We raise these exotic breed ossabaw pigs at cane creek. They resemble wild hogs with the longer snout and fattier meat, which tastes incredible and gets served at some famous local restaurants.
Tag pigs
Cane Creek Farm
Let me catch you up (again!) on the last month or so of my life.
My darling girlfriend and I spent a week in North Carolina on Cane Creek Farm three weeks ago. The farm is incredible, raising just about every animal I can name and more that I can’t. They have chickens for eggs in mobile hen houses who cruise huge pastures daily. They have free range, birth-to-death grass-fed cattle (that make a burger like you would never believe). They also have a rambling group of exotic breed pigs for sweet, tasty pork. They are truly happy animals.
Kate looking after a wounded Clinton-the-pig
On top of those regular farm animals they breed ducks, goats, donkeys, sheep, guinea hens, turkeys, cats, and dogs. The animals mostly hang out with each other, peacefully like some type of Eden. The farm is run by Kate’s cousin and we loved it so much she’s letting us come back for June and July to work and learn with and from her. In short, we’re pumped. The farm is set up the way I would run a farm, there are no shitty jobs. Really, no shit shoveling of any kind because it all goes back to the soil from whence it came. There is no ‘farm animal smell’ and the cute animals still like being petted from time to time. It’s basically an extension of the education I started getting in France, rounding it out with a productive, working farm that stresses quality above all, for the people, animals and food they all produce.
It might be the stepping stone to the next adventure. Or it might be the next adventure.
Light my Lard
I wrote previously about using lard for candles and soap. While you can make soap (what I hoped to do), it is illegal to purchase sodium hydroxide (lye, the stuff they used to burn their hands in Fight Club) in France. Lye and oil combine to make soap and Lard is supposed to make nice, soft soap. You can also make bombs with this stuff, thus it’s unavailability. Don’t despair, we can make candles instead. To make candles that are hard at room temp like normal wax candles, I would need to use something called Alum or another acid. I have no idea where to get this stuff in France, so I will instead make straight, lard candles.
Since the lard is soft at room-temp and melts very quickly when heated, we need a container for our candle. I use old glass jars, baby-food size for my first experiment. The theory is simple, fill a jar with liquid lard, insert a wick (I used an old sheet, torn into strips and twisted up) and let solidify.
Left: Lard Lamp, Right: Lard Candle
On the left you’ll see the lamp I made. I got the idea from Instructables. Simply make a wick by wrapping metal wire around linen, sheet strips or cotton balls. Make it so it can stand up on it’s own and place it in a shallow can. Pack the can with solid lard and good to go. Here’s my wick before I put it in the can:
Cotton/Wire Wick
The wick stays up and the flame stays at the top while it sucks up the liquid lard like a normal lamp. It works pretty well and I imagine will provide many hours of light for about one and a half cups of lard. The lamp is better than the candle since the candle wick has started to fall over from liquifying the lard holding it up.
