We are very excited about our upcoming Butchering Workshop. The event will feature some of our heritage American Guinea Hogs that we will be taking from the paddock to your freezer. Butchering expert Brett Corrieri will be coming out to the farm to teach the art of butchering. Even if you do not raise your own pork the skills Brett teaches easily translate to butchering other meats. This workshop will allow you to be a part of how your food is processed and have the skill and confidence to tackle the task for yourself if you so desire. The workshop even includes a share portion of one of our heritage hogs that you will get to take home.
This is sure to be a very fun event. Anyone attending the butchering workshop is invited to come out on Friday afternoon December 8, 2017 and set up a tent and enjoy some time relaxing on the farm, seeing all of the pigs and birds, hanging out with the farm dogs, networking and meeting other attendees, camping and enjoying a campfire. Being able to network with like minded people and bounce thoughts and build ideas is often one of the best parts of attending an event. As a couple bonuses for campers a couple of chickens will be processed and we will also be scalding and scraping one hog (another hog will be scald and scraped Sat.) on Friday afternoon in order to be a step ahead on Saturday.
Saturday will start with a light breakfast featuring some gourmet coffee from Holler Roast Coffee and some bacon and sausage from one of our heritage hogs. If we can get our slacking birds to start laying eggs again we will have some of our eggs as well. If the birds keep up their lazyness (the days are short now so it is kind of expected) we will source some eggs from a nearby farm.
We will then be covering the proper humane slaughter of a hog. Being able to properly, quickly and humanley slaughter the animal is the most important part of the process. When not properly done the animal will suffer and that can lead to off flavors in the meat from stress and adrenaline, possibilities of you becoming injured by a scared animal, and suffering is the last thing that we want for any of our animals.
We will then move on to cleaning, skinning, scalding and scraping the hog. You will be able to not just learn why one method would be used over the other and see the process, but you will actually be taking part in the process. You will be able to use and learn about the tools involved in the scraping process and build the skills so you can process for yourself. You will also be able to see how we return the surplus (typically unused portions of the hog) into the various systems on the farm.
We will then break for a mouth watering lunch featuring some of our farm raised chicken as well as other locally raised meats. As we enjoy lunch and answer any questions from the morning session of the butchering workshop the hogs will be cooling off and resting to so that conditions are ideal for the butchering process.
The afternoon session will consist of butchering expert Brett Corrieri is teaching us how to butcher the carcass. What the different cuts are, how to make them, where they come from, etc. Of course you can’t have a butchering workshop with a pig and not cover a bit about how to get started making your own bacon and sausage. We will even let a couple of our recipes for some of our great sausage slip out.
Everyone will be receiving a few packages of the pork that they just processed to take home with them. There is a good possibility some additional packages being available for sale. We are working to be able to offer a drawing or two for some of our heritage bacon.
Being that the days are short in December the farm will also be open for another night of camping Saturday night. There is not an official dinner planned for Saturday night but there will be some pork on the grill. If anyone has an easy speciality they like to make on the grill it would be an awesome opportunity to show it off and could easily turn into a great dinner. If you guys want to turn Saturday’s dinner awesome just leave some comments and make it happen this part is on you! Let’s make it good.
Sunday morning there will of course be more coffee from Holler Roast Coffee and if we haven’t eaten it all some more bacon and sausage. Followed by departure back to your homestead by 11am. Because honestly these events are a lot of work and getting everything back to “normal” and quiet is even more work.
Learning to butcher is a very valuable skill and art. Attending this Butchering Workshop is the start to developing this skill set to whatever level that you desire. Make sure you get signed up for our Basic Butchering Workshop soon as slots available are limited. Attending this workshop will also qualify you for a nice discount on our advanced butchering workshop that will be announced at a later date. In the advanced butchering workshop we will rehash some of the basics before getting into the charcuterie and curing sides of the butchering process.