This little piggy went to market

If you're a frequent driver on Highway 52 you have probably noticed a new farm stand, Lazy J. The "J" is for John Scaggs, who is anything but lazy.

Scaggs raises pigs, which he's been doing since 2015. "I run a unique, pretty exotic set of genetics," Scaggs said. The backbone of his herd is the Mangalitsa breed, which is from Hungary.

These pigs are very well adapted to the Front Range. They are all dark colored pigs with woolly coats that take about 50% longer than commercial pigs to get to market, but produce a superior meat.

As for the tale of how Scaggs started to raise pigs, he said, "You never know where the road of life will lead you." Growing up just outside of New York City, he moved to Colorado in 2004 and worked in hotel development doing feasibility studies.

He said that like so many others, in 2008 when the Great Recession hit, "I had to scramble around. I did environmental energy consulting for hotels for a while, but I couldn't get any traction with that because you can't compete with big companies."

It was his job as head of sales and marketing with Haystack Mountain Cheese that piqued his interest in the natural food industry and value-added agriculture.

In the case of Haystack Mountain, Scaggs said value-added agriculture "means taking a raw product, in this case goat milk, and adding value to it by creating cheese.... That helps a farmer compete, but not just at the commodity level."

As Scaggs said, goats lead to pigs. "I just love working with them. They are so smart, it's just incredible."

Lazy J is what Scaggs calls a "farrow-to-finish" production. All the market pigs are born on site from his own breeding stock. He raises and feeds the pigs himself. "While this is not necessarily the easiest schedule, it allows me tremendous freedom and opportunity to be outside working with animals, using my body to stay fit and also allowing me to express my creativity for how I market my product."

Helping Scaggs with the stand are Michele Bertholf and Carol Stock, who are "the two best people in the world." Bertholf is a teacher and Stock a retired sales executive and photojournalist. "They keep the locomotive running, allowing me to focus on the Pigs," he added.

Another incredible thing, Scaggs said, is working with the Cito/Schneider families. "I'm just so grateful that they have opened their farm to me. I hope to inspire kids who did not grow up in farming." Scaggs took the land over after a hemp business left. Unfortunately, the plastic that the farmer used to cover the hemp was not removed before the land was recultivated. Scaggs removed all the plastic pieces by hand.

Besides pork products, the Lazy J stand also sells a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, and pantry products from area producers such as Ollin Farms, Rough & Ready farm, Buckner Family Ranch, Bloombox foods, VitaMia Hemp CBD, Silver Canyon Coffee and Mountain Girl Pickles.

Scaggs hopes to keep the stand going until Christmas and then open for a new season in April 2022. Updated stand hours are 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and Saturday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The stand is located at 7656 Mineral Rd. (Highway 52) Niwot, CO. Lazy J products are also available at the Longmont Farmers' Market, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. to Nov. 21.For more information go to Lazyj@baconbandito.com or call 720-597-0046.