Submitted by Hardscrabble Farmer
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It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
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To donate via Stripe, click here.
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Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
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HSF,
Call your ‘office’.
Is that code?
My office is wherever I am.
No, not code. It’s just that I am seeing the same thing going on here,NC/SC/TN conflunce. Meat processors are engaged with lead times over a year.
Luckily, I have had sources for beef and hog. But, when I buy I prefer prepared and wrapped and freezer ready. Now, that market is getting ‘pinched’ too. I was not able to buy beef this autumn.
A half a beef used to be an easy purchase, but, all I see now is ‘buy on the hoof’. I’ve not slaughtered in some time and while I have enough land to keep and feed until I have the help and time… well it’s difficult.
I imagine you are inundated with requests.
Where I live, It’s easy to raise you own or buy meat raised locally. It’s also interesting to note that finding boneless chicken breast for less than $2/lb and ribeye steaks/roasts for less than $5/lb is still really easy. Our problem is running out of freezer space. Grown locally is always better, but I haven’t seen any meat shortages or rising prices…YET.
It is so true that this has been coming for a long time, the reduction of self-subsistence could almost be seen as intentional. (wink). As you know all too well, HSF, it’s a hard life, physically and financially. But the pay offs are tremendous. And, IMO, will finally prove to be vital in the times ahead of us.
I almost passed on this, because butchering isn’t anything new to me, but I quickly was drawn in. Almost like being there. 🙂
It reminded me of my childhood, helping with the butchering. He’s right about the dull knives not being welcome.
Did you happen to notice that all of the knives appeared to be carbon/steel, not stainless?
Carbon holds a better edge, for the most part. Unless one wants to pay a high price for some of the special alloys of stainless.
Did anyone else know the UN has an organization within it called theFood and Agroecology Organization.
Did you know they give grant money to sustainable farms?
Do you think HSF is eligible?
Maybe in 2021!
If you take their money, they have a certain amount of control over you and your operations. The federal government has done the same thing to states, counties and cities. They got dependent on the money from Uncle Sam. A government bureaucrat can make any rules he deems fit and you must obey or they will stop the flow of money.
He who has the gold makes the rules.
I agree with TN; if you take their money you are obligated to dance their tune. Years ago, before I took the place over, my folks had lots of opportunity – with a lot of pressure to accept – Fed assistance for wells and such. But they wanted to dictate how Dad ran his operation and had so many regulations and mandates that he told them to shove it after only a little bit of consideration. Very little.
If you research it, you’ll find that the US is not eligible.
Actually, I did look into it a bit more and have discovered some very odd things about these grants.
And, while the US is not eligible, there are a few recipients within the US…
Indigineous groups are eligible, i.e., the tribes.
THAT brings back a lot of memories…
Growing up on a farm in the 60’s in Saskatchewan to having our own small farm in the 90’s where we raised our kids . Our kids were involved in the feeding and processing, start to finish. Named the animals too… ham, bacon, side pork, lamb chops, and chickens… just chicken.
Had to sell due to injuries sustained work’n in the bush. But we all very much miss the lifestyle and the far superior quality of final products. Factory farming has devastated family farming to be sure and if it continues will make family farms a thing of the past. BUT… imo, the the SHTF moment isn’t far away and the family farm will see a resurgence, not just in providing product but also in preservation methods of products. I think its not going to be an overnight thing, but it will progress quickly when the economy starts to fold.
Farm life… hard, rewarding and no regrets.
Thanks, HSF. A very informative video. I have seen an article you wrote about hog killin and really enjoyed it. Did you have an oldtimer show you how it was done, or learn through videos?
I’m envious of his numerous skilled and willing help. Every hog I slaughtered I did solo; shot to stun, cut aorta, bleed out, collecting blood for blood sausage, expose the rear tendons and get animal on gambrel, use chain on tractor hay forks to hoist animal, remove head and feet, skin(I didn’t scald by myself), gut into wheelbarrow, save liver and heart, split with sawzall, quarter. At this point my wife cut the primals up and vacuum bagged for the freezer and we both did the grind and bacon curing. About 1 day with both of us working nonstop for one hog. A long hard day.
That public road along his farm will eventually be a problem. People are horrified. The popos will get called for “possible” animal abuse. /sarc Meat comes from the basement of the supermarket already wrapped in plastic, right?/sarc
BTW, using an axe to split the carcass with someone holding the chest cavity open, is just plain stupid, everything is greasy and very slippery. Every farmer has at least one sawzall with a 12″ coarse wood blade. Jeebus!!
Not being able to participate in the initial kill’n, is the roots of the animal rights movement. I find this cowardly, like having the vet put down your best friend when the time comes. She’s MY friend, my dog. She’ll die in my arms, at home, under her favorite apple tree.
Best of Luck
Joe
We’ve used chain saws before, especially on the beef steers. Only time we ever used an axe was a small one when we split an elk before packing it out.
I agree; my animals die at my hand. My companion animals, also. The only concession will be to have a vet come out to put my pup to sleep, in my arms and here at home, when the time comes for the suffering to end. For the first time, because she is closer than any other animal I’ve ever had.
Very well put. I had a vet, years ago, in the suburbs, who would put the dogs down only in the worst case scenario when they were suffering and he would come to the house to do so, with us present. It was hard to see when we had to use him once but it was necessary and true and merciful. What they are doing right now is so sterile and contributes to the ever increasing divorce from reality of the people
Offspring raising beef critters _ check
Offspring raising chickens/eggs_ check
Surrounded by Amish farms, multitude of vegetables etc._check
Surrounded by 300 beekeepers_check.
Surrounded by huge distilleries_check
Buying more seeds now_check
I think if you add in emergency food storage, I’m ready. Been working on this for 15 years.
Minus the distilleries and I am a beekeeper I would add,
7kw solar panels w 1200 amp/hour battery backup
3- 400w home made windmills (backup)
woodgas powered 8kw generator (backup backup)
fruit trees and nut trees so the bees have something to do
a good deep well
We also started out 15 years ago. As the kids grew and started families we built a house for them in a spot they picked and they all live within 1/4 mile or so. You’re right about the hard work, but every bit of effort you put out comes back to you or your offspring either now or in the future. This past year has been kind of silly from my point of view. If my kids didn’t have their phones and I shut the lid on this laptop I’d never know that things were going to hell in a handbasket.
JK- `I was addressing food availability mostly. Energy and water are very important as you stated. You may have seen my posts that I make my own reality most of the time, so I agree with shutting down the net access and live aloof to clear the mind….very important.
Best of luck to you and yours. 🙂
The iceagefarmer Christian Westbrook has been warning all about this for a year. iceagefarmer.com https://youtu.be/ojA9Ed7EYLs.
There is a bigger problem than the one you are aware of. It is the “Super Grand Solar Minimum”. We are in that. Just started last year and will continue for 35 or more years. It happens every 247 or so years.
I found out when I was researching the wobbling earth. …. I had sun on my farm in a place it never was before.
Funny how the GSM gets conveniently ignored, isn’t it?
Thats cause ‘climate change’ has over ruled GSM and we’re told that big bright thing in the sky has no real effect on the Earth… and I believe them… /s
Part of the plan. These folks want the earths population to be less than 1 billion.
I remember growing up with giant grain bins near the tracks in every major city. They knew about droughts and insect infestations and weather cycles. Now most of the giant storage bins are empty or are gone, and that means they(corporations who control your food supply) have moved to JIT (just in time) for food too. The world is in much worse trouble than we can even imagine.
People buy into warming, but mention cooling and they think ur nuts. Theres a lot of problems with the food supply right now.
What a coincidence. I have smoked ham hocks in the slow-cooker right now. Will cook turnip greens with them tonight. First time trying that. One thing I’ve thought about veganism: do vegans think that if the animals weren’t culled, they’d just be freed to live in the wild? “Go little piggies! Live free! Maybe down by the golf course.” I know feral hogs are a thing, but where would the cattle go? Would they go live in the woods? Les Nessman tried to free turkeys and it didn’t work out. So without a livestock industry, the animals simply wouldn’t live at all. Isn’t it better to have lived and then become food than to never have lived at all? At least you could make that argument.
One of the best KRP episodes ever!
Ahhhh, Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson)….what happened to everyone that could take a “sexist” joke with good humor and then dish it right back with a smile and a laugh because it was a joke
What happened…
Communist infiltration. Demoralization. Infantilization. Too much Al Sharpton and too little Blues Brothers.
Agreed with that being one of the best WKRP episodes, but Bailey Quarters was the one for me.
Saw a picture of a side by side of the two girls as they look today. I think the bailey still looks better than the plasticized loni.
Here eyes are still mesmerizing.
The reason that they have been throwing out lots of food; milk, pork, potatoes, etc, during the “pandemic” is because they could not be inspected. The USDA inspection process is the scam that will create a famine.
If you can’t get inspection, then it cannot be sold, and possibly not even given away.
The USDA should be shut down.
At the time of the Great Depression a large percentage of people could still provide much of their food needs. That is not any where near true today. If things get tough, It is going to be a repeat of Stalin’s treatment of Kulaks.
Thank God for men (and the (wo)men who keep them happy).