Our pigs at around 12 or 13 weeks old. Healthy Wessex saddleback boars, raised in the forest with portable electric fencing.
How much time does it take to raise pigs on the homestead for meat? How much of a commitment is it? What do you need to get started? How much does it cost?…
I write this partly for myself to read next year, so that I remember how it all works, partly for others who are considering raising pigs.
There are two ways of curing meat – a salty brine, or just plain salt. I will share recipes for both.
Before our pig kill (see this post) we had discussed what we wanted to do with each part of the pig. To keep costs down, we just had the mobile butcher here on one day to do the kill, hair removing, gutting, and sawing the pigs in half and leaving them to hang for a day before we would cut them up ourselves. If we wanted him to cut them into pieces he would probably have to come back another day.
We’ve never before cut pigs up ourselves, and how we handled it is a bit different to the process I’ve seen elsewhere because we didn’t have a saw. Every other instruction around is for how to do it with a saw, so I will write about how we did this using only 6” (15cm) boning knives, and maybe a firewood axe and a good aim (depending on how the spine has been cut).
Our 6 month old Wessex saddleback boar pigs
The next few photos are of the pig slaughtering process, with commentary, to help others who want to raise their own meat or understand a process that has mostly been forgotten in modern times.
Our pigs have lived happy lives in the paddock above for the past few months. They have been able to express their pig-ness, and have enjoyed a diet of acorns, whey, scraps, and local gmo-free grains. Their natural behaviour is to search for roots in the ground with their snouts, turning over some of the soil in a gentle way, and also manuring it. They feed the soil life and prepare the ground for new plants to grow.
Vegetarians might want to stop reading this now.
Continue reading
Burgers served with cheese, lacto-fermented pickles, and salad
These are the perfect burger. They’re juicy and full of flavour yet they hold their shape.
Minimally seasoned with garlic and herbs to let the taste of lamb shine through they can be served in a variety of ways; with tzatziki and greek salad, with gyros or kebab toppings, with traditional burger accompaniments like fried eggs, salads, and sauces, or with any vegetable side dish…even Swedish braised red cabbage.
This recipe is perfect for a number of reasons. Firstly it’s just two ingredients, thrown in the oven and left in there for several hours to slowly cook. Secondly the taste is great (you need to use good pork though). Thirdly, the leftovers reheat well, just bake the amount that you want for one meal on a low heat until it’s heated through. This recipe can even be made with frozen pork without needing to thaw it in advance – just give it half an hour or so longer in the oven.
Full of flavour and nourishment
The Nourishing Hearthfire 