A pig's tale

3 December
After a night of tossing and turning, we awoke properly at about six o’clock this morning. It seems something had been stopping us from having a peaceful night’s sleep and the most likely candidate was the fate of poor ‘Big Face’ the pig this morning.

We came downstairs and made a cup of tea and James confessed that he just didn’t think he could face the thought of sending him for the (pork) chop. I did have to agree that it was an unpleasant thought and so in a dramatic reversal of fate (again!) we decided that the female pig would be our candidate when the farmer arrived this morning. Consequently, at about 10 past 10 this am, the female pig was dispatched and by 11.30 am she was hanging up by her feet in the old hangar. The old farmer was very matter of fact and admitted he had been doing it for 45 years. He was certainly very quick and efficient which was a blessing for us and for the poor old pig! He’s coming back tomorrow to carve the carcass into appropriate joints. She’s not a huge pig, but there will be two reasonable sized hams and he’s going to make us sausages and patés along with all the other obvious cuts. We’re going to pay close attention to the ‘butchering’ as the intention is to do it ourselves next time.

The children kept out of the way, although after it was all over, Thomas and Lizzy did venture out to have a look at the carcass. Lizzy (8) seems the least phased by it all. She wants to watch with us tomorrow to see how the meat is jointed!

I never dreamt that one day we would be processing a pig on our own premises. It’s been quite an experience for us all !