I’ve blogged many times about my effort to lose weight.  I’ve been on every diet known to man.  Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Seattle Sutton, Shakeology, Slimfast and others.  Through all of those, I’ve lost a lot of one thing…money.  And yet I’ve managed to gain 90 pounds in the past 12 years.  90.  I’ve put on the weight equivalent to my 11-year-old.  How embarrassing.  I’ve gained weight with each pregnancy.  And the weight never left.

So I’ve finally decided it’s time to stop the madness.  No more crazy diets.  No more shakes.  No more pre-packaged meals.  I’m simply eating less.  And eating better.  So far, I’m down 16 pounds.  Did you hear that??  16 pounds!!  I just lost my 11-year-olds left arm.  I’ll take what I can get.

Dairy Queen and I love each other.  Ice cream is my weakness.  The little pizza shop in the nearby small town makes the best thin crust pizza I’ve ever eaten.  And the seasonal hot dog stand is a week away from opening.  Nothing screams summer than driving under the little orange awning, rolling the window down and enjoying a hot door and root beer while watching the world go by.

And I’ll still enjoy those, but now only occasionally.  The biggest change I’ve had to make it to realize there will always be more of something tomorrow.  I have always had an all or nothing mentality.  If I’m going to eat Oreo’s, I’m going big.  Eat 6 Oreo’s,  not just 1.  There may not be any tomorrow.  Except my college educated brain knows better.  Short of Armageddon, there won’t be a Oreo shortage.  And in my mansion in Heaven, there will be Oreo’s!!  So I’m training my self to slow down, savor the food and know there is always more.

I’m also back in the gym.  I love to lift weights.  It makes me feel so strong and powerful!  And my favorite all-time exercise is running. I should call is “slogging”, slow jogging.  But it is the best medicine I know.  And I get to run on a great trail with a bridge and this view.

I hope you’ll join me in this final weight loss attitude.  No more diets.  No more pills.  Only the will and determination to get the weight off.  I don’t need to lose 90 pounds in a month.  I expect it to take a year or more.  But slow and steady wins the race.  And I’ll be happy to be a slow loser if the weight finally stays off!

I am often asked if we really eat the hogs that we raise.  It seems the anti-farm crowd is trying to scare consumers into thinking that hogs raised in climate-controlled barns are not worth eating.  They want you to believe that animals raised eating grass instead of the grain based diet we feed means they are better for you.

I disagree.  The hogs on our farm eat a mixture of corn, soybean meal and nutrients.  We can monitor their nutrition needs and provide feed based on their needs and age of the pig.  Our younger pigs get a different feed than our older pigs.  The company we buy feed from provides us a “nutritionist” that helps us develop the best feed plan for our animals.  He is on one of our farms at least twice a week.  He walks through our barns and inspects the animals, looking for pigs that might be underweight or those that need a bit more nutrition.  And he helps us develop a plan for them.

So I know what my pigs eat.  If my pigs were out in grass, they would be eating bugs, larvae, grass, dirt, and whatever else they could find.  Pigs are curious animals and will eat anything.  Growing up, I remember throwing “slop” to our sows (pregnant mother pigs) that we kept in outside lots.  And those pigs would sometime give birth outside, lay on their litters and kill them before we could get to them.  Now that all of our animals are inside, we can closely monitor each one and provide individual nutrition plans if they need it.

So do I eat the meat we raise on our farm?  You bet I do!  And you may too.  If you purchase Indiana Kitchen bacon at the grocery store, those hogs could be from my farm.  That packing facility is just an hour from my farm and it’s where we sell a lot of our hogs.  Those hogs are processed into a local bacon that you can buy in your grocery store for an affordable price.  Some of my farmer friends sell to other facilities, like Tyson.  Another local pork product you can find in major retail grocery stores.

In upcoming weeks, I’ll show you pictures of our family butchering a hog over Christmas break.  And how we make lard, cracklins and popcorn from the pig.  Nothing gets wasted. Because I’m not afraid to eat what we raise on the farm!

For most people, the day after Christmas means sleeping in, watching football, playing with the kids toys, card games and naps.  When you live on a farm, life looks a little different.

The Little Man and I spent the morning helping The Farmer unload a semi-load of baby pigs.  We get these pigs when they are about 18-21 days old.  Our farms are set up so the pigs are born on a main farm and then transferred to other barns to finish them out.  Finishing means feeding them until they are six months of age and ready to go to market.

The pigs are loaded onto a semi at our main farm.  The semi is ventilated so the pigs have plenty of fresh air as they move to another barn.  Once they are moved into this barn, they get sorted into pens based on their weight.  They have instant access to feed and water.  And we sort out any pig that looks like it needs some extra TLC and give it whatever vet care it may need.  Sorting them by size allows the smaller pigs to be grouped together with pigs their size so they don’t fight bigger pigs for food.

The video shows how we move them in and sort them.  They sure are cute at this age!

Click on the link below to watch a video of our day!  I’m still working on getting this blog to be a real video site.  A new computer is throwing me for a loop.  Any advice??

iCloud4G

Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas!