NH Homesteader's journal

[sumi]

Oh crumbs… Not a good day for fridge failure no!

 

[Mini Horses]

You know this make me think of something that MAY help others. An acquaintance had what I thought were 2 big chest freezers but, she said one was used as frig. Apparently the thermo went out and they replaced with one to set at frig temps, not freeze.....?????.....anyway, with such freezers being seen for such temp issues, it may be a way to make a huge super cooler. ?? I'm not an HVAC person but, I know it CAN be done.

Oh, they use theirs for excess milk, vegs, etc. It was big but, I have a small chest freezer that would be ideal for use as a very large cooler. PLUS, it cost less new than some of the large coolers. You cold even drop a carcass in at freezer temps and chill that pork. Cut it off, turn down low, etc. ????

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yeah that was another idea we had. Just thought this one would work. Funny (or not so funny) thing is, it's working fine now. I think it is finicky. It's going to the dump ASAP, no use to me if I can't trust it.

Going to start cutting and grinding shortly.

Just witnessed my attack rooster in action. He runs right up behind my husband and goes after him. Completely unprovoked, for no reason at all. Jerk.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I hear "jerk" chicken tastes pretty good!

 

[NH Homesteader]

My husband is the only one in the house who wants to spare his life, lol. I told the rooster today he should reconsider attacking the person who is keeping him out of the freezer!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Hams are cut and ground up, 25 lbs of which is mixed with breakfast sausage mix. The rest will go in with the ground front shoulders tomorrow morning with italian sausage mix. Then we'll get chops, bacon and ribs in the freezer, then regrind the breakfast sausage and put some in casings, and in the freezer. Then Tuesday the second batch of sausage will be processed and headed for the freezer.

We normally let our pigs hang for a few days but this is rush time. Ughhh to the fridge. This is not how it was supposed to go!

Ok I'm done whining now. I haven't eaten since lunch so I'm going to go scrounge for food and hopefully go to bed early.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Sounds like a busy and productive day for sure! Have you used the breakfast sausage mix before? I tried a mix once and I just didn't like it. Found out after I'd made about 30 lbs of sausage - yeck!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yes, we have! It's the same kind that the person who taught my husband how to butcher used. The first pig of ours they butchered, they did 3 kinds of sausage. One of them was so gross... I ended up sending it all with him to work when he made snow that winter. He didn't mind it but I couldn't eat it!

 

[baymule]

Southern style pig hanging........iced down in ice chests like FEM said. Drain every day and add more ice. We have a Coleman Extreme, neighbor has a Yeti AND an ice machine...we got it covered!

Glad you got the pig butchered and off the feed bill.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Me too, the girls don't eat nearly as much as he did. They're so calm and quiet today, I didn't realize how much he was getting them going. Plus he ran them off from the feed, so they just ate today and didn't have to battle for it.