Butchering day

I really don't know to this day how they killed the animals: Hogs, calves, or sheep. All I had anything to do with were the chickens, and mom or dad took care of that, and I will not go into detail. I did have to help pluck off the feathers. Pin feathers were something else! I also had to wash and cut the chicken into pieces. It was a treat to get the wishbone and make a wish with the one sitting next to you. Who ever got the big part won, and their dream would come true.

On hog butchering day, we were up very early and had to heat water in boilers. The animal had the hind legs tied together with rope and was pulled with a pulley so it was hanging upside own and dropped into the barrel of scalding water. The animal had been "hung" before the scalding water was poured into the barrel, of course. After it had been in the proper length of time--just long enough that it was ready for the scrapers to scrape the hair off the body--THEN it’s time for the part I remember the most. A big long butchering knife (sharp as a razor) was used to slit him/her open, and the entrails fell out. I do not recall, but I think the barrel had been removed and a large tub caught the innards as the liver and heart had to be separated and put in cold water to be washed and whatnot. By the way, butchering was always done in the winter on a very cold day.

The carcass was washed and washed clean and then brought to the waiting tables to be sawed and cut and divided into various cuts: Ribs, tenderloin, and steaks. The fat was removed and cooked and readied to render the lard into containers. The remaining fat was turned through a lard press with the remaining part made into cracklings (which, by the way, are sold in grocery stores in little packages for a fair amount of money these days).

When the times got hard, we saved the head and ears. As someone once said: In hard times we ate everything but the squeal. We made and canned sausage or put it down in crocks and poured lard over it and set it in the smokehouse. The bacon and hams were cured and smoked and hung in the smokehouse. There was a cook stove that dad used for smoking meat and since we had hickory trees I believe he used that wood along with other kinds. We had a small house, so it was a good thing to have a good-sized smokehouse. In summer, it was a "Summer Kitchen".

When butchering a calf, usually a steer, it was skinned, and then a similar procedure as with hogs. We often butchered more than one animal at a time.  

Once after Frank and I were married, we got snowed in at the folks and had to stay all night. The next morning for breakfast they had beefsteaks, just butchered. When Frank saw the steaks mom was pounding and stacking up to be cooked, Frank says "Are you getting ready to can the steaks?” And dad, who could always come up with something, says “Yes: It will all be canned for breakfast.” 

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