Final update on Sausage & Bacon 2.0

As you know from last week's post, my pigs were delivered to the slaughterhouse last Tuesday evening, and were scheduled for the big day Wednesday. I was called Wednesday morning to verify which two were mine (they kept calling them "The little ones" since all the others were ENORMOUS) and get a list of all the meats I wanted. It was 7:30am when he called me and not only was I half asleep, but I was sitting in the parking lot of my daughter's college waiting for her to get done with her class so I could take her to high school (she's a dual enrollment student), so I wasn't really thinking about all the meats I wanted.

I assured him I was a newbie at all this and asked for his suggestions. Overall, he helped me compile a good list of things we like to eat and told me the meat should be ready for pick-up on Friday. By the end of that day, when it was all but too late, I realized I'd forgotten one item... BACON.  LOL.  You'd think after naming them Sausage and Bacon I'd at least remember to order up some bacon. Sheesh!

Friday, after I'd finished my normal end of the week errands, I call the slaughterhouse to see if my meat was ready before I went over there ("You have the two little ones, right?"). The meat was ready so I went on over. The slaughterhouse is only a few minutes from my home; I pass it every day taking my youngest daughter to school. When I got there the men told me that while, yes, mine were much smaller than the other, the meat appeared good looking and healthy. I asked the weights of both and it turned out my pigs yielded me 162lbs of processed pork. Wow! Girl pig produced 56lbs and Boy pig produced 106lbs. All of that for $108, $40 of which was the kill fee. Not too shabby!

Today I'll be cooking up our first taste. I have a shoulder roast in the Crock-Pot and I'm looking forward to the freshest pork I've ever eaten. A week ago these pigs were being petted and talked to and not worrying about where their food comes from.

I thought I'd feel bad when we took them for slaughter, but I didn't. I worried my youngest daughter would be upset, but she wasn't. I knew my older two didn't care since they hated chasing the pigs around the property when they escaped their fence. LOL.

I am, however, glad that I gave these two pigs a happy life while they were here. I petted them, scratched behind their ears, fed them fruits and veggies along with their grains, talked sweetly to them and scolded them when they escaped. They foraged for grubs and acorns while snacking on anything green they found. Overall, they lived a happy pig life with us and now they will serve as sustenance for my family.  I'd say that's way better than any pig from large companies who keep their pigs in pens barely big enough for them to turn around in.

Oh, and while my pigs might have been "the little ones" after seeing the giant hogs there barely able to hold themselves up, and then seeing how nice my meat looks, I know mine produced leaner, healthier meat than those others. Even if it meant less pounds of meat.

My deep freezer is now half full of just pork.

The hubby has been looking forward to
fresh ribs.

Finally, I'm glad it's over. This was a great experiment to see if we could manage raising our own meats in a happy and healthy environment, without our kids or myself getting overly attached. Monetarily, it was well worth the trouble though. I'll add a P.S. at the bottom of this post after tonight's dinner to let you know how the meat tastes. The hubby is already talking about doing it again, but I warned him that the next time the pen better be built better than Fort Knox because I don't want to have to chase pigs again. We'll see how that goes over. ;)

P.S. The roast was delicious! Even my 10 year old thought it was super tasty. The meat was lean and tender and had a yummy aroma. Definitely some good pork. :)

Good-bye Sausage & Bacon 2.0

Today's the day we deliver our two pigs to the local slaughterhouse. Tomorrow is the big day. When I called weeks ago the man told me they were so booked up that the next available day was three weeks away, and that's the one I snagged. When he called today to verify that I was bringing in two pigs, he told me they'd call me after the deed is done to tell me their weights (and thus the cost of the slaughter since it's $0.42/lb hanging weight, plus a $20 kill fee each).

Now, I wait for the hubby and our friends to get home from work so I can get a giggle out of these two men wrangling these two giant pigs up. I'll let you know how that goes. LOL!

As a side note: I bought just enough pig feed to last us to the end of today. So they will get one last meal on the ride to the slaughterhouse and I'll be out of feed. You can't time it any better than that!

Since this is a new adventure for us, I don't know what to expect. I don't know how much they weigh, but I'm guesstimating that they're about 400lbs together. I suppose we'll find out after tomorrow if I'm close or not. I have ideas on meat cuts I want, and we will totally request sausage and bacon on that list. However, I imagine we'll be quite sick of pork by the time my deep freezer is empty again.

Fingers crossed for a smooth delivery this evening and some tasty pork after it's all over.  :)  Stay tuned for more updates in the next couple of days.

Jumping into raising pigs. Not how I planned it!

Pigs. Hmm. Where do I start? How about, I had an idea that we should raise a couple of hogs for the freezer. How hard could it be, right? I found a seller of cute little baby pigs.

My BFF and I drove an hour away, with two dog crates in the back of my minivan, and cash in hand, to buy two female piglets. I had an old chicken coop that we weren't using any longer, and planned to put a fence around that spot for the the pigs to grow nice and big. We made it there and back with two little piglets squealing the entire way. Once home, the kids were amazed, but I reminded them (and still do) that these are for food, not pets. We named them Sausage and Bacon for just that purpose.

Two days later, Sausage and Bacon 1.0 escaped and were never seen from again. *Sigh*

Two days after that, my husband and I went back to the same sellers and bought two more female piglets. This was quite reminiscent of my first batch of chicks (the ones a cat ate two hours after I bought them). We did things a bit differently with Sausage and Bacon 2.0. They managed to hang around.

These two have grown and grown over the last few months. I fantasize about my deep freezer being full of delicious, fresh pork. And then it happened...  My husband looked at the pigs, and then at me, and said, "I think that one's a boy."  Damn it!

I wasn't planning to be a breeder, just an eater. Geez! From my research though, it looks like Boy Pig may be infertile.

Oh, and in case you don't know, pigs really, really LOVE escaping their pens. These two have slipped out no less than 4 times in the last few months. Once the neighbor behind us found them and trapped them in his barn before coming to see if they were ours. Thank goodness he did or they wouldn't been gone like the other two. Now that they're bigger, they're easier to wrangle and are happy to come to us when we have food. Not so happy when we try to put them back in the pen though. You'll notice all the concrete blocks around the bottom of the fencing below. They root, root, root until there's a big enough gap to push the blocks aside and out they go.

Boy Pig is friendly & always up for some
petting.

Much bigger now

Girl Pig is the troublemaker. She's the one I've caught rooting out the most. Boy Pig prefers to stay put, but will follow girl pig anywhere.

Sooooooo, at this point, I'm more than ready to take Girl Pig to the slaughter house, but she needs to get a bit bigger first. Boy Pig is a good size, but he's super friendly and easier to handle. And I won't even get into all the information I've read about meat taint in males. UGH!  I just wanted two girl pigs to put in the freezer.  *Sigh*

Stay tuned for more piggy updates to see if they make it to slaughter this summer.


UPDATE: Sooo, Girl Pig escaped yet again. UGH! Ticked me off enough that I finally called the slaughterhouse, but they're so busy (he said he does 200-300 heads a week!) I had to book a day. They now have a going away date of April 22nd. This meat better be the best meat in the world for all the trouble these two have been.

My new pantry/old laundry room.

Hello out there in the blogiverse! I know it has been a while since I updated this one, but it has been a crazy time around here. Busy, busy, busy! I've had college tours with my oldest, a book conference for myself, and then a car accident to get through. Not to mention all the normal stuff... family, kids, animals, etc.

Speaking of which, at the beginning of February, the hubby and I were working our way through painting the inside of the house. While doing this, we decided it was time to work on the laundry room. It needed more storage space, and with all my canning jars I was running out of cabinet space. Sooooo, we decided to turn my laundry room into a laundry/pantry room. It's also where my dogs sleep and the cats get fed. Talk about multi-tasking!  LOL.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the process. I love the new space and the ability to display my canned items instead of hiding them away in a cabinet.

Before! With everything removed, this is where the washer & dryer go.

Fresh paint & the first shelf goes in.

Small shelves in the corner beside the back door. This is for the animals.

More shelves.

The beautiful jars full of goodies!

All my empty jars at the top. You can tell it's time to do some canning, again.

I wish I could get better shots of the entire project, but the room is small and the shelves wrap around the three walls. On the fourth wall the door to the kitchen, a wooden plastic bag holder, and hooks for the broom, Swiffer, and duster.

Where do you keep your canned stuff? Do you have the space to display the beauties, or do you have to hid them away in a cabinet?

Happy spring!


P.S. I forgot to mention above that every single one of these boards came out of my passed FIL's storage building and they used to be frames to, of all things, WATERBEDS!  :D

Price Comparison for Canning Your Own Veggies

So as I said in a previous post, I've really gotten into this canning stuff. My grandmother did a lot of it when I was small, but back then it just seemed like a lot of wasted time and energy when you could buy the same stuff at the grocery store. Now, as an adult who has to deal with rising grocery costs and the unknown additives in foods, I'm more interested in wasting my time and energy to feed my kids healthier foods.

However, the health issue isn't the only thing I've considered when it comes to canning. Cost has come up in the last few weeks. Since my gardening skills are still on the "Needs Improvement" list, I'm buying my vegetables from a man down the street. He doesn't use any pesticides on his veggies & will happily take a bite out of anything he's selling you right after he picks it. He's a nice man and I'm glad I found him and his sweet wife.

Anyway, I bought a bushel of green beans from him, brought them home, and canned them the very next day. Those are the best green beans I have ever eaten that didn't have a ton of fat and spices in them. And all I used was a teaspoon of sea salt in each quart jar. Yum!  As for cost, I paid him $35 per bushel. They made 26 quarts and 1 pint. For that amount of green beans--just buying the cheapest $1 cans--I would have spent over $55 for the same amount of preservative laden green beans. For me, I consider that a great savings, and I know exactly what's in them!

For my corn, I ended up with almost 6 dozen ears for only $9 and some traded eggs. That managed to yield me 18 pints of whole kernel and 42 ears in the freezer. Just the whole kernel would have been over $18 at the grocery store!

You just can't beat prices like that. Yeah, it's more of an upfront cost and it is a good bit of work, but I don't think that's too bad at all.

If you add in the cost of canning lids the overall total goes up just a little. I already had jars and rings extended family members had given me, so if you have to start from scratch it will cost you a little more. Our local Dollar General has 12 pk cases of pint jars, with lids & rings, for only $7.

And my canner was pricey, but I fully expect it to pay for itself over and over and over again. And it has a 50 year warranty, too! Wow!

Now keep in mind, these are my prices for here in Georgia, with a veggie guy down the road. Your prices and/or savings may vary from mine, but, in my opinion, the overall health benefits and knowledge you'll gain far outweigh the prices.

Go forth and can!  :)

Eggy Updates & 2014 Canning

Eek! I just realized it has been FOREVER since I last updated. So here we go....

My chickens are doing great. I'm covered up with an overabundance of fresh eggs & every few weeks I have to give all my local friends and family a shout out to see if anyone needs some. Last week, I have over 15 dozen eggs sitting in my fridge. And that was after I'd already used 2 dozen eggs for a recipe. Luckily, after my shout out I managed to sell or trade 11 dozen in two days.

I didn't do a garden this year, but I did plant a lot of veggies in pots on my front deck. I've harvested a few handfuls of green beans and my banana pepper plants are covered up. I did a bell pepper plant for the first time and it had two baby peppers on it. I noticed the other day that one of them is missing. :(  I don't know if it was a bird, squirrel, or it just shriveled up and fell off. I figure I'll be lucky if the other one survives. My tomato plants grew big and tall, but produced nothing. *Sniff, Sniff*  However, my mint grew like crazy & smells so good. :)

On the upside, I'm getting pretty darn good at canning this year. I started doing a little last summer, just some hot water bath items, but over the winter I broke down and bought myself an All American Pressure Canner. I finally used it for the first time a few weeks ago for green beans and they turned out beautiful! I love it! I'm addicted now.

Last year I did pickled beets and sauerkraut in the summer, then made applesauce and apple butter in the fall. However, this summer I've canned green beans, strawberry jam, blueberry jam, whole blackberries, dill and bread & butter pickles, and whole kernel corn. Here are a few pictures of my yummy bounty. :)

Whole Blackberries in Simple Syrup

Strawberry Jam

Green Beans

Bread & Butter and Dill Pickles

I promise I'll try to update more regularly.  :)

Winter is finally over! Time for a new coop!

Sooooo, I know it has been a while since I posted a blog entry, but I didn't have too much to talk about during the dreariness of winter. Winter depresses me. I hate the cold and wet and all around yuckiness. Blech!

Now that spring has sprung in north Georgia I'm breaking out of my winter rut and jumping into new projects around the house.  My main one being the construction of a new and bigger coop for my 7 hens, and the 6 new pullets I picked up from the feed store a few weeks ago... bringing my chickie total to 13. Yeah... we definitely needed a bigger coop.

When we went from 6 to 7 hens I knew our old coop was plenty big enough.  But then I saw those little fuzz babies at Tractor Supply and I knew we HAD to add them to our chicken family. Thus, the requirement for bigger accommodations. ;)

In actuality, I'd already decided to build another coop because I wanted to do some upgrades to make their enjoyment and my time spent caring for them easier. So back in late February the hubby and I walked around the property and picked out the perfect spot, and it was no where near the original coop's location.

 



Since we'd had issues with night attacks in the past, the new coop--though much more secure--was placed near the fenced in area for out big outside dogs. This way the dogs will bark and (hopefully) scare away any night prowlers.  That is, after they stop barking at the chickens. *Face Palm*

On March 9, 2013, we hit Lowe's and came home with $400 worth of building supplies.  Eek!  It took a few days before we could get started though. Rain, rain, rain.  Ugh! I thought we'd never get started, and when we finally did I wondered if we'd ever finish.  Stupid winter.  :(

Thankfully, the hubby was ready to go once the skies cleared, even though I was down with a foot injury (I was sitting in a chair taking this picture). I would hop on over when he needed more hands, and then he'd send me back to my time-out chair.  LOL.

 

I had previously drawn out crude and unprofessional designs on what I wanted, but it was really something for me to see the thoughts in my head appear in front of me in real life.

By the time we finally got the coop "in the dry" the chicks were big enough to move out of my laundry room. Woohoo! They lived in one corner of the coop while we finished it off.

And then it was time to get everything else done.

 

 

The chicken run was enclosed on the left side of the coop and wraps around the back. We covered the entire area with plastic, black netting to keep out any flying predators and keep the hens inside. The coop is about 4 times bigger than the old one, and the run is more than double the size of the old one. The girls are loving all of their space.

It only took about a week for them to clean out the run of all things green, so I'm hauling leaves from around my 9 acres to the run every 2 weeks. This helps me clean up my property, while giving the hens something to scratch around in. They eat bugs and seeds and weeds while breaking down the leaves. It also helps keep the run from getting muddy and poopy.  ;)

The coop isn't 100% finished though. We'll be adding a few things here and there over the next few months. I'm adding some decorative metal signs and flowers, and we're also going to add a small deck on the front and a storage bin to keep the feed in.

Anyway, this is what we've been doing lately. I'm glad to have the girls in their new place, and even happier that they found their new nests on the first day. So far everything is working smoothly, and there's still room for more chickies in the future.  I'll be sure to share more pictures when we finish deck and clean up the construction mess. I'm waiting on a lovely spring day and then I'll be out there snapping all sorts of pics for you guys and gals out there.

Happy Monday!