freemotion
Food Guru
I hope you hosed each other off before going into the house! 
Ohiofarmgirl'sAdventuresinTheGoodLand-where ya been? whatcha been doin
- Thread starter ohiofarmgirl
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bibliophile birds
Lovin' The Homestead
just a head's up: i may be running a little "boarding program for piggies" next year if you'd be interested in "boarding" a pig, or even just half a pig, over here.kcsunshine said:
basically, i've been pork free for 12 years and that has to change. i plan to eat nothing but pork for months and months come next fall.
lorihadams
Always doing laundry
So glad you made it through it all....how did Kai do with the "festivities" or did you keep her away from all the butchering?
We've been elbow deep in chicken butchering lately so I can only imagine how exhausted you are after 2 pigs....whew.
We've been elbow deep in chicken butchering lately so I can only imagine how exhausted you are after 2 pigs....whew.
kcsunshine
Almost Self-Reliant
That sounds great. I was just commenting I'd love to get 1/2 pig. Me loves me pork.bibliophile birds said:just a head's up: i may be running a little "boarding program for piggies" next year if you'd be interested in "boarding" a pig, or even just half a pig, over here.kcsunshine said:
basically, i've been pork free for 12 years and that has to change. i plan to eat nothing but pork for months and months come next fall.
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ohiofarmgirl
Sipping Bacon Martinis
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oh golly i was just out there ogling the pork hanging... its beautiful. actually it was me and 2 1/2 dogs... we are calling Kai "half".. so its Dog#1, Dog#2, and Half hee hee hee
anyway Kai stayed inside and away from the action, as did Dog#2 who doesnt like shooting so he stayed inside and peed his pants
the big star of the show was Dog#1 but i think i'm getting ahead of myself
so
yesterday we marched out there after a night of working up our gumption by punching each other in the arm, calling each other a variety of disparaging names doubting each others courage and fortitude, and then finally double dog daring each other to get out there.
we marched out. well armed. extremely well armed. just in case. we also called the Good Neighbors and told them to look for our bodies, just in case. and i called my brother and told him i loved him best, just in case. and i checked to make sure i knew where the insurance cards were, just in case. and we had Bourbon Red on speed dial. and all the clucks and ducks and geese and such were still locked in. just in case.
here is what we learned:
1. we can do this. YOU can do this. really.
2. pigs are big, mean, and destructive. i hate them.
3. i can do a lot of things well. skinning a pig is not one of them
4. wow do i love that dog (Dog#1 - Titan)
so our clever plan was that we'd lead the pigs, one by one, up the hill and into a pen we constructed of hog panels. while the pig was blithely eating from a bucket we'd blast it to kingdom come... i mean.. we'd shoot to stun, then "stick it", then stay out of the way.
as for me, while The Big Man was doing the shootin' I would stand at the ready to take the gun out of his hand so he could stick that pig. i would also provide back up if the shootin' went sideways.
back up meant a 12 gauge pistol grip Winchester Defender, with deer slugs. SKR8PN, that one's for you - can i get a hell yeah?
anyway
i wasnt exactly comfortable with that b/c i'd be shooting TOWARD my hubby, the hen house, or the good neighbor's cows. so instead i took up my weapons of choice...
my beatin' stick, the full sized axe, and my trusty war hound.
of course, things dont exactly go to plan and both pigs came out of their pen and up the hill to have a look around. we got the biggest one in the pen, closed the gate...
...the dog and i took up our position well behind TBM, axe in one hand, stick in the other, dog beside and slightly behind me, crouched down and as forward on the balls of my feet as i could be in my big barn boots....
...and that freakin' b*tch climbed up over the hog panel like it was spun from spider webs... completely crushing it as she went. and then she sauced away.
TBM turned as we just looked at each other. clearly this was gonna be an ordeal and our plan was out the window.
but the other pig had waltzed up and was near the ruined heap of my hog panel.
"Baby, take the shot!"
he did. it was picture perfect. the pig was down, my hubby stuck him, a good bleed, we stood back and waited for the trashin'
it happened (the trashin')
we thought it was over....
"hey Baby is he fakin' it?" i called out (see? it gets funnier every time).
just then, that pig breached like a whale, flipped over, and slammed into the ground.. his head hit so hard the ground shook. i'm telling you the ground SHOOK!
the dog and i leaned closer to each other.
then it was over.
but i saw that stupid big one out of the corner of my eye, destroying my hen yard like it was nothing. we went to get her.
the dog and i circled wide and started herding her back toward the pen.
now to be clear, by any measure that stupid big one was TWICE the size of me. and she was givin' me that stink eye and she made like she was gonna take her move on me.. but then she saw the big wolf behind me and she just moved off. toward TBM.
she met her just end.
i have a buddy who says the meanest pigs are the best tasting. she's gonna be the best one ever.
so then it was a matter of catching our breath, looking around at the battle field (our hen yard completely covered in blood), and then figuring out what we were supposed to do next. honestly, the both of us hadnt really thought further than "kill them pigz."
good thing we had Bourbon Red's instructions - which i'll post of course. they were perfect.
we took our time b/c we didnt know what we were doin' and every pig thing looks different than a chicken. "Say, what's THAT?" *both cock heads slightly sideways and look curiously....* "I dunno...."
by the time our adrenaline wore off we found some hilarity. TBM called me "lorena bobbit" when i was um.. er... removing the male pig plumbing. he thought it was hilarious. i made him hold gross stuff. then he wasnt laughing so much anymore.
mostly i did all the dressing since i'm on "guts"...and most of the sawing. however i draw the line at the trotters which gross me out. he sawed those off.
we took a break before we started skinning and let all the poultry out. they ran directly out to the pools of blood and cleaned everything up. Debbie and Nibbles looked out of the goat house wide eyed and swore they'd be good milkers next spring.
the skinning went badly. i cannot skin a pig to save my dang life. i shoulda just used a weed whacker. its ugly. but i got a huge bowl of fat that i'll render into lard.
then we sawed the carcasses in half - TBM did that and he did a great job. then we strung them up, went inside and fell into a heap.
and thats what happened.
we have to work on getting the hams down to the local butcher shop but we'll hold off on the rest of it as we got cold weather bearing down on us and i'm still tired even tho i went to bed really early last nite.
The Big Man came out late this morning and i told him i got everyone up, out and fed but the pigz....
;-)
anyway Kai stayed inside and away from the action, as did Dog#2 who doesnt like shooting so he stayed inside and peed his pants
the big star of the show was Dog#1 but i think i'm getting ahead of myself
so
yesterday we marched out there after a night of working up our gumption by punching each other in the arm, calling each other a variety of disparaging names doubting each others courage and fortitude, and then finally double dog daring each other to get out there.
we marched out. well armed. extremely well armed. just in case. we also called the Good Neighbors and told them to look for our bodies, just in case. and i called my brother and told him i loved him best, just in case. and i checked to make sure i knew where the insurance cards were, just in case. and we had Bourbon Red on speed dial. and all the clucks and ducks and geese and such were still locked in. just in case.
here is what we learned:
1. we can do this. YOU can do this. really.
2. pigs are big, mean, and destructive. i hate them.
3. i can do a lot of things well. skinning a pig is not one of them
4. wow do i love that dog (Dog#1 - Titan)
so our clever plan was that we'd lead the pigs, one by one, up the hill and into a pen we constructed of hog panels. while the pig was blithely eating from a bucket we'd blast it to kingdom come... i mean.. we'd shoot to stun, then "stick it", then stay out of the way.
as for me, while The Big Man was doing the shootin' I would stand at the ready to take the gun out of his hand so he could stick that pig. i would also provide back up if the shootin' went sideways.
back up meant a 12 gauge pistol grip Winchester Defender, with deer slugs. SKR8PN, that one's for you - can i get a hell yeah?
anyway
i wasnt exactly comfortable with that b/c i'd be shooting TOWARD my hubby, the hen house, or the good neighbor's cows. so instead i took up my weapons of choice...
my beatin' stick, the full sized axe, and my trusty war hound.
of course, things dont exactly go to plan and both pigs came out of their pen and up the hill to have a look around. we got the biggest one in the pen, closed the gate...
...the dog and i took up our position well behind TBM, axe in one hand, stick in the other, dog beside and slightly behind me, crouched down and as forward on the balls of my feet as i could be in my big barn boots....
...and that freakin' b*tch climbed up over the hog panel like it was spun from spider webs... completely crushing it as she went. and then she sauced away.
TBM turned as we just looked at each other. clearly this was gonna be an ordeal and our plan was out the window.
but the other pig had waltzed up and was near the ruined heap of my hog panel.
"Baby, take the shot!"
he did. it was picture perfect. the pig was down, my hubby stuck him, a good bleed, we stood back and waited for the trashin'
it happened (the trashin')
we thought it was over....
"hey Baby is he fakin' it?" i called out (see? it gets funnier every time).
just then, that pig breached like a whale, flipped over, and slammed into the ground.. his head hit so hard the ground shook. i'm telling you the ground SHOOK!
the dog and i leaned closer to each other.
then it was over.
but i saw that stupid big one out of the corner of my eye, destroying my hen yard like it was nothing. we went to get her.
the dog and i circled wide and started herding her back toward the pen.
now to be clear, by any measure that stupid big one was TWICE the size of me. and she was givin' me that stink eye and she made like she was gonna take her move on me.. but then she saw the big wolf behind me and she just moved off. toward TBM.
she met her just end.
i have a buddy who says the meanest pigs are the best tasting. she's gonna be the best one ever.
so then it was a matter of catching our breath, looking around at the battle field (our hen yard completely covered in blood), and then figuring out what we were supposed to do next. honestly, the both of us hadnt really thought further than "kill them pigz."
good thing we had Bourbon Red's instructions - which i'll post of course. they were perfect.
we took our time b/c we didnt know what we were doin' and every pig thing looks different than a chicken. "Say, what's THAT?" *both cock heads slightly sideways and look curiously....* "I dunno...."
by the time our adrenaline wore off we found some hilarity. TBM called me "lorena bobbit" when i was um.. er... removing the male pig plumbing. he thought it was hilarious. i made him hold gross stuff. then he wasnt laughing so much anymore.
mostly i did all the dressing since i'm on "guts"...and most of the sawing. however i draw the line at the trotters which gross me out. he sawed those off.
we took a break before we started skinning and let all the poultry out. they ran directly out to the pools of blood and cleaned everything up. Debbie and Nibbles looked out of the goat house wide eyed and swore they'd be good milkers next spring.
the skinning went badly. i cannot skin a pig to save my dang life. i shoulda just used a weed whacker. its ugly. but i got a huge bowl of fat that i'll render into lard.
then we sawed the carcasses in half - TBM did that and he did a great job. then we strung them up, went inside and fell into a heap.
and thats what happened.
we have to work on getting the hams down to the local butcher shop but we'll hold off on the rest of it as we got cold weather bearing down on us and i'm still tired even tho i went to bed really early last nite.
The Big Man came out late this morning and i told him i got everyone up, out and fed but the pigz....
;-)
lalaland
Lovin' The Homestead
good lord, girl, you got guts. way to go, think I'll stay in Mn admiring your fortitude and shaking my head, no way could I do it.
or maybe....well ......if I had to....and if I got piggies next spring....and dang it, I want my own lard!
shooot. any chance you are thinking road trips as ssf's pig expert?
or maybe....well ......if I had to....and if I got piggies next spring....and dang it, I want my own lard!
shooot. any chance you are thinking road trips as ssf's pig expert?
Dace
Revolution in Progress
You and TBM are awesome!
kcsunshine
Almost Self-Reliant
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times - My Hero! 
Farmfresh
City Biddy
Another one bites the dust!!
Then on to BACON!!!!
