When I was growing up, my parents rented a home in Claysburg Area. The people we rented off lived on a farm. We would help them to farm throughout the summer in return they would give us a hog and we would buy one. The day after Thanksgiving was the big day for us. Before daylight the fire would be started and the water would be on and boiling. At daybreak we would get started, the first hog would be shot and brought to the scalding trough and scalded and then scrapped. As soon as one would be done we would get another one, usually we butchered 5 hogs for the day. My dad would always cleaned the heads for the meat and the fat would go in the lard. At this time, I should tell you that a black family would make an appearance that morning for a head and the intestines of one hog. They would also give them a little meat on the side. What they would do is clean the head and eat the brains. For the intestines they would scrap them out and clean them and fried them..They call them chitin. Before anyone grosses out at this point, let me say this, we stuffed the sausage in the intestines after they were cleaned. Most people that are 50+ years have eaten them. Ok, back to the butchering, we made all the regular cuts of a hog, then we make sausage, pudding meat, scrapple, and cooked the Lard, (slowly) when we pressed the Lard out and the cakes that were left we ate some of them.The day was not done yet until we made the sugar cured mix and put it on the hams and bacon that was to be cured. The next day would be cold packing the meat into jars for the winter and spring use. The hams and bacon after a couple of weeks then was hung and smoked two different days. At some time my mother would make pickled pig souse out of the feet, I never liked it. Yes, time has changed a great deal, nobody that I know butchers anymore. Now a day butchers skin the hogs and the cured hams are salt cured. The intestines are not used for stuffing sausage, for they use a synthetic material. For the beef we always butchered a beef on New Years Day. I hope someone can relate to my experience Don Feathers ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com