Mr. Bighamsworth
Mr. Bighamsworth is no longer with us. Yeah that’s right, I finally harvested him. Well I had a little help from my friends. Here in just a bit I am going to fry up some bacon to give him a tasty taste… Okay, I just had some and wow with a little apple sauce and salt; it was great. I have been raising this pig since the beginning of March and have controlled his diet best I can. He steadily grew until about a few weeks ago then it seems as though he leveled off. About seven days before we harvested him I started up a 4000 calorie a day diet to really plump him up a little. It worked; the pigs belly really filled out. I took about an hour or so
each day and got my shed prepared for the harvest. I got bins to hold ice; I sharpened my knives, set up an AC to cool the shed while we were in it and to keep it cool while the meat chilled. I have never up to that point killed anything except a rat, so I had to prepare my mind to make sure I could kill this beast to feed my family. To a regular hunter or farmer this is done at a young age and is never thought of again. For me it is new and took a little bit too actually pull the trigger. I used Steve’s air rifle designed for hunting to put him down, my shot was right on and the large wild hog reacted the way I saw in many of videos when a pig dies. About a minute had passed and he became still. Steve reached for the black cage door to open it so we could start the cleaning process. At that point Mr. Bighamsworth stood up looked around and started eating corn. Really no joke I felt so bad and was a little freaked out. Steve reloaded the rifle and took a shot at the pig in hopes of making sure he didn’t suffer. Steve’s shot failed too and he proceeded to take two more shots. My step dad took out his 380 and finished what we started. Once Rich shot the pig Steve and I pulled out the pig, punctured it artery and let it bleed out. We washed him for a second time, hooked its legs and hung him in the now cool shed to continue to bleed out. About ten minutes into him hanging upside down Steve and I got some pictures with him and then started removing the beast’s head so it could drain any remaining blood and take away some of the pet like qualities he still had. I didn’t have time to feel bad or change my mind since cooling the meat is important in protecting the quality. My niece and nephew watched the whole thing and were more okay with what we were doing than I had ever thought possible. Steve and I started removing the skin beginning at the rear shanks furthest from the ground; gravity helps half way through the skinning process. Having never done this, I depended on Steve’s guidance and my hours of reading The Complete Book of Butchering, Smoking, Curing, and Sausage Making. Long title I know. But the book really is a great read on top of the information it contains. The kids were amazed at how we worked on the animal and never once made a gross face or acted in a way that I may give then a bad dream or harm their psyche. As we opened up the animal and the organs began to evacuate the body cavity I was stunned; not much holds our guts in. after the skin was off we completely removed all the organs and then I sawed the remaining carcass in half to better chill the meat while on ice. Once in half it was placed on ice to chill and we waited for the butcher to cut the meat into serving sizes. The butcher sliced the two halves so quickly into little chunks of meat that could be recognized like how we see at the store. I wrapped everything in paper and it is now frozen waiting to be consumed.
The other day Reagan wanted me to pick him up so bad; I put him in my lap and bounced for a minute before laying his head down and passing out. He must have been so tiered. Reagan is now seven months post meningitis and doing fantastic. The neurologist is decreasing his medicine little by little every slow passing month. Soon my little boy will be free of medicine and terrorizing the house. I cant wait.
This is my new favorite picture of the little ones; they were wrestling and Macey pulled Reagan down on top of her. I have the video on my youtube page. Well you can watch the video below this picture. Macey is really taking to having Reagan around. Even here while we are at the mall and I am writing this; Macey is making sure that none of the other kids are messing with Reagan. I just hope that there are many more pictures like this to come.
I am very happy to say that my bamboo is doing great and all the sprouted seeds are thriving under my 18 inch plant light. I have about twenty little Moso bamboo guys and about half are four to five inches tall. I am not sure when I am going to transplant them to something bigger than their current egg carton home. I might try to keep them inside until next spring when the growing season starts again. I want to give my living fence every chance I can at growing up big and strong. These guys should grow to be nice and tall giving so some much needed shade. We will see soon enough I guess; I hope I am not disappointed.
Well I have stuff to do; talk to ya soon
Yours Truly,
Mike
PS Arianna Shirk I have been thinking about you and I hope you are a happy little girl. I cant wait to see you some day.
Michael Trump 