What We Did Saturday

Yesterday I teased you all with this picture, and asked you to guess what we were doing with that barrel. Several of you thought about the fact that we are country folks and made some really good guesses, including smoking meat or boiling fat.



In actuality, we were boiling water. Needed lots of hot boiling water to scrape the hog Pete killed. More pictures and commentary follow. This may not be something for the extremely tenderhearted or squeamish although I didn't post any of the extremely graphic shots.

Hannah documented the whole thing with her digital camera as this is becoming a lost art.



This is the sow we killed. She's never took when we tried to breed her, so her days were numbered.



Robert McGallion and Pete cutting out a hole in the hog pen so they can remove the hog.



They placed her on a sheet of plywood and pulled her over near the fire hole with the tractor.



Pete pours a couple of pots of boiling water over the snout and Robert begins scrapping the hair off.



Robert is the teacher. Here Pete and Bubba begin practicing what they were shown and told.



Pete's nephew, Dusty, is here now and helping Bubba. He plans to be butchering a hog of his own soon and wanted to learn. Two young men save the old codgers a lot of bending and squatting. ;o)



One side is almost complete. Grab the ears and the feet, flip it over and do the other side.



Nothing is wasted. Here Duck even scrapes and cleans the tail.



Another nephew, Benny's son David, rides up on the four wheeler and he gets in on the action as well. Special care is given to cleaning the feet. Toe nails are popped off.



Don't forget her belly!



Make a handy-dandy holder out of the tendon on the back of the hind feet.



The hog is dragged on the board to under the A-frame. The hind feet are put on the hook and it is lifted by come-a-longs.



The head is cut off. The front feet. And then it is gutted and cleaned inside.



Here, Bubba and Bug are observing from the back of the truck.



A shot of them actually working on it.



The finished project. The carcass is off to be processed. Smoked hocks and bacon. Pork chops. And lots of sausage.

The head, the heart and the feet will be boiled down one day soon and Pete and Robert will make hogs head cheese out of it. They eat it. I don't.

When it is processed, the excess skin and fat will be saved for us. One day Pete will take it out and cut it in small pieces. He'll then boil it to render out the fat for frying and this will also make some tasty cracklings for snacking and cornbread.

Hope you enjoyed your Saturday in Caneyhead.

Barbara