Trials & Tribulations of a Hobby Farmer.

[Lazy Farmer]

http://barbecuebible.com/recipe/8-steps-making-bacon-home/
This is how we cure our pork belly.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Eating pork can be healthy if home raised...
Berkshire Burgers on the grill..
Prime Pork not introduced to growth hormones or chemicals..
smoked over hickory nuts..

Almost ZERO FAT GREASE drained..

Cheated with the store bought

hash browns on the grill.

Your animals are as rich and clean as you want them to be. Commercial food has a greater chance of you contracting illness than homegrown. To all the paranoid humans with a mouth full of fast food, ranting about nonsense the media or internet has programed their biased opinion of home grown food.. here is a pic of what you are eating while ranting about avoiding contracting salmonella from back yard chickens..

Enjoy! yummy!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

 

[Lazy Farmer]

It is a bitter sweet change of pace this morning. After bringing our 2 grower pigs to process, the pen they were raised in is closest to the barn. It is empty and silent. Awkward silence. I am used to seeing them everyday for the last 6 months, hearing them oink for more food and treats. The last couple days has been different with them removed from the equation.
Got to get use to the new atmosphere..

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Thank goodness we got some of our pigs gone the other day.
Yesterday it rained down 3" in 2 hours or so. My husband had to keep his big baby off the hot wire fence in our new lake.
I feel bad for the Texas folks!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

If you are following my rants, here is a little trick my hubby does to keep the prime pork coming in at lowest cost and highest quality as possible.
Just because we just sent two 300# pigs to our butcher, doesn't mean we are set for life!
It takes up to six months average for us to get them that big.
So the ball has to keep rolling.

Introducing the new pork trio.
They are selected from a litter we sold off. The proceeds went to the silo feed company. We stocked up on 16% pro grower feed out the ying yang. Bulk prices can't be beat!
Also... These.

Several 50# bags of soybeans. 48% protein.

Daily, 2 crock pots cook the beans down to mush. The other 2 crock pots cook cracked corn down to mush.

Hub mixes them together and lets cool over night. When the process gets started, there is one bucket a day being fed to the new trio. Sometimes he will mix hard with a large tile mortar paddle with an industrial drill to make an apple sauce looking texture. Half bucket in the morning and the rest at sundown. On top of free will feeding of the conventional grain pellets.

To raise hogs economically, get them big fast with that first growth spurt so you don't turn them into a money pit! We have seen so many people spending too much money to raise a pig to eat, spending more than it costs to buy at the supermarket.

We have a little bbq day planned for a couple weeks from now. Got to make space in our freezers for the new meats.
Friends and family will be here enjoying the fruits of our labor.
One of our freezers has a 100# butterflied whole hog in it. My hub will pit smoke it for the party! I get to smell it cooking for 15 hours.. Drives the neighborhood nuts.
We hardly have no shows when we invite folks!

Got pork?

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Spotless brooders! Yay!
The work is done at last.. Park my butt, for a tad..

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Started a large batch of tomato sauce yesterday around 1:30ish. I have never reduced tomatoes in a crock pot before it takes mega hours!
If you think watching water starting to boil, tomatoes are mostly water! In a crock pot is really snail speed.
I have read, the longer it stews, the richer the sauce.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Took 2 passes on 2 height settings to mow the lawn. Twice the mowing and twice the gas. Twice the pain in the

 

[Lazy Farmer]

What is that bright ball of light up in the sky?????
Oh wow! I remember! We use to call that the Sun!
Sunshine.... "On my clothes line... makes me happy..."
Sing a long with me! I CAN'T HEAR YOU...