Hello! We are Parsnip, Nutmeg and Ted. Even if you are not quite old enough to love meteorites (yet) you are bound to love us!
“We’re glad the meteorite thing missed our hutch. We all heard it land. It made a big crashing noise - we all ran into our bedroom and cuddled together! The next morning our breakfast was late. We were not happy! “
Nutmeg
I’m the long-haired one
The Meteorite Pigs on TV
“This is when we were on the telly. A BBC person found out that the meteorite thing had landed not far from our hutch. He wanted a nice picture of us so we chose this one. The grass was really tasty!
Ted
Although Ted may look innocent, she is sometimes unkind to visiting “friends”.
To show that she is “Top Pig” she sometimes likes to chase and even to nip. This is why she gets called Naughty Ted.
Nutmeg never has a bad hair day
Nutmeg’s lovely locks have gained her many admirers - one of whom is our friend Felicity Teague, who calls her Moppet or Mop. Felicity’s wonderful poem is about what Mop thought when the meteorite landed.
It was cold. It was dark. We were grateful for hay,
we being Teddy and Parsnip and me.
We were singing and snoozing and feeling quite gay;
we’d had cabbage and carrots for tea.
Parsnip said she was thirsty and moved from the bed
to the diner, to have a quick drink;
but she rushed back, her tufts raised. ‘What is it?’ I said.
‘I don’t know, Mop! Come, let’s sit and think!’
So we all ambled out and sat still for a time,
ears and noses a-twitching a lot.
We heard whistles and rumbles and some sort of chime
and the air felt remarkably hot.
‘Something’s falling!’ breathed Teddy, her eyes very wide,
and we heard a sharp thud not far off,
then a human, perhaps. Parsnip said, ‘Time to hide!’
No one came, though; we just heard a cough.
We continued to sing and to snooze through the night
and through dawn, ’til we heard a big noise!
Human voices, so many, they gave us a fright.
Even Parsnip could not keep her poise.
Breakfast came; it was carrots and cabbage again.
We were puzzled; it’s normally weeds.
But we ate all our veggies and made a nice den
in our hay, which was sweet, with no seeds.
If you have written a poem about Guinea Pigs or Meteorites we would love to hear it. We might put it on our website. You can use the Contacts Page to send it.
Parsnip
Hello. I’m Parsnip. I am quiet and sensible. Nutmeg and Ted sometimes get silly and start running around the hutch and charging up and down the ladder. To calm them down I tell them about meteorites and space, and I get them to answer some quiz questions. Can you answer them too?
1. How old is the meteorite?
2. When meteorites hit the earth they sometimes make a hole. What is the hole called?
3. What colour was the meteorite?
4. The meteorite made a big flash in the sky. What was this flash called?
5. Where in Winchcombe can you go to see the meteorite?
6. What did Professor Sara Russell make when she came to Winchcombe School?
7. What time did the meteorite land?
8. Where did the meteorite come from?
9. Where in London can you go to see the meteorite
10. NASA has just launched a spacecraft that will go to look at asteroids. What is it called?