P is for the Piggy's Turn

First it was the cows.

Then the chickens.

And now, yep, you guessed it, the pigs!

We are not vegetarians, and no meat is safe with us!
Sorry.

Once again, Farmer Dan and his lovely family humored us and allowed us to butcher two pigs with them.  My freezer is filling up!

And I am going to just be honest here- this is the one I was worried about  the most.

Why?

Because baby piggies are just so cute.  I mean, really, people keep them as pets, right? (bad idea for us animal loving wimps, just saying.)

So it did help that I never saw these guys as babies.  We, that being NOT me, went to a neighboring farm to get them.

And my 12 year old son got the honor of shooting them.  Before I get hate mail, he had begged.  He knew it would be hard, but he really wanted the chance to try.  And I hear he did just fine.  I also hear rumors of the men at the farm handing him a random gun, with no directions on what to do or how to work it and pointed to the pig while dad was not close by, plus rumors that Farmer Dan has more confidence in him that I do, but hey, that is just a rumor since I wasn't there.

Anyway,

They brought back two pigs and the fun began.

See, I can call it fun, because I was absent for most of it.  It really is not because it bothers me, but because when you are just standing around taking pictures you get in the way and kind of bored.  Ok, mostly bored. So we woman folks worked inside.  Yeah ok, we mostly visited. (so Ashton and Salem took most of the pictures.)

In just a few hours the pigs were skinned, gutted and split in half and then put into the cooling area for the next day.

Yay Farmer Dan!

The next day, you will be glad to know, I actually did something.

As Farmer Dan cut meat, we packaged, hauled stuff back and forth for him, and ground pork.

Actually, the grinding is my hubby's job.  I think he likes that big machine.

He also got cold in the cooler room, so he entertained us by dressing like this-

Trust me, we were entertained...

And what did we end up with? Yummy pork from a healthy source.  Lots of it-
3 Hams
2 porkloins
3 large packages of ribs
12 packages ground pork
8 packages of sausage
6 packages of pork chops (8 each!)
9 pork roasts (the biggest you have ever seen!)
22 pounds of bacon!

Thanks for the picture, A!

May not excite anyone else, but made my day!

Thanks H family!  We love you all and are thrilled to be a part of this learning journey with you!

Blessings,