There are lots of folks who call the Hogs in Arkansas, but perhaps no one is as passionate about pork as Holly Payne and Aaron Baldwin, co-owners of Porch Swing Farms in Bigelow. The couple launched the business in 2021, shortly after moving home to Arkansas.
“Growing up, Aaron’s parents would often shake their heads at the dinner table and say, ‘This is not what pork used to taste like,’” Payne said. “They were missing the succulent, flavorful pork they had been served by their parents’ generation.”
In 2020, Payne and Baldwin found that flavor in the Gloucestershire Old Spot pig breed, and the heritage pigs became the cornerstone of their business.
Payne & Baldwin
“When they serve pork in Buckingham Palace, they serve Gloucestershire Old Spots. It’s that good,” Payne said. “The meat from Gloucestershire Old Spots is so special that it became the first breed in the world to be afforded Traditional Specialty Guaranteed status by the European Commission, putting it on par with Champagne and Parma ham.”
In addition to selling pasture-raised pork, including a line of handcrafted sausages exclusive to Porch Swing Farms, the business offers farm-fresh eggs in a rainbow of colors from its pastured hens. The farm also produces specialty products such as its Perfect Pimento Cheese and Porch Swing Pecans, and the couple grows flowers available seasonally at local farmers’ markets.
Porch Swing Eggs
Running the farm has been a learning experience for Baldwin, who has a doctorate in biochemistry from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Payne, who has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Lyon College in Batesville and a Master of Fine Arts in costume design and technology, along with a Master of Education, from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
“Neither of us originally thought we’d be spending as much time marketing, accounting, designing, selling,” she said. “We thought we’d mostly be farming, but it takes all those jobs to make it work, we’ve learned.”
Peugeot the Barn Cat
There is much to do at the farm. In addition to feeding and watering the animals, which include pigs, chickens, geese, livestock guardian dogs, barn cats, the couple must fix fences, deliver market hogs to the processor, pick up packaged pork, and collect, wash and package eggs. The couple also makes sausage twice a week at their commercial kitchen in Little Rock.
Other duties include selling at farmers markets, making deliveries to Conway, Russellville and Little Rock’s online farmers markets, and more humdrum activities such as stocking freezers, balancing the books, answering emails and putting out fires.
Payne with Livestock Guardian Dog
“We try to spend our time doing what has the biggest reward both economically and emotionally—talking to customers, creating delicious meats, and caring for our land and creatures,” Payne said.
Working efficiently is a lesson the couple learned early on in their farming journey, when Baldwin broke a kneecap while working on the farm.
Baldwin on the Farm
“He’s better now—three surgeries later—but it taught us to spend a lot of energy on the front end of a project to make it easier on the backend,” Payne said. “We remind each other all the time that we’re only getting older and need to make things easier, not harder.”
The couple employs an additional farmer to help manage the growing demands of the business while Payne and Baldwin make sausages and complete deliveries, and there are also a number of friends who volunteer their time to help Baldwin in the kitchen and Payne on the farm. Baldwin and Payne’s families also supported the business early on by testing products, helping at markets, fixing barns, giving advice and providing moral support.
Porch Swing Breakfast Sausage
Payne said she is proud of the business’s accomplishments both on the farm and around town.
“I’m proud of the vibrant community we’re a part of at the Hillcrest Farmers Market. We committed to being there every week year-round, only missing a handful of Saturdays over the past five years,” Payne said. “I am also proud of the improvements we’ve made to the 23 acres we farm — planting trees, increasing soil retention and fertility, beekeeping and supporting native plants.”
Payne at Hillcrest Farmers Market
The business works with programs that combat food insecurity, such as the Central Arkansas Library Systems’ Be Mighty and Potluck Food Rescue. Baldwin and Payne are also election poll workers in Perry County, and they support Project Zero, which facilitates adoptions for children in foster care. In addition, Payne designs costumes for the Tales from the Crypt program put on by students of Parkview Arts & Science Magnet High School in Little Rock at Little Rock’s historic Mount Holly Cemetery.
Porch Swing Pecans
Porch Swing Farms is currently expanding production of its spicy, salty, sweet glazed pecans, and Payne said she hopes to continue offering delicious products that encourage others to become passionate about pork.
“I don’t think any two days are the same,” she said. “It’s never boring around here. We’ve learned a lot, and there’s still so much more. This thrills us.”
French-cut Pork Chop from Porch Swing Farms
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