Farmers note: Going to garden this year?

The seed companies have been seeing increasing demand for all sorts of seeds.  If you're going to grow something this year, even popular varieties of staple crops do run out.  So now is the time to go pore through the seed catalogs and figure out what will be growing in your ground next year. 

Now is the time. 

The Russian way of scraping a pig

I can't really say if this is THE Russian way, but it's the way that the three Russians wanted to do it when they bought a pig today.

 What we usually do when scraping a pig this size is to boil 30 gallons of water, and then use a bucket to ladle the water onto the pig, scraping the hair off as we go.  These guys didn't want to use the water method, asking if they could use the propane torch we use to heat the water. 

 "ok, you go to youtube, and you search 'ukrainian pig scraping', and you see what to do".  Wait a second -- I thought you said you were from Russia -- so you're Ukrainian?  "No, no, he is from Ukraine, I am from Belarus, former soviet union".  Ok.  So you're Belarusian?  "No, when you are 16 they ask you what you are, and he and I speak Russian, so we said we were Russian, but I could have said Ukrainian or whatever".  Ok.  So where you're from is whatever you said when you were 16?  "yes, in the past, now is countries.  " 

 They'd burn the hair off, and then the skin would blacken, and they'd keep going until it was pretty black, and then lay a wet towel over it, and scrape off all of the singed area. 

After they'd scraped it, they blackened the whole pig again and scraped it again.  The end result was a pig that was kind of yellow colored and hair-free.  The hot water method results in a white pig. 

With the skin charred, a hot towel was applied and then the char was scrubbed off. 

We gave them the standard cake spatulas we use. 

"Can we use that?"  pointing to my hay barn.  No, you can't use that, this is where we process the pigs.  "no, the, how you say it... the grass, in the barn"  the hay?  the bales of hay?  "yes!  yes!  we light fire with hay, and it burns, and I like the taste of the meat when it is that way"  So you burn off the hair with burning hay?  "yes, you break the bundle and put it on the pig" using hands he makes a pyramid, showing the hay stacked on the pig.  "high, like this!, and then burn it, and it is tradition!" 

Sure, if you want to do that, I'll sell you a bale for $6.  "Ok!  maybe next time!  "

Took about 2 hours for them to get the pig into the shape that they were happy with, about the same amount of time for a boiled-water scald. 

Kinda fun to learn about the customs and traditions.  These guys had watched as children as their parents processed pigs, and missed it.  This was their re-connection to their roots. 

(note:  We put the pig on pallets to allow the water to drain as it was scrubbed, and to keep the concrete from cracking from the heat of the torch.  ) 

Ok, you wanted concrete, concrete you're gonna get

It's funny, I've been reading in the local papers about a "sustainable" starbucks franchise that's being constructed from shipping containers.  Sustainable is a funny term; and its pretty meaningless at this point.  I mention that because one of the materials that I like to use underneath concrete is recycled crushed concrete, which you'll see in the picture above.   I use it in place of large rock.  To get it to act right though you have to top it with a smaller crushed rock -- the crushed concrete is pretty rounded, and won't lock together.  A topping of 2" clear crushed rock will filter into the cracks around each chunk of the concrete, and make a very nice surface for your slab. 

Dirt is cheaper than rock, rock is cheaper than concrete.  The first step is to remove all of the loose dirt, and then replace with rock.  I use the rock to bring the entire area to the same level.  With these concrete chunks my goal is to get it within 2" of level.  I'll get closer later in the process. 

 The harley rake (on the back of the tractor above) is a power rake -- it has a spinning element in it, and it really does a nice job of making the rock bed smooth and level.

 I'll run the harley rake across it, and then do another pass lengthwise to remove any windrow remaining.

After that we go over it using a laser level (not shown) and a surveyor stick (I don't know what it's called; its a telescoping stick with measurements on it).  We'll work down the surface, add an inch or two of gravel here, take it away there.   The slab is going to be 80' x 30'.  At this point the surface is +- 1" of level.  We'll add the grade we want the finished concrete to be when we do the forming. 

So here's what the health department complaint has cost me: 
  $560 for gravel of various sizes
  $93 for a plate compactor
  $250 labor (so far)
  $3,100 in legal fees.
 
  I'm doing the slab because I am *really* tired of having to rebed my entire pig herd every other day.  This slab will be both a concrete feeding area per the health department complaint, and a shelter big enough to fit my entire herd into, and managed as a deep litter system. 

I'll post some pictures of the smaller gravel application, forming and pour when we do it.  I'm actually looking forward to having the concrete -- despite the fact that I'm annoyed at the health department, I do like the idea of having more of the food go into the hogs and less into the mud. 

I'm still not decided what I'll do about the health department complaint.  I'm mulling my options.