Going Whole Hog....Almost

Salsa in the works

It's been over 5 years since we began our journey towards simpler living. It's been a process and a slow one, in which we are continually learning new skills and ways to become more self-sufficient. We began with one garden, and now we have two gardens, a small orchard, a tea and homeopathic garden in the works, and chickens! We’ve learned to preserve foods using dehydrating, canning, and freezing. We’ve put what we grow to use on the table, as self-care products such as body scrubs, capsaicin muscle rub, and created products for cleaning purposes like pine cleaner and natural furniture oils. Our gardens and the amount of food that we preserve from them has grown in the last few years. Growing much of our own food and being able to get by with minimal help from others brings us satisfaction.

We prefer to not go to the grocery store, but of course, that's not entirely reasonable. So, when we do go, we limit our purchases to the essentials. When we do need to rely upon others, we want to be as close to the food source as possible and that means, supporting our local farmers.

With knowing your food source and supporting your local farmers in mind, we recently made an investment. We had grown weary from leafing through the weekly flyers from our local markets and grocery stores. Prices are continuing to rise. The quality is questionable and the sources are often unknown. It is getting increasingly difficult to feel good about buying meat at the supermarket. With the recent addition of a new freezer, space was no longer a deterrent.

Taking everything into consideration, we began looking into buying from a local farm that raises Berkshire hogs and decided to buy half a hog. I’ll admit, even with all of the research, I hovered over the “purchase” button because of a larger than normal outlay of cash and that I wasn’t quite sure what we would do with all of the meat. So, if you’ve never bought meat this way, then I thought I would pass on some of what we now know.

When you buy, the typical charge is by hanging weight. What does that mean? Hanging weight means the weight of the carcass after the internal organs, hair, blood and other inedible parts have been removed. The hanging weight is approximately 90 to 100 pounds. For our recent purchase, the hanging weight was 113.5 # at $5.00 per pound. Our deposit was $100, and upon delivery, we paid the balance of $467.50.

The farmer (yes, the farmer) arrived on our doorstep, on the day as agreed upon. He had just picked up our meat from the processor who actually lives one town over from us. Two large boxes with each cut in cryovac and labeled. 3.5 cubic feet of our freezer was now filled with tons of meal possibilities! So, what was in our delivery? Two smoked ham butts, 6 pounds sweet sausage, 6 pounds breakfast sausage, 1 pork shoulder, 1 pork loin roast, 4 pounds baby back ribs, pork tenderloin, 2 pounds fat back, 1 pound lard, 2 pounds boneless pork chops, ham hocks and bacon. 

Meal planning has begun. Roasts, soups, stews, barbecue and one of my favorites...pumpkin pancakes with bacon. Yes, I'm one of those people who can't ever get my fill of pumpkin!! There is still tons to do this week in the garden with the temperatures dropping. All of our fruit trees and bushes need to be prepared for winter. Chicken coops need to be wrapped and winterized. Potatoes need to be harvested. The list goes on and on, doesn't it? I truly love autumn and don't look forward to the cold that winter brings. However, I do look forward to the change of pace and being able to turn our attention inward for a few months.

A pork roast and root vegetables in the oven and I'm heading outside to tackle some of the jobs on that list. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!