Ohiofarmgirl'sAdventuresinTheGoodLand-where ya been? whatcha been doin

[Javamama]

Just went and read the tutorial - fantastic! Kudos to all you pig harvesters. But I'm sticking with chickens. I will, however be making payments on a whole hog from SpringHill - we had some of their ham steaks last night and the knife sliced through them like butter. I have never. ever. had ham so tasty or tender. I am a believer now.


And I'll be waiting for that tomato sauce recipe

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

hey java!

we are at a "level one" snow emergency.. and we aint goin anywhere if we can help it. i gotta check on the neighbor kids - i think they are on a delay or maybe its canceled. if they are 'on' we might drive them instead of their 17 yo.

thanks Tanks! yep BR did a GREAT job with the pics. and really its all pretty clean.

however our hen yard was covered in blood from the bleed out. we moved them (as did BR) to a cleaner place to work on them.

it really isnt that bad. we couldnt believe we could do it. we were all "hey look at us!" hee hee hee

 

[lorihadams]

You should teach a class.....seriously.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

ha! not me baby ... i've ben trying to get Bourbon Red it teach this stuff for YEARS.



just an update.. we cut a roast so beautiful that we put it directly in the oven..

the house smells SO GOOD!

 

[freemotion]

I just replied to an ad on craigslist....someone offering to come to us to butcher or to teach us to butcher....cool! Wonder if they read this forum....If they are reasonable, I'll hire them. And learn.

 

[AL]

Ok the "mental" (emotional?) part of butchering a pig would be easier... but I don't have much confidence in my ability for the detail work. That was an awesome step by step! Made me want bacon! (and also made me think about how the lot where I had my garden last year would be ideal for pigs....... )

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

my ability for the detail work.

seriously.. it was easier than plucking chickens. we are The Worst Pluckers EVER.. but this was actually ok. maybe b/c we didnt know what we didnt know...and everything was bigger so it was easier to handle.

the only problem was that the carcasses were HEAVY. we really had to heave ho... to solve this problem we alleyoooped the carcasses up on pallets in the hen yard.. to keep it cleaner, then 1-2-3-lift'ed them into a trolley to take them into a garage. if all else would have failed we could have sawed them in half and then skinned in the garage.

;-)

 

[freemotion]

Do I need a skinning knife? I offered my dad that I'd do the skinning....what was I thinking?????

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

nope.

really. here is our list of equipment:

1. Dog#1
2. the axe
3. a gun (9mm) and the back up gun (not everyone has one of these so dont worry about it)
4. a boning knife (i have 3 we used the cheapest one for the "sticking")
5. a $30 meat saw from a hunting/sporting goods store
6. baling twine
7. a better boning knife and a paring knife for the skinning but i only used the boning knife
8. an el cheapo knife sharpener - keep 'em razor sharp
9. The Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit cards

and thats it. really.

maybe i should explain #9... so we were REALLY tired and it was late and i was exhausted and we hadnt even started skinning the second pig. but we had to get it done. and when i say "we" i mean "me." i love that man but he has horrible knife skills - he's hell with the meat saw but with his cave troll like strength he just doesnt understand the meaning of the word "finesse."

so he went and got the cards to keep me entertained/distracted/awake while i finished skinning.

it worked in 2 ways:

1. we got both pigs done
2. my husband loves me more because i got most of the questions right.

i'm seriously - his love for me went up by at least 37% because i knew almost all the answers. i never have to worry about fancing up like a girl again - all i have to do is quote LOTR's dialogue and throw out a couple random bits of background trivia and he'll get all googley-eyed at me.

anyway. dont know if your man has a nerd-crush on you but it worked for me.

;-)

 

[freemotion]

OK, I just need #1, 3, and 9.....oh, skip 9, my dh is a jock, not a nerd....I'm nerd enough for a whole household!!! As for the dogs...well, they might be useful for clean-up, but they only protect the world against teddy bears and small rodents. Very snuggly, though, and make me smile, so they earn their keep!