Butchering Day On The Farm

What a busy day butchering day was for our family and perhaps a neighbor or two. My Dad would get up very early. The big iron kettle was hauled out of storage, a fire was started and kettle was filled with water and placed over the fire. We had an early breakfast as the kitchen would be the place where all the activity took place. The sausage grinder was in place, a large kettle was in place to place the hog head and scraps of meat for the scrapple that was always made. The meat was cooked until it fell off the bone and then ground and returned to the broth. Cornmeal, salt and pepper were added. It was cooked until thick, poured into pans to cool. It was then sliced and fried to a golden brown. It was delicious. After the hog was killed and cleaned it was ready to be cut into pork chops, hams, shoulders and tenderloins. Some of it was cut up for the sausage. As the men butchered the hog, the fat was trimmed off, and went into the big iron kettle. Soon there would be a lot of liquid that would become the lard that we used to cook with. My Dad would prepare the hams and bacon and they would be placed in the smoke house. I do believe my Dad made the best hams around. The next few days were also busy as all of the chops, tenderloins and roasts had to be preserved as we didn't have a freezer. Most of it was canned for future use. That would be our meat supply for the winter. Sometimes we would have a beef which was also a lot of work preserving. Farm life was not easy in the twenties and thirties but we always had food for the table.