Nytasha Jones

Well, all done now. I had been delaying till I had a better setup for the process. But yesterday the problem pig got out, and showed his brother the trick. His brother was trying to eat two of my rabbits when I discovered they were out (rabbits are fine) after a few unsuccessful and annoying hours trying to get them back in the pen I decided I didn't need the drama, and shot them both. Very glad I did, because they are already the LIMIT of what I can handle on my own with only a sharp set of knives. Got the two pigs taken apart today.

Second pig went down with one shot, first pig I thought I missed the first shot he reacted so very little. I'd got him thru the ear and he barely reacted. Pigs are TOUGH critters. They wouldn't stay still or let me get close so honestly I'm pretty proud of my aim.

To say I am tired, is an understatement.




The last pig is still in the pen. Hopefully he behaves for another week or so and lets me rest, and try to come up with a better setup before I process him too.

And I try to take it easy on the weekends. Sheeeeeeesh! Lol oh well I'll take it easy next week, and it's worth it having all that sweet dead piggy goodness sitting in saltwater now. Bags of lard in the freezer to deal with later, skins and organs in a pile to be given out to the other critters later.

After yesterday I didn't even have the energy to gut them after dragging them down to my cabin from where I'd had to shoot them. So I only kept hearts for myself from the organs.

Good tips thanks a lot! I use liquid humanure (sorry, I am new to the community I don't know all the polite terms lol) mixed into my "swamp juice" liquid plant food. I have a bottle of white vinegar that is sitting with eggshells bones occasionally I'll toss some rusty something or other in there. Not an exact science. A cup or so of that(and some wood ashes if it smells too vinegary since I'm always adding and subtracting stuff in there), "liquid humanure"(#1 LOL), rainwater ideally (or aged tap), leave that sit till the algae blooms and the skeeter babies start to grow.... Plants eat that up like 3 star fine dining lol

But squashes are much heavier eaters and my pie pumpkin patch this past year out of an old (carbon heavy. Half composted wood chips, and other junk) compost pile did *much* better than my butternut squash. Butternut was in rabbit droppings but it just struggled along till I started giving it the swamp juice.

Also it's just me here which has an impact on the humanure safety from what I understand. Just me, I don't take any medicine or even Tylenol, very minimal processed food, etc. But yes definitely a little more uneasy to start trying to use solid humanure in the garden than I am with using the liquid stuff.

Another thing about where I want to put the squashes, it's uphill from a shallow little pond I started digging in last year, so runoff definitely a concern. When I say small I mean suburban backyard landscaping scale. Toads breed in there and their used pond water is also a favorite snack of my garden. There's cattails growing in it tho so it is definitely also able to survive a bit of extra nutrients.  

This past year rain was very weird. Dry the vast vast vast majority of the time, with sporadic heavy rain. Not sure what to expect next year. Where I'm putting them the hoses don't currently reach so I'll be hauling water unless I re work things. So I guess the water trap might even be a good thing potentially

Not sure if this belongs here I'm sorry. I only have a broken cell phone to access the internet and it's not the easiest thing LOL

So, squash pits you dig down then load them up with ashes, biochar, rich biomatter, etc, bury them with good soil, plant your melons and squashes on top, basic idea yes?

What about in heavy clay? I mean I could probably make bowls from this stuff straight out the ground it's so much just clay beneath my feet. I thought squash pits would work to use the land to grow food sooner, and be a convenient way to bury some... Solid waste.... And put it to good use.

I dug in some pits, using the clay for Adobe to insulate my cabin, and then it rained. Now I have wells, and second thoughts about the squash pits.

I'll be mounding up on top before planting so I'm not so much worried about the squashes drowning, but I am worried about the pits leaking.... Maybe I should reconsider the pits all together? Maybe I should come up with a different pit design? Maybe I should abandon the thought of using that specific organic material as nutrients down in the buried squash pit? Or maybe I'm overthinking this?

Interesting about the bullet not entering the brain. I had been picturing where to place the shot to be sure it hits the brain and etc, but I guess it might not matter as much as I had been thinking, as long as I stick him quick.

Unfortunately I don't have a vehicle of any kind. I have a mini donkey and a large mastiff who *could* be convinced to help with things, but I haven't trained them for that so it wouldn't be a simple thing to just do. But I'm strong, stubborn, and experienced with convincing heavy objects to do strange things. I built my log cabin by hand, and many other projects. Currently don't even have a chainsaw, just a hand saw and a circular saw. My chainsaw broke maybe a year and a half ago and I haven't been able to replace it yet lol. My setup and lifestyle is very rustic. Not quite off grid primitive only, but I definitely skip over a lot of modern stuff. No indoor plumbing, electric thru extension cords currently (running out of an old mobile home on my property that I lived in until I built my cabin), etc. It's been a saga and a half getting to this point.

What would you suggest for a treat? I've been doing all kinds of goodies lately to help keep him in the pen and behaving, so food treats need to be *very* high value, or they're just another tasty treat on an overflowing buffet table of goodies so to speak.

Yeah it's just me. I'm "something" of a hermit I guess. I moved here about six years ago with a boyfriend, he immediately turned to a husband, then a stranger. Divorce not final yet but soon. We've been separated for years now, long enough we're more friendly than not at this point but we aren't friends(everything is "settled" but not fully legally detangled). No kids, no family. I know my neighbors out at the road and they're real kind folks. An online friend had an online friend about 10 miles away, so I have gotten to know him a bit over the past year or so but he's a busy guy with a job a wife and four kids under 10 so they aren't able to stop by more than once every few months usually. Not ideal, but a lot better than some of the other situations I've been in lol. Lonely is better than with the wrong people around yikes. But no help for anything. I can get supplies delivered so not actually "no help" but no help with the farm tasks.

And I've tried getting clever about it too lol trying to sell extra critters not for money but for work done on the farm. No takers, so I remain the only one who works at my projects list. Oh well. It's peaceful and I get by just fine. Very proud of everything I've built here, more so than anything else I've ever done.

I don't have a way to hook and hang the pig, and I don't have a .22. hoping to get that by the time I do the other two, but for this one I'm going to have a task ahead of me for sure. The largest critter I've done before this was a real fat dwarf goat, and that was just a rough job chopping her into chunks for the dogs(she was old old and I didn't want the meat for myself). I've got a 9mm pistol I was thinking to use for the job. Hanging I was thinking about maybe chains in a tree. And doing primal cuts before aging potentially. Then I could use a couple of smaller coolers instead of trying to find one big enough for the whole pig. Weather is too much back and forth to hope for chilly days.

I have an old non working freezer that I use to keep rodents out of my feed grain and I was planning to use that as a surface to work on potentially. Probably will put down a tarp and a bowl of milk to get the pig still and then try for the shot. Hopefully I don't miss, he isn't a mean pig or anything like that and deserves a quick end. Hoping to collect at least some of the blood to try and dry it and use in the garden maybe.

Definitely looking forward to delicious pork 🤤 sausage, jerkey, roasts, etc etc etc oh man.... And Mr Bacon isn't the only meat going up soon. I've got about a dozen young muskovies ready to go, ten old hens ready for soup season, two young goats, two old guineas, and maybe two rabbits. Going to be eating good this winter for sure

I raised pigs for the first time this year, big success overall will definitely do it again. I got three castrated kunekune potbelly crosses back in early spring and I'm planning to grow them thru next spring or fall, but one has a new trick escaping the pen and causing trouble and I'm over it. So he goes to freezer camp this week probably (there was a nearby fire recently and I need to wait for pig to detox), and the other two pigs I'll grow to the "finish line".

Mr Bacon is nice and big and fat and jiggly so well worth doing at his current size. I'll not have a perfect setup or anything like that, it's too short notice and I am isolated in the forest and don't have a vehicle, so it is what it is.

Anyway all that to say, I am wanting to make a proper ham from this pig in time for Thanksgiving would be nice. What's everyone's favorite recipes and process for a ham? I don't have curing salt unfortunately and idk if I'll be able to get it any time soon, but I can try.

Maybe also just reaching out for human contact. I don't interact with many people these days, and most of them are not homestead people and get quiet and awkward when I mention sending a critter to freezer camp. Like, do people think all farm animals are pets? Lol idk, people seem to be completely disconnected from where food comes from. They hear about a pig escaping the pen, not causing too much trouble but definitely causing trouble, and they bond with it sight unseen lol "Houdini doesn't wanna be ham, give him a pardon he has personality " Soo because he's making my life more difficult I should keep him around forever? .....

So anyway, ham recipes LMAO. Bacon and sausage would also be tasty, I am a big fan of all kinds of preserved meats

Sorry for any typos, written on a cell phone with a broken screen

Yeah, my one neighbor I spoke to said it was a total loss for the people who had the fire, but they thankfully were not home at the time so everyone is safe. Two weeks sounds like a good place to start, thanks. I'm definitely not happy about all the chemicals and etc. I have exotic birds in one mobile home that isn't sealed the best so I'm hoping none of them get sick. The rest of my animals are outdoors other than I have one small old dog who lives in my cabin with me. Definitely not an ideal situation. My property is pretty isolated, but the fire was in about the closest area it could have been, the wind blew the smoke all straight this way, and the mountains meant it stayed. Perfect storm of awful. At least it's pretty much fully cleared by now, and the leaves are in full fall colors so I can be outside again and enjoy all that. 👍

Thankfully everybody is ok. Here, there, everywhere, all involved are safe. Not my structure and I didn't lose anything, but the fire was very close by. Was a few stinky indoor days by my air filter. Now I'm wondering.... How long do I wait before I butcher my livestock? I have a whole mess of critters in line to go to freezer camp, but they just got a mega dose of airborne chemicals. I'm assuming the lungs aren't even good for dog treats and I should do what with them? Maybe compost? Maybe? Or use them as bait in traps? Idk. How long do I wait tho before it's safe to butcher?

There for a while it was hazy hazy smokey out, and stunk to high heaven.

Typed on a broken cell phone, so please forgive typos or anything like that lol