My buddy BlueTang came through for me again.
I dropped off a couple pork buts at his place for him to turn into some magical piece of edible tastiness. The first one he simply smoked over cherry wood, and was fantastic. Every time I would pull it out of the fridge, not only would I start to salivate with anticipation, my dog would run into the kitchen and follow me around, leaving a trail of drool. FANTASTIC!
Yesterday, I stopped over and picked up the results of his other magical spell, cured smoked ham.
I don’t know the exact process BT uses to make this. From my standpoint, I buy the meat, and drop it at his house. Seven to ten days alter, I pick up my finished product, and shift a couple favor markers over towards his side of the equation.
Can you buy ham this good at a store? It is possible, I suppose, but at what price? Isn’t it better to build relationships with folks to exchange favors such as this? A helping hand with a flat tire at 2am is one thing, but isn’t THIS a much better payoff for developing a close circle of trusted friends?
I owe ya, buddy!
Peace,
db
PS- I typed this mostly one-handed, as I stuffed my face with ham. MMMMMmmmmmmmm…….
As always, please “like” FloridaHillbilly on Facebook, subscribe to my feed, and tell your friends! The more folks involved in improving themselves, the less likely they are to sneak into your kitchen to eat your home made ham when TSHTF…or just when you aren’t looking!
You are a mean, mean man! I am sitting here having a diet meal breakfast. I could have stood reading about that darn ham. But, Nooooooooooo, you provided photos….you are a mean, mean man. lol
However, my son and I have a small organic farm, a couple of gardens, chickens…….yesterday I had organic eggs from pasture raised hens and for lunch we had a wonderful roasted chicken. These chicken, even though some are raised to be eaten, have a great life. Their cages are moved every day to a new piece of grass and a new bunch of bugs. They eat the right feed and plenty of kitchen scrapes and their life is perfect til the day my son quickly kills them.
Please keep up the good work….I am new at this being prepared and self reliant and all the information is great. Living in town makes my life style a little complicated but each day it gets better.
Have a wonderful and blessed day.
It was rather selfish of me to put pictures of such a tasty ham up this early in the morning. I actually had another post worked up, but as I was making my breakfast, I was consumed with the idea of telling the world just how good this ham is.
Sorry 🙂
AS to “farming” in town, I sooo feel your pain! More space, less restrictions, and more space are issues I deal with all the time. (Yes, space is a big big issue, warranting being listed twice). But there are always alternatives…
check out an article I wrote about quail over at http://modernhomesteaders.net/homesteading/homesteading-index/coturnix-quail-for-homesteaders/
Small space requirements, excellent production times, and low inputs…plus very quiet, allowing for stealth farming 🙂
As always thanks for the kind words..and I hope what I write helps!
I highly recommend you never give out enough information about bluetang that we can find him and befriend him ourselves. 🙂
Good luck with that. He’s more cantankerous than an old bobcat with a sore tooth, no kids, and a red-headed ex-wife that works at DCF and is after him for back child support!
His fence line around his house is all cactus and poison ivy, his dogs are all ex-K9’s that were flunked out for aggressiveness. He’s wired his doorbell to shock you when you push it, and keeps a sprinkler on the doormat for a better connection when you do.
The mailman hires a delivery service to take packages to the door….pizza guys won’t deliver to him, and mosquitoes fly AROUND his yard to avoid it.
Skunks find his smell offensive, his skin is like 60 grit sandpaper, and he kills small animals on site (though he does eat them, sometimes raw).
He’s not much of a people person…not even sure why he puts up with me showing up every so often!
😀
PS- Don’t get between me and my charcuterie hookup!