My husband took this today at the rodeo... we are 27 weeks and 2 days now! And my little sweetie standing there with me is 18 months already!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Butchering time... and a picture!
So it's butchering time again...
This year we are selling 2 1/2 pigs and keeping 1 1/2 - they got sooo big this year, too, so we have a good amount of meat from even just one pig!
Now, I don't know if it is nationwide or if it's a state law or what, but it is against USDA regulations for individuals to raise and butcher animals and then sell it... but we *can* raise and sell animals and have an approved butcher (one with a butchering license and passing health department inspections and what not) do the butchering. It is legal to butcher our own meat provided we don't sell it... all of this makes sense, because it protects the buyer/ consumer from getting meat butchered in a dirty environment and getting sick. Honestly, as big as I'm getting with this pregnancy, I'm thankful that I only needed to butcher ONE of them anyway! haha!
Here is a picture of the killed pig hanging, with me skinning it (though my husband also helped me skin - and was a tremendous help when it came time to take the head and feet off!!! I could not have done that part on my own - and was very thankful for his strength - and his reciprocating saw! - in getting that part of the job done!!!!
Anyway, he's skinned, all cut up and everything but the hams (which I wet cured and have the last of them in the smoker now, with others baked so they are fully cooked before freezing) and bacon (which is still in the wet cure, to be smoked early next week) is done! Hams will be finished by the end of today - yeah!!! and bacon will be finished by the middle of next week.
The other three pigs go to the butcher Monday morning - and I'm ready to see them go for the year! (though we'll also be looking forward to raising them again next year) and then I'll have a week or so before we get the meat from the half pig that we are keeping from one of them where I'll start the curing and smoking process all over again - but half of a pig's hams and bacon only take up half of the space that the full pig does... and whew! a full pig has a lot of meat!!! I'm happy to have my refrigerator back for normal use for at least another week!! :)
Anyway, it's been a great experience getting to raise our own animals for meat - and learning to do the butchering for ourselves! Next year we'll do pigs again - and next fall we'll butcher our first cow, though I'm not sure we'll do the cow butchering ourselves... I"m not sure the rafters of the garage are strong enough for that added weight! (nor do I think I have the refrigerator space to keep the meat while I work on it section by section!)
This year's butchering was tremendously helped by the teens of my friend who taught me how to do the butchering last year - this year they came out again and killed and gutted Hamlet for me, and got him hung up on the gamber so that I could do the rest of it... this was my first year going it solo, and my husband's first year helping with the skinning! Perhaps next year we'll be brave enough to try the kill and gutting ourselves - but I wasn't about to try it being very pregnant this year! :)
This year we are selling 2 1/2 pigs and keeping 1 1/2 - they got sooo big this year, too, so we have a good amount of meat from even just one pig!
Now, I don't know if it is nationwide or if it's a state law or what, but it is against USDA regulations for individuals to raise and butcher animals and then sell it... but we *can* raise and sell animals and have an approved butcher (one with a butchering license and passing health department inspections and what not) do the butchering. It is legal to butcher our own meat provided we don't sell it... all of this makes sense, because it protects the buyer/ consumer from getting meat butchered in a dirty environment and getting sick. Honestly, as big as I'm getting with this pregnancy, I'm thankful that I only needed to butcher ONE of them anyway! haha!
Here is a picture of the killed pig hanging, with me skinning it (though my husband also helped me skin - and was a tremendous help when it came time to take the head and feet off!!! I could not have done that part on my own - and was very thankful for his strength - and his reciprocating saw! - in getting that part of the job done!!!!
He was a big pig!!
Anyway, he's skinned, all cut up and everything but the hams (which I wet cured and have the last of them in the smoker now, with others baked so they are fully cooked before freezing) and bacon (which is still in the wet cure, to be smoked early next week) is done! Hams will be finished by the end of today - yeah!!! and bacon will be finished by the middle of next week.
The other three pigs go to the butcher Monday morning - and I'm ready to see them go for the year! (though we'll also be looking forward to raising them again next year) and then I'll have a week or so before we get the meat from the half pig that we are keeping from one of them where I'll start the curing and smoking process all over again - but half of a pig's hams and bacon only take up half of the space that the full pig does... and whew! a full pig has a lot of meat!!! I'm happy to have my refrigerator back for normal use for at least another week!! :)
Anyway, it's been a great experience getting to raise our own animals for meat - and learning to do the butchering for ourselves! Next year we'll do pigs again - and next fall we'll butcher our first cow, though I'm not sure we'll do the cow butchering ourselves... I"m not sure the rafters of the garage are strong enough for that added weight! (nor do I think I have the refrigerator space to keep the meat while I work on it section by section!)
This year's butchering was tremendously helped by the teens of my friend who taught me how to do the butchering last year - this year they came out again and killed and gutted Hamlet for me, and got him hung up on the gamber so that I could do the rest of it... this was my first year going it solo, and my husband's first year helping with the skinning! Perhaps next year we'll be brave enough to try the kill and gutting ourselves - but I wasn't about to try it being very pregnant this year! :)
Contemplation...
In recent weeks life has been so busy... indeed, it seems some days are spent running literally from one thing to another!
This past week has been no exception to that! It's been busy, but productive... good, but crazy at the same time!
In all of this activity, again the thought comes back about the Biblical command to rest... to have a day of rest in which we honor the Lord and spend the whole day in worship and praise of our Lord, and in fellowship with other believers.
As a large family, I look at the praciticality of this and how to make it all work (no pun intended) - the logstics, if you will... such as "is it ok to wash dishes" - we know we need to feed our families, but we can cook ahead so that we're not *working* on meal prep on the Sabbath... we eat off of plates, though - and I don't know about other large families, but we don't have enough dishes to go through an entire day without washing a single dish... of course, we could use paper plates... it's not so much a question of legalism, it's a question of obedience... and this is just one small example that leaves me wondering at times - what's ok and what's not ok in trying to honor the Sabbath as the Lord commands?
How do we, as wives and mamas, prepare ahead to honor the Lord's day while also still caring for our families?
This has been a subject of thought many times over - and sometimes I wonder if I'm really any closer to answering the question with an answer that would please our Lord... It's something to contemplate, to be sure... we want to live in obedience - and it's easy to live in DISobedience without even realizing or giving conscious thought to it, isn't it? So, in an effort toward wanting to PURPOSE to live in obediece, I contemplate this (and other issues) and look for the Lord's guidance...
This past week has been no exception to that! It's been busy, but productive... good, but crazy at the same time!
In all of this activity, again the thought comes back about the Biblical command to rest... to have a day of rest in which we honor the Lord and spend the whole day in worship and praise of our Lord, and in fellowship with other believers.
As a large family, I look at the praciticality of this and how to make it all work (no pun intended) - the logstics, if you will... such as "is it ok to wash dishes" - we know we need to feed our families, but we can cook ahead so that we're not *working* on meal prep on the Sabbath... we eat off of plates, though - and I don't know about other large families, but we don't have enough dishes to go through an entire day without washing a single dish... of course, we could use paper plates... it's not so much a question of legalism, it's a question of obedience... and this is just one small example that leaves me wondering at times - what's ok and what's not ok in trying to honor the Sabbath as the Lord commands?
How do we, as wives and mamas, prepare ahead to honor the Lord's day while also still caring for our families?
This has been a subject of thought many times over - and sometimes I wonder if I'm really any closer to answering the question with an answer that would please our Lord... It's something to contemplate, to be sure... we want to live in obedience - and it's easy to live in DISobedience without even realizing or giving conscious thought to it, isn't it? So, in an effort toward wanting to PURPOSE to live in obediece, I contemplate this (and other issues) and look for the Lord's guidance...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)