Bringing Home the Bacon!

We picked up my 1/2 hog yesterday before I went to work. It was a big one, my half was  95 lbs of deliciousness. I am so excited. My friends and I went out to North Market and got some lunch before we picked up the meat. Today I am gonna start my first roast. I have a whole box of bacon! I sadly didn't get any organs out of this hog, however they said with the next one they will try and hold out some extra organs from other animals for me. Over all this was an exultant experience. I am very excited to build this relationship with Bluescreek Farm.
I am very glad to have completed this challenge. It was back in august that I decided that I wanted to get a chest freezer and start buying bulk meats. In celebration the next two weeks of my life are gonna be a barbecue party!

Proud Men Back from the Hunt!

That box says 'Theodore Gorman 1/2 hog. But we all know he is about to be a whole pig. 

There is a body in my trunk!

I Bought the Farm.

There is no sense trying to keep it under wraps now. On Thursday of last week I renewed my community garden plot with the Westerville rec. I also renewed Moe's. In mid-April the we will begin the season down at the gardens! I was originally going to try and give Moe her plot for Valentine's Day.
In other news I transferred my Mead yesterday, from the open fermentation container to the jug. The next phase of the Mead is a couple more transfers from jug to jug until its ready to be bottled and racked. For the first stage of the fermentation I normally use my crock pot. In the next couple of weeks I will be getting my half-hog order (excited squeal, pun intended). When I get the hog I will be using my crock pot almost constantly for roasts. I want to try to make one more mead before the hog arrives and my crock pot is occupied. I have been having a lot of fun fermenting again. It's such an ancient human practice.

Ground Swell

On Tuesday as I was heading down town to class I turned in my registration fee to "Ground Swell" an urban homesteading mentor program. I could learn things like food storage and animal husbandry. Not to mention adding a good deal of knowledge to my gardening skill set. I won't know if I got into the program for another week, fingers crossed. We may even be able to get a "Model Homestead" Certification at the end of the process. 

I know there will be some stiff competition. I am not a shoe in by any means. I am hopeful. 

With or with out this program the coming year is going to be educational and I am very excited to get my projects back under way. Even with the bitter cold outside I am starting to think about my spring garden. I have seeds a plenty and I can't wait to get dirt on my hands again. 

Sprouts, Tubers and Honey Wine

Two days ago I received my new shipment of sprouts in the mail. I ordered through sproutpeople.org. I got four kinds of seeds, organic broccoli, red kale, mustard and clover. I was able to take advantage of the free shipping as well. I estimate that with the amount of sprouts I received I will be able to sprout consistently and eat a health amount of greens for about three months.

Also in the last week I started eating some of the sweet potatoes I grew this summer. After harvesting and curing the sweet potatoes they are supposed to be stored for a time. Weeks to months, this allows the sugars to break down and the sweet potato becomes more digestible. It also makes them more sweet, and let me tell you they are sweet. I have been making them into hash browns. I know now that I am going to be growing sweet potatoes for a long time. 

The other thing I started this week was a new batch of mead. After drinking some of the mead I made this summer I am really excited to make more. I have also had an opportunity to try brothers drake Wild Ohio mead. I love mead. I am interested in trying several mead experiments in the next several months. The one I just started I used a 100% cranberry juice with 2 lbs of honey and champagne yeast.

I will keep you all updated on my winter projects. 

That'll do pig! That'll do.

I am gonna buy a pig today! Well half of one! Well I am actually gonna pay for half of that half today. I found the farm I want to use, Bluecreek Farm. They have a store front in downtown Columbus. The pork is the right price for it to be a sustainable venture for me. I am very excited. The people at the store front/butcher shop are gonna walk me through the process. I don't really know what I want out of this deal, cause I don't really know what I am getting. I know I want all the organs I can get. I also want a bunch of bacon which does cost a bit more. I will keep you'all updated with he process.

We'll Raise a Cup of Bulletproof Coffee and Kindness

January One 2014, 
First day of a new year. I am not one for resolutions. But I have a list of things I am going to try over the coming months.
First, I am going to be back in classes. I will be taking organic chemistry and trigonometry. Both are subjects I have studied before but not in over 5 years. I foresee some challenges in getting my mind functioning in that was again. I think I can do the classes. I am blocking a lot of time every week for studying. 
I am also working still. I will be working one or two shifts less than I was over the past several months. I would like to only be down one shift. I need the money from at least 4 shifts per week. 
There is also a good chance I will be working on a much larger project. I can't reveal what that is yet, but it will require a lot of my time weekly. A big part of that project will require getting in much better shape than I am now. I will need to adapt and level up. 
I also want to be better at staying on top of my gardening and blogging. In the coming months that means consistently sprouting and keeping my sprout garden from getting gross. In early spring it means starting this whole project over again. 
It's gonna be a good year. 

Buying a 1/4 of beef!

Part 1
I think I have at least most of the money I will need to purchase a 1/4 grass fed cow. I now only need to find butcher and farmers. I don't know how to do that. I have googled butcher shops and found some. I have also talked with a woman I work with who recommended one. Since that recommendation though I have heard some stuff about that place I don't like. Mostly that some hunters have reported not getting their deer back. One of my goals with finding a butcher is to find some one who I can go to and trust when I tackle hunting. I want to use this experience to build the beginning of that relationship.
I have put out a call to other Columbus Paleo people through the Facebook page "Meetup: Paleo Living Columbus. I hope by the end of the day I can talk to some one who has actually bought a 1/4 or more. At the moment I am getting a lot of suggestions about Butcher shops, but it does not seem that many people have tried to get this much at one time.
Part 2
Wow, I just got a response to my post about "Fox Hollow Farms." This is looking like the place. I don't seem to need to do the extra work of finding a butcher myself. I will need to learn what I want to tell the butcher when the time comes. However, according to the FHF website the butcher can help me thought that process too. It looks like total cost will be about $500 and I will get about 90 lbs of meat. This is more money and less meat than I was expecting. It's still by far the best way to get this deal. I buy heart and tong for $4 a pound, but those are limited supply and very heard to deal with. When I am done butchering them and have them in an edible state I have about 1/2 of what I stated with. That means they are actually $8 per pound, plus and hour of work. This is gonna be awesome, its just gonna be more money than I was expecting.