This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

Checking One Off the List

November 20th, 2013

*Warning* real butchering shots in this post, if you don’t like the sight of meat, read something from the archives.
pig butchery 1
In one of our podcasts, Mr Chiots and I each talked about the five things we have on our “want to do” lists.  His included things like: welding, riding a horse, sailing, etc.  Mine included learning seam butchery, which is one of the reasons we decided to slaughter the pigs ourselves.  Luckily I found someone locally that is skilled in this art and he agreed to come over and mentor us.
pig butchery 2
Neal came Sunday to help us with the slaughter and again yesterday to show us how to butcher the pigs. When he left the pigs were all portioned up. We continued working getting all the roasts, tenderloins and choice cuts into the freezer for safe keeping. The sausage meat and fat were all cut up and set to chilling in big bowls for grinding today. The bacon and hams were hung on the back porch to dry and ready for the salting, brining and smoking.
pig butchery 5
It was a great day, much less difficult than the actual slaughter day, which was emotionally draining. Yesterday was spent getting up close and personal with our food. We also enjoyed building friendships in the process and love that we are building our community all the while.
pig butchery 3
Overall it was a success. I started out the morning with much anxiety but that slowly melted away as we worked. I’ve got my work cut out for me for the next couple days, calculating brine amounts, salting, turning and hopefully producing a delicious variety of bacons, hams, and hocks. We’ll be eating our first pork roast tonight for dinner, we’re really looking forward to it. I am in particular because I don’t really like pork when it’s not cured or heavily seasoned in sausage.
pig butchery
Next year we’re hoping to plan a weekend long pig butchering event. We have a few other friends who are interested in learning these skills and we’d love to make it more of a community event like it was long ago. A time to gather with friends to celebrate good food and relearn heritage skills.

If you aren’t vegetarian, which is your favorite cut of pork?

Smile

November 19th, 2013

With the slaughter of the pigs on Sunday and butchering happening today, our days have been filled with very heavy things. Luckily there’s still a lot of beautiful life around Chiot’s Run that keeps things from getting to be too much.  Here are some sweet things that I captured with my camera yesterday:
cuteness 1
cuteness 2
cuteness 3
cuteness 4
Death brings a greater appreciation for life, I’m certainly loving all the beauty in the lives that still surround us.  All these animals bring a deep richness to our lives.

What beautiful things are filling your day with life today?

Cultivate Simple 54: Think Before You Eat

November 18th, 2013

Today we slaughtered our pigs. This event led to a discussion about our food, where it comes from, and what is involved in it finding its way to our table. We continue this conversation in the podcast.

I made a batch of these sourdough crackers to snack on during slaughter day and they were fantastic.
pig day
This picture perfectly portrays the somber nature of our day yesterday.

My friend Sierra from Picturing the Ordinary posted this yesterday:

words from a speech Theodore Roosevelt delivered in 1910:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the
man who points out how the strong man
stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could
have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually
in the arena, whose face is marred by dust
and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;
who errs, who comes short again and again,

because there is no effort without error
and shortcoming; but who does actually
strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions; who spends himself
in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph
of high achievement, and who at the worst, if
he fails, at least fails while daring greatly….”

Books of the Week

Quote of the Day: Granville F. Knight

November 17th, 2013

Often against his better judgment, the modern farmer has been forced to use monoculture, artificial fertilization, pesticides, herbicides and mechanization in order to keep ahead of ruinous taxation, inflation and ever-increasing costs of production. The result has been productions for “quantity” rather than “quality,” and the gradual destruction of our precious topsoil and mineral reserves, in or beneath the soil. This has been well documented by Dr Wm. Albrecht of the University of Missouri. Our markets are flooded with attractive, but relatively tasteless, vegetables and fruits. The protein content of wheat and other grains has steadily declined; this being a reliable index of soil fertility. Animal foods such as fowl and meat reflect similar changes. Fowl are usually raised in cramped quarters and their food limited to that prescribed by man. As a result cirrhotic livers and common and egg quality is inferior. Both groups are frequently treated with antibiotics, anti-thyroid drugs and hormones which produce castration, myxedema, and water logged tissues. These practices are designed to stimulate more weight gain on less feed. The advantages to producers are obvious; to the consumer they are indeed questionable.

-Granville R Knight (1970)

As we’ve been raising our first pigs this summer, I’ve been thinking a lot about industrialized food. About how it moves animals from living beings into commodities to be brought from infant to slaughter weight as quickly and as efficiently as possible. That’s not at all what our focus has been, in fact we’re amazed that our pigs weigh what a normal pig does when butchering time has come. These pigs have been great, truly a joy to have around (at least most of the time). No doubt we will measure all future pigs by these two.
pigs 1
Our pigs were raised for meat, but also to work for us. They have spent the last 6 months happily rooting up the soil in our woods eating acorns, grubs, saplings and whatever else they found tasty. They have cleared the woods of low growing vegetation all the while leaving behind beneficial manure that will fertilize future hazelnut and apple trees we plan to plant in this area. They were as happy as pigs could be.
pigs 2
It would certainly be easier to take them to a local butcher shop for slaughtering, but we believe that more of them can be used if we do that as well, right here. We also want them to have the least amount of stress when that time comes, something I’m sure a trailer ride and a few hours in a corral would bring.
pigs
If all goes as planned, today will be pig slaughtering day. We spent all day yesterday in preparation, getting the scalder set up, cleaning the back porch and hanging rods to make it into a small butcher shop. We are also in the process of building a smoker.
cleaning the back porch
It certainly is a lot of work, but we’re excited to do it. We love new experiences, and this will certainly be an experience.

Have you ever taken part in a slaughter day?

Warm & Cozy

November 16th, 2013

I finished up my scarf yesterday morning, it’s just what I wanted. The scarf is long, and it will be joined into a large circle to become an infinity scarf. It’s an idea that appeals to me because I hate it when my scarf blows around, this way I won’t have any loose ends. This will also make it super warm, I’ll be able to wrap it around my neck twice.
scarf new 1
scarf new 2
I’m going to join the two sides with buttons, then I can wear it as a regular scarf if I want. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I LOVE buttons. I’m lucky enough to have received both of my grandmother’s button collections as well as my great aunts. After opening up my grandmother’s jar I found these two beauties inside.
scarf new 3
These may be the ones that grace my scarf, or I may cut small discs from a birch branch to make birch buttons. But I rather like the little piece of history that these carry.

Are you a scarf wearer, or do you prefer other methods to keep your neck warm?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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