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Moving Day!

1/13/2015

She has been petted, pampered and hand-fed since she arrived at our farm at 8 weeks old. 400lbs and 2 years later she is about as laid back and easy going as they come, she enjoys being moved from pasture to pasture and doesn't mind being separated (for a little while) from her piglets. But..... there is nothing more impressive than a mad momma pig!!

I've been told that these large sows are dangerous etc etc and I finally witnessed that raw aggression I've been warned about.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Linda and her 9 piglets ended up being in the same pasture as 3 male hogs about to go to the processing plant. Long story short they would not leave her alone. She would lay down to feed her babies and those 3 males would come up and nose around on her girlie parts and knock the babies around. It lasted about an hour and finally she could no longer take it.

If you aren't aware of it, pigs are fast as lightening. I used to think they were these lumbering dumb fat beasts. OH NO! Let me tell you, they are pure muscle, amazingly agile and incredibly fast! I digress.....

So Linda finally had enough......she went from laying down nursing her babies to getting up, slinging 9 piglets out of the way and going after those 3 males in 2 seconds flat! I've now seen baby pigs fly! She slammed one of those male pigs into a tree, pinned him there with her shoulder and began beating him with her head! He was squalling like a baby and that tree was shaking like crazy. Of course those 2 other males beat feet in the other direction. She finally let him go and he was not seen again for a while.

We moved her about an hour later, put her babies with her (which is a whole other long story.....my ears are still ringing from the deafening squeals of baby pigs being picked up) and everyone is much happier.

Linda will be pleased to know those males have arrived safely at the butcher.
-- Melissa

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A Creative Way to Smoke Bacon

1/13/2015

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"Oh my! That's REALLY good! I think you ought to do it that way every time!"
(Mary-Catherine's opinion on how home cured, pecan and sassafras smoked bacon tastes.)

If you've never cured your own bacon, it's really easy to do. The only tricky part is getting it smoked once it's cured. We use an old phone booth for that purpose, although I do plan on building a proper smoke house one day.

That said, if any of our pig customers would ever like to cure their own bacon but don't have a smoke house, I'd be happy to put your bacon in with mine. -- George

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Rendering Lard with a Modern Solution

1/13/2015

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Cooking out lard! It's one of those childhood memories I hold dear. When it was hog-killin time, there were only a couple jobs us kids were trusted with. One was scraping the hair off the hog and if you haven't ever done that, let me tell you, it is no fun at all. The other was cutting up the fat to cook out lard. Being a normal male-child, handling a knife sharp enough to inflict a wound sufficient to require several stitches, was an irresistible draw.

The actual cooking of the lard, though, was a skill far beyond anything a kid would ever be entrusted with. That task was reserved for the most experienced man among us that wasn't yet too old and feeble for the job. In other words, the lard was too important to be entrusted to any man less than the star of the show.

I eventually grew up, my daddy quit killing hogs at home and we lost the annual tradition of the hog-killin.

I matured, got married, had a bunch of kids and found myself wanting to recreate and pass on some of those things I held dear from my own childhood. Towards that end, I have done many things, but eventually, and frequently thereafter, I wanted to learn how to process our own pigs at home. Having done one now, I realized that this process is such a big undertaking that I needed to back up and learn each step of the process in a more relaxed way before jumping in again whole hog.

One of the things that I have learned to do is cook out lard. I've not yet done it in a big, cast-iron wash pot like my forefathers did, although I hope to some day. Instead I cheat and use a crock pot.

It's SO easy! Here's how you do it:

Start early in the morning.

Take your fat out of the freezer.

Let it thaw for about 15 minutes.

Cut it into chunks about 1" square.

Put a half cup of water in a crock pot.

Turn the crock pot on "high."

Put the chunks of lard into the crock pot.

Put the lid on the crock pot.

Set a timer for one hour.

Stir every 30 minutes.

When the timer goes off after 1 hour, turn the crock pot on low and remove the lid.

At the end if the day, strain the lard which by now has separated from the "cracklins" through a cheese cloth into the container of your choice.

Let the liquid cool.

BAM!

You have the world's finest cooking oil. -- George

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Disclaimer/FTC Disclosure

I am not a doctor and the statements on this blog have not been evaluated by the FDA. Any products mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Some posts on this blog contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission whenever a product is purchased through these links. Toy Ridge Farms is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Moving Day!

A Creative Way to Smoke Bacon

Rendering Lard with a Modern Solution

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