Many weeks have gone by and we have slaughtered the pigs, hunted for caribou, and harvested great amounts of strawberries, while the state of Alaska has become famous for its' runner up beauty queens and corrupt good ol' boys.
The pig to pork process went wonderfully, with the exception of the boar reluctant to give up the ghost. This morning we are eating cured bacon and it is good. Today I will smoke the bacon following the procedures in Charcuterie. Each pig half weighed in over 100 pounds and the chops are succulent. I am also curing two hams and I never done this before. I will keep you posted. We had team of six on hand for the slaughter and five the next day for the butchering. Much thanks goes out to Whiskey Jimmy C for let us use is hanging cooler and butcher expertise.
Last week we went caribou hunting again. This time Nicky went with us. It rained and blew the entire time. The winds were so strong that Nicky was knocked over twice. We pulled off the mountain at 3 pm. On the way down we ran into a several flocks of ptarmigan. I shot two before I ran out of ammo. Back at camp we fried them up with some Mountain House freeze dried dinners and slept for 10 hours. The next day we headed home. It is hard to pull off a hunt, teach, and go to college at the same time. Speaking of which I best get back to work. The next post will be a follow-up on the Festival Acadians trip we are taking October 9th-13th. About 30 of us from Alaska are heading down for the festivities.
Cheers
