Photoset: Butchering a hog

I understand this won't be for everyone. Still, part of eating locally is getting more intimately acquainted with your food. If you want to know where that ham and bacon you like so much come from, linky-linky.

The pig is Berkshire, from a small farm in upstate NY. It was slaughtered at a small family slaughterhouse nearby, on the Thursday before the class. So this pig had been dead for less than a week before being butchered.

The only organ meat you'll see is the kidney. The stomach and intestines were shipped offshore for processing, and Tom doesn't know what happens to the heart, liver, lungs, etc.

No gore, nothing disturbing (except, perhaps, to vegans and vegetarians, so be aware). Nothing you won't have seen in smaller segments if you watch Alton Brown.