Thursday, February 26, 2015

A Word About Why... The Reason For The Madness!

Somewhere along this process, someone asked me, "Why?"  Why not just get pork from the store?  Why would I not just let the processor do it and just pick up all the stuff?  Why was I compelled to put all this work into this whole thing?  And why in the world would I want to make headcheese or use the trotters to make bone stock?  Isn't this whole thing kind of gross?

These were good questions and I realized that the answer wasn't really all that simple.  Some of this might have been touched on in previous posts but perhaps I can better articulate here in a more deliberate manner.


Stewardship

Used without permission from DavisCoFoods.com

I'm a Christian.  I believe that God gave man domain over the plants and animals.  And I believe that human life is more important than animal life or plant life and that at no time should we forget that.  But I also believe that if we are always mindful that these are gifts from God, not to be taken for granted, that we will do a good job of being proper stewards of the earth and its flora and fauna.  

To that end, I think we've become so far removed from our food supply, that we don't really see how we've failed at stewardship of God's blessing.  Our meat comes from animals that are raised in horrible conditions.  Our crops are sprayed with tons of stuff you would otherwise not put into your body.  If Smithfield's slaughterhouse/meat packing facilities had glass walls allowing people to see inside, we'd be a nation of vegans.  Frankly, there was a time when I even considered that route for myself.  And if every package of frozen veggies was required to list the chemicals that it was doused in, well... I don't know what America would eat then.  

So to me, part of this endeavor was to be closer to my food supply.  Some people talk about how they want food with a story... I get that.  I think I'm more interested in knowing that my food was raised in a way that's in keeping with good stewardship of God's blessing.  I don't really have a compulsion to know where my food comes from outright, but I DO care HOW it was raised or grown.  And to that end, the only way I can be sure that it is being done to my standards is to get closer to the producers.  This has tons of other benefits as well (such as our food having a "story" - which while not being my primary goal, is still pretty cool!) such as getting to know my farmers.  I really do think it fulfills them to see the happy faces of the people they feed.  I know it gives me a certain sense of peace.

This whole idea somehwat piggy-backs (HA!) into the next idea...


Quality


Used without permission from Full Circle Bison Ranch

Why not just get my pork from the grocery store?  Well, the previous section somewhat addresses that.  But I also think that when a farmer knows his customer he's more motivated to take care of the product he sells.  If you were making widgets in a factory in China and you messed up on one that might affect its quality or performance but you knew that it would pass QC and not come back to bite you, you might be inclined to let it go... buyer beware!  BUT, if you were directly selling that widget to the person who was going to be using it and knew that they might show back up next week with the busted item and look you in the eye, wanting to know why, you are more likely to do a better job. You become your own quality control at that point.  

Certainly there are lousy people out there - and farming doesn't have a monopoly on good people.  But the things that keeps lousy people honest is accountability.  And a pig farmer who is raising a bazillion hogs in confinement knows that his pork is going to be ground up with another farmer's bazillion hogs and made into highly processed sausage or SPAM.  He is more likely to let that one hog that just isn't right, head off to the slaughterhouse.  Not to say he's willfully putting people at risk (that's not just a lousy person, that's a psychopath!), but if he knows the meat will pass inspection, what does he care if its not the best meat he can raise?  He isn't out to provide the best... just to meet the standard of his buyer or the USDA inspector.

But, your local farmer, who you deal with personally, knows that his reputation is on the line when he sells you his hog.  He knows you can choose to go somewhere else next time.  He knows that you'll talk to your friends as well and they will go somewhere else.  When you buy pork from most grocers, you are buying from one of the large four or five meat suppliers.  Didn't like that Jimmy Dean sausage?  Want to buy Bob Evans sausage next time?  Odds have it, they came from the same industrial meat conglomerate (I'm just pulling two names out of my head there and have nothing to back that up - but you get my point) - so what does Smithfield care?

Furthermore, for those of us who are *ahem* perhaps a little bit budget conscious, provided that you can even find a local butcher who sells locally sourced and properly raised pork, odds have it, it won't meet with your price needs.  I live in a metro area where there are a few places that specialize in this kind of product... but they are serving customers who have a great deal more money to spend than I do.  Nothing against them... if anything, I'm glad they are making the stuff available.  Its just out of my price range.  So I HAVE to deal directly with a farmer - otherwise I couldn't afford it.



Control

                                                  


Had I let a processor do the butchering and processing, I would have gotten bacon the only way they make it (not good or bad, just "their" way).  The same for the ham.  They wouldn't give me the sausage options I want... my choices would have been mild or hot... and it would have come in a plastic tube like Jimmy Dean sausage with a little metal ring to close it up like what you see in the grocery store.  Doesn't make it bad per se - their breakfast sausage might be very good.  But I want to make my own.

Additionally, I don't really want to assume that all the trimmings and fat that they might wrap up for me for my own sausage recipe are from the hog that I bought.  For that matter, I guess its possible that the hog that I am delivered might not be the same hog that my farmer dropped off for me at the processor but that starts to get into outright fraud on behalf of the abattoir - and that is much different than one of the guys in the trim room just tossing a bunch of scraps from a couple different hogs into a bag.

The proccessor might not be terribly inclined to trim the spare ribs exactly the way I want them.  His idea of a Boston Butt roast might be a little different than mine.  His ham might have the aitch bone intact whereas I want mine removed.

I think you can see where I am heading here.  Besides, like a friend of mine from church said, if you do it yourself, you know how many times your meat hit the floor!

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