A Full Weeknd

I still need to post pictures from Christmas, but wanted to post some to-date pictures of this past weekend.  Friday night we killed two of our pigs and hung them to chill overnight like rednecks in our front yard.  In the morning, we cut them up and now have a freezer full of delicious pork!  Butchering and then wrapping the meat in freezer paper is always exhausting, but as a book I read recently said, "someone somewhere is working hard for your food." It's either you, or someone else.

We had just started reading Charlotte's web when we butchered the pigs and I was worried MM would have a hard time, and she did a little.  She was sad, and we told her that it was okay to be sad.  She sat beside the pig while it was beeing scalded singing, "we will meet again my friend..." It was too cute.  She still enjoys the process of butchering.  She even helped to scrape the hair off with a knife, which she thought was VERY COOL.

Later in the week Henry asked if Wilbur was going to be butchered, "I want to read THAT chapter!" he said with a grin.

No pics of the kill this year- was trying to keep an eye on Peter to see how he was handling it.  It is the worst part in the whole process.   Clifford only make a small incision for the pig to bleed out, so it was better, but last year our friend cut off about half his neck and that a little too much for me even!

scalding the pig and removing the hair

two men came to help. Clifford, one of them, is our neighbor and does this all the time. So he has the one in charge and leading it.  This is only our second time butchering pigs.

watching

ready for gutting!

Jason and Clifford doing the detail work before gutting the pig.

This is always one of my favorite parts.  I love seeing how the inner parts all fit together.

I didn't take any more pictures because I was busy wrapping meat, but here is John enjoying some porkchops the next day!

Sunday, we needed rest and leisure.

Isn't Henry looking old? He's not a toddler anymore.

Peter is looking older too, but he's still a toddler.

Please tell me that you never forget the sweet feeling of being cheek to cheek with a baby. So precious.

As usual, I have so many more pics to upload to the blog.  I just wanted to give a quick update. Thanks for being patient with me!