Becoming self sufficient

[HiyokoInNippon]

Doing what I can in an appt for now. My porch is TINY and only gets a little light so we shall see... the mint likes it. I figure I have ten years to become a great gardener, plenty of time ^^

Don't have a choice about line drying clothes here. Though, we use poles and hangers here ^^ Windy days can be.... fun.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

Wow! There are more like me!!! I try to cook everything from scratch, have a veggie garden, getting ready to plant eddible landscaping, we have a pig that will probably be dinner in a few years, just got our coop built (haven't gotten chickens yet). Been talking about composting but right now it's just a pile of stuff out on the edge of the yard. This weekend I am going to attempt making laundry detergent and shampoo/conditioner.

My husband calls me an addict. Would love to do solar panels but that is a costly startup.

Your pig will not need 'a few years', only one (or less). If you let it get too big, the lard it will yield will be plentiful, but of very low quality and difficult to deodorize. The lard is as important as the meat - it can replace everything you use shortening for, and much of what you use GMO vegetable oils for. It's not cost-effective to keep it growing until its' huge because it's creating more low-quality fat than meat, and while very useful, you can only use so much, and less if it's stinky. This is second-hand information re: growout time - We don't raise pigs, just cattle, chickens and turkeys. My best friend raises the pigs and (forcibly!) shares her excess lard when she can't get them in to the butcher on time.

 

[Alewis74]

Our pig is a potbelly. Not a full sized pig.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

Our pig is a potbelly. Not a full sized pig.

Ah. That's very different. All of the potbellies I've met were pets; never thought of people eating them!

 

[Anna6]

Our pig is a potbelly. Not a full sized pig.

We just butchered our potbelly pig. She was about 11 months old. We are smoking bacon today.

 

[Anna6]

Ah. That's very different. All of the potbellies I've met were pets; never thought of people eating them!

Ours was a Vietnamese Pot Belly pig. I am sure the Vietnamese eat them.

I posted this on another board too-
We finally butchered the Vietnamese Pot Belly pig. It was about 10-11 months old and had plenty of fat. I brined all belly meat and any pieces that seemed too greasy for much else then bacon. Even from a smaller pig there was a lot. Right now we have the bacon on the smoker. We haven't eaten any pork yet but I am planning to make pulled pork for this Sunday meal. It took so long to butcher, process and pack that we all thought we never wanted to see a piece of pork again but by today the bacon is looking good to most of us. We found some great You Tube videos that showed how to do the butchering and the cutting into parts and how to cook ideas.

If you look you can find the other two videos too.

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to-make-diy-bacon.aspx?pg=0

Cure and smoke bacon

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

Ours was a Vietnamese Pot Belly pig. I am sure the Vietnamese eat them.

I posted this on another board too-
We finally butchered the Vietnamese Pot Belly pig. It was about 10-11 months old and had plenty of fat. I brined all belly meat and any pieces that seemed too greasy for much else then bacon. Even from a smaller pig there was a lot. Right now we have the bacon on the smoker. We haven't eaten any pork yet but I am planning to make pulled pork for this Sunday meal. It took so long to butcher, process and pack that we all thought we never wanted to see a piece of pork again but by today the bacon is looking good to most of us. We found some great You Tube videos that showed how to do the butchering and the cutting into parts and how to cook ideas.

If you look you can find the other two videos too.

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to-make-diy-bacon.aspx?pg=0

Cure and smoke bacon

I'm guessing they probably are 'livestock' in their area of origin - I just never thought about it! We have a couple of beef customers who have pet potbellies, although one of them also raises larger breeds for food; they sometimes have him with them in the car with them when they come to the farm. Those are the only ones I've seen. I recall when they were 'all the rage' as pets and frequently in the news, but they seemed to have faded away - they definitely faded from my mind!
My friend who raises pigs doesn't smoke the bacon, because... well, we all sell retail, so it all has to go through a USDA certified plant, and there isn't one around here that does curing. I know fresh bacon can be fried with salt & a bit of brown sugar and still tastes like bacon! I don't envy you that processing job. Doing the birds is bad enough! Kudos for diving in!

 

[Anna6]

I'm guessing they probably are 'livestock' in their area of origin - I just never thought about it! We have a couple of beef customers who have pet potbellies, although one of them also raises larger breeds for food; they sometimes have him with them in the car with them when they come to the farm. Those are the only ones I've seen. I recall when they were 'all the rage' as pets and frequently in the news, but they seemed to have faded away - they definitely faded from my mind!
My friend who raises pigs doesn't smoke the bacon, because... well, we all sell retail, so it all has to go through a USDA certified plant, and there isn't one around here that does curing. I know fresh bacon can be fried with salt & a bit of brown sugar and still tastes like bacon! I don't envy you that processing job. Doing the birds is bad enough! Kudos for diving in!

Well I thought we'd never do one again but I can see it happening in a year or so. We do butcher goats and I like the meat better. Still at times I like my pork. We just eat very little meat so it will last some time. We have some roos scheduled for next Saturday. We eat way more chicken. It was good it was cool as it takes a long time to process a pig. so when you do butcher a pig get up early and pick a cool day.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

Well I thought we'd never do one again but I can see it happening in a year or so. We do butcher goats and I like the meat better. Still at times I like my pork. We just eat very little meat so it will last some time. We have some roos scheduled for next Saturday. We eat way more chicken. It was good it was cool as it takes a long time to process a pig. so when you do butcher a pig get up early and pick a cool day.

I don't expect I'll ever raise or butcher a pig, but I can still admire those who do. I used to help my dad do deer, and we have the skills & tools to do a beef for personal use if we ever have to, but pork isn't something we eat much of - the only parts of it that are appreciated around my house are bacon and lard, so it would be a bit of a waste of space & time. Better to swap soap & hens to my friend for those!
I'm always planning to start processing birds early - and it never happens because of other chores that have to come first. Cows have a habit of birthing in the night, and if we don't find that calf within about four hours, we'll never catch it to examine, tag & record it. My turkeys have a habit of wandering over to the neighbors looking for hand-outs if breakfast isn't prompt, etc, etc, etc.... I'm sure you know the drill!
I've learned that a canopy, fans and lots of ice can make up for not starting until noon, and I try to schedule my hatches so that I don't have anybody that needs to go in the middle of summer. Meat hens are done being processed by early June & don't resume until mid-September; the Capons have no deadline but are timed for Easter and the winter holidays - doing them is actually painfully cold. Turkeys will be a first this year - also timed for the winter holidays. I'm thinking I should try switching chicken processing schedule to just doing one or two a day, instead of trying to send everyone to freezer camp in a two-day marathon. Husband does NOT do chickens, he won't even look when he walks by

; therefore it takes me two days, well into the night, to get twenty or thirty of them done each time. When it was really cold last month & I had to do a couple of slips, I just skinned them & canned the meat - couldn't fry or roast them anyway, and this way I've got cooked chicken ready for dumplings or salad. Home-made convenience food!

 

[Sabz]

Hi all!!

LOVE this thread. Didn't finish the whole 9 pages yet.

I bought this book: Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre

And I like it a lot. It explains how to garden on high beds to yield more crops, to rotate crops (of course), how to pick the seeds, how to get your own "variety" of product that fits your soil the best, it talks a bit about raising chickens for eggs, for meat and how to process them.

I am growing lots of root vedgies this year (not sure if I called them right) but such as carrots, onions, bets, etc. Those can be kept in sand for the winter and you can keep them a long time before they go bad. Same for winter squash, their thick skins allows them to remain good for a long time, just store on shelves in a dark, cool room!

I've read about people making shampoo and condition - I didn't know that! Thanks.

I make my own products to clean the house. Water, vinegar and a bit of essential oil (at the moment it is lavandar!). Smells good, cleans well and really cheap