From Bang to Bacon
In response to customer requests, we are conducting our first ever open event. On December 7th 2013 come out to our family farm and participate in an old fashioned hog killing. We are located 15 minutes from downtown Raleigh on 84 acres of dedicated farmland. Weather permitting we are going to host our first ever public class for aspiring homesteaders and foodies to learn how to go from a live pig to finished products such as bacon, ham, ground pork, jowl bacon, and even liver pate and scrapple. This will be a true nose to tail event and participants will be able to roll up their sleeves and get involved to whatever level they desire.
This will be a one-day event, focusing on traditional methods of harvesting and processing a single pig raised on our homestead. The day will start at 7:30am where everyone will be greeted and given a quick tour of our farm. Afterwards we will process the pig humanely, then wash, bleed, gut, scald, and scrape the pig to get it ready to go into the walk-in cooler. Once the pig is in the cooler, we’ll remove another pig, previously processed and properly cooled and go to work on butchering the carcass into its usable pieces. At the same time, we will take the organ meats from the first pig and conduct a simultaneous session in our kitchen on how to make pate and/or scrapple, along with other traditional hog killing day staples of yesteryear.
Lastly, we will traditionally process the bacon, hams, etc in our on farm smoke house.
In addition to myself, we will be assisted by:
Brent Miller and Brian Reeves who will be handling the Charcuterie, smoking, and salting portion of the class.
And of course our hard working farm interns who will be doing all sorts of things to make this event one you will enjoy.
There will be an excellent ratio of students to instructors so everyone should have time and opportunity to ask questions and get involved in each aspect of processing. Some of what we’ll be doing will be going on simultaneously so you will need to decide what parts interest you the most. I need to note that we are not professional butchers, chefs, or culinary experts. We are simply farmers opening our farm and sharing our experience. This is a wide ranging beginner level class designed to give you full immersion into farm life.
This is an aggressive schedule and will be a long day going from dawn till dark with plenty of opportunities for everyone to get involved to a level they are comfortable with.
Costs will be $95 per person and we will limit attendance to 20 people.
This will be an outside event, with time spent inside in some small portions. Be prepared to be outdoors. Heat is available during the outdoor portion so you can warm up if you get cold but wear layers so you are prepared. A bathroom is available as well.
Reservations required, payment up front will be required to hold your position.
Learn more about our farm at www.ninjacowfarm.com or at www.facebook.com/ninjacowfarm
For reservations, please email dan@ninjacowfarm.com
Anyone committing and safety violations or causing undue stress to our animals or other students will be asked to leave. This will be a fun day of learning and we intend to keep everyone safe and enjoying the day.
We will not be selling any of the meat that is being processed the day of our class. It is for use on our farm by my family only. We do have USDA inspected pork previously processed that will be available if someone desires to purchase however this will not be a sales event.