pig from the "farmer"

Every other week a local farmer will bring in to us a fresh kill. This time it was a pig, sometimes we only buy half, other times we buy the whole animal. With this pig being around 240 lbs we took half. So they split the animal right down the middle, wrap it in plastic, load it into their pick up and drive into chicago. Once in the city, in the alley several of us will go outside and carry the animal inside and off the farmer goes. Thats just the beginning for us. Regardless of what we choose to buy that week be it a goat, lamb or pig, a decent amount of time and thought goes into the breakdown of the animal. In this case we save the front and back legs for hams or to cure. The tenderloin will be first to be served, unless we have the heart and liver in which case they are. Next will be the belly section to be cured and confit'd, the loin, hocks, etc. All the way down to the fat which we clean up and portion to be used in the future cooking, as well as the skin which we slowly poach until tender and then reserve for a number of possibilities. Nothing is wasted, the bones are roasted for a pork jus, even the blood if it is a fresh farm kill from that morning. I feel like when getting in an entire animal it changes how you treat and prepare the animal. You have much more respect and appreciation not only for the product itself but knowing that an animal has been killed for you, you almost take on a responsibility morally to make sure this animal was not killed just to be stocked on a shelf in a grocery store somewhere. Its good for the cooks as well, giving them the same feeling of respect for the animal.