We laid the pig out on the kitchen counter, chased the dogs outside, got the book open on the "Pork Meat Cuts" page, sharpened the cleaver and got ready to - CUT ! Well, not quite ‘to market’. Rather a knock on the door one night late last week, and 2 large stainless steel cooler boxes glinting in the moonlight, being carried on to our front veranda by staff from another farm. The pig was inside the cooler boxes. Killed just a couple of hours before, skinned, beheaded (thankfully) and neatly chopped into 6 large pieces. A thank you present for me. (Unfortunately, we do not have a chocolate and fresh flower door-to-door delivery service in remotest Africa.)
Let me explain. I think I’ve mentioned before that we have a small guest house on the farm. It is actually more like a cottage and lies on the other side of the farm workshops (with magnificent views out the back door to Mt Kilimanjaro, and Mt Meru out front). It has a fenced garden, covered veranda, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a lounge/dining room. It sits empty almost all year round as if we have guests, they stay with us in the main farm house. People have asked me why I don’t rent it out but honestly, my tourism days are behind me now – I dedicated 11 years of my life (weekends, public holidays, Christmases, late nights, early mornings – you get the picture !) looking after paying guests, and I really don’t want to have to do it now.
“But you could rent the cottage out as a self catering unit” my friends say. Ummmm – yes. Until there is a problem in the middle of the night – a power failure, no hot water, a broken toilet, a snake - and I am needed to help out. No thanks. (I am very lucky that I do not have to work and earn a living but I promise you, even though I’m still young - I’ve earned it ! Maybe one day, I’ll write about that time of my life on the blog. But I’m not quite ready now.)
I’ve wandered off topic again …. where were we ? Oh yes, the guest house. Well, about a year ago, I was approached by a lovely German couple who have a farm some distance away from ours (too far away to be considered “neighbours”in the true sense of the word, but neighbours all the same) who run horseback safari’s. They are also vets (which are like hens teeth here – very rare). They needed a 2 night stop for their mobile safari clients about once a month, every month, and asked if they could use our guest house. It would be perfect, they said, with room in the garden for the horses and staff tents and of course they would come complete with chefs, housekeeping staff, waiting staff etc and I would not have to do a thing. There were a few things we’d have to do first, though – like re-doing the bathroom, tiling, painting and general repairs. (Which we’ve since done).
They wanted to know how much I would charge. Well, I told them that there would be no charge but if they really wanted to repay me in some way, could they rather help me with things like vaccinating, spaying and neutering the stray cats and dogs around the farm ? Yes, they said, we will do that with pleasure ! We will do that AND we will also give you a fresh pig once every 3 months. An organic pig, raised with love and care and lots of good food, and humanely killed.
So whenever I talk about catching a stray dog or cat and taking him/her to the vet for spaying or whatever, now you know which vet’s I am talking about, and how we came to this agreement !
As for the pig – well …. I am not a butcher and the first time I was presented with a whole pig, I must admit that it was pretty daunting having to learn how to cut chops, steaks, fillets, ribs etc. But thanks to a handy cookbook and a very sharp meat cleaver, between Justin and I, we managed okay. I give a lot of the meat to the staff, the rest goes in the freezer, and the scrappy bits and fat get mixed in with food for the stray village dogs. So, not a bit is wasted – and everyone is happy !
Let me explain. I think I’ve mentioned before that we have a small guest house on the farm. It is actually more like a cottage and lies on the other side of the farm workshops (with magnificent views out the back door to Mt Kilimanjaro, and Mt Meru out front). It has a fenced garden, covered veranda, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a lounge/dining room. It sits empty almost all year round as if we have guests, they stay with us in the main farm house. People have asked me why I don’t rent it out but honestly, my tourism days are behind me now – I dedicated 11 years of my life (weekends, public holidays, Christmases, late nights, early mornings – you get the picture !) looking after paying guests, and I really don’t want to have to do it now.
“But you could rent the cottage out as a self catering unit” my friends say. Ummmm – yes. Until there is a problem in the middle of the night – a power failure, no hot water, a broken toilet, a snake - and I am needed to help out. No thanks. (I am very lucky that I do not have to work and earn a living but I promise you, even though I’m still young - I’ve earned it ! Maybe one day, I’ll write about that time of my life on the blog. But I’m not quite ready now.)
I’ve wandered off topic again …. where were we ? Oh yes, the guest house. Well, about a year ago, I was approached by a lovely German couple who have a farm some distance away from ours (too far away to be considered “neighbours”in the true sense of the word, but neighbours all the same) who run horseback safari’s. They are also vets (which are like hens teeth here – very rare). They needed a 2 night stop for their mobile safari clients about once a month, every month, and asked if they could use our guest house. It would be perfect, they said, with room in the garden for the horses and staff tents and of course they would come complete with chefs, housekeeping staff, waiting staff etc and I would not have to do a thing. There were a few things we’d have to do first, though – like re-doing the bathroom, tiling, painting and general repairs. (Which we’ve since done).
They wanted to know how much I would charge. Well, I told them that there would be no charge but if they really wanted to repay me in some way, could they rather help me with things like vaccinating, spaying and neutering the stray cats and dogs around the farm ? Yes, they said, we will do that with pleasure ! We will do that AND we will also give you a fresh pig once every 3 months. An organic pig, raised with love and care and lots of good food, and humanely killed.
So whenever I talk about catching a stray dog or cat and taking him/her to the vet for spaying or whatever, now you know which vet’s I am talking about, and how we came to this agreement !
As for the pig – well …. I am not a butcher and the first time I was presented with a whole pig, I must admit that it was pretty daunting having to learn how to cut chops, steaks, fillets, ribs etc. But thanks to a handy cookbook and a very sharp meat cleaver, between Justin and I, we managed okay. I give a lot of the meat to the staff, the rest goes in the freezer, and the scrappy bits and fat get mixed in with food for the stray village dogs. So, not a bit is wasted – and everyone is happy !
