Jembella Farm: There's a pig in the cold room

Sunday, 29 March 2015

There's a pig in the cold room

The pigs have more than doubled in size since I first showed you this photo, and today we butchered one of them.
I wish all of our pigs could be butchered here at the farm but the rules state that it's illegal to sell the meat from home butchered livestock. What a stupid rule, so many people would love to know that the pork they're eating has not only had a good life, but a stress free, quick and humane death as well, but there we are, those are the rules made by the big corporations in cahoots with a government department. Just another step to try to take away our freedom of eating pure unadulterated food.
The other two are off to the butcher on Monday and we have chosen a butcher who we trust to do the kill and processing with the least stress as possible to the pigs (and us). I've already told you in a previous blog about the way we train the pigs to walk (run) onto the trailer which makes the trip to the butcher much easier for all involved.
Home butchering is much quicker, no stress on the animals, is cleaner and is most empowering to take responsibility for our own food from start to end.
The process and the killing of an animal is never taken lightly. It has given its life so that we can eat for optimum nutrition, so we respect every part of that life.

The day started at first light and every large pot we own was filled with water and put onto every heating source we have available. Gas stove, wood stove, the old copper and the gas portable camp cooker. Lots of hot water is needed for scalding the pig in an old bath as soon as it has been killed.
This time we had the help of a young couple who are also growing their own pigs and are keen to learn to process a pig for themselves. We four made a great team and all went extremely well.

So this is the pig that we will eat for ourselves. It's hanging in our cold room for five days before we cut it up into chops, roasts and bellies for streaky bacon.
The fat will be rendered into lard for use in cooking and soap making.
The head and liver will be made into brawn and traditional Barossa white pudding.
The bellies will be soaked in salt and sugar brine for a week before cold smoking in Brian's home built smoker. This bacon contains no nitrates and it keeps best if cut into half kilo pieces before freezing, then slicing it as we use it.

The orders for pork are rolling in and we have only two pigs to sell!! Impossible to honour all of the orders and we realise just how popular our lovely pork is.
This covers the cost of buying the piglets, the upkeep and the butchering fees, so the pork that we get to keep for our own use is free.
In the next blog I'll tell you how we make the brine for the bacon, and bacon bones for delicious winter soups.

Are you butchering your own pigs? Do you have any tips for us or any methods you would like to share?

3 comments:

MargaretP28 November 2015 at 17:41
Reading all this brings back memories of when we had a small farm, soooo good to eat meat you have raised and processed yourself.
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MargaretP28 November 2015 at 17:44
We lit a small fire under the cast iron enamel bath early in the day and had an old copper under a nearby peppercorn tree
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About Us

Whether you're living in an apartment, in a house in the suburbs or on acres, you can live frugally and sustainably. There are many things you can do to save money, eat ethically and healthily, reduce waste and live an enriched life.
We are Sally and Brian and we live in the Barossa Valley (South Australia) in a 100 year old house on sixteen acres with 2 dogs, 7 cows, 2 alpacas, 5 geese, 35 chickens, 78 sheep and a few bee hives.
Our way of life takes team work and dedication, but over the years we've learned to be more productive without seeming to put in quite so much effort. We've learned through making mistakes and taking a different approach to what the conventional ways would be. Still learning every day and constantly researching old and new methods, we believe that our lives are greatly enriched, we are healthier and we couldn't imagine any other way of life.
Considered to be living The Good Life, people love to visit us on our small farm to learn about our simple living philosophy.

Why do we do it?
Our love of good food, concern for our health and respect for all animals. The further we got into living on the land the more aware we became that most of the standard practices of growing food were not satisfactory. We couldn't eat with a clear conscience.
Milk from sad cows, pasteurized and homogenized into white liquid. Meat from distressed, hormone and antibiotic pumped livestock. Vegetables and fruits grown and sprayed with chemicals. What to do? Grow our own!
Slowly we grew our knowledge and took one step at a time, becoming proficient in one skill before moving on to the next. The learning curves were steep. We fell over and got back up again. There has been some derision and criticism of our approach from a few, but that's life when you swim against the tide.
If we are not the "norm" then so be it. There is nothing "normal" about growth hormones fed to beef, anti-biotics and chemicals fed routinely to chickens, cruelty and disrespect for farmed animals, meals in a box, GM foods, strawberries and tomatoes in winter.
Thankfully the World is waking up to cleaner and more ethical food. We didn't know back then that Organics and Bio-dynamics would become the "new black". The tide is turning and our swimming is becoming easier.