From Hobby to Heritage Farming | Meat Craftsmanship, Community & Food Education

What if one unexpected decision changed the way you think about food forever?

In this episode of The Realtor Who Wines, Rashelle Newmyer sits down with Nick Clark, owner of Mountain View Heritage, farmer, educator, and self-described "aspiring meatsmith," for a fascinating conversation about heritage pigs, traditional butchery, food preservation, sustainable farming, and building community through food.

What began during the COVID lockdowns as a desire to raise a few animals on a beautiful piece of Oregon property quickly evolved into a passion for understanding the entire journey from farm to table.

🐖 What Is a Meatsmith?

Most people know what a butcher is, but a meatsmith takes things a step further.

Nick explains how a meatsmith is involved in every stage of the process:

• Raising the animal
• Caring for the animal
• Harvesting the animal
• Butchering the meat
• Curing and preserving
• Cooking and sharing it with others

For Nick, it's about developing a deeper connection to food, honoring the animal, and understanding exactly where your meals come from.

"You're invested in the whole process from the animal all the way to dinner."

🥓 Heritage Pigs, Better Flavor & Breaking Food Myths

Throughout the conversation, Nick shares why he chose Berkshire pigs, how heritage breeds differ from commercial livestock, and why slower growth often results in better flavor and quality.

Listeners will learn:

• Why are some pigs raised for bacon while others are prized for marbling
• The difference between heritage and commercial breeds
• Why older animals aren't necessarily tougher
• Common misconceptions about pork
• How proper farming practices impact flavor

One surprising takeaway? Some of Nick's favorite pigs aren't harvested until they're several years old.

🔪 The Lost Art of Traditional Butchery

Nick opens up about traveling across the country to learn from one of the few programs teaching the complete farm-to-table process.

That education eventually inspired him to create classes and workshops at Mountain View Heritage, where guests can learn:

• Sausage making
• Curing meats
• Whole-animal butchery
• Charcuterie techniques
• Traditional food preservation methods

His goal isn't just to teach skills; it's to help people reconnect with food and gain confidence in the kitchen.

🧂 The Magic of Cured Meats

Ever wondered how prosciutto can age for years and still be safe to eat?

Nick explains:

• The science behind curing
• Why salt matters
• The difference between fresh and cured meats
• How traditional preservation methods have been used for centuries
• Why proper technique changes everything

Some of the meats hanging in his curing room have been aging for more than two years.

🤝 Food, Community & Bringing People Together

One of the most inspiring themes of this episode is community.

For Nick, the goal was never simply to raise livestock; it was to create opportunities for people to gather, learn, share meals, and reconnect with skills that previous generations considered common knowledge.

Whether it's a sausage-making class, charcuterie workshop, tasting event, or whole-animal butchery course, every experience is designed to bring people together around food.

🌱 What's Next for Mountain View Heritage?

Nick shares his future plans, including:

• Expanding into sheep
• Hosting more tasting events
• Creating food and beverage pairings
• Teaching additional preservation techniques
• Continuing to build a community centered around food education

🔥 Why You Should Listen

If you love:

• Farm-to-table food
• Heritage farming
• Charcuterie and cured meats
• Sustainable agriculture
• Homesteading
• Food education
• Oregon farms
• Entrepreneurship and craftsmanship

This episode is packed with practical knowledge, fascinating stories, and a fresh perspective on where our food comes from.

Grab a cup of coffee (or a glass of wine) and join us for a conversation about farming, food, craftsmanship, and community.

Cheers! 🥂

Thank you for listening! Connect and collaborate with Realtor Rashelle on any of her social media platform pages > https://linktr.ee/RealtorRashelle 

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Realtor Who Wines podcast. I'm Rashelle Newmeyer. Your hostest with the mostest, a student of life, a connector, a passionate wine enthusiast, and your local favorite guide. Join me as we explore the vibrant Pacific Northwest. Savor the finest wines and champion the spirit of entrepreneurship. Each episode, I'll sit down with inspiring guests, supporting business ownership and uncovering the stories that make this community unique. So grab a glass of wine, settle in, and let's embark on a journey of discovery and connection together. Cheers. Cheers. Thank you for having me today. I appreciate it. It's a little early here in Oregon City. So we're having coffee today. In case anyone is wondering what's in the mug. It's coffee. Nick, will you please introduce yourself to everyone? I'm Nick Clark and owner and operator of Mountain View Heritage. And I'm an aspiring meat smith. Aspiring. I would say you are meat smith. Why do you say aspiring? Because you're still learning. Yeah. Got a lot to learn. And I think it'd be presumptuous to, like, Crown yourself unofficial. Yeah, well, yeah. Well. And then in that way, I'm an aspiring realtor. Yeah, because I'm always learning. Yeah, well, and you're just. It's one of those things. You're just always learning. There is always something to learn. Yes. You know, tell me a little bit about your journey and to becoming an aspiring meat smith. Oh, it started, like most things, with Covid and the big C. Yeah, boredom, a fantastic property. And I knew I wanted to get into raising animals and I almost had cows. And then I realized I only like a little bit of beef. Yeah. Like when eating it. Yeah, yeah, but I like all of the pig. I was like, and pigs are cool. Yeah. And then I thought, I need to know. I need to know how to do this. I don't want to stumble through this and, like, waste a bunch of pigs or meat or anything. And so I got on the almighty internet and found Hand-hewn Farm in Ohio, which was one of the only places that would take a live pig all the way to the the table. And that's what I needed. I was like, I need to know how to shoot it, how to kill it, how to process it, the whole thing. I don't want just oh, we put a slab of pork in front of you, and then we'll show you how to cut the whole thing. Yeah, yeah. And that was important. Yeah, there was a lot of little factors in there, but the main thing was. Learning how to do it correctly instead of fumbling. Yeah. For sure. For anyone listening or watching that doesn't know what a meat smith is, they probably assuming it's a butcher. Will you explain the difference? Yeah it is. It's a fancy way of saying a farmer. Actually, you are in control of. You raise the animal, you slaughter the animal, you butcher the animal, you cook the animal, which creates a more. A better relationship. You want to take care of it. You want it to be healthy. You want it to be happy. Not. It's not for profit of I'm just going to raise this thing and sell it for as much money as I can get. So there's a more there's a bigger connection to your animals and your meat because it's going it's going in your mouth. So you're connected to it. You're like, okay, I want this to taste good. I want it to be at its best. And that's, I think, encompasses like a meat smith. You're dedicating yourself to making that the best it can be. Yeah, well, you're invested in the whole process from the animal all the way to dinner, basically. And you have insight and input along the way versus if you just had a butcher shop, you're receiving an animal from a farmer, and you don't always have, say, an input on how that animal was treated or raised or even sometimes what kind of of like pig it is because there's a variety of pigs, right? So what? Did you know anything about pig farming before this? And then so how did you, throughout your research, decide to move towards a certain variety of pigs? That was purely just going local? Okay. I wasn't going to ship pigs from trying to track down a certain breed to it's like these are the farmers that are around these little pigs. They have and went through a few of them and then landed on not just the pig, but the relationship with the guy who raises them. You know, like, this is a good person. He's doing good work. Yeah. Will you explain a little bit about the pigs that you currently get? Well, right now it's Berkshire mostly, almost all of it. And then sometimes, like right now, I have a manga lista and she had babies, which surprise! Great. And they're a cross between Berkshire and Manga. So they have these crazy stripes on them and they, they're super cute now, but I assure everyone they will not be super cute. Yeah, in about six months. But Berkshire is what I've been going with and it was made. All pigs have been bred to overcome some obstacles. So like the manga was bred, a lot of it was for high lard and fat and has curly hair to combat the cold. Okay, because it's in Hungarian. Pig. And then Berkshires were bred to have really good meat and be a slow grower, so it takes a long time to get them to full grown and ready to go. And then they have low literates because you always got to sacrifice something. Sure, it's got to be a sacrifice for what you're doing. I think you and I were just talking a little bit about this earlier, but I think people would be surprised at how long you have to wait for the pig to mature, for it to be the right age, to make the right meals and things like that, and that it's currently a process. So how long on average, how old are your pigs? I, the youngest I would slaughter a pig is one year. That would be absolutely the youngest. And even then I. That's not really what you do. Yeah, that would be somebody bought a whole pig and they just were impatient. But at least a year. But that's part of this process to is dispelling misconceptions of like old animals or gross meat or tough meters, sure. Or anything else. So these pigs are slow growers, so they take at least a year to get to their, you know, like adolescence, basically kind of like us like to get to their 27 years old and pig years. It takes about a year. And then most farmers, they raise a different kind of pig that can they can be done growing, which just means it's not putting as much muscle on anymore, which is meat, and it's putting more fat on. So you're kind of they see it as just losing money because you're making fat now instead of meat. And people don't want to buy the fat. Right. And but anyway, yeah. So like the average age for you is maybe like 2 or 3 years. Oh yeah. Yeah, I like two years at least. And, we just did one that was four years and was excellent. Yeah. It's excellent. And they keep growing. They keep gaining muscle. But sure. There's a lot of benefits to raising them longer. It's just if you're in it for money, that's not going to work. Right. Yeah. This is more about you providing for your family as far as, like, meals and things go like that too. And education. Yeah. So one of the things that you do here at the farm is host classes and workshops and things. What was that always part of the plan, or was that something that kind of just like grew out of the project? That was never part of the plan. You didn't see yourself as a teacher? Nothing. I didn't see this garage being a butchery and I didn't see any of it. I went to Ohio, learned how to. I just went there to learn how to slaughter. But my eyes were burst wide open with everything else they were doing over the course of the four days. And then I came back and I was like, I don't know, curing curing meat seems like a waste of time. And then I started processing my own pigs and realized not only is this going to value, add, and make everything taste better and be better, but it also makes the butchering process way easier. Oh sure, instead of cutting everything into individual little pieces and sealing it and freezing it, you're doing huge chunks and and waiting. Yeah, yeah. Just done well. And then what part of as you were learning that where you're like, oh, I should teach this to other people. There was a long time ago because I painted for painted houses for 22 years, and there was a point even then where I thought, Maybe I'll just teach painting because, yeah, I can't do this forever. I don't I don't want to. Yeah, I won't be on a ladder and out in the hot sun. Yeah, on the south side of the house. It's horrible. So I thought, well, maybe I'll teach painting. And then it kind of just fell away and I never did it. And then then my wife reminded me, she's like, I think this meat stuff that you're doing would be a fantastic thing to teach well, and people are curious about it. I want to learn more about it. Yeah. And then I thought, oh yeah, that's right. I was going to teach you. Yeah. And then wait a minute. And then I went back to Ohio three more times in order to make sure. I felt comfortable and confident in that ability. Sure. Yeah. And then so you partnered with PCC as one of the avenues, the Portland Community College, for those of you not from Oregon. And then but you also teach private workshops as well as host private events. So will you explain a little bit what someone could expect if like, let's say they hosted a private event with you? Oh, well, it would be tailored to them, but usually it's leaning towards hands on. So, you know, one would be like sausage making so you can spend the day hands on learning instead of just me talking at you and doing something in front of you. Hands on learning. Hands on tasting. Yeah. And then. Yeah. And then you get to taste a bunch of things and I'll pull out stuff that you've probably never heard of or had. And, and you get to try things and, yeah, that way it's a interactive learning experience as a. Instead of just stuffing your face, which is good. Yeah. I mean, stuffing your face is always fun, but it is really interesting as somebody that has taken one of your classes, the scenes, farming stuff, while we're also like learning about what to mix, submit with or how to mix it and some of it, what our group, our class was like, blown away when we made the sausage patties that, like you, barely put any seasoning in it. And then it was like, so good. And then in fact, it ruined sausage for most of us, or pork for most of us, because now when we get like pork at, like the grocery store or whatever, we're like, oh, this doesn't taste the same. Yeah. Nick's is so much better. Yeah. Then that's part of it too, is just salt. So you can actually taste what pork tastes like instead of all this seasoning and all this cover up. Yeah. And and then also the color. A lot of people think it's beef because it's red. Well, it did look like beef. And then especially in a patty I was like, why are we not having this instead of hamburgers all the time? Like this was delicious. Yeah. It's. And then I tell people most things you would have that are beef turn out better if you mix it with 50% pork. Yeah. So for the. So why not just have the pork. Yeah I didn't even think about that until we were talking a while back. And you were like, yeah, I chose pigs because I realized I eat more of the pig. And then I left thinking, oh, me too. Actually, I don't I mean, I love steak and stuff, but I was like, I love everything about the pig, like. So I was like, oh, I've never even thought about that until you brought it up. Yeah, yeah. Same. It's like, oh, sausages, ground pork ribs and. Yeah, all of it. Yeah. All of it. Know someone moving to Oregon? Send them my way. I specialize in relocation, and I'll treat them like family. Plus, you know, there's a glass of wine in it for him. Cheers. So when someone takes a class, you have a variety of different like events and classes and workshops. Some of them are as short as, like 2 to 3 hours. Some of them are as long as six hours. So if you're ever interested, you should definitely go check out next website. Or if you are on website, you can also look through there too. Is there a difference at all between the PCC class and the private events? Not much. It's fairly similar. It's just because it's private. It makes for a an easier group dynamic. You're not trying to tie people together. They just come and they know. Well, yeah, they all know each other when you're hosting a private event. And then usually I'll throw in more. Oh, would you say it like older meat. Sure. Yeah. That's kind of a little token of appreciation. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. The PCC class is only one of them gets, prosciutto or coppa because it takes years to get it. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. It doesn't just get handed out like candy. Yeah. We are currently filming at the very end of May 2026. But I do know that you have a Father's Day event coming up. Did you want to say anything about that? If anyone's looking for a gift to get dad. Well, I put I. I kind of changed it. Just made it a regular sausage class around Father's Day, and I put one on PCC, and I put one on on Airbnb, and I took my Eventbrite down just because they were, I was getting the feeling it wasn't the right audience. Oh, sure. Yeah. From people I was talking to, like a lot of people were looking for, like, concert tickets. So I was like, Yeah. So they're all. Yeah. And then instead of making it this specific Father's Day, I just said, I'll have one around where we're father's can come after Father's Day. So it's not you're not taking that day away. Oh, yeah. Because they want they want to be with their family. Yeah, well, and sometimes it's nice to do because, like, when you're our age, your dad. But then you might also go spend time with your father in law or dad. Right. So then it's like celebrating all the father's trying to find things to do with everybody. I feel like everybody's got the comes from a divorced family or something. So you got you got step. Yeah. There's like eight dads that you're trying to celebrate. So doing something on Father's Day is hard, but finding time to celebrate that or show that appreciation later in the week or before. My thought was it's something they can buy and have something to give on Father's Day. Yeah, for sure of something to do later. Yeah. Throughout your journey, since you've started this, what has been some of the, like learning curves that have been thrown your way? Oh, all of it. I never hunted, so killing animals wasn't something that I was used to or didn't really use. Guns. Never butchered so big, you know, 400 pound dead animals and dealing with them. There's just been. And then basically this whole journey has been first just a bunch of first. Yeah. Never really taught a class, never been in front of a group and been asked a million questions and put it on the spot. Yep. But you're doing so good. Yeah. I've watched you teach a handful of classes now, and so. Yeah, you're taking to it. Well, I think good. It feels good. Yeah. And then what about just even some of the small stuff that you might not have thought about before, like knife selection or different knives to use, cutting different types of meat or even not knives, like sometimes you have to use like a saw or something even bigger. Right. Yeah. And I think what's fun about it is because I wasn't classically trained and I don't have any of these preconceived ideas of what I need. So I get a little more freedom in figuring out what actually just works for me. So I don't even think I have a butcher's knife. Oh, really? Yeah. Term butcher knife. It's a very odd knife. And I was like, I don't know why. It's big and it's clunky. And I was like, I don't know. Yeah. So what's your go to. So now my, my go to I do. 9,085% of everything with a boning knife okay. Just a tiny knife. And and I use the saw. Oh. Very little. Yeah. More like the bigger. Like like the leg or something. That's, like a lot bigger. Yes. I cut the ribs with it and I'll cut the head in half. And maybe like 1 or 2 other small things and that's it. One thing I appreciate about what you do with your process to is you actually use almost the whole pig, and whether it's in a class or like putting together different meats and varieties, like even the head you'll use for the meat and stuff. That was something that I don't know if everybody does that, but I was like, oh, wow, that's amazing. Like, you're actually you're honoring the animal and by using every bit of it. Yeah. Try my best. There's a few pieces. I'm still a little late. What do I do with this? Yeah, but as much as I can use. Yeah, a lot of people. So also, what spurred this? Going back to that question was I knew I wasn't ready for cows yet, so I let my neighbor put cows on our property and then in exchange, I can have one. And I had to call a mobile slaughter guy to come out in a truck, and he shoots it and guts it and does all the skins, does all the stuff, and then takes it to the butcher, and then you call the butcher and tell them how you want done. Point being, this guy shows up and I was like, oh wow, the truck was falling apart. Oh no. Trailer was falling apart like Chainsaw Massacre. Nailed it. And he pulled a chain smile and cut that thing in half. And luckily, yeah, he didn't. The bar of the chainsaw, he the fat of the animal will lube the chain enough. But I was like, thinking to myself, there's gotta be a better, gotta be a better way than that. Yeah, like I get you're on a deadline and you know everything. But just bone and fat is flying everywhere. And the sound of a chainsaw is. It's not something you associate with an animal, right? Or food. Right? It's falling trees. Fair enough. Yeah. And I was like, wow. And that stuck with me. I was like, I think I can do better than that. Yeah. For sure. Oh my goodness. Yeah, yeah. And then I thought for a little bit maybe, maybe I'll do that. Maybe I'll get a truck. Oh, and I was like, I don't want to do that. Yeah. I was like, there's so much death all day long. I was like, yeah, you don't want to do that. Well, not so it's nice about your process as you're a part of all the living part. Yeah. As well as the after mostly living a little bit. Yeah, just a little bit. Yeah. Well, in your pigs live a really great life while they're living, and they're just happy as can be. Yeah, they got it. Good. Definitely thing before I took your class, that kind of took me by surprise. Is like, will you talk about some of these meats? And I didn't realize that certain meat could age and be fine. And, you know, because, like, we always worry about like, oh, the expiration dates and stuff, but like, talk about the meats that are hanging above us. Yeah. My prosciutto. Yeah. That are out here are two and a half years old. Not like shocked me. And we did try it and it was delicious. But I was like I can't believe we can eat something that's two and a half years old and uncooked. Yeah. And never gets cooked. And and we've been doing it for thousand years. Yeah. And I don't know why that concept just didn't register in my brain until I took one of your classes, and I was like, oh, I eat pursuit all the time. I never even thought about it. Yeah. Oh. And then that's. Yeah. And that's part of the like curing classes is learning the difference between whole muscle and when you need cure and when you need cure number one and cure number two, or you don't need it at all. How long it has to wait. Because it has to. You can't just put salt on it and hang it on the ceiling. Right? Yeah. It takes. Don't do that at home. Yeah. It takes a little while to. It doesn't matter. Like a piece of bacon hanging in someone's kitchen. Come in on salt. You're like, no, that's not what we meant. Don't do that. Yeah. Flies are stuck to it. Delicious. Yeah. And changing people's mind about it. Like, bacon's a good example. If you cure it and you smoke it, you can hang it in your kitchen. Really? Yeah. Oh, gosh. I was just joking. But who knew? Yeah, at that point, it's ready to go. It'll just start hardening until it gets to a point where it's really tough when you cook it. You wouldn't enjoy it as much, but totally. Just hang it out. Totally. Oh my gosh. We are sitting in the area where you teach classes and also prepare meats. When did this area become something that you're like, oh, I need a spot to start doing this. Oh, because this wasn't when you started farming. This wasn't here. The moment I bought a pig. Yeah. You started transforming the girl. I was like, I better get on it. I got nine months because the pigs were three months old and I wanted to time it for fall or winter. So I was like, okay, I get there'll be old enough and I need a space. And it wasn't anything like it was now. It was just like this table and this cooler and the essentials. That's about it. Yeah, I was vaccine an entire animal with a the little table top. Oh, yeah. Vaccine for my show. Yeah. Type one. Oh, yeah. Probably ruined a bunch of meat. Oh, no. It took 100 times as long as it should have, but yeah. And then slowly kept growing the space. Yeah. I love this space. It's so homey. Yeah. Which makes sense, because we're cooking. Yeah. What are some tips or tricks that you would give anybody thinking about getting into farming, especially livestock. Oh, come here first. Well, yeah. Take a class. Yeah, I highly I do not because I want the money or the thing but just you get. Well you did that like you said. You went back multiple times to keep learning. Yes. And just I don't. It's odd that we feel like we shouldn't have a coach or a teacher, but we do it in almost everything else. Yeah. It's like, that's so true. Find someone. Doesn't have to be me that knows what they're doing and and learn. Yeah. Just get the basics. That way you can go off on your own once you get the basics. Good. Well, and to your point, to like, if you don't know what you're doing, you do end up accidentally wasting a lot of me. If you don't store it the right way, cut it up the right way. Kill it the right way. Right. All of that stuff. So it's so important to be really educated before or you're just wasting the animal in general, which isn't cool. No. And what you're feeding it and what it wants, how they live. Because I don't think people. Pay much attention to that. I think it's starting to be we're starting to be more aware of it, especially with commercial farming. But everything we do to pigs is absolutely the opposite of how they live in nature and how they want to be happy. They do not want to be in a pen or on a concrete floor. They don't want to ring in their nose so they can't root in the ground, right? None of that stuff. They don't want to be corralled or put in trailers. And like, that's one of the big things is, anybody who's around pigs will tell you I'm pretty confident will tell you. You don't try and force a pig to do anything. Yeah, they do what they want. Yeah. You take your time and it will eventually go where you want it to go. If you. If you can wait. Yeah. And it makes up its mind that it's going that way. It'll happen. Especially if there's food. What about if someone's at. And you can tell me if you don't want to answer this question. But if someone's at the grocery store and they're trying to figure out what's the best part to buy while they're there, is there anything that they should look for on the label or any type of process that they should like? Words that would stick out and you'd be like, oh, that's a good one. Get that one. Yeah, it's a hard one. The grocery store is not really going to have the smaller farms. Sure. The smallest farm I think would be like ML Carlton or, or Hills. And to supply a grocery store, you have to you're kind of already beyond you, probably already beyond your own farm. Sure, it's going to be a co-op of farms that are supplying your brand to a grocery store because it's just so much, Yeah, I try and steer people away from health, washing things, like when you pick up the bacon and it says uncured. Well, that's that's not possible. The the Food and Drug Administration won't allow that. They put celery salt in it, which has natural occurring cure in it. Nitrates. So a nitrate is that chemical. And it doesn't matter if it comes from a plant or a lab. It's that chemical. And it has the same effect on your body, whether it came from one or the other. Sure. So people think it will be more healthy because it's plant based and you're like, no, it's bad for you because it reacts with meat and then it's cooked. Yeah. So it doesn't matter if it's plant based or not. So that's why I try and steer people away from or just giving them the awareness that, it's not healthier. Yeah. When you're in the grocery store, all the. Yeah, yeah, it's fat free. It's like, well, doesn't mean it's healthier, right? For sure. That kind of thing. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And then I try and steer people to the smaller shops around here. Like Tony's Fish Market sells Northwest Heritage pork, and that's who I buy my pates from. And he he does butcher boxes and and some small stores. Okay. So your advice is whether you're an organ or not. Like find your local butcher. See where they source. For me, it's if you want, like the real deal without a bunch of extra additives. Yeah. And you know, they're treated well or a big one is they will be heritage breed pigs, which is totally different. You're in a different ballgame of how fast they grow, how red the meat is. And each one is, like I said, each one is different. Mangles are totally different than Berkshire's. And and then it gets into this whole array of what do you want out of your do you want a lot of lard? Do you want, you know, like Thames Water have a really good long belly. So they have more bacon, just things like that where it's like each one has its own, its own wonderful thing about it. Interesting. What's next for you? Like, what are some goals that you have with the farm or the business? I'm trying to get into adding sheep, adding hare, sheep to the the mix. Yeah, the mix and adding tastings on top of the classes because it would be shorter and it's just a little bit easier to to pop in. We were talking about earlier obviously as a wine girl, I was like, oh, you should do wine pairings at the park is like two of my favorite things. Yeah, I'd be here for sure. And that way I think it's a good gateway for people who are a little hesitant and don't want to, like you say, commit to a full day. You can just come for a couple of hours, eat a bunch of old meat, as I call, or and sausage and all sorts of stuff so that then if you're like, wow, I want to know, I want to know how to do this, then you can say, now I'm I'm willing to dedicate a day to come back and and learn more in. Yeah, well, and do more of the hands on if you're doing a tasting, it's already prepared. You didn't make it. You're just tasting the different meat. But if you're doing the class, you're actually learning how to, like stuff the sausage yourself and prepare it and do the recipes, mixing with the meat, all that stuff you also host. If someone wants to learn about the slaughter process and stuff, you have a couple workshops around that as well. Me personally, I think this is where some people a tasting would be great is that they could see like, oh, it's not just like an animal laying here, you know, kind of a thing. I'm a meat eater through and through. I'm not a hunter. Like you said earlier, I'm not a hunter. But. So I always joke around that. Like if I was around in like, during, like the Oregon Trail days, I'd be the berry picker. I'll go pick berries. You bring the me, I'll help the water. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I will go get the water. I'm happy to prepare the meat. Cook the meat. Enjoy the meat. Yeah, but I couldn't do that part. But there are a lot of people that are also interested in that side of it. So do you want to talk about that workshop a little bit? Oh, yeah. That that was the big eye opener for me. The slaughter and. Also yeah, with the Covid what I left out was a big part was we were so isolated that I was like, I saw it as a way of building community where you're like, when you kill a pig, you don't just go kill a pig, you invite all of your friends,

you have to come over and Wednesday, 3: 33:34

00. Oh, yeah. Oh, oh, I got them Saturday, 8 a.m. in the cold in the fall or the winter? Yeah. And you have to help me. And then, of course, I would feed them and. Sure, stack a beer for them and. Yeah. And they weren't that much help, but it's really. Maybe next time we'll hold back the beer. Yeah. At least until you've done your job. At least till ten. So yeah, that was a big one. Was making community. And even with people coming here, it's the same like I'm hoping to give them that so they can feel confident in doing it themselves, even if they only do it once a year, once every two years. And it can be something where they yeah, they bring everybody around and have a good time. Yeah. And just like learn about the whole process because it does take a while. That workshop I believe you do it like over two days or three. The slaughter is one day all day. And then the follow up classes. Caring. Oh. Got it. So then we take the pig from the day before, and now you'll actually now you know where bacon came from because you took it off. Yeah. You cut it off and then we cut it up and we cure it and and do some other stuff. And then. And then the people that are really invested come on the third day and do the sausage. Yeah. I should have mentioned to that. Anybody that takes your classes or workshops, you get to go home with a bunch of stuff to that you help prepare and make and things. So it's neat. You get to like, nibble throughout the day while you're preparing things, and then you also get to take stuff home to and and then I forgot. And then for the the die hards, I brought back the offal class. When you're ready to make a move, make it with someone who knows the market and truly cares about your home journey. I would be honored to help you each step of the way. Reach out now and let's start your strategic plan and the next move for you. Oh, really? Talk about that a little bit. Which is good because that's that was what really got me motivated was blood sausage, liverwurst patties and terranes and ovals and. So that's all the organ meat, not the lungs, but the heart and the liver and the spleen and the kidneys, all of it. The head, all the odd bits, all the it's the fifth primal which butchers out there will be like, I know he's talking about. Yeah, yeah, it's all odd bits that aren't a quarter of the animal. Sure to when you put them together. It's it's tons of food. It's amazing how much somebody is throwing away. And they just. Based on my mom made liver when I was young. It's gross. And then they come here and they're like, okay, that's good. Yeah. Well, because it doesn't sound sexy when you say all those things, you're like, oh, sounds very good. But then when you try, if someone were to try it without knowing and then you told them, they would be like shocked, like I just ate. What? Yeah, it was really good. I try not to tell people it's blood because it just really messes with their mind. But then when they eat it. Well, that's a terrible name. Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah. And then same with there's like a deviled offal where if you had heavy cream Dijon and brandy and salt, it's going to be amazing. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. So then people would have that that has liver and heart in it which normally doesn't taste amazing. No. Yeah. So yeah, just learning proper ways to prepare things so that they are good. Yeah. If you just throw it in a pan and pan seared and put ketchup on it, like when I was a kid who was rough. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So we talked about curing. What about sausages and stuff. Like how long does that last for? If you put it in the freezer, don't put it in the fridge. Should you put it in the freezer? Yeah. That's all. Yes. Fresh sausage. You don't get as long. They. I find three months. Is that refrigerated or frozen? Frozen three months. Frozen to six months and then refrigerated. You, if you have the vac machine like I have, that will actually take all the air out. Then you get you can have two weeks in your fridge, which is twice as long as you get when you go to the store. Usually to check that I learned from you is when you're covering like ground meat to put it in the fridge instead of having it like at the top of the bulls, like pushing it down on the meat. And that was because to like have minimize the oxygen that's in it. Right. And so just FYI tips and tricks if you like pre get your meat out and you're like having it sit for a minute and stuff. Yeah. Push this around ramp down on top versus over the top of the bowl. Yeah. Because you'll you'll get air in there. And then it just makes it look ugly. But that's it. Yeah. It's just ugly. It still tastes good. Well, I was just pointing out you're a good teacher. See, I remember all the things I learned. All the things. Any other tips or tricks that you would give to either someone consuming me or wanting to create their own? Oh, wow. There's a lot. Yeah, that's a hard one. Well, maybe just give us one. Well, get yourself a vacuum. A good master vacuum machine that sits on the counter will change or change your world. Oh my gosh. Story meat becomes totally different. So with those, when you grind meat and you put it in a bag and you seal it, you can flatten that bag. If anybody's ever got beef or pork from the store and it's frozen and it's in a tube, it's very hard to stack tubes and put them in your freezer, the ground, so they fall around. Yeah. When you have one of those and you can flatten it. Now they're all flat and they just they fit perfectly in the door and wherever you want and slide into little places. It's one of those that might sound silly. And then you're like, wow, the storage is easier. And then when you want to defrost it just in a little pan of water, it'll defrost five times as quickly because it's not this big around, right. The core is always frozen and you're like, oh yeah, yeah. Where is that five minutes Steve frosted and ready to go. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing your kitchen with me today. I appreciate it and all your tips and tricks. I'd like to give you one more. Cheers. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for watching and listening. And I'll see you next week. Cheers.