Return to the Land

During this period of transition in schools I had become old enough to accept the responsibility of more farm chores. I remember in the fall killing hogs with Pa. He showed me how to do it and gave me certain jobs throughout the process. It would begin early on a frosty morning. A 50-gallon barrel with the lid cut off was partly turned on its side and filled with water. A fire was kindled at the base and the water was brought to a near boil. Often there was a platform on which a hog was placed. Once the water was just right Pa would pass his fingers through the water three times, if it felt uncomfortably hot on the third pass the water was ready. He then would take his 22 hand pistol and shoot the penned hog between the eyes. Next the hog’s throat was cut with a butcher knife to sever the carotid artery and remove the blood from the body. Sometimes the hogs were so large that we’d take either Bob or Mack and then pull the carcass to the scalding platform. From there the entire hog was dipped into the near boiling water to scald the hide enough to loosen the hair. Sometimes if the water was too hot it would “set” the hair, which made it more difficult to remove. Then it became my j ob to scrape and remove the hair. Once that was completed a “gambling” stick was placed between the tendons of the hog’s hind legs and it was hung on the pole. This is when the animal would be disemboweled. Once that was done we’d repeat the same proced ure on the next hog until all were slaughtered. Usually two hogs would provide enough pork to last a year for the family. Having completed the slaughter process the carcass was quartered and taken to the smoke house. This was a one room building just behind the cabin that contained salt bins and quartering tables. Pa then showed me how to cut up the pork. The shoulders and hams were trimmed of excess fat and placed in the salt bins and covered with salt for several weeks. After the initial salt preservation the hams and shoulders were removed and treated with certain spices and seasonings and wrapped in a sack and hung to cure. The flank or side meat commonly called fat back was cured in the same manner. That would eventually be used for bacon strips or cooking with beans. Excess meat was ground into sausage and canned. Tenderloin was also canned. The backbone and ribs were often cooked and consumed relatively soon. When electricity became available in the late 194 0’s we purchased a deep freezer and much of the secondary cuts were frozen. The excess fat we trimmed and cooked on the stove and melted to make lard for cooking during the winter. One of my favorite portions to eat of the hog was the tail. Ma would bake it in the oven and I was the only member given the honor of eating this delicacy. Poultry was important as a source of food and income. There was a hen house where the present garage stands. There were individual nests for the hens to lay eggs and a pole located horizontally above the ground for the chickens to roost at night. I was delegated the job of collecting eggs daily. Occasionally I would drop one but the worst day was when I found a black snake in a nest and I broke a whole basket of eggs from being startled. Mother was fearful of snakes and often disposed of them with an old 12-gauge shotgun. To this day, I have no respect for those reptiles even though I know that they can be beneficial to the farmer.

The dairy was operating before the barn was completed so we had to milk cows in the old stall and hay barn west of the house. We milked by hand and carried the milk to a small building

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