You'll know when and if you need to read no further

In that we have extended our generosity and offered advice to two sets of young farmers in the area, I am not certain how to differentiate between them for the purposes of this blog and brevity, and to avoid future conflation.  We have business relations with both, meaning that we pay for services from one, yet both have purchased some implements and appliances from us. Both are relatively new to farming, meaning that neither had experience before endeavoring; yet, here is where a distinction can be made. One set has had marginal success with crops and have been saved by livestock and the others have done well with the veggies and show no interest in the letting of blood.

The former called last week to ask if we perhaps had a spare freezer we might be willing to sell. We did. They also asked if we had an old bathtub lying about. They had a couple hogs they had tired of feeding to-size. If I understand the procedure, the tub was to serve as a large kettle in order to boil away the skin after dressing out the animals. We did not.

The freezer, a smaller trunk type, might have been considered like-new, for we used it a very short time when we first moved here and before the wife decided a large upright would better suit her needs. It had been sitting in the garage for more than nine years but still worked as of last fall when I checked it out as a suitable temporary storage for an aging dog. (The wife is oriented toward such a future while I am prone to be ready solely by keeping my shovels sharp. No doubt a lapse in her preparedness allowed for a purchase price to be reached.)

When the man from that young farm duo came to fetch and pay, I offered to help unload at his place, to which he agreed. And once we were there, I saw they already had another freezer double the size of the one just purchased. Was there no room? No, for an elk shot this fall and a steer disposed a few weeks ago filled it to capacity. It was thought the two hogs would fill the new one as well and they would be set for a good while, the four of them, without having to nab an aging hen from the coop.

The freezer placed and plugged in, the woman, a pleasant and comely, if a bit eccentric matriarch offered pastries and coffee for ten minutes, the short time period not so much her preference but strategic nonetheless, for she no doubt figured I'd want to be on with my day; and delay and distraction are more welcome to those much busier than I, not to mention when involved in more strenuous labors.

It was at their small kitchen table the subject of butchering again arose and I was reminded of a thought: Could I come to the killing with camera in hand? Both grew solemn and denied the request.

It seems that things did not go well with the steer. Owning a scoped .306 for the prior sole purpose of taking their annual elk, the man had not considered the optics might hinder a proper siting at close range. Yet, when the right eye had been taken out and the animal remained standing, seeing the animal in such a state set him to hasten a second shot without first removing the scope. Hence, a place just below the left eye was opened. Still, the animal, although protesting loudly, remained on all fours. To make matters worse, thinking it would surely take no more than one bullet to do the deed but to have another just in case, a third or fourth was a good one hundred yards back at the house.

No, they would prefer to do the pigs in private. However, in that the price for the freezer was very reasonable, some pork ribs and roasts from both the steer and elk would be coming our way.

I will chew carefully for shrapnel.