Thursday, June 29, 2017

My daddy and Hog Killing Time



Little known facts:
1.    The two-foot long bird called a Kea that lives in New Zealand likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows.
2.    Snakes are true carnivores as they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material.
3.    The Weddell Seal can travel underwater for seven miles without surfacing for air.

This Blog entry:


The first 6 years of my life, my daddy raised a hog every year. At hog killing time he always used salt to cure the meat. Dad was a preacher, but he originally was a farmer in North Georgia. So he never lost the idea of having his own meat. He skipped six years we lived in towns.  We moved to Valdese, NC and were still in town, but he made an agreement with Robbie Cook’s family to raise his hog in a pen beside theirs, just out of town. My daddy never always fed and talked to his hog. I can still remember the 5 gallon ‘slop’ bucket he put in the back floor board of his 1951 Buick, it seemed to be level full and he never spilled any in the car. It really did amaze me, I was in the 7th grade. I rode with him to feed that hog, just to watch that bucket. It never spilled.



Hog killing time was festive. Several families would come together to help each other with the huge task. Three families, three hogs.  Under a tree there was a 55 gal drum ½ full of water over a fire. After they were slaughtered, the huge hogs were lifted up by their hind legs with a block and tackle and lowered into the barrel for scalding. After a few minutes it was pulled back out and the men or women would scrape the hog slick.


Then the hog was de-bowelled.  That was what the kids were waiting for. The Bladder was taken, washed and cleaned by one of the men. Then it was blown up and all tubes tied. It became our ball. The game was something like volley ball without a net that we played. Towards the end it became a football, for a tag game.
 The scraps were grilled, they were delicious. The men would butcher a Hog, set it aside and start on the next one. 


My daddy loved ‘country ham’ (defiled with salt, lol). I liked fresh ham. Some was always saved for breakfast with fresh ham.




I always admired dad. Our house scraps along with some mash, furnished our family with livermush, ham, ribs, sausage, roasts, bacon, side meat liver, and more for the year.  Homemade pig skins for snacks were delicious. You cannot blame the families, no one knew about cholesterol then. Our lye-soap also came from the fat of the hog. Very little of that animal was wasted.
            Nite Shipslog
 The 1950 Ford Crestliner. One of the first 'fancy' two tone paint jobs out of Detroit.

7 comments:

betty said...

Learned something new about the bladder of the pig being used for a ball! Now I want a ham sandwich :)

betty

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

Ham is a favorite of mine and thanks to having had grandparents that lived on a farm I do have some idea of what you are talking about. They used every bit of that hog and also made pickled pigs feet and mincemeat with the meat on the hogs head. Good memories and good food too.

Lisa said...

The bladder ball has me stunned! How cool is that?
Funny story: On the way to the beach we always pass a sign that say "Dressed hogs". Without a clue, I asked Nick what a dressed hog was. Without missing a beat, He a said "Its pigs dressed in tuxedos". A few miles down the road, He couldn't stand it any longer and explained what it really was. Then we had a good laugh the rest of the day!

Now I want some BBQ.
Lisa

Mevely317 said...

Oh my gosh ... I feel like such a CITY girl.
Everyone is chuckling and I'm over here like, "That poor hog!" Eeeeu!

If I think about it long enough, there's a good chance I could turn into a vegetarian.....

Dar said...

We still butcher hogs every fall, either for friends or family...everything is used except the squeal...as Dad always said. The ribs are my favorite and Bill loves pickled pigs feet and sultz. Yum. loved this memory that rekindled one for me. We even butchered a few wild hogs. Great grilling!!!
love n' hugs for up north

TARYTERRE said...

all this talk of ham and bacon could make a girl hungry, don't you know? But if I have to think about how it gets to the table, i might lose my appetite.

Paula said...

I remember hog butchering time. I liked the cracklings, they didn't taste like the pig skins you buy in the stores. Thanks for bringing back the memories.