fair. "She's going to fall in love with the pig, get attached and bawl the night of the auction," Townsend says. "I did. It was hard for me." But that day seems distant as Jessica begins to bond with Molly, who squeals in a cage lashed to the bed of Townsend's pickup truck. Jessica, Townsend and a cache of family members have all driven to the Eagle Point ranch where pig No. 10 was born and weaned. Jessica perused the swine litter last week and picked No. 10 to become Molly, named for Jessica's best friend in Redmond. Buying Molly has become a family event, and a caravan escorts Molly from her old home to her new one. As Christine Anderson writes a $100 check, Jessica cautiously tickles Molly's nose, assuring her that the ride from the Dunbar ranch to Townsend's pig pen will be fine. Molly squeals her objections. "They feel kind of dry," Jessica says. "I didn't know it would squeal so much." Lesson One is over. Jessica now knows first-hand that pigs don't sweat, but they more than make up for it in squeals. Christine Anderson is proud of her daughter, knowing the next four months will be an adventure as Molly helps Jessica become more confident and responsible. "This is something Jess and I can do together," Christine Anderson says. "I think it's going to be good for her. "If it's good for her," she says, "it's good for me." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA