Butchering class *Warning: Extremely Graphic*

Ok, Last warning, the pictures below are posted from the day of the butchering class and are extremely graphic.  If you eat any kind of meat know that someone works hard and spills the blood of animals this way on your behalf all the time. 


We took this class because:


We desire to be a little more a part of what we are eating
To understand the process 
To commit to treating the animal in the kindest way possible while it is with us 

And to grow meat in a way that is healthier for our bodies

This was an absolutely fantastic class that allowed a lot of hands on experience.
My homeschooled kids went way above and beyond disecting a frog.  They got to see entire body systems in intricate detail.  To be a part of removing organs.  To really be a part of the process.
I am so thankful for this learning opportunity for them.

This was a 6 year old boar that had been castrated about 6 months ago so that there would be no trace of boar taint to his meat.  You can see his tusks.  They had been cut about once a year and still looked like this!

Because of his age the skin was very difficult to get off.

First leg removed

My little guy all grown up sawing the legs off animals

Both Stephanie and jacob learning about the cuts of meat.

The head was difficult to remove

Removing the organs

Pork chops

Sausage bin

A nearly empty pan of the freshest sausage you could ever have.

Delicious!

 

The Souvenir

The trip to Seaside was too short!  Nobody was ready to come home but work and homeschooling were waiting. So we made plans to come back and visit Seaside again soon.

Kylie and Clara found a neat souvenir at the aquarium.  It is a necklace that comes with a mussel, preserved in a can.  You can take it home, crack open the mussel, find your pearl and then put it in your necklace.  It was fun and educational.  We had to look up how pearls are formed in the wild.  We found out that most pearls are cultured.  A tiny piece of tissue is implanted into the shell and that starts the process.

Here they are finding their pearls and putting them in their necklaces.

Kylie:

Inside the see-through can

My girly girl isn't so sure she wants to do it at this point

Opening the shell

Tucked down in the layers, there it is!

Putting the pearl in the necklace

And Clara:

Not as timid as her sister

Oregon Coast Day 3

This was the day we headed down to Tillamook area.

We hit the cheese factory again.  I won't post a ton of pictures because I did last time.  But we had a fantastic lunch, ice cream and a better tour of the factory.  There were no crowds this time so we really got to see what was going on and browse the gift shop.

Photo credit to Tillamook county

Tillamook County Pioneer Museum

Unfortunately we took so much time at the cheese factory that we only had about 45 minutes here before it closed.  Why is there never enough time to see everything we want to see?

We will come back here and spend more time next time. 

No matter how many of these museums I go to I am always impressed at how gifted people were.  I could just stare at each one of these baskets for several minutes if I had time.  They were so intricate and well made.

And again, the time that must have gone into each of these arrowheads and the tools below.  It was fun to look at the tools made by the local tribes and try to figure out what each was used for.

Beaded pouches

The museum seemed to be in what was an old bank.  One of the displays was in what had been a vault. 

They had a hands on basket weaving table.

These were a couple rooms set up as they had been when people were first settling in the area.

The first official settler in Tillamook county, Joseph Champion, arrived and set up camp in a tree stump.

Just a couple snapshots of a rather impressive collection of old weapons.

Can you imagine having to mold each of your bullets?