Here is the before....
By the way - that huge kettle is full of leaf lard. That's what I'm talkin' about....
Today is all meat all the time - we are cutting these beautiful pork halves into manageable chunks and then getting them into the freezer. The hams will be taken to the local butcher to be cured and smoked along with one of the bacons. We'll work on the other bacons here. And we might try canning some of the meat instead of freezing it all. But I'll get to that as we go along.
We had a great time yesterday. Everything went off without a hitch and we had a wonderful time with our pal Bourbon Red and his kids ("the Poults"). The Poults were my best helpers ever and wow can they make cinnamon rolls! We loved having our friends here and were so glad they came - we could not have done this ourselves. The pigz turned out to be huge - at least 325lbs or better!
And now we have most of the meat we'll need for a year. I feel like we won the lottery. The bacon lottery....*OFG dreamily thinks of a real bacon lottery...*
All of the effort, all of the work, all of the pig-hatin' was totally worth it... and as the day went along from when we first marched down there to the moment the last half was strung up in the garage... I finally loved them pigz. Turning pigz into pork is where the real love happens.
I'll be posting a detailed post about what happened... along with Part Three of our epic tale (Part One here and Part Two here)... but for now I gotta get my meat saw and run right out there.
Happy Sunday everyone! On this Lord's day we thank God for this full harvest and having the Hand of Provision on us. Amen and amen.
We had a great time yesterday. Everything went off without a hitch and we had a wonderful time with our pal Bourbon Red and his kids ("the Poults"). The Poults were my best helpers ever and wow can they make cinnamon rolls! We loved having our friends here and were so glad they came - we could not have done this ourselves. The pigz turned out to be huge - at least 325lbs or better!
And now we have most of the meat we'll need for a year. I feel like we won the lottery. The bacon lottery....*OFG dreamily thinks of a real bacon lottery...*
All of the effort, all of the work, all of the pig-hatin' was totally worth it... and as the day went along from when we first marched down there to the moment the last half was strung up in the garage... I finally loved them pigz. Turning pigz into pork is where the real love happens.
I'll be posting a detailed post about what happened... along with Part Three of our epic tale (Part One here and Part Two here)... but for now I gotta get my meat saw and run right out there.
Happy Sunday everyone! On this Lord's day we thank God for this full harvest and having the Hand of Provision on us. Amen and amen.
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14 comments:
Dontcha feel so wealthy when you are cutting up those sides? Going through your recipes in your head with each cut? Wrapping and marking the packages, grinding scraps for sausage, rendering the lard, etc.....Ahhhhhh! *satisfied sigh*
Amen and Amen. Girl - I am impressed with a capital I.
WOW!! I am so envious! That looks wonderful! You all did a great job. Have a great day working that pork.
Wel done! - Question/ you skinned them up front?
Very, very interesting. I'll be watching to see how it goes. I really hope to raise a few myself some day.
ooh whee child! things are looking brighter :o) (I'm singing that :o)
Them pigz sure look good to me..what a blessing! You need a separarte freezer just to hold them..they sure got big and I'm sure worth every effort..wait til those lips start smaking on that bacon :o) I just love it..I gotta think about getting me a farm :o) I want some of them pigz too :o) I'm drooling over here.
Whoot!
Droooling in anticipation of some really good pork. Some day I hope to raise my own pork or get us a wild one! Yum!
I like how you gave Thanks at the end, fitting for a Sunday
Now THAT's what I'm talking about! It looks like you have an inside area this year to work on the pigz. As I recall, you had to work them in the snow last year. You all do great work together! And you're so right to thank the Lord for it all!
Wowza! You're livin' high on the hog for sure! Looking forward to the detailed post. You are nothing short of amazing.
Oh boy!! That's some good bacon! You must be the happiest girl in Ohio!
Hey Free! We feel like the kings of the world!
Thanks RKBs, we really had a great time.
Still workin' on it, HDA... its a lot of work! But superfun! :-)
Thanks Dave, yep - skinned 'em first.
Hi Becky! I'm trying to squeeze in updates as we go along.
Oh hey Ginny, I was singing right along! And yep, we have several freezers. They bacons are amazing. I'm going to do more of them myself this year instead of taking them all to the butcher.
Whoot! is right KC!
Hi House Sparrow! You won't regret it - raising your own meat is a great project all around.
Thanks CC, amen and amen. I feel like we had kind of a rough patch there for a while and now we are into easy street. There is much rejoicing!
Thanks VPak! Yep we got them heaved into the garage. Last year it was just the two of us - but with our friend Bourbon Red (another big guy) we got right to work. Those two big men could barely lift the pigs!
Aw shucks, B2B, we're just working our way thru it. Details coming - as you can imagine its a ton of work. But tons of fun too!
You said it, Robin, actually I'm the happiest girl in the WORLD!
;-)
How exciting! You have your reward.
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